Thanks guys, Russ especially for taking the time to put all that together, most appreciated :)
I hadn't thought of the QofQ idea, that is a great suggestion. I think I will go with that as I like the idea of having everything stored in the database :) Thanks again On 2 October 2012 10:58, Russ Michaels <[email protected]> wrote: > > If you are talking about the content, then yes this is normally stored in > the database and is handled by a CMS system. You would then have a separate > version of the content for each language, and load the appropriate version > depending on which language the logged in user has chosen. > > If you are are referring to the language of the site, menus, interface etc, > then this really comes down more to preference, some folks use XML/JSON, > some store in a database. > Personally I would store it in the database, because form there you can > easily generate both XML and JSON anyway plus you have ability to easily > save revisions whenever something is edited and roll back if required. > The reason a lot of apps use a flat file is because it allows the community > to then produce language files for the project. > > What you can then do is create a TERM in English and store the various > other language equivalents. > > e.g. > > Table: TermRefs > TermRefID (primary key): > Reference (varchar) > > Table TERMS > TermID (primary key): > TermRefID (foreign key): > Term (varchar): > LanguageID (foreign key) > > Table: Languages > LanguageId (primary key) > Language (varchar) > DisplayText (varchar) > > sample data > ========== > > TERMREFS > > 1 ContactMenuText > 2 ProductsMenuText > 3 SupportMenuText > > LANGUAGES > > 1 English > 2 French > 3 German > > TERMS > 1 1 "Contact Us" 1 > 2 1 "contactez-nous" 2 > 3 1 "kontaktieren Sie uns" 3 > > You would only need to query this lot once and then cache it and use QofQ > of get your references, so no load on database. > > The TermRefs.reference is a simple understandable reference that you would > use to contain the text and output it on to the site. > > e.g. > <a href="contactus.cfm">#getterm("ContactMenuText")#</a> > > You would use the LANGUAGES table on your site in a dropdown list or > whatever to give the user the language selector. Most people tend to put > this in English, which must be annoying for the non English visitors, thus > the "DisplayText" field, so you can actually display the Language names in > that language. > > HTH > > On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 10:01 AM, Edward Chanter <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > We're about to embark on a project for which locallisation is a > requirement > > and it's the first time I've done this. I understand the basic concepts > > about having data containing the words and phrases needed on a website > > stored with versions for each language but I'm trying to figure something > > out: what's the best way to store the data? > > > > I see a lot of sites using flat JSON/XML/Whatever files with the > different > > translations but is this something that would work well coming from a > > database? Is it more efficient to use a flat file or simply have a > database > > store the words and phrases in columns with a new row for each language? > > One advantage I can see with a database option is that it makes adding > new > > languages a little easier for people with no access to the file system on > > the server. It could also be managed with web forms which seems easier > than > > having a massive flat file with loads of XML or JSON data structures. > > > > The purpose of this question is to see how you all do it and whether > there > > are any pit-falls I should watch out for? > > > > Thanks ;-) > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/message.cfm/messageid:352798 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/unsubscribe.cfm
