Languages

• Packaging
• Details
• Translation
• Submission

A language is a collection of files which can be dropped in to any esoTalk installation to translate it into another language. Languages are stored in the addons/languages folder.

Packaging

A language has the following file structure:

File/Folder	Description
ExampleLanguage/	The name of the plugin in StudlyCase.
--icon.png	A 16x16 icon which is displayed on the Administration page.
--definitions.php	The main language file, where all of the languages's core translations are located.
--definitions.{plugin}.php	Additional files containing translations for specific plugins.
--index.html	An empty file to prevent the directory from being publicly listed.

Details

A languages's definitions.php file must contain an array of details about the language (name, author, etc.) These details should be added to the ET::$languageInfo array. The key must correspond to the name of the languages's folder.

Defining Language Details

ET::$languageInfo["ExampleLanguage"] = array(
    "locale"      => "en-US",
    "name"        => "Example Language",
    "description" => "An example language pack.",
    "version"     => "1.0",
    "author"      => "Toby Zerner",
    "authorEmail" => "[email protected]",
    "authorURL"   => "http://esotalk.org",
    "license"     => "GPLv2"
);

Translation

The best way to get started in creating a new language pack is to copy and paste the whole English folder. Rename it to something else (we'll use Pirate.) Now, open up definitions.php.

First things first — let's change all instances of the word "English" to our new name, "Pirate". The most important one is just after ET::$languageInfo on the fifth line. You can change all the other details as you please!

Looking further down, you will see a whole bunch of lines that look something like this:

$definitions["Cancel"] = "Cancel";

The string on the left-hand side is called the "key". Don't change it! The part that you want to edit is after the = symbol. So if I wanted cancel buttons to say "NARRR", I would type:

$definitions["Cancel"] = "NARRR";

Done! (Make sure you leave the quotes intact and the semi-colon at the end of the line.)

Sometimes you'll see funny things like %s symbols or some programming jargon. This usually just means that something more meaningful will be substituted in later. A good rule of thumb is to leave it be! For example:

$definitions["%s joined the forum."] = "%s joined the crew.";

Submission

Ideally, you should version-control your language and create a repository on GitHub. The definitions.php file should be at the top-level of the repository; there should be no parent folder.

Languages can be submitted for public listing in the Languages channel on the esoTalk support forum. Read this conversation for language submission guidelines.

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