Show the language according to the IP

Question

I have a multi-language Joomla 3.4 that at the moment only has 2 languages:

1. my-domain.com/en/
2. my-domain.com/es/

I want to redirect the visitor to EN/ES according to their IP (with this library).

I put my redirect code in the /templates/my-template/index.php file. This is my code:

if ( !isset($_SESSION["client_country"]) ) {
    $_SESSION["client_country"] = getCountryFromIP($_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]);
    $client_country = $_SESSION["client_country"];
    $_SESSION["total_redirections"] = 1;

    if ( ($client_country == "EN") || ($client_country == "UK") ) {
        header('Location: http://www.my-domain.com/en/');
    }
    else {
        header('Location: http://www.my-domain.com/es/');
    }
}
else {
    $_SESSION["total_redirections"] ++;
    $client_country = $_SESSION["client_country"];

    if ( $_SESSION["total_redirections"] <= 2 ) {
        if ( ($client_country == "EN") || ($client_country == "UK") ) {
            header('Location: http://www.my-domain.com/en/');
        }
        else {
            header('Location: http://www.my-domain.com/es/');
        }
    }
}

The problem:

• My first and second visits: I am correctly redirected to EN/ES according to my IP.
• My third and subsequent visits: I am no longer redirected to EN/ES according to my IP (I'm redirected to the website's default
  language).

How do I fix this?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Just to re-iterate on what @FFrewin said in the comments, this is a very bad idea and should not be done via IP. I'm British and I lived in Spain for a few years, but this doesn't mean I wanted websites to be automatically displayed to me in Spanish.

As for the session, I'd suggest using Joomla's JSession API rather ths PHP native $_SESSION and you should be using a system plugin for this, not pushing the code into the template.

Firstly, have a lok at this: https://docs.joomla.org/J3.x:Creating_a_Plugin_for_Joomla

Then for the actual plugin code, you'll want to use something like the following:

<?php

defined( '_JEXEC' ) or die;

class plgSystemSOMETHING extends JPlugin
{
    protected $autoloadLanguage = true;

    public function onBeforeRender()
    {
        include 'path/to/geoiploc.php';

        $address = JFactory::getApplication();
        $session = JFactory::getSession();
        $country = $session->get('client_country');

        if (!isset($country))
        {
            $session->set('client_country', getCountryFromIP($app->input->server->get('REMOTE_ADDR')));
            $session->set('total_redirections', 1);

            $country = $session->get('client_country');

            if ($country == 'EN' || $country == 'UK')
            {
                $app->redirect(JRoute::_('http://www.my-domain.com/en'));
            }
            else
            {
                $app->redirect(JRoute::_('http://www.my-domain.com/es'));
            }
        }
        else
        {
            $total = $session->get('total_redirections');
            $total ++;

            if ($total <= 2 )
            {
                if ($country == 'EN' || $country == 'UK')
                {
                    $app->redirect(JRoute::_('http://www.my-domain.com/en'));
                }
                else
                {
                    $app->redirect(JRoute::_('http://www.my-domain.com/es'));
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Code is untested so may need tweaking.

Answer 2

Redirecting the users to the language you believe they will want based on their IP is a bad UX idea.

However, regarding why your code might be stopping after your 2nd visit, likely it is related to the fact that you set $_SESSION['total_redirections']=1; which you are increasing it with $_SESSION['total_redirections']++; and then you do whatever you do with this condition: if ( $_SESSION["total_redirections"] <= 2 ).

So, the $_SESSION["client_country"] likely is already set, so you run at your else where the $_SESSION["total_redirections"] is >2 after your 2 visits, so there is nothing left more in your code to be done.

But again, even if you fix your code and make it work the way you like, reconsider the idea of doing this re-direction on behalf of your users.

Answer 3

I found a solution to Redirect the user by his browser language. This is my code:

<?php
  $url = (isset($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] === 'on' ? "https" : "http") . "://$_SERVER[HTTP_HOST]$_SERVER[REQUEST_URI]";
  $lang = substr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], 0, 2);
  $path = parse_url($url, PHP_URL_PATH);
  $pathFragments = explode('/', $path);
  $end = end($pathFragments);
  if ($lang == "de") {
      header("Location: https://example.com/de/{$end}");
  }
?>

I hope this helps if someone needs it. Greets, Magnus