Adding image field to language

[Friedrich]

Hello,

I noticed today some strange behaviour in connection with the multi-language plugin.

I wanted to create a multi-language page and to display the languages in the frontend. To make it more fancy I wanted to add a flag icon to every language. So I used an image field I already had (image_small) and added it to the language-template. So far so good. Then I uploaded two icons and tried to fetch them in the frontend.

I have the languages default (English/Englisch) and de (German/Deutsch) and the following code:

<?php
echo 'active|'.$user->language->image_small->url;
foreach($languages as $language) {
    echo $language->title.'|'.$language->image_small->url;
}
?>

Result on an english page:

active |/site/assets/files/1021/united-states.png

English |/site/assets/files/1021/united-states.png

Deutsch|/site/assets/files/1081/

 

Result on a german page:

active|/site/assets/files/1081/

English|/site/assets/files/1021/

Deutsch|/site/assets/files/1081/

 

Somehow he can't get the German flag image at all and only the English page the English flag.

 

But if I'm fetching the images from the $languages variable, it works. So I use this temporary as a workaround:

 

<?php
echo 'active|'.$languages->get($user->language->name)->image_small->url;
foreach($languages as $language) {
    echo $language->title.'|'.$languages->get($language->name)->image_small->url;
}
?>

 

Result English:

active|/site/assets/files/1021/united-states.png

English|/site/assets/files/1021/united-states.png

Deutsch|/site/assets/files/1081/german.png

 

Result German:

active|/site/assets/files/1081/german.png

English|/site/assets/files/1021/united-states.png

Deutsch|/site/assets/files/1081/german.png

 

Everything is fine with this workaround. But why isn't working with the first code? Thanks for any help.

 

Environment:

PHP 5

ProcessWire 2.7.2

[cstevensjr]

Environment:

PHP 5

ProcessWire 2.7.2

Can you please be more specific on the version of PHP that you are using (i.e. 5.3.8, 5.4, 5.5 or 5.6)?

[BitPoet]

I've stumbled over the same behavior a few days ago running PHP 7 and PW version 3.0.15, so it's not limited to either of those.

[cstevensjr]

I've stumbled over the same behavior a few days ago running PHP 7 and PW version 3.0.15, so it's not limited to either of those.

That's good to know and will help in getting this problem resolved.  The question was asked because the OP stated PHP 5, which would be less than what's required to run ProcessWire.

[Friedrich]

Sorry, forgot to mention it. It is PHP 5.5.9.

Oh, you had the same error in version 3. Then it seems to be not fixed yet (if this is actually a bug).

[MilenKo]

Hello. I just decided today to get rid of the language names and use flags for a project of mine and got the same issue mentioned by @Friedrich and @BitPoet after setting my languages to Bulgarian (default), English and Russian. For both  - the Russian and English language the icon shows promptly, however only for the Bulgarian one (most likely for the default one) the url does not point to the file but to the folder with the language ID (in my case: site/assets/files/1010

To make the image working, I had to modify a bit the code to check if the language is Bulgarian and add the file name:

<?php
// Showing the language flags
// remember what language is set to
$savedLanguage = $user->language;
$icon = '';

echo "<span style='margin-left:34px;'>";

foreach($languages as $language) {

// if user is already viewing the page in this language, skip it
if($language->id == $savedLanguage->id) continue;

// if this page isn't viewable (active) for the language, skip it
if(!$page->viewable($language)) continue;

// set the user's language, so that the $page->url and any other
// fields we access from it will be reflective of the $language
$user->language = $language;

// ID 1010 is of my Bulgarian (problematic language)  
if($language->id == '1010' ) {
$icon = $language->lang_flag->url . "bulgaria.png";
} else {
$icon = $language->lang_flag->url;
}
// output a link to this page in the other language
echo "<span style='margin-left:10px;'><a href='$page->url'><img src='{$icon}'></a></span>";
}
echo "</span>";
// restore the original language setting
$user->language = $savedLanguage;
?>

Has anyone had a similar case and found some more elegant solution than checking for the language ID and manually assigning the file name after $lang_flag->url ?

[ottogal]

20 minutes ago, MilenKo said:

I just decided today to get rid of the language names and use flags

Have a read here:
http://daily.unitedlanguagegroup.com/stories/editorials/inside-design-language-selector-no-flags

 

[MilenKo]

@ottogal Thank you for the impressive reading. Will redo my language selector keeping the flag as the customer requested it, but will also put the language name so that it is clear what language is used. And yes, I will make sure that every language name is written as per the country standard.

[ottogal]

8 hours ago, MilenKo said:

keeping the flag as the customer requested it

No chance to make the customer read it, too?

[MilenKo]

Well after your reading I went back to suggest to the "customer" who is a close friend of mine and shared the reading. So now we agreed to have the language names versus the flags or even add a dropdown box listing some countries that speak the selected languages.

Thanks again for the sharing.