Using XML for multilanguage?

lachdanan · March 13th, 2005, 04:54 PM

I am working on an app which needs to be multilangual.
Would it be a good idea to store the language strings in an XML file and add it in on page creation?

I thought about creating xml files for each language (english.xml, french.xml, german.xml and so on).
The english one would look like:

Code:

<language>
<yes>Yes</yes>
<no>No</no>
...
</language>

and the french one would look like:

Code:

<language>
<yes>Oui</yes>
<no>Non</no>
...
</language>

What would be the best method to access the strings?
Is there a better/faster method?

Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions.

hnteknik · May 10th, 2005, 03:28 PM

You may try to have a look at this site:
http://fxmods.com/ open source ASP/XML Portal using Multilang. XML

I'm in the proces of turning an ASP site into multilanguage and is looking for a straight forward solution.

Let me know, if you find a solution.
Henrik

Kabe · May 19th, 2005, 08:19 AM

hi, have a look at this

http://deba.bernaert.net:8080/

also multilingual, and I strived not using any querysting.

for english version of a page you'll have this url:
http://deba.bernaert.net:8080/en/page.asp
for a dutch version:
http://deba.bernaert.net:8080/nl/page.asp

based on the 'path_info' (en/page.asp) I know always that first 2 characters = language code.

Like this, I can use just a copy of page.asp for each language ...
To load the right xml-language file, i'm using this repository

xml/languages/xx/pages.xml

xx = language code, like this, i can load the right xml language.

I'm not collecting all languages in one document. not interesting to handle with translation offices.
just to give u an idea ....
shoot if u have more questions ...

grzz, kabe

ps: mentioned site comes live one of these days on www.deba.biz

hnteknik · May 19th, 2005, 10:10 AM

Hi - I came across this page, which might one solution:

Multilingual Web Pages with ASP and XML

http://archive.devx.com/xml/articles/kc1100/cox01-1.asp

Henrik