Internationalization#

Waterhole features a powerful localization system using Project Fluent on top of the Laravel Translator.

If you're developing an extension, or if your forum is multi-lingual, you should take advantage of Waterhole's internationalization capabilities.

Fluent is a fully-featured localization system for natural-sounding translations. Read the Fluent Syntax Guide to learn more about syntax and its benefits. See also Good Practices for Developers.

Waterhole uses the laravel-fluent package to replace the default Laravel translator with one that supports loading translations from .ftl files.

Defining Translations#

Translations are stored in files within the resources/lang directory. Within this directory, create a subdirectory for each language you want to support. You can add translations in both .php files in the Laravel short key format, and in Fluent .ftl files, with the latter taking precedence.

/resources
  /lang
    /en
      stream.ftl
      messages.php
    /fr
      stream.ftl
      messages.php

If you're developing an extension, you'll need to register your translation files with a namespace in the boot method of a service provider:

$this->loadTranslationsFrom(__DIR__.'/../resources/lang', 'acme-example');

Retrieving Translations#

You may retrieve translation strings from your language files using the __ helper function:

__('stream.shared-photos', [
    'userName' => 'Toby',
    'photoCount' => 2,
    'userGender' => 'male',
]); // Toby added 2 new photos to his stream.

Extensions must use their registered namespace prefix:

echo __('acme-example::messages.hello');

There is no need to use the trans_choice helper as the Fluent format eliminates the need for another function.