Rethink translation of column values

[RafaelKr]

Hey @Kreyu, I'm still extremely satisfied with your bundle, it works like a charm! Still I got some more stuff to think about 😅

I want to render a float value and suffix it with the correctly pluralized form of 1 month or x months.

I have the following column definition:

$builder->addColumn('months', TextColumnType::class, [
    'label' => t('Duration'),
    'formatter' => fn (float $value) => t('number_of_months', [
        'months' => $value,
    ], 'data-table'),
]);

And my data-table+intl-icu.de.yaml translation file:

number_of_months: >-
    {months, plural,
        =1 {# month}
        other {# months}
    }

I can't use value_translation_domain with value_translation_parameters as there is no way to pass the static translation key number_of_months. Also I think value_translation_parameters isn't used at all.

Currently there is no good way to make a column value translatable and adding parameters to it. This is because either the value is not translated or it's translated without the given parameters:

data-table-bundle/src/Resources/views/themes/base.html.twig

Lines 457 to 465 in b6664dd

	{% block column_value -%}
	<span {{- block('attributes') -}}>
	{%- if translation_domain is not same as false -%}
	{{- value|trans({}, translation_domain) -}}
	{%- else -%}
	{{- value -}}
	{%- endif -%}
	</span>
	{%- endblock %}

My workaround for now is that I added a ColumnTypeExtension which extends ColumnType::class with

public function buildValueView(ColumnValueView $view, ColumnInterface $column, array $options): void
{
    $view->vars['is_translatable'] = $view->value instanceof TranslatableInterface;
}

And in my data table theme I'm overwriting the column_value block.

{% block column_value %}
    {% with {
        value: is_translatable ? value|trans : value,
    } -%}
        {{ parent() }}
    {%- endwith %}
{% endblock %}

Also I have some Enums which implement TranslatableInterface and this also works for those.
I'm not very happy with that workaround, as it doesn't feel very elegant. But it works for now. Maybe you can think of a better solution to fix it in the core.

Edit: First I always used value|trans, independent of TranslatableInterface. But then I realized it also would accidentally translate all literal values when they appear in the translation domain. That's why I added that is_translatable inside my ColumnTypeExtension.

[Kreyu]

Hey @RafaelKr, I think you're right, the value_translation_parameters is not used at all in Twig. It should be used in column_value block instead of {}:

- {{- value|trans({}, translation_domain) -}} 
+ {{- value|trans(translation_parameters, translation_domain) -}} 

First I always used value|trans, independent of TranslatableInterface. But then I realized it also would accidentally translate all literal values when they appear in the translation domain. That's why I added that is_translatable inside my ColumnTypeExtension.

This is why in ColumnType the default value_translation_domain equals false - to prevent translating values by accident. If you want to translate the column value, you have to explicitly set its value_translation_domain. I think the only exception was BooleanColumnType which translates the yes/no by default. I agree that TranslatableInterface values should be an exception as well.

I can't use value_translation_domain with value_translation_parameters as there is no way to pass the static translation key number_of_months. Also I think value_translation_parameters isn't used at all.

Ohh, I haven't thought about it. Maybe adding a value_translation_key would be handy. Header translates from label, and value would translate from value_translation_key if given, falling back to using value as key. After fixing the missing usage of value_translation_parameters and adding new option, it would look like this:

$builder->addColumn('months', TextColumnType::class, [
    'label' => t('Duration'),
    'value_translation_key' => 'number_of_months',
    'value_translation_domain' => 'data-table',
    'value_translation_parameters' => fn (float $value) => [
        'months' => $value,
    ],
]);

A bit verbose though, so alternatively, automatically translating TranslatableInterface would be helpful. Looking at ColumnType class, the buildExportValueView does something similar for exports:

data-table-bundle/src/Column/Type/ColumnType.php

Lines 175 to 182 in b6664dd

	if ($value instanceof TranslatableInterface) {
	$locale = null;
	if (method_exists(TranslatableInterface::class, 'getLocale')) {
	$locale = $this->translator->getLocale();
	}
	$value = $value->trans($this->translator, $locale);

For regular value view, we could check if the value is TranslatableInterface, and pass its domain and parameters as translation_domain and translation_parameters vars to the Twig. Thanks for the suggestion!

[RafaelKr]

Thanks for that quick and thorough answer! I think your answer makes sense and having TranslatableInterface values translated by default is definitely something I'd like to have. Especially in some cases like Enums with TranslatableInterface it just feels very elegant to have them translated automatically.

[Kreyu]

For future reference, everything discussed so far was implemented in version 0.30.0, additional suggestions are always welcome 😄

[RafaelKr]

I just upgraded and it works like a charm! ❤️

[RafaelKr]

Thank you very much!