Editor permissions & active / default language | Searching for best approach

[DV-JF]

Hey girls and guys,

I'll want to open this thread in order to discuss a main problem I've run into with following setup:
 

I'm maintaining a site where different URLs are directed to the same folder. In site/ready.php the $user->language is set based on the $config->httpHost

<?php /* Set language based on the domain and user is not logged in */  

/* Slovenian */   
if(
    $config->httpHost == "www.domain.si" || 
    $config->httpHost == "domain.si" || 
    $config->httpHost == "domain.si.local") {
    if (!($user->isSuperuser()))	$user->language = $languages->get('si');
}
    
/* German */
elseif(
    $config->httpHost == "www.domain.at" || 
    $config->httpHost == "domain.at" || 
    $config->httpHost == "domain.at.local" ||
    $config->httpHost == "domain.ch" || 
    $config->httpHost == "www.domain.ch" || 
    $config->httpHost == "domain.de" || 
    $config->httpHost == "www.domain.de") {
    if (!($user->isSuperuser())) $user->language = $languages->get('default');
}

/* Croatian */
elseif(
    $config->httpHost == "www.domain.hr" || 
    $config->httpHost == "domain.hr" ||
    $config->httpHost == "domain.hr.local") {
    if (!($user->isSuperuser())) $user->language = $languages->get('hr');
}

/* English */
elseif(
    $config->httpHost == "www.domain.eu" || 
    $config->httpHost == "domain.eu" ||
    $config->httpHost == "domain.eu.local") {
    if (!($user->isSuperuser())) $user->language = $languages->get('en');
}

/* Italian */
elseif(
    $config->httpHost == "www.domain.it" || 
    $config->httpHost == "domain.it" || 
    $config->httpHost == "domain.it.local") {
    if (!($user->isSuperuser())) $user->language = $languages->get('it');
}

The homepage (id=1) has following settings:

As you can see German (Deutsch) is set as default language. Everything is working nice and fine and I'm really happy with this kind of setup but now there are some new requirements, which causes me quite a headache :

1. I've to add some pages only in one or two languages (they should not be present in German)
2. I've to create some editor roles that are allowed to only edit (can be done with https://processwire.com/docs/user-access/permissions/#multi-language-page-edit-permissions) & add pages to their specific language.

What I've found out so far:

1. The default language can't be disabled and must always be present (though this would be in my eyes the easiest solution)
2. Creating my own "language select field" - example here: won't work in this case because I've to rely on the native languages in order to setup the right permissions for editors.
3. There seems to be some solutionsbut I think these won't match for me because I've to think about handling editors and permissions, too.

After searching and searching, scratching my head and searching and searching again, the only possibility that comes to my mind is to add another language for German and assign this language to the specific URL's instead of the default language.

The advantages with this solution for me:

• I could activate or deactivate any language on any page
• Editors which are allowed to add pages can get the permission page-edit-lang-default without affecting the German pages.

The disadvantages:

• All multi-language-fields will have an empty tab for the default language - this may irritate editors a lot
• Seems to me like a lot of work to do because I've to copy the language field nearly for 1000 pages/repeaters (maybe I'll find an SQL query)

My questions:

1. How would you handle this task?
2. Could my setup be optimized in a completely different way?
3. If I go for my solution (adding another language for German) would it be possible to hide the language tab for default language in any way? 

If some points aren't clear enough please don't hesitate to ask.

Many greets...

[DV-JF]

Push...

No, ideas?

@ryan may I asked you, if you could have a look on this thread and give me a little hint ??

Many greets! 

 

[dragan]

On 10/25/2019 at 4:28 PM, DV-JF said:

The disadvantages:

• All multi-language-fields will have an empty tab for the default language - this may irritate editors a lot
• Seems to me like a lot of work to do because I've to copy the language field nearly for 1000 pages/repeaters (maybe I'll find an SQL query)

There's certainly a lot to be considered, and quite possibly I haven't thought about all pros and cons, but...

If you have the multi-language settings* "what should happen when alternate language is empty (not translated)?" -> show default language content, then the authors would still only edit the original german default tab, and simply leave the 2nd "fake" german language version alone (just make sure it's activated).

re: "don't confuse authors"
You can simply hide the 2nd german language tab via custom admin CSS or/and hooks. That way, the default tab is still the relevant one for german and is only empty if this page is really meant to not exist in german. Only potential caveat I can think of: required fields. afaik you can't say field X is only required in one language and not in another. At least not out of the box.

You'd probably have to adjust search, and navigations (don't show double entries, always rule out default, etc.)

* this is defined at field-level, and afaik is the default option

[matjazp]

I'm no expert in multilanguage, done exactly one site, so I can't give any advice. But my primary site is dual language, slovene primary, english being the second, and all that belongs to english language is under /en/ in my page structure. I have different structure, menu, pages, assets etc. Why I did it that way? Because you have all the freedom (or at least I believed so 3-4 years back when I made the site). I guess this is not a path you could take now.

[dragan]

@DV-JF Didn't you take this further? Did you read my suggestion and try it?