Getting current language in Joomla 3 in external script seems difficult.. but works fine in J2.5

Question

I´m aware that a similar qustion is asked here: Get current language in external script (Joomla 3.3)

but it seems that noone has understood the problem correctly. I´m having the exact same problem, so here is my example, maybe it is easier to understand:

On previous Joomla sites I´ve used this script to get the current language in external script, and it works perfectly in Joomla 2.5 framework, but for some reason it doesn´t in Joomla 3.xx. In Joomla 3 $CurrentlangString always resolves to "en-GB" even though another language is active:

define( '_JEXEC', 1 );
define( '_VALID_MOS', 1 );
define( 'JPATH_BASE', $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]);
define( 'DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'defines.php' );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'framework.php' );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'libraries'.DS.'joomla'.DS.'factory.php' );

$mainframe = JFactory::getApplication('site');
$mainframe->initialise();

$Currentlang = JFactory::getLanguage();
$CurrentlangString = $Currentlang->getTag();

Please advice what is wrong here..

Here is a little bonus info that may help a little. When loading the code above in external file under Joomla 3, it seems that it does indeed load the framework, because I have no problem accessing the user object and get the current user´s infos, but for some strange reason I cannot get the current language..

Answer 1

I am making a guess here, as I can't really test this right now and I am not entirely sure I understood what you want correctly, but this should be in the correct general direction.

define( '_JEXEC', 1 );
define( 'JPATH_BASE', $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]);

require_once ( JPATH_BASE '/includes/defines.php' );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE '/includes/framework.php' );
$mainframe = JFactory::getApplication('site');
$mainframe->initialise();

$user = JFactory::getUser();
$language = $user->getParam('language', 'the default');

echo "<p>Your language is set to {$language}.</p>";

Fundamentally, hkais was correct. In Joomla! 3 the site has a default language, but not really a current language, as there might be several current users. And if you want the current language of the current user, you need ask it from the current user. Or the user you happen to be interested in. Like I said, I have no confidence I understood what you want.

Answer 2

I use the default Joomla multilingual management, no falang, no third-party plugin.

Same problem, and I spent 1 hour to find the solution.

The key is, don't try to use JFactory::getLanguage(). Instead of that, use JFactory::getSession() and retrieve the result like this:

$session = JFactory::getSession();
$lang_obj = $session->get('plg_system_languagefilter');
$lang_code = $lang_obj->{'language'} //and yes, here use curly brackets
echo $lang_code; //return e.g. en-GB, de-DE, etc.

Answer 3

Unfortunately Joomla 3 does not seem to support language initialization in external scripts.

I therefore had to construct an alternative solution, which might be of help to others wanting to code external scripts such as APPs and API´s for Joomla 3 with multilanguage support using Joomla´s override language files.

Here is what I did.

1. I transferred the current users language tag to external script as URL parameter (in my case the external script is loaded via Ajax). e.g. "/scriptfolder/externalfile.php?lang=da-DK".

2. In external script I included the following class needed to parse the override lang ini file found in /language/overrides/ (of course you can use any ini language file you like, maybe your own custom lang file from script folder):

   class ArrayINI implements ArrayAccess, IteratorAggregate {
       private $lang;
   
       public function __construct($ini) {
           $this->lang = parse_ini_file($ini);
       }
   
       function __invoke($offset) {
           return $this->offsetGet($offset);
       }
   
       public function getIterator() {
           return new ArrayIterator($this->lang);
       }
   
       public function offsetSet($offset, $value) {
           if (is_null($offset)) {
               $this->lang[] = $value;
           } else {
               $this->lang[$offset] = $value;
           }
       }
   
       public function offsetExists($offset) {
           return isset($this->lang[$offset]);
       }
   
       public function offsetUnset($offset) {
           unset($this->lang[$offset]);
       }
   
       public function offsetGet($offset) {
           return isset($this->lang[$offset]) ? $this->lang[$offset] : null;
       }
   }
   

3. Then I executed the class to parse the file like this:

   $finallangparams = $_GET['userlang'];
   $iniLang = new ArrayINI("../../language/overrides/".$finallangparams.".override.ini");
   

4. And now I can echo all the language strings I want like this example:

   echo $iniLang("PHP_CHAT_CUSTOM_NEED_HELP_FRONT");
   

And that´s it!

Answer 4

Please check this forum post, seems to be the identical issue to your issue.

http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=711&t=844514

afaik, the https://docs.joomla.org/JFactory/getLanguage getLanguage() needs a existing global language object, else a new one will be created. And I assume en-GB is your default language. So either integrate your script in to the existing session, or ensure your session gets initialized properly.