Change user default language programmatically

Question

In a custom component I'm making, I need the user, in his private area, to choose the default language for the web.

It is a custom form, and I already render the language selector, but I don´t know how to change the user's parameters programmatically.

I need the user to choose the language and when saving the web has to change language if a different one is selected.

Any help is very appreciated.

Thanks

Answer 1

Run this after saving other data in your model:

$user = JFactory::getUser();

if (!$user->guest)
{
    $user->setParam('language', $language);
    $user->save();
}

Where $language is the language from form data.

You also have to bind the data to form so that selected option is shown as selected.

Answer 2

If you want to change the language of the site, you can store the language in the user param language and you will have to load it on your condition on plugin events such as onAfterRoute or onBeforeCompileHead that suits you better, as loading language should be done before the content is prepared.

As plugin event such as this is triggered at both front and admin end so you will need to place your code in proper conditions.

Set desired language using :

$lang = JFactory::getLanguage();
$lang->setLanguage("hi-IN");

But place this code in proper condition so only the intended user's language is updated.

Hope this helps, if anyone has a better way please post an answer.