[geeklog-devtalk] multi language version of static pages out for testing

[arthur]

Hi-

I've been hacking at GL to create a site that can switch between  
English and Spanish _content_ on the fly. In order to do this, I've  
done quite a bit of modification. Because I've definately done this as  
more of a hack, I'm only releasing a modified version of the Static  
Pages plugin for the mean time. I want to see if there is interest and  
support to do this correctly application wide- though, you can see my  
dev area which does do this here:

http://red.eggplantmedia.com/tlc/public_html/staticpages/index.php? 
page=2004020223513791

basically what i have done is added fields to the content entry area  
for spanish titles and body text (for the articles, I also added the  
intro text). Based on the cookie's language setting, either english or  
spanish content is displayed.

you can download the WAY WAY beta release here:
http://eggplantmedia.com/~arthur/StaticPagesML-0.2.tgz

if you follow the readme, this will add a second static pages to your  
site and add the staticpages_ml to your database. You should not run  
this on a production site. It's not tested enough, and it's a hack.  
It's working for me, but you should play with it before you trust me.

I've posted the read me file here so that you can get a sense of  
things. I've never ever released anything before, so I don't really  
know how to do this. I basically just stole the whole structure of the  
existing static pages install and changed it around to fit my needs. If  
you play with this, let me know- I'd like to hear if this is useful for  
people.....

If you're more interested, I've gone through the process of modify the  
calendar, blocks, and stories
Basically the crux of this is that i've replaced lots of the calls to  
the database results:
$A['title'] has become $A[$title_lang] in the display logic sections

If content areas are defined which could have the possibility of being  
multi language in the future, then this will save lots of work. It's  
then possible to define $title_lang as   "title". $language Once this  
gets connected back to an intelligent content language system, it would  
be possible to add different kinds of languages as the user needs. Of  
course, it means that plugins need to declare what their content fields  
are to the language module, but then there could be standardized fields  
like title_languageName content_languageName etc. Is anybody interested  
in working on this kind of modification with me?





Static Pages With Multi Language Support version .2
----------------------------------------------
* This hack is based on: *
* Staticpages Geeklog Plug-in version 1.3.2 *
* September 12, 2003 *
----------------------------------------------

arthur at eggplantmedia.com did the work, but this is still a major hack.

This document has been modifed to reflect the multi language support

ML = multi language. Right now, this is main/spanish support, where  
main can be any language. ML support means that content changes based  
on cookie data- if the user chooses to display the site in spanish, and  
there is spanish content in the ML static page they are viewing, the  
spanish content will be displayed. If they choose another language, the  
default language will be displayed.


In This Document
----------------

Welcome
List of Files with Descriptions
License
Support
How To Help
Known Issues
System Requirements and Installation
Security Issues
Uninstalling
Special Thanks

Welcome
-------
This Staticpages Geeklog Plug-in is the source code and database that  
is used to
for creating multi language staticpages in Geeklog. Like Geeklog this
has is released under the GNU General Public License. It is a bona fide  
Open
Source / Free Software project.

The 1.3.x modification have been made by: Alex Richardson.  
alexx at eyedocgreg.com

Original Authors: Tony Bibbs - tony at tonybibbs.com
Tom Willett - twillett at users.sourceforge.net



LIST OF FILES WITH DESCRIPTIONS
-------------------------------

FILE: /path/to/geeklog/public_html/admin/plugins/staticpages/install.php
DESCRIPTION: Will modify your database for static pages with ML support

FILE: /path/to/geeklog/public_html/admin/plugins/staticpages/index.php
DESCRIPTION: Static page editor code. Has ML support

FILE: /path/to/geeklog/public_html/staticpages_ml/index.php
DESCRIPTION: This is the code to display multi-language static pages.

FILE: /path/to/geeklog/plugins/staticpages/functions.inc
DESCRIPTION: Implements the Geeklog Plugin-API and has any common  
functions

FILE:  
/path/to/geeklog/plugins/staticpages_ml/templates/admin/editor.thtml
DESCRIPTION: Template file for displaying the static page editor. Has  
been edited
for ML support

LICENSE
-------
Like GeekLog, the Static Page Plug-in is licensed under the: GPL. There  
should be an included LICENSE file
if it really interests you (or you having trouble sleeping) go ahead a  
read it.

In a nice gesture you could provide a link back to Geeklog and the  
Static Page Geeklog Plug-in:

http://geeklog.sourceforge.net/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/geeklogplugins

SUPPORT
-------
If you have questions abou my modifications, contact me at

arthur at eggplantmedia.com

Additionally the GeekLog home page is a good source of information at:
http://www.geeklog.net

Finally, you can try the Geeklog Mailing list at:
http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/geeklog-devel.


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND INSTALLATION
------------------------------------
You must install this plugin-in with Geeklog version 1.3.8.x. This  
plug-in was
developed on 1.3.8-1 and has not been tested on earlier versions. THIS  
PLUGIN IS INCOMPLETE.
I HAVE NOT DONE EXTENSIVE TESTING it works for me, but your milage my  
very.

Geeklog 1.3.8 includes Staticpages 1.3, This distribution includes only  
the files needed

to upgrade from 1.3 (or 1.3.x) to 1.3.3.



UPGRADING (As noted above, this package is only used to upgrade from  
1.3.x to 1.3.3)

---------
To install:

1) BACKUP YOUR EXISTING FILES FIRST. DO A DATABASE BACK UP. NOT JOKING!

2) After unziping the package, replace the following files with the  
files in this package.

3) Move the admin/staticpages_ml/index.php and  
admin/staticpages_ml/install.php files to
/path/to/geeklog/public_html/admin/plugins/staticpages_ml/
NOTE: you must use that directory name

4) Move the public_html/staticpages_ml/index.php file to  
/path/to/geeklog/public_html/staticpages_ml/
NOTE: you must use that directory name

5) Move: plugins/staticpages_ml/functions.inc
plugins/staticpages_ml/config.inc
plugins/staticpages_ml/language/
plugins/staticpages_ml/templates/

to /path/to/geeklog/plugins/staticpages_ml/
NOTE: you must use that directory name


6) Add the following to /path/to/geeklog/system/lib-database.php

// the ML static pages plugin
$_TABLES['staticpages_ml'] = $_DB_table_prefix . 'staticpages_ml';

you should be able to see where this fits in- there is a list of lines  
that are
extremely similar to this- tag it on just underneath the normal static  
pages entry.

7) That's it!



SECURITY ISSUES
---------------
It is up to you to properly secure your database, web server and host
settings. If you are looking for information in securing your system
some starting points that are recommended are:

http://www.php.net
http://www.mysql.com
http://www.apache.org
http://www.devshed.com
http://www.securityfocus.com
http://www.linux.com

ENJOY!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
arthur at eggplantmedia.com   |   www.eggplantmedia.com