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ILIAS Language Handling

ILIAS offers multi-language support for the user interface of ILIAS.

Guidelines

  1. All language entries are text strings and are stored in language files in the subdirectory /lang. Each language entry has the format:

     language_module_ID#:#variable_ID#:#text_content###comment

The elements language_module_ID, variable_ID, and text_content are REQUIRED, while comment is OPTIONAL and can be used for additional information about an entry, e.g., "07 02 2020 new variable."

  1. The variable_ID of a language entry MUST be unique within the whole language file. This avoids conflicts in the presentation of language entries because the language_module_ID is not taken into consideration when ILIAS inserts language entries into the output. The uniqueness of the spelling must be guaranteed regardless of upper and lower case. Having a language entry common#:#login#:#... and common#:#Login#:#... would violate the rule.

  2. New components MUST use the object_ID for the language_module_ID as defined in the related module.xml or service.xml. The language_module_ID MUST also be used as a prefix for the variable names in this language module, e.g.:

     frm#:#frm_new_posting#:#New Posting

  3. Each language file contains one block with the language_module_ID common. Entries of this block start with common#:#. The language_module_ID common MUST only be used for language entries that are used by various components and in combined contexts. Because this block is always read from the database into memory for each request, the use of new common variables SHOULD be minimized.

  4. To keep the language files maintainable and facilitate translation and creation of new language versions, the number of language entries should be as low as possible. Therefore, language entries that are no longer used in ILIAS due to refactorings or changes in the code MUST be removed from the English language file. Whenever possible, existing language entries SHOULD be reused and probably moved to the common module to avoid multiple entries with the same meaning.

  5. The English language file is the master language file. New variables MUST be added at least to this file, since we synchronize the variables when preparing a new ILIAS release. If a variable exists in a file of another language but not in the English one, the entry will be removed from the file during synchronization.

Additional Information

Adding new entries to language files will not make them available in the user interface automatically. You need to refresh the languages by executing the "Refresh Languages" action in the global ILIAS language administration (Administration » Languages).

The global language object can be retrieved from the dependency injection container by using/calling $DIC['lng'] or $DIC->language(). This is an instance of class ilLanguage and provides methods to access these strings in the language of the user within the current authentication process. This is done by using the functions loadLanguageModule() and txt().

$lng->loadLanguageModule("frm");
$tpl->setVariable("TEXT", $lng->txt("frm_new_posting"));

Roles

The language handling process in ILIAS knows four distinct roles:

  • The First language maintainer is managing the language handling process and fixing or delegating language bugs. The first maintainer has to be notified about newly introduced languages and changes of the language version maintainers.
  • The Second language maintainer is responsible for the language component.
  • Developers add new language entries to their components, modify them or remove unused entries from the code.
  • Language version maintainers are volunteers, take care of a specific language version and translate new entries to the related language.

Maintaining Languages

The different languages supported by ILIAS are maintained by volunteers. The ILIAS society is offering language maintenance installations for every version. These are clients of the regular testing installations.

You find more information about language maintenance in the document Language Instructions.