URI Language Identifier

Category:Core | Category:Core::Community | Category:Core::Language | Category:Core::URL

This language class extension allows you to automatically prefix all site urls with a language abbreviation that is pre-defined in your config file or from a link and automatically load the corresponding language translation file, the route will then be corrected by the route regex for everything to work as normal.

Somewhere in the site you can provide the user with links allowing them to change their desired language name. http://domain.tld/**en**/controller/method, http://domain.tld/**es**/controller/method, http://domain.tld/**de**/controller/method

application/config/routes.php

//route example: http://domain.tld/en/controller => http://domain.tld/controller
$route['(\w{2})/(.*)'] = '$2';
$route['(\w{2})'] = $route['default_controller'];

application/config/config.php

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Default Language
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| This determines which set of language files should be used. Make sure
| there is an available translation if you intend to use something other
| than english.
|
*/
$config['language'] = "spanish";

/* default language abbreviation */
$config['language_abbr'] = "es";

/* set available language abbreviations */
$config['lang_uri_abbr'] = array("es" => "spanish", "en" => "english", "ja" => "japanese");

/* hide the language segment (use cookie) */
$config['lang_ignore'] = TRUE;

application/core/MY_Lang.php

<?php (defined('BASEPATH')) OR exit('No direct script access allowed');
/**
* Language Identifier
* 
* Adds a language identifier prefix to all site_url links
* 
* @copyright     Copyright (c) 2011 Wiredesignz
* @version         0.29
* 
* Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
* of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
* in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
* to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
* copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
* furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
* 
* The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
* all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
* 
* THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
* IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
* FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
* AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
* LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
* OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
* THE SOFTWARE.
*/
class MY_Lang extends CI_Lang
{
    function __construct() {
        
        global $URI, $CFG, $IN;
        
        $config =& $CFG->config;
        
        $index_page    = $config['index_page'];
        $lang_ignore   = $config['lang_ignore'];
        $default_abbr  = $config['language_abbr'];
        $lang_uri_abbr = $config['lang_uri_abbr'];
        
        /* get the language abbreviation from uri */
        $uri_abbr = $URI->segment(1);

        /* adjust the uri string leading slash */
        $URI->uri_string = preg_replace("|^\/?|", '/', $URI->uri_string);
        
        if ($lang_ignore) {
            
            if (isset($lang_uri_abbr[$uri_abbr])) {
            
                /* set the language_abbreviation cookie */
                $IN->set_cookie('user_lang', $uri_abbr, $config['sess_expiration']);
                
            } else {
                
                /* get the language_abbreviation from cookie */
                $lang_abbr = $IN->cookie($config['cookie_prefix'].'user_lang');
            
            }
            
            if (strlen($uri_abbr) == 2) {
                
                /* reset the uri identifier */
                $index_page .= empty($index_page) ? '' : '/';
                
                /* remove the invalid abbreviation */
                $URI->uri_string = preg_replace("|^\/?$uri_abbr\/?|", '', $URI->uri_string);
            
                /* redirect */
                header('Location: '.$config['base_url'].$index_page.$URI->uri_string);
                exit;
            }
            
        } else {
            
            /* set the language abbreviation */
            $lang_abbr = $uri_abbr;
        }

        /* check validity against config array */
        if (isset($lang_uri_abbr[$lang_abbr])) {
           
           /* reset uri segments and uri string */
           $URI->segment(array_shift($URI->segments));
           $URI->uri_string = preg_replace("|^\/?$lang_abbr|", '', $URI->uri_string);
           
           /* set config language values to match the user language */
           $config['language'] = $lang_uri_abbr[$lang_abbr];
           $config['language_abbr'] = $lang_abbr;
            
           /* if abbreviation is not ignored */
           if ( ! $lang_ignore) {
                   
                   /* check and set the uri identifier */
                   $index_page .= empty($index_page) ? $lang_abbr : "/$lang_abbr";
                
                /* reset the index_page value */
                $config['index_page'] = $index_page;
           }

           /* set the language_abbreviation cookie */               
           $IN->set_cookie('user_lang', $lang_abbr, $config['sess_expiration']);
           
        } else {
                       
            /* if abbreviation is not ignored */   
            if ( ! $lang_ignore) {                   
                   
                   /* check and set the uri identifier to the default value */    
                $index_page .= empty($index_page) ? $default_abbr : "/$default_abbr";
                
                if (strlen($lang_abbr) == 2) {
                    
                    /* remove invalid abbreviation */
                    $URI->uri_string = preg_replace("|^\/?$lang_abbr|", '', $URI->uri_string);
                }
                
                /* redirect */
                header('Location: '.$config['base_url'].$index_page.$URI->uri_string);
                exit;
            }

            /* set the language_abbreviation cookie */                
            $IN->set_cookie('user_lang', $default_abbr, $config['sess_expiration']);
        }
        
        log_message('debug', "Language_Identifier Class Initialized");
    }
}

/* translate helper */
function t($line) {
    global $LANG;
    return ($t = $LANG->line($line)) ? $t : $line;
}

Notes

Added translation helper t() to the library.

Use the $config['language'] value or $config['language_abbr'] to determine the active language when loading your application or module.