Prerequisites
SEBLOD mutilanguage feature is based on Joomla multilanguage so first you need to get that ready. See any of this tutorials for more details:
- http://www.slideshare.net/erictiggeler/creating-a-multilingual-site-in-joomla-joomla-3-beginners-guide-eric-tiggeler or
- http://www.templatemonster.com/help/joomla-3-x-configuration-multilanguage-site.html
Setup
In SEBLOD there are multiple ways to implement multilanguage and setup depends on the chosen approach.
- Create separate item for each language (same as Joomla)
- Single item for all languages - use free language restriction plugin to show fields depending on the language chosen. This way you can have multiple languages stored in the same item and on the same form.
- Use multisite feature and create a separate site structure for each language.
General rule of thumb would be to use first approach when most of fields are translatable and second, when only few fields are translatable, or when most important fields are not translatable (e.g. image fields in gallery app or file fields in documentation app).
Third approach is recommended when you wish to have separate site structures for each language (e.g. show all content types with detailed references in first language, but only some general descriptions and contact in others).
Setup specific to each approach
1. Separate item for each language
- Enable labels and fields translation: SEBLOD -> Options -> Language -> JText: Yes.
- Create a new (or reuse existing) language override for each language. You can either manually add them to
/administrator/language/overrides/xx-XX.override.ini and
/language/overrides/xx-XX.override.ini
files for each language or create them in Extensions->Language(s)->Overrides. There choose (Language) - Administrator filter in the dropdown and click on New. If you select "For both locations" in the form, string will be added to administrator and frontent override files.
Language keys syntax to is: COM_CCK_YOURSTRING="Some label".
Eg. if the label in the content type is set as ABC, string will be COM_CCK_ABC, the same goes for descriptions and options translation. For all fields created enable "Translate with JText" if it is inside field options (checkbox, select, etc). For dynamic fields like Select dynamic see this tutorial http://www.seblod.com/resources/tutorials/configure-language-options-in-a-select-dynamic-field - Add "Article language" field to the site and admin forms and to any search/list types you might have to enable filtering by language
2. Single item for all languages
Using free language restriction plugin you can show different fields depending on the language. This can be used to show either
- totally different fields or
- show the same field in different language versions. For this add each field you wish to have translated once for each language (with appropriate labels, they are not translated using this approach) and set language restriction on each of this fields so that field will only show when specific language is activated.
You can combine this approach with JText translations of field labels/descriptions/options as described in 1.
3. Multisites approach
You need to assign each "language" site to the right language in the site configuration panel. Example mysite.fr need to be assigned to FR language. Then a content item assigned to the language "FR" and to the access view "mysite.fr" will be displayed only on mysite.fr.