Multi-language support

This article relates to older versions of Contrexx < v3

Virtual language directories

Introduction

You can tell Contrexx that it should use so called virtual language directories instead of the URL modifier langId. For instance the URI http://www.contrexx.com/index.php?section=shop&langId=2 would then be represented as http://www.contrexx.com/en/index.php?section=shop.

Important: This feature is still experimental. That means it works well in general, but there might still be one or the other unknown inconsistence within the system. On the other hand it has only be tested with the Apache web server. This is the reason why this feature can't yet be activated through a configuration option in the backend.

Configuration

Set up the rewrite engine

You need a rewrite engine that translates the virtual URIs into normal URIs (ones without containing the virtual language directory). The rewrite engine must also set the server variable REDIRECT_CONTREXX_LANG_PREFIX to the ISO-639-1 specified code of the requested language.

You can use one of the following rewrite configurations depending on the web server you are using.

Apache mod_rewrite example

This example can be used when using the Apache modul mod_rewrite.

Place the following directives in the file .htaccess (create it if it doesn't already exists) in the directory where Contrexx is installed. Replace the URL www.example.com with your own.

RewriteEngine On

####################
# URI redirections #
####################
# Move to www.example.com (we don't wanna serve this page without the subdomain www)
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.example.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^.*$ http://www.example.com%{REQUEST_URI} [L,NC,R=301]
# If so, then load language defined by cookie
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} langId=([a-z]{2})
RewriteRule ^.*$ /%1%{QUERY_STRING} [L,NC,R=301]
# Add a trailing slash to the request uri if /de was requested without one
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(de|en|fr|it|da|ru|zh)$
RewriteRule ^.*$ /%1/ [L,NC,R=301]

####################################
# Request the appropriate language #
####################################
# German
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/de/index.php|^/de(/)?$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !langId [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} langId=1
RewriteRule ^de/?.*$ /index.php?%{QUERY_STRING}&langId=1 [L,NC,E=CONTREXX_LANG_PREFIX:de]
# English
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/en/index.php|^/en(/)?$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !langId [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} langId=2
RewriteRule ^en/?.*$ /index.php?%{QUERY_STRING}&langId=2 [L,NC,E=CONTREXX_LANG_PREFIX:en]
# French
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/fr/index.php|^/fr(/)?$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !langId [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} langId=3
RewriteRule ^fr/?.*$ /index.php?%{QUERY_STRING}&langId=3 [L,NC,E=CONTREXX_LANG_PREFIX:fr]
# Italian (deactivated)
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/it/index.php|^/it(/)?$
#RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !langId [OR]
#RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} langId=4
#RewriteRule ^it/?.*$ /index.php?%{QUERY_STRING}&langId=4 [L,NC,E=CONTREXX_LANG_PREFIX:it]
# Danish
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/da/index.php|^/da(/)?$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !langId [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} langId=5
RewriteRule ^da/?.*$ /index.php?%{QUERY_STRING}&langId=5 [L,NC,E=CONTREXX_LANG_PREFIX:da]
# Russian (deactivated)
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/ru/index.php|^/ru(/)?$
#RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !langId [OR]
#RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} langId=6
#RewriteRule ^ru/?.*$ /index.php?%{QUERY_STRING}&langId=6 [L,NC,E=CONTREXX_LANG_PREFIX:ru]
# Chinese
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/zh/index.php|^/zh(/)?$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !langId [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} langId=7
RewriteRule ^zh/?.*$ /index.php?%{QUERY_STRING}&langId=7 [L,NC,E=CONTREXX_LANG_PREFIX:zh]

########################
# Serving normal files #
########################
# Request language specific sitemap.xml
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(de|en|fr|it|da|ru|zh)/sitemap.xml$
RewriteRule ^(de|en|fr|it|da|ru|zh)/.*$ /sitemap_$1.xml [L,NC]
# Request normal files like images or style sheets
RewriteCond %{IS_SUBREQ} false
RewriteRule ^(?:de|en|fr|it|da|ru|zh)/(.*)$ /$1 [L,NC,R=301]
# Move to index.php if the requested file doesn't exist
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^.*$ http://www.example.com [L,NC,R=301]

Internet Information Services

Not example available yet. See Rewrite Engines for IIS

Active the option in Contrexx

You have to active this option manually by doing the following tasks:

1. Execute the following SQL statement in the Backend section Database Manager > SQL:
   UPDATE `DBPREFIX_settings` SET `setvalue` = 'on' WHERE `setname` = 'useVirtualLanguagePath';
   Replace DBPREFIX_ with the appropriate prefix.
2. Go to the section Basic Configuration and write the configuration file by invoking the Save button.