Translating Known

Known has a mechanism for translating strings used into other languages. When Known boots, it creates a new Language() object on the Idno object for the current language, which is addressable by \Idno\Core\Idno::site()->language();.

Your code/plugin can add strings to this object for later use, usually by registering them on the registerTranslations() method hook.

Adding a translation for a language

Known supports gettext, which is a widely supported localisation platform. This is the recommended method for adding translations to your code.

Creating .POT file

The first step, after you've used \Idno\Core\Idno::site()->language()->_() to write your strings, is to generate a POT template translation file.

To do this:

• add the repository mapkyca/known-language-tools as a dev dependency in composer:

composer require mapkyca/known-language-tools --dev

• Copy and rename the Sample.Gruntfile.js to your project's directory (where your Main.php is)
• Create or modify your package.json to include your plugin's name (usually the namespace/directory of your Main.php
• Create a languages directory
• Execute grunt build-lang

This will parse all your plugin's PHP files and extract translatable strings.

Creating your translation

Open up your .POT file with a suitable tool, e.g. poedit, and save your .mo and .po files as /path/to/your/plugin/languages/*LOCALE*/LC_MESSAGES/*DOMAIN*.mo|po, where:

• LOCALE is the locale you're writing for, e.g. pt_BR
• DOMAIN is the domain, e.g. your plugin name 'myplugin'

Registering your translation

In your plugin, register your language by registering a new GetTextTranslation class, passing the path of your languages directory, and the domain you used.

So, for the above example this might look like:

function registerTranslations() 
{
    \Idno\Core\Idno::site()->language()->register(
        new \Idno\Core\GetTextTranslation(
            'myplugin',
            dirname(__FILE__) . '/languages/'
        )
    );   
}

Using a translation

Once a string has been registered, it is possible to echo the string, and have it translated:

E.g.

echo \Idno\Core\Idno::site()->language()->_('This is the string to translate');

Adding a translation for a language (alternative)

If you don't want to go the Gettext route for whatever reason, you can quickly add a translation for a language in code.

In order to add a translation, you need to register a Translation object for a given language short code. To do this you need to extend Idno/Core/ArrayKeyTranslation for each language you want to translate, and then implement its getStrings() method.

It is then possible to add them all at once for each language (this way, Known will automatically select the appropriate translation for the loaded language).

E.g.

\Idno\Core\Idno::site()->language()->register(new \IdnoPlugins\Example\Languages\English('en_GB'));
\Idno\Core\Idno::site()->language()->register(new \IdnoPlugins\Example\Languages\French('fr_FR'));