Multiple Language Support

Started by Simple Machinist, February 23, 2010, 07:34:51 PM

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DanceFit

I have all the UTF files I need in languages folder and I can switch the forum to any of those languages: all the functionality buttons are switched from English to whatever language I switch them to.
When I create Category, Board or a New Topic none of these are reflecting properly - all the names, descriptions and post text show as question marks.

Is it my DB? I've set it to UTF8-generic.....

GravuTrad

so you have utf8 problem. are you sure that you database is in utf8 and not in another one charset? It seems that your charset is incorrect.
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DanceFit

Server: Localhost via UNIX socket
Server version: 5.1.46-log
Protocol version: 10
User: u765467@localhost
MySQL charset: UTF-8 Unicode (utf8)


I've set my db to utf8_general_ci. Also tried utf8_unicode and utf8_bin

GravuTrad

have you tried the convert database maintenance tool in the smf admin?
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DanceFit

just tried it - didn't work.
But!.....

Looks like like I am in the process of fixing it finally!
Generic reset of DB to UTF8 does not work. I have to go through every single tale and set each charset to utf8-general-ci manually.
Lots of work, but at least it's working.

Thanks for your prompt replies - it did help me to get on the right track faster.

Regards!

GravuTrad

if you use phpmyadmin surely yes.
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Relyana

Quote from: DanceFit on July 09, 2010, 02:33:40 PM
the ones that came with the installation of SMF 1.1.11
Where should I check?

How did you install your forum? Did you manually uploaded the smf files or did you simply press a button, followed a few steps and got the forum automatically installed? :)

agridoc

#27
I didn't see this topic earlier, notification didn't work.  :(

Linking to your site I see that it has ISO-8859-1 (English) codepage. This means that you have  database tables in latin_swedish_ci collation. You may see that the database is in UTF-8 but examining tables and fields you will see that have latin_swedish_ci collation. Check it with PhpMyAdmin from your host's database utilities. In a proper UTF-8 SMF installation, database tables and fields are in utf8_general_ci.

Just using a UTF-8 language is not a solution, if SMF is not properly set for UTF-8.

You want a multilingual SMF with English and Thai language. You can cheat without converting to UTF-8, see Multilingual in SMF 1.1RC2 without UTF for Greek and other languages?, I hope it works with Thai too. This is an older approach but it works, with limitations.

The other, more formal approach, is converting to UTF-8 from SMF's Admin panel > Maintenance: Database
Convert the database and data to UTF-8
http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=148.msg169#msg169

Quote
  • Convert the database and data to UTF-8 This will convert your character set for both your database and data to UTF-8. This should be done with caution as it is not desirable in all cases. Upon clicking this link you will receive more information on the effects of converting to UTF-8. SMF will attempt to detect your character set for your data, but if you know your data character set is different from what is detected, you can change it using the dropdown next to Data character set.

ATTENTION: Have a database backup before proceeding or ask your host to do it for you. If you are not sure you can make it don't do it until you have confidence on what you are doing.

After proper conversion your will see in your browser UTF-8 codepage. In database table [smf_prefix]_settings you will find added a variable global_character_set = UTF-8. English has not necessarily to be UTF-8, all other languages must to work properly. Remove non English, not UT-8 language files from your /Themes/default/Languages dir.

You may find useful Language Drop Down mod for quick selection,  Multilingual AgreementsLanguage in registration.

A search in mods for language gives more ....

When you fix things, think about going a step beyond in multilingual with TinyPortal. Other portals exist but TP has been developed for multilingual and successfully working for quite some years now. A few fixes are needed in current version, Bloc is informed, I believe they will be fixed soon.
  For Greek aeromodellers and our friends around the world  - Greek Button sets for SMF - Greeklish to Greek mod
Δeν αφιερώνω χρόνο για μηνύματα σε greeklish.

rukdara

#28
I'm running into the same problem and haven't been able to fix it.

I'm not savvy with this kind of thing, so please bare with me.

When I go to phpMyAdmin it says that MySQL connection collation & charset is utf8_general_ci

However, when I go to the actual database for the smf board, some of the collation is utf8_bin and others are latin1_swedish_ci (which if I understood from the previous posts correctly, may be the problem?)

The problem is not with changing the board to running in Thai, as that is not an issue when I change the language to Thai-utf8.

The problem comes when trying to set up the various categories, boards, and posts. When I type in Thai it turns to question marks or smile faces with question marks over their heads.

I have an AJAX chat installed and I can type Thai in the chat no problem (although I noticed that under the forum log error, it reports the following "Unable to load the 'Shout.english-utf8' language file." But other than a slight delay it seems to be working fine)

the url is hxxp:ice-sarunyu.com/forum [nonactive]

I'm using version 1.1.11 ... if anyone could help me figure this out, and if you could be a bit specific in where I need to look and for what information, I would truly appreciate it

agridoc

rukdara in your database the SMF tables and fields are in latin1_swedish_ci, the others in utf8_bin are added by Ajax chat mod. It's the actual table and fields collation that affects communication with SMF. Your SMF and Ajax chat tables behave differently.

It's wrong to use UTF-8 language files in an  SMF ANSI/ISO installation, it was abandoned in late 1.0 RC2. Whatever language files you add, the menus will display OK but the content ?

In a multilingual forum we want the content written in any languages to be able to be displayed correctly, regardless of SMF language selection.
What you must understand is that there must be ONLY ONE CODEPAGE in use.

One language in forum, English and one language with language's codepage in index.english.php, UTF-8.  All three cases one codepage.

Mixing collations will result in a database where, after some time, it will be impossible to distinguish things .
  For Greek aeromodellers and our friends around the world  - Greek Button sets for SMF - Greeklish to Greek mod
Δeν αφιερώνω χρόνο για μηνύματα σε greeklish.

rukdara

Thank you for the reply, but I'm still not sure how to fix my problem, or where to go to change what I need to.  I've been playing around with a lot of different things since I posed this question and have decided to start over fresh hopefully this well help things.

But in terms of setting the collation, I didn't change any of that until just before I decided to start over. (in what seems to be minutes after you may have looked at it for the reply)

Is the encoding problem due to the fact that i used fantastico to install SMF? It came with all the language packs with it, so I didn't install any of those.

It's the actual content that is giving me a problem, not having the displaying of various buttons or the chat

agridoc

#31
In the past Fantastico did a pseudo-UTF-8 installation. I wil give you a link for a translated from Greek sticky topic about Fantastico in Greek support board. This is a machine translation but basic things can be understood. A fix is included.

This message is about one and a half year ago, I don't know if it's fixed. It might be your case, check it.

SMF suggests a clean installation from files downloaded from this site.

Quote from: rukdara on July 18, 2010, 07:16:25 PMIt's the actual content that is giving me a problem, not having the displaying of various buttons or the chat

As I explained before the SMF language files will display correctly (static content), the problem is with data (dynamic content). Ajax chat uses UTF-8 tables.
  For Greek aeromodellers and our friends around the world  - Greek Button sets for SMF - Greeklish to Greek mod
Δeν αφιερώνω χρόνο για μηνύματα σε greeklish.

rukdara

Quote from: agridoc on July 19, 2010, 12:12:46 PM
Quote from: rukdara on July 18, 2010, 07:16:25 PMIt's the actual content that is giving me a problem, not having the displaying of various buttons or the chat

As I explained before the SMF language files will display correctly (static content), the problem is with data (dynamic content). Ajax chat uses UTF-8 tables.

Yes, I know that the SMF language files are not a problem, my problem was what you quoted in bold in your first reply to me and I what I was looking for was a way to fix it.  I guess that didn't translate.

At any rate, I was able to figure out how to edit mysql myself and now I am able to write in thai.

agridoc

rukdara you still have an SMF installation that defaults in ISO-8859-1 in english and you also use UTF-8 in thai-utf8.

Can you give a link with a topic in Thai?
  For Greek aeromodellers and our friends around the world  - Greek Button sets for SMF - Greeklish to Greek mod
Δeν αφιερώνω χρόνο για μηνύματα σε greeklish.

zarkani

Hi,
Can I add a language choice for my visitors so that they can choose their own language when they start the registration? I have already installed the other language.
Example, add an icon or flag where the visitor can click to choose a language?
thx

agridoc

Quote from: agridoc on July 17, 2010, 12:37:20 PMYou may find useful Language Drop Down mod for quick selection,  Multilingual AgreementsLanguage in registration.

A search in mods for language gives more ....

When you fix things, think about going a step beyond in multilingual with TinyPortal. Other portals exist but TP has been developed for multilingual and successfully working for quite some years now. A few fixes are needed in current version, Bloc is informed, I believe they will be fixed soon.
  For Greek aeromodellers and our friends around the world  - Greek Button sets for SMF - Greeklish to Greek mod
Δeν αφιερώνω χρόνο για μηνύματα σε greeklish.

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