Translations

Main GLPI language is british english (en_GB). All string in the source code must be in english, and marked as translatable, using some convenient functions.

Since 0.84; GLPI uses gettext for localization; and Transifex is used for translations. If you want to help translating GLPI, please register on transifex and join our translation mailing list

What the system is capable to do:

  • replace variables (on LTR and RTL languages),
  • manage plural forms,
  • add context information,
  • …

Here is the workflow used for translations:

  1. Developers add string in the source code,
  2. String are extracted to POT file,
  3. POT file is sent to Transifex,
  4. Translators translate,
  5. Developers pull new translations from Transifex,
  6. MO files used by GLPI are generated.

PHP Functions

There are several standard functions you will have to use in order to get translations. Remember the translation domain will be glpi if not defined; so, for plugins specific translations, do not forget to set it!

Note

All translations functions take a $domain as argument; it defaults to glpi and must be changed when you are working on a plugin.

Simple translation

When you have a “simple” string to translate, you may use several functions, depending on the particular use case:

  • __($str, $domain='glpi') (what you will probably use the most frequently): just translate a string,
  • _x($ctx, $str, $domain='glpi'): same as __() but provide an extra context,
  • __s($str, $domain='glpi'): same as __() but escape HTML entities,
  • _sx($ctx, $str, $domain='glpi'): same as __() but provide an extra context and escape HTML entities,

Handle plural forms

When you have a string to translate, but which rely on a count or something. You may as well use several functions, depending on the particular use case:

  • _n($sing, $plural, $nb, $domain='glpi') (what you will probably use the most frequently): give a string for singular form, another for plural form, and set current “count”,
  • _sn($str, $domain='glpi'): same as _n() but escape HTML entities,
  • _nx($ctx, $str, $domain='glpi'): same as _n() but provide an extra context,

Handle variables

You may want to replace some parts of translations; for some reason. Let’s say you would like to display current page on a total number of pages; you will use the sprintf method. This will allow you to make replacements; but without relying on arguments positions. For example:

<?php
$pages = 20;  //total number of pages
$current = 2; //current page
$string = sprintf(
   __('Page %1$s on %2$s'),
   $pages,
   $total
);
echo $string; //will display: "Page 2 on 20"

In the above example, %1$s will always be replaced by 2; even if places has been changed in some translations.

Warning

You may sometimes see the use of printf() which is an equivalent that directly output (echo) the result. This should be avoided!

Javascript Functions

New in version 9.5.0.

Translation functions __(), _x(), _n(), _nx() are also available in javascript in browser context. They have same signatures as PHP functions.

alert(__('Test successful'));

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