While this question might be similar to many others, I'd like to ask for opinions/suggestions on the best approach for i18n specificaly on FuelPHP.
So, here is what I've got so far:
Database schema #1:
models (id, name_pt, name_es, name_en, description_pt, description_es, description_en)
Sample data #1:
(1, 'Modelo', 'Modelo', 'Model', 'Descrição do modelo', 'Descripción del modelo', 'Model description')
Pros:
- Straight and simple
- One table per model
- No need to use JOIN
- Use of a magic method to simplify data access:
public function & __get($property)
{
if (array_key_exists($property, array('name', 'description')))
{
$property = $property.'_'.Session::get('lang_code');
}
return parent::__get($property);
}
This way, I'm able to do call:
$model->name;
$model->description;
instead of:
$model->{'name_'.Session::get('lang_code')};
$model->{'description_'.Session::get('lang_code')};
Cons:
- Having lots of languages/translated fields might get messy.
- Adding a new language, implies adding new fields to the table
- The magic method only works when we already have an ORM instance/object. To fetch an ORM instance through the query builder ordered by a translated field it's still required code like:
Model_Model::query()
->order_by('name_'.Session::get('lang_code'))
->get();
Database schema #2:
languages (id, code, name)
models (id)
i18n_models (id, model_id, language_id, name, description)
Sample data #2:
-- languages
(1, 'pt', 'Português')
(2, 'es', 'Español')
(3, 'en', 'English')
-- models
(1)
-- i18n_models
(1, 1, 1, 'Modelo', 'Descrição do modelo')
(2, 1, 2, 'Modelo', 'Descripción del modelo')
(3, 1, 3, 'Model', 'Model description')
Pros:
- Better data organization
- Adding a new language is a snap
- Like in the first approach, we can also have a direct data access using the set() method to populate the $_custom_data array:
$i18n = Model_I18n_Model::query()
->where('model_id', $model->id)
->where('language_id', Session::get('lang_code'))
->get_one();
$model->set(array(
'name' => $i18n->name,
'description' => $i18n->description
));
Cons:
- Complexity increases
- A JOIN or a second query must be used
- An extra table for each model is required
Database schema #3:
On other questions, I've seen people suggest the use of a central i18n table for all the translations, using a row for each translation a model has.
Pros:
- Single table for i18n shared between models
- Adding a new language should be easy as in the previous approach
Cons:
- Complexity increases while fetching data, requiring a JOIN for every translated text a model has
- We could try using EAV containers with this approach, although that uses a key/value for mapping, but in this case in particular we also have to use the language_id to fetch the proper translation.
Personaly, I prefer the second approach. What other advantages/disadvantages do you see? Has anyone implemented i18n in a different way on FuePHP? Share your ideas :)
