This is a Laravel 4 package for translatable models. Its goal is to remove the complexity in retrieving and storing multilingual model instances. With this package you write less code, as the translations are being fetched/saved when you fetch/save your instance.

If you want to store translations of your models into the database, this package is for you.

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Getting translated attributes

  $country = Country::where('iso', '=', 'gr')->first();
  echo $country->en->name; // Greece
  
  App::setLocale('en');
  echo $country->name;     // Greece

  App::setLocale('de');
  echo $country->name;     // Griechenland

Saving translated attributes

  $country = Country::where('iso', '=', 'gr')->first();
  echo $country->en->name; // Greece
  
  $country->en->name = 'abc';
  $country->save();
  
  $country = Country::where('iso', '=', 'gr')->first();
  echo $country->en->name; // abc

Filling multiple translations

  $data = array(
    'iso' => 'gr',
    'en'  => array('name' => 'Greece'),
    'fr'  => array('name' => 'Grèce'),
  );

  $country = Country::create($data);
  
  echo $country->fr->name; // Grèce

Please note that deleting an instance will delete the translations, while soft-deleting the instance will not delete the translations.

Add the package in your composer.json file and run composer update.

{
    "require": {
        "dimsav/laravel-translatable": "2.*"
    }
}

Let's say you have a model Country. To save the translations of countries you need in total two model classes and two tables.

Create your migrations:

Schema::create('countries', function(Blueprint $table)
{
    $table->increments('id');
    $table->string('iso');
    $table->timestamps();
});

Schema::create('country_translations', function(Blueprint $table)
{
    $table->increments('id');
    $table->integer('country_id')->unsigned();
    $table->string('name');
    $table->string('locale')->index();

    $table->unique(['country_id','locale']);
    $table->foreign('country_id')->references('id')->on('countries');
});

The models:

1. The translatable model Country should use the trait Dimsav\Translatable\Translatable.
2. The convention for the translation model is CountryTranslation.

// models/Country.php
class Country extends Eloquent {
    
    use \Dimsav\Translatable\Translatable;
    
    public $translatedAttributes = array('name');
    protected $fillable = ['iso', 'name'];

}

// models/CountryTranslation.php
class CountryTranslation extends Eloquent {

    public $timestamps = false;
    protected $fillable = ['name'];

}

The array $translatedAttributes contains the names of the fields being translated in the "Translation" model.

Finally, you have to inform the package about the languages you plan to use for translation. This allows us to use the syntax $country->es->name.

// app/config/app.php

return array(

  // Just enter this array somewhere near your default locale
  'locales' => array('en', 'fr', 'es'),
  
  // The default locale
  'locale' => 'en',
  
);

Note: There isn't any restriction for the format of the locales. Feel free to use whatever suits you better, like "eng" instead of "en", or "el" instead of "gr". The important is to define your locales and stick to them till the end.

Both Laravel versions 4.0 and 4.1 play nice with the package.

Got any question or suggestion? Feel free to open an Issue.

• Translatable is now a trait and can be used as add-on to your models.
• 100% code coverage

• Initial version
• Translatable is a class extending Eloquent
• 96% code coverage