PHP Codeigniter multi-language site use session variables to store language key

Question

I am currently building a website with codeigniter 2.1.2. Now I am encountering a problem to efficiently building a multi-language website.

I have read through the language class tutorial and helper and I have stored two language folders "Chinese" and "English".

What I am intending to do is I want a language session variable called "lang". And I want the following:

if no session variable "lang" exists, I will create one and point it to "english"
if the session variable is already set and user clicked for a change of language, then the session variable will change from either "chinese" to "english" or "english" to "chinese".

I am quite new to PHP and Codeigniter, All I can think of now is something like the following. Can anyone shine some light as of how I can efficiently allow users to change language on my site?

I have no idea how to change session variable upon user's click event.

// Load Language Files 
if(!$this->session->userdata('lang')) {
    $this->session->set_userdata('lang','english');
    $lang = 'english';
} else {
    $lang = 'chinese';
}
$this->lang->load('pages/header',$lang);

I have created a language controller and set the session variable, and then redirect the page back to the previous page. Is it a good way?

  <?php

Class language Extends CI_Controller {

    function index() {
        if(!$this->session->userdata('lang')) {
            $this->session->set_userdata('lang','english');
        } else {
            $lang = $this->session->userdata('lang');
            if ($lang =="chinese") {
                $this->session->set_userdata('lang','english');
            } elseif ($lang == "english") {
                $this->session->set_userdata('lang','chinese');
            } else {
                $this->session->set_userdata('lang','english');
            }
        }
        header('Location: ' . $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']);
    }
}

WatsMyName · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-12 11:03:38Z

make a language controller. Direct a user to relevant method when user click language link http://www.yoursite.com/language/english for English language and similar for chinese. I have used cookie instead of session variables.

<?php if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

class Language extends CI_Controller{
    function __construct(){
        parent::__construct();
    }

    public function index(){
        $this->english();
    }

    public function english(){
        $this->lang->load('labels', 'english');
        //$this->session->set_userdata("LANGUAGE","english");
        $cookie = array(
                    'name'   => 'LANGUAGE',
                    'value'  => 'english',
                    'expire' => 604800
                );
        $this->input->set_cookie($cookie);
        header("location: ".$_GET["ref"]);
    }

    public function chinese(){
        $this->lang->load('labels', 'chinese');
        //$this->session->set_userdata("LANGUAGE","chinese");
        $cookie = array(
                    'name'   => 'LANGUAGE',
                    'value'  => 'chinese',
                    'expire' => 604800
                );
        $this->input->set_cookie($cookie);
        header("location: ".$_GET["ref"]);
    }

}



?>

JoyGuru · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-28 13:11:28Z

The best way for building a Multi-Language website with CodeIgniter is using Language class, hooks and controller.

If you want to use the only controller, create a language switcher controller (LanguageSwitcher) and write the following code.

<?php if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

class LanguageSwitcher extends CI_Controller
{
    public function __construct() {
        parent::__construct();
        $this->load->helper('language');
        $siteLang = $this->session->userdata('site_lang');
        if ($siteLang) {
            $this->lang->load('message',$siteLang);
        } else {
            $this->lang->load('message','english');
        }   
    }

    function switchLang($language = "") {

        $language = ($language != "") ? $language : "english";
        $this->session->set_userdata('site_lang', $language);

        redirect($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']);

    }
}

Complete Multi-Language tutorial can be found from here - Multi-Language implementation in CodeIgniter

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