`translation:extract` Command
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Login SubscribeSo far, we've been creating translation keys and manually adding them, and their values to messages.en.yaml. But did you know there's an alternative method that automates part of this process?
We'll translate these two remaining menu items: "Weather" and "Journal".
Open templates/base.html.twig and find the text for these menu items. Follow our usual routine of coming up with a key, and using the trans filter. {{ 'base.weather'|trans }} and {{ 'base.journal'|trans }}:
| // ... line 1 | |
| <html lang="{{ app.locale }}"> | |
| // ... lines 3 - 17 | |
| <body class="bg-[url('../images/bg-planet.png')] bg-contain bg-no-repeat"> | |
| <nav class="flex items-center justify-between flex-wrap py-6 mx-auto px-4"> | |
| <div class="flex items-end flex-shrink-0 mr-6 text-white"> | |
| // ... lines 21 - 24 | |
| <a href="#" class="hidden ml-4 mt-4 lg:inline-block lg:mt-0 hover:text-[#5BA8DC] mr-4">{{ 'base.weather'|trans }}</a> | |
| <a href="#" class="hidden ml-4 mt-4 lg:inline-block lg:mt-0 hover:text-[#5BA8DC] mr-4">{{ 'base.journal'|trans }}</a> | |
| </div> | |
| // ... lines 28 - 76 | |
| </nav> | |
| // ... lines 78 - 85 | |
| </body> | |
| </html> |
Ok, instead of manually adding these entries to our messages.en.yaml file, head over to your terminal and run:
symfony console translation:extract en --dump-messages
This command is similar to debug:translation in that it scans your code and finds translation keys. These keys in green are those new ones we added and don't have entries in our messages.en.yaml file yet.
Adding New Keys to YAML File
We can use the command to auto-add these new keys to our YAML file. Run the command again, but replace --dump-messages with --force. Then, add --format=yaml so it writes as YAML, and --as-tree=3 to keep the keys indented three levels deep in the YAML file.
symfony console translation:extract en --force --format=yaml --as-tree=3
Hop back to messages.en.yaml and check it out! Here's our new keys!
| base: | |
| // ... lines 2 - 3 | |
| weather: __base.weather | |
| journal: __base.journal | |
| // ... lines 6 - 9 |
The values are the key names prefixed with __ (two underscores). This can help you quickly find them if there are a bunch. This prefix can be customized if desired.
Replace these with the proper text: "Weather" and "Journal":
| base: | |
| // ... lines 2 - 3 | |
| weather: Weather | |
| journal: Journal | |
| // ... lines 6 - 9 |
Refresh your app and presto... well nothing changed - but we know it's working!
If you're mass translating an existing site like we are, I find this method can be more cumbersome than our previous process. What ends up happening is, when mass adding keys in your code, once you extract them, you forget the original text!
But! This method works great when developing a new feature. You can add the keys for text in your code, and figure out the actual text later.
Converting To Different Formats
This command has another cool, perhaps unintended, feature!
Let's say you have a translation service who asks you to send your translations file in English, and they'll send it back in French. Easy, right? Just send them messages.en.yaml. But... they don't know what the heck YAML is! They want the file in a format their software supports: XLIFF.
No worries! The translation:extract command can convert to different formats!
Run this:
symfony console translation:extract en --force --format=xliff
In our translations/ directory, we have a new file: messages.en.xliff. Open that up.
Ugh! Gross! XML!
No worries - translation software loves it! Just send them this file and tell them to swap the <target> text, which is English, with the French translations.
When you get it back, just rename it to messages.fr.xliff and place it back in the translations/ directory. Just fudge the first <target> to read "(French) Local Asteroids":
| // ... line 1 | |
| <xliff xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2" version="1.2"> | |
| <file source-language="en" target-language="en" datatype="plaintext" original="file.ext"> | |
| // ... lines 4 - 6 | |
| <body> | |
| <trans-unit id="SWPFW5B" resname="base.local_asteroids"> | |
| // ... line 9 | |
| <target>(French) Local Asteroids</target> | |
| </trans-unit> | |
| // ... lines 12 - 27 | |
| </body> | |
| </file> | |
| </xliff> |
Back in our app, switch to the French version of this page and boom! "(French) Local Asteroids".
Ok, that's enough XML for today - delete messages.fr.xliff.
So what if you don't have a translation service that you can just send these files to? No problem! There are cloud-based solutions that can help, and Symfony has integrations for them! Let's check this out next!
