MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

els · 2012-02-06 00:57:41

I said ‘hardly’ ;) So far either Steve or Graeme have updated MLP when a new Txp version required it, but both don’t seem to have the time to really maintain it (when txpforge.org is up again, have a look at the issue tracker). Will they find the time when the next Txp version is released, or will MLP users be stuck with 4.4.1 for months? If you look at this thread, I think there hasn’t been a single dev reply for maybe a year…
Mind, I’m not blaming anyone, time seems to be a generic problem ;)

So, the answer to your question should really come from Graeme and/or Steve, I guess.

Last edited by els (2012-02-06 01:00:09)

Destry · 2012-02-06 01:22:02

Thanks, Els!

Just so it’s clear, I’m not trying to put the screws to anyone about MLP. I’m just trying to understand if I (and the magazine) should promote multilingual functionality with Textpattern to audiences greater than this forum.

Until it’s proven otherwise, I think the answer is no.

datorhaexa · 2012-02-06 09:15:33

The “no” is the answer I would have not liked to hear, for various reasons, but the way things look, one may at least not give a definite answer. Better indefinite than a definite no, which is also not exactly true. I hope that those interested will seek further and get the indefinite no because many things in Textpattern are an indefinite no. Or, an indefinite yes. Part of the charme really.

Destry · 2012-02-06 10:03:51

datorhaexa wrote:

The “no” is the answer I would have not liked to hear, for various reasons, but the way things look, one may at least not give a definite answer. Better indefinite than a definite no, which is also not exactly true.

Well, I didn’t mean “no” as something you would literally say in a features list, for example. I meant no to the hypothetical question, does Textpattern CMS cater to multilingual publishing? Since it doesn’t, I wouldn’t mention anything at all regarding multilingual publishing in official communication, except to direct public questions about it (and you have to be honest in that case). If/when that situation changes with core, or MLP becomes something more than a hope and prayer, then we can proactively change tune in copy and promote multilingual publishing as a feature.

els · 2012-02-06 14:34:46

Destry wrote:

(…) direct public questions about it (and you have to be honest in that case).

My reply to such a question would be something like this. Yes, there are various options for multilingual publishing:

MLP, the most sophisticated way (but, especially when used on a client’s site, keep in mind that maintenance is not guaranteed and it can ‘break’ when Txp is upgraded)
Robert’s poor man’s solution
using Txp’s conditional tags and
- languages as sections
- languages as categories
- and I’m sure it can be done in other ways as well (custom fields, variables, adi_gps)

Personally I prefer MLP of course, and I’m using it on a couple of sites that I have easy access to (because I know how to rebuild these sites without MLP in case it should really break…). But as it is now I wouldn’t use it on an actual client’s site.

Destry · 2012-02-06 14:52:27

Mmmm… For me, no. Those are not solid responses from a business standpoint. Anyone looking at Textpattern CMS from a biz perspective wil not buy that. So for me it still stands: don’t mention it as a capability.

els · 2012-02-06 15:01:45

Destry wrote:

don’t mention it as a capability.

I agree with that, sorry if it wasn’t clear. But if someone asks, then my reply would be as above.

Destry · 2012-02-06 16:04:40

Ah… I see what you mean, Els. Okay.

In that case it’s probably best to consider the source of the inquiry. The ‘poor man’s solution’ or ‘MLP’ but it’s ‘unsupported’ responses might be okay for the weekend webmaster/coder, but telling that to XYZ company looking for a CMS having a reliable multilingual publishing ability—and there’s a lot of them out there looking—it’s probably not good information, as it could be mistook for a bad impression on the CMS overall.

els · 2012-02-06 16:32:11

Exactly.

datorhaexa · 2012-02-06 18:23:52

I have at least one MLP site that is quite well used by clients and has been as reliable as it gets so far (knock on wood). Just sayin’. I can see where Els is coming from on this though.

We really need more attention given to multilingualism and I’m preaching to the quire.

planeth · 2012-02-08 15:12:01

Hi everybody,

i’m installing mlp-4.3.0.12 over an already running txp site.

Until know i’ve managed to make things run but i’ve encountered a block :
in a single article context the link generated by l10n_lang_list tag show the wrong language.
To make it clear, say the article my-site.com/en/my-section/my-interesting-article is on display, the link to the french version shows : my-site.com/en/my-section/mon-article-en-version-francaise.
The title has been changed ok but the language part of the url is not changed to “fr”.
Same the other way around (if i’m browsing the french article the link to the english one still has the fr part.

Trying to extract a useful hint from this long thread has not been successful !

planeth · 2012-02-08 16:14:41

Never mind, i understood the problem :
in the english section there is a link directing to a french article.
This is short cutting (i guess) the normal process for setting the appropriate language.

elwins · 2012-02-10 15:04:58

Ar spraudņa ielādi ir radušās problēmas: l10n -> Warning: include_once(/var/www/clients/client10/web80/web/w/textpattern/lib/l10n_base.php) [function.include-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory on line 326
textpattern/lib/txplib_misc.php(653) : eval()'d code:326 include_once()
textpattern/lib/txplib_misc.php:653 eval()
textpattern/index.php:121 load_plugins()
Ar spraudņa ielādi ir radušās problēmas: l10n -> Warning: include_once() [function.include]: Failed opening '/var/www/clients/client10/web80/web/w/textpattern/lib/l10n_base.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') on line 326
textpattern/lib/txplib_misc.php(653) : eval()'d code:326 include_once()
textpattern/lib/txplib_misc.php:653 eval()
textpattern/index.php:121 load_plugins()
Ar spraudņa ielādi ir radušās problēmas: l10n -> Warning: include_once(/var/www/clients/client10/web80/web/w/textpattern/lib/l10n_admin_classes.php) [function.include-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory on line 358
textpattern/lib/txplib_misc.php(653) : eval()'d code:358 include_once()
textpattern/lib/txplib_misc.php:653 eval()
textpattern/index.php:121 load_plugins()
Ar spraudņa ielādi ir radušās problēmas: l10n -> Warning: include_once() [function.include]: Failed opening '/var/www/clients/client10/web80/web/w/textpattern/lib/l10n_admin_classes.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') on line 358
textpattern/lib/txplib_misc.php(653) : eval()'d code:358 include_once()
textpattern/lib/txplib_misc.php:653 eval()
textpattern/index.php:121 load_plugins()

Fatal error: Class ‘MLPPlugin’ not found in /var/www/clients/client10/web80/web/textpattern/lib/txplib_misc.php(653) : eval()’d code on line 359

——————-
I have TXP 4.4.1
mlp-0.9.11.zip

What I did wrong? :(

Last edited by elwins (2012-02-10 16:07:08)

slabanosa · 2012-02-10 17:03:35

Elvis, have you installed MLP in a subdirectory or a subdomain ?

els · 2012-02-10 18:05:58

Elvis, did you copy all the files in the package to your server? Unfortunately txpforge.org is down, so I can’t point you to the installation instructions, but here are the relevant parts in the readme.txt file:

There are a set of three plugins and various other files that comprise the pack. 
Here's the file tree...

MLP
 |-- Licence (GNU GPL licence text)
 |-- README.txt (this file)
 |
 |-- (TxP404 only. Don't use this.)
 |        |
 |        |-- textpattern
 |                    |-- publish.php
 |
 |-- example pages (example textpattern pages using l10n tags)
 |        |
 |        |-- default.txt
 |        |-- archive.txt
 |        |-- error_default.txt
 |
 |-- plugins (you will need to install these plugins)
 |        |
 |        |-- l10n.txt (the main l10n plugin)
 |        |-- gbp_admin_library.txt (Graeme's admin lib)
 |        |-- zem_contact_lang-mlp.txt (l10n compatible strings lib)
 |        |
 |        |-- sources (for GNU GPL completeness)
 |                |-- l10n.php (source code for the l10n.txt file)
 |                |-- zem_contact_lang_mlp.php (source code for the zem_contact_lang_mlp.txt file)
 | 
 |-- textpattern (you will need to copy these files into your txp installation)
             | 
             |-- l10n.css (the MLP Pack's css file) --> copy to /textpattern/
             |
             |-- txp_img (l10n images in here) --> copy to /textpattern/txp_img/
             |       |
             |       |-- l10n_clone.png
             |       |-- l10n_delete.png
             |   
             |-- lib (files used by the l10n pluign) --> copy to /textpattern/lib/
                  |
                  |-- l10n_langs.php (ISO codes and names)
                  |-- txplib_db.php (modified db layer supporting MLP) 
                  |-- l10n_base.php (the basic public+admin file)
                  |-- l10n_admin.php (extra admin routines)
                  |-- l10n_admin_classes.php (classes used only admin side)
                  |-- l10n_default_strings.php (Declares which language file to use by default)
                  |-- l10n_en-gb_strings.php (English (GB) strings for MLP Pack)
                  |-- l10n_el-gr_strings.php (Greek strings for MLP Pack)


GETTING IT INSTALLED AND CONFIGURED.
===================================


PRE-INSTALL
-----------

1) Install all the TxP languages you wish your site to serve. You can add more
later if you wish but the plugin's setup wizard will use this initial list as 
part of it's setup routine to populate the l10n preferences.

To setup languages in TxP go to admin > preferences and then hit the 
'manage languages' button to enter the languages page.

If you want a site in English, French and Japanese then make sure you install
those languages now then switch to the language that you wish to consider the
default language of the site.


INSTALL
-------

1) (MANDATORY) Open the 'textpattern' folder and copy the entire contents 
to your textpattern installation.

You will need to overwrite the existing file txplib_db.php when you do so.

NB: If you update your textpattern installation at a later date you will 
overwrite the txplib_db.php file with the new one in the textpattern update.

If you do so, the MLP Pack will no longer work until you restore an MLP 
version of the txplib_db.php file.

2) (MANDATORY) Install and activate the three files from the /plugin(s) 
directory you will need to install and activate the new gbp_admin_library before
you activate the l10n plugin.

Yes, you *must* overwrite the old v0.1 gbp_admin_library supplied by 
Graeme for the original gbp_l10n plugin with at least version 0.4 of the library
as supplied by this pack. 


POST INSTALL
------------

1) (MANDATORY) Run the MLP setup wizard. Once you have completed the above
steps, go to the top level 'contents' tab and you will see a new subtab called
'MLP' clicking on that will bring up the setup wizard.

Please review the steps that the MLP setup will take -- they are quite 
invasive -- as it prepares your TxP installation for MLP use.

When you are ready simply click the 'Next' button at the bottom of the wizard
page and l10n will start analysing your existing articles and the currently 
installed list of languages.

A rerun of the setup wizard will use the previous language settings rather than 
the list of languages currently installed on the admin side.

Last edited by els (2012-02-10 18:06:29)

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#1921 2012-02-06 00:57:41

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1922 2012-02-06 01:22:02

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1923 2012-02-06 09:15:33

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1924 2012-02-06 10:03:51

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1925 2012-02-06 14:34:46

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1926 2012-02-06 14:52:27

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1927 2012-02-06 15:01:45

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1928 2012-02-06 16:04:40

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1929 2012-02-06 16:32:11

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1930 2012-02-06 18:23:52

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1931 2012-02-08 15:12:01

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1932 2012-02-08 16:14:41

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1933 2012-02-10 15:04:58

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1934 2012-02-10 17:03:35

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

#1935 2012-02-10 18:05:58

Re: MLP - The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack

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