Locale not switching in Rails 4 - ruby-on-rails

My Rails App is on rails 4.0.2 and I have a problem switching translations with the locale variable and the params[:locale] from the url scheme following the official rails guide. I have a single page website at my site.
My routes for Internationalization:
scope "(:locale)", locale: /en|de/ do
#my routes here
end
My application controller
before_filter :set_locale
def set_locale
I18n.locale = params[:locale] || I18n.default_locale
#Rails.application.routes.default_url_options[:locale]= I18n.locale
end
# app/controllers/application_controller.rb
def default_url_options(options = {})
{ locale: I18n.locale }.merge options
end
The links to change the locale variables in the view:
<%= link_to_unless I18n.locale == :en, "English", locale: :en %>
|
<%= link_to_unless I18n.locale == :de, "Deutsch", locale: :de %>
What happens: the locale variable is set correctly but the translations are not switching. If I remove one of the translation files (currently for english and german) the languages switches to the remaining translation file. When I put back the other translation file and try to switch to it by changing the locale variable it never switches to the other language.
Why is my code not changing the translations?

I had the same issues and maybe it would be a solution for you:
in routes.rb change
scope "(:locale)", locale: /#{I18n.available_locales.join("|")}/ do
#your routes here
end
get '*path', to: redirect("/#{I18n.default_locale}/%{path}")
get '', to: redirect("/#{I18n.default_locale}")
in application_controller.rb
def set_locale
I18n.locale = params[:locale] if params[:locale].present?
end
def default_url_options(options = {})
{locale: I18n.locale}
end
p.s.
in config/locales/en.yml something like this:
en:
languages:
en: "English"
de: "Deutsch"
and in config/locales/de.yml in German
in view
<%= link_to_unless_current t('languages.en'), locale: :en %>
|
<%= link_to_unless_current t('languages.de'), locale: :de %>

I think you need to define the constraint on the locale more explicit:
scope path: '(:locale)', constraints: { locale: /en|de/ } do
# routes you want to localize
end

Related

Rails I18n - How can I change other locale with the same page [duplicate]

I am adding I18N to my rails application by passing the locale using url params. My urls are looking like http://example.com/en/users and http://example.com/ar/users (for the english and arabic locales respectively).
In my routes file, I have defined my routes with a :path_prefix option:
map.resources :users, :path_prefix => '/:locale'
And locale is being set using a before_filter defined in ApplicationController
def set_locale
I18n.locale = params[:locale]
end
I also defined ApplicationController#default_url_options, to add locale to all urls generated by the application:
def default_url_options(options={})
{:locale => I18n.locale}
end
What I want is to add a link in the layout header (displayed in all pages) that would link to the same page but with the other locale.
For instance, if I am browsing the arabic locale, I want a "English" link in the header, that will redirect me back to my current page, and set the locale to english. Is there a way to do this in rails?
Took me a while to find this but here is my solution:
link_to 'English', url_for( :locale => 'en' )
link_to 'Deutch', url_for( :locale => 'de' )
From the docs here: http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/Base.html#M000649
When generating a new URL, missing
values may be filled in from the
current request‘s parameters. For
example, url_for :action =>
‘some_action‘ will retain the current
controller, as expected. This behavior
extends to other parameters, including
:controller, :id, and any other
parameters that are placed into a
Route‘s path.
So using url_for will default to the current request's parameters, just change the one's you want in your code. In this case all I changed was :locale, so everything else stays the same.
Note this also works for "hidden" :parameters. So if you have:
map.my_map ':locale/my_map', :controller => 'home', :action => 'my_map'
using the above url_for in the page /en/my_map will not have 'home' in the url (ie /en/home/my_map). Bonus.
So I found a way to more explicitly do this with out relying on (as much) rails magic.
url_for(params.merge({:your_new_parameter => value}))
This should work in any link_to.
All its doing is taking the current request's parameters and merging your new desired hash into them and then creating a new url for that.
Link to current page with different locales
Tested on Rails 4
Hello all.
After some time of research I decide to write my own solution for this.
link_to 'English', url_for( :locale => 'en' )
link_to 'Deutch', url_for( :locale => 'de' )
This works perfect, but it allows XSS Vulnerability just passing parameters in your URL like below:
http://localhost:3000/en/about?host=www.fishingsiteorbadurl.com/%23&port=80
Or worst case:
http://localhost:3000/en/about?host=%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8C%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%85%D0%BE%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%82.%D1%80%D1%84
Check out what URLs you will get after going through this link in your application.
My production solution.
Method "change language" redirects to any page with proper locale just using HTTP_REFERER in request object.
Please note: URI.path method for get only path, not whole url
Make "change language" method in any controller:
def change_lang
if request.referer.nil?
refer = root_url
else
uri = URI(request.referer)
refer = uri.path
end
lang = params[:lang]
cookies[:locale] = lang
redirect_to refer
end
application_controller.rb
before_action :set_locale
def set_locale
# -- Get lang from cookies or url parameter locale
user_locale = cookies[:locale] || params[:locale]
# -- If present
if user_locale.present?
# -- If it is has 2 symbols
user_locale = user_locale.scan(/[a-zA-Z]{2}/)
else
# -- If no - use default en locale
user_locale = 'en'
end
# -- Check, is this locale available for using.
# Please note: this needed for disable invalid locale warning.
if I18n.available_locales.include?(user_locale[0].to_sym)
I18n.locale = user_locale[0]
else
I18n.locale = "en"
end
end
add this to your layout
<%= link_to 'English', change_lang_path('en') %> <%= link_to 'Russian', change_lang_path('ru') %>
config/routes.rb
scope "(:locale)", locale: /[a-zA-Z]{2}/ do
get "change_lang/:lang" => "users#change_lang", :as => "change_lang"
end
There is no need to use params.merge or any monkey-patch solution.
I hope this helps, because I personally spent a lot of time to solve it.
A much quicker avenue - and convenient if you have many parameters that change in different places... avoid the clutter with an anchor tag that just merges the new locale param to the existing ones (and actually killing the old locale param).
<%= link_to "ру", request.params.merge( locale: 'ru' ) %>
But yes, one needs to whitelist parameters at that point, according to application's context.
You can parse request_uri, and replace your locale in the path with regular expression
Ok, here is helper example. If I correctly understand the goal
def locale_url(url, locale)
url.gsub(/\/\w*$/, "/#{locale}")
end
url = "http://www.domain.com/products/1/ru" # or request.request_uri
locale = "en"
locale_url(url, locale) #=> "http://www.domain.com/products/1/en"
This is a start point, so you can make some different stuff that you need
You can safely use url_for to switch locales with url params if you set only_path: true:
<%= link_to I18n.t('language_name', locale: I18n.locale), url_for( params.clone.permit!.merge(locale: locale, only_path: true ) %>
We .clone the params before permitting them all (.permit!), to preserve strong parameters elsewhere. The only more secure solution I could find would be to time consumingly whitelist all params instead...
Robust I18n implementation:
Add a locales.rb initializer to define what I18n.available_locales you support:
# config/initializers/locales.rb
# Permitted locales available for the application
I18n.available_locales = [:en, :fr]
Set a language_name value in each language's locale file (e.g. fr.yml):
fr:
language_name: "Français"
As you add more languages, this ERB will let you generically switch between them:
// app/views/layouts/_languages.html.erb
<span class="languages">
<% I18n.available_locales.each do |locale| %>
<% if I18n.locale == locale %>
<%= link_to I18n.t('language_name', locale: locale), url_for( params.clone.permit!.merge(locale: locale, only_path: true ), {style: "display:none" } %>
<% else %>
<%= link_to I18n.t('language_name', locale: locale), url_for( params.clone.permit!.merge(locale: locale, only_path: true ) %>
<% end %>
<% end %>
</span>
For the controller, we automatically find the correct language for the user by detecting their browser's Accept-Language HTTP header (using the http_accept_language gem).
Set a session cookie to preserve locale across requests.
Or optionally, use default_url_options to insert the ?locale= param into your app's url. I do both.
Controller:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
before_action :set_locale
private
def set_locale
I18n.locale = begin
extract_locale ||
session[:locale] ||
http_accept_language.compatible_language_from(I18n.available_locales) ||
I18n.default_locale
end
session[:locale] = I18n.locale
end
def extract_locale
parsed_locale = params[:locale].dup
I18n.available_locales.map(&:to_s).include?(parsed_locale) ? parsed_locale : nil
end
def default_url_options
{ locale: I18n.locale }
end
end
This is what worked for me, which preserves params and protects against xss:
= link_to_unless_current "English", url_for( request.params.merge(locale: 'en'))
You could use link_to instead of link_to_unless_current
Have a look at this, though it may not be DRY and proper one, but works perfectly for me. It reads all the parameters you supplied replacing only the locale
EX urls : http://example.com:3000/us/users?t=123&m=343 etc
def us_link
link_to "US", form_locale_url("/us")
end
def jp_link
link_to "Japan",form_locale_url("/jp")
end
def form_locale_url(locale)
new_url = request.request_uri
new_locale_url = new_us_url = new_jp_url = new_url
if new_url == "/"
new_locale_url.sub!(/\//,locale)
elsif (new_url =~/\/us/) == 0
new_us_url.sub!(/\/us/,locale)
elsif (new_url =~/\/jp/) == 0
new_jp_url.sub!(/\/jp/,locale)
end
end

How to paste locale automatically in routes in Rails?

Can I paste the default locale or locale from the session[:lang] as locale param when I type:
domain.com/feed => domain.com/:locale/feed
Now when I type domain.com/feed it prints the next locale error:
"feed" is not a valid locale
in the
def set_locale
I18n.locale = params[:locale] || I18n.default_locale
end
How can I redirect automatically? Can I?
You can make it optional:
domain.com/feed => domain.com/(:locale/)feed,
constraints: { locale: /#{I18n.available_locales.join("|")}/ }
Read 3.2 Dynamic Segments.

Rails production: locales switching

In my app I've made switching locales with sessions. The logic keeps in controller:
class SetLanguageController < ApplicationController
def russian
I18n.locale = :ru
set_session_and_redirect
end
def english
I18n.locale = :en
set_session_and_redirect
end
private
def set_session_and_redirect
session[:locale] = I18n.locale
redirect_to :back
rescue ActionController::RedirectBackError
redirect_to :root
end
end
switching works with links:
link_to_unless I18n.locale == :ru, "Русский", rus_locale_path
link_to_unless I18n.locale == :en, "English", eng_locale_path
code for locales in routes (unnecessary for question, but if you interesting)
get 'rus_locale' => 'set_language#russian'
get 'eng_locale' => 'set_language#english'
It works in development perfectly, but on production
application.rb
config.i18n.load_path += Dir[Rails.root.join('config','locales', '*.yml').to_s]
config.i18n.default_locale = :ru
How can I make it working on production? Thanks
I solved problem with setting a before_filter in application controller like
before_filter :set_locale
def set_locale
I18n.locale = session[:locale] ? session[:locale] : I18n.default_locale
end
But this solution is dummy because it doesn't solve essence of problem actually - previous code worked in development, but in production. If you know how to fix it more smartly you are wellcome
Robust I18n implementation:
Add a locales.rb initializer to define what I18n.available_locales you support:
# config/initializers/locales.rb
# Permitted locales available for the application
I18n.available_locales = [:en, :fr]
Set a language_name value in each language's locale file (e.g. fr.yml):
fr:
language_name: "Français"
As you add more languages, this ERB will let you generically switch between them:
// app/views/layouts/_languages.html.erb
<span class="languages">
<% I18n.available_locales.each do |locale| %>
<% if I18n.locale == locale %>
<%= link_to I18n.t('language_name', locale: locale), url_for( params.clone.permit!.merge(locale: locale, only_path: true ), {style: "display:none" } %>
<% else %>
<%= link_to I18n.t('language_name', locale: locale), url_for( params.clone.permit!.merge(locale: locale, only_path: true ) %>
<% end %>
<% end %>
</span>
For the controller, we automatically find the correct language for the user by detecting their browser's Accept-Language HTTP header (using the http_accept_language gem).
Set a session cookie to preserve locale across requests.
Or optionally, use default_url_options to insert the ?locale= param into your app's url. I do both.
Controller:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
before_action :set_locale
private
def set_locale
I18n.locale = begin
extract_locale ||
session[:locale] ||
http_accept_language.compatible_language_from(I18n.available_locales) ||
I18n.default_locale
end
session[:locale] = I18n.locale
end
def extract_locale
parsed_locale = params[:locale].dup
I18n.available_locales.map(&:to_s).include?(parsed_locale) ? parsed_locale : nil
end
def default_url_options
{ locale: I18n.locale }
end
end

I18n with friendly-id and globalize3 - avoid duplicate content (seo)

In a classic multilingual rails 4 website I want to avoid the duplicate content problem.
I used friendly-id and globalize3 to make the website multilingual.
Here is my configuration:
classic page model:
extend FriendlyId
friendly_id :title, use: [:slugged, :history]
translates :title, :content, :slug
first routes configuration:
scope ":locale", /#{I18n.available_locales.join("|")}/ do
my_routes
end
#rails cast solution
match '*path', to: redirect("/#{I18n.default_locale}/%{path}"), constraints: lambda { |req| !req.path.starts_with? "/#{I18n.default_locale}/" }, via: :all
match '', to: redirect("/#{I18n.default_locale}"), via: :all
first application application-controller configuration:
before_action :set_locale
def default_url_options(options = {})
{locale: I18n.locale}
end
private
def set_locale
I18n.locale = params[:locale] if params[:locale].present?
end
As I want users to access the site without /the-default-locale at the end of the URL I change configuration as follow:
Routes configuration:
#Here I'm trying to avoid /en/content and /content to avoid duplication
match "/#{I18n.default_locale}/*path", to: redirect("/%{path}"), via: :all
scope "(:locale)", locale: /#{I18n.available_locales.join("|")}/ do
my_routes
end
#removed the rails cast fallback to default locale
Application controller configuration:
before_action :set_locale
def default_url_options(options = {})
{ :locale => ((I18n.locale == I18n.default_locale) ? nil : I18n.locale) }
end
private
def set_locale
I18n.locale = params[:locale] || I18n.default_locale
end
the links to switch between languages:
#here the French language is the default locale
<%= link_to_unless_current t("English"), locale: "en" %>
<%= link_to_unless_current t("French"), locale: nil %>
Questions:
1- With the friendly ids and the translated slug you can go to mywebsite.com/mon_contenu and mywebsite/en/my_content. But if you already are on mywebsite.com/mon_contenu and you click on the english switch you will be on mywebsite.com/en/mon_contenu with the english content but the url doesn't switch to the english slug.
Is this considerated as duplicate content? And if yes how can I avoid it?
2- With globalize if a content isn't translated it will display the default locale content. So mywebsite.com/mon_contenu and mywebsite.com/en/my_content can display the same content in the same language if the translation is not done.
Again is this considerated as duplication?
Options considered
Using robot.txt to disable some routes for instance to allow just the default locale to be indexed?
Using the canonical tag but I don't know how to easily setup it in the layout
How do you manage this kind of situations?
Any help/idea/comment/advice is always welcome!
As always thanks for your help.
Few months later, I'm still trying to figure out the best options.
Here is the solution I use for the question 1:
I set this in the controllers (solution from railscasts about friendly_id)
def show
if request.path != page_path(#page)
redirect_to #page, status: :moved_permanently
end
end
With this in place there are no reasons for multiple urls pointing to the same content. Instead the user will be redirected properly to the right URL. And the slug history is still useful.
I'll update this post if I figured out something for the second point! Actually I'm thinking of something to check if translation exist and if not redirect to default locale with a flash notice.

Rails link to current page and passing parameters to it

I am adding I18N to my rails application by passing the locale using url params. My urls are looking like http://example.com/en/users and http://example.com/ar/users (for the english and arabic locales respectively).
In my routes file, I have defined my routes with a :path_prefix option:
map.resources :users, :path_prefix => '/:locale'
And locale is being set using a before_filter defined in ApplicationController
def set_locale
I18n.locale = params[:locale]
end
I also defined ApplicationController#default_url_options, to add locale to all urls generated by the application:
def default_url_options(options={})
{:locale => I18n.locale}
end
What I want is to add a link in the layout header (displayed in all pages) that would link to the same page but with the other locale.
For instance, if I am browsing the arabic locale, I want a "English" link in the header, that will redirect me back to my current page, and set the locale to english. Is there a way to do this in rails?
Took me a while to find this but here is my solution:
link_to 'English', url_for( :locale => 'en' )
link_to 'Deutch', url_for( :locale => 'de' )
From the docs here: http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/Base.html#M000649
When generating a new URL, missing
values may be filled in from the
current request‘s parameters. For
example, url_for :action =>
‘some_action‘ will retain the current
controller, as expected. This behavior
extends to other parameters, including
:controller, :id, and any other
parameters that are placed into a
Route‘s path.
So using url_for will default to the current request's parameters, just change the one's you want in your code. In this case all I changed was :locale, so everything else stays the same.
Note this also works for "hidden" :parameters. So if you have:
map.my_map ':locale/my_map', :controller => 'home', :action => 'my_map'
using the above url_for in the page /en/my_map will not have 'home' in the url (ie /en/home/my_map). Bonus.
So I found a way to more explicitly do this with out relying on (as much) rails magic.
url_for(params.merge({:your_new_parameter => value}))
This should work in any link_to.
All its doing is taking the current request's parameters and merging your new desired hash into them and then creating a new url for that.
Link to current page with different locales
Tested on Rails 4
Hello all.
After some time of research I decide to write my own solution for this.
link_to 'English', url_for( :locale => 'en' )
link_to 'Deutch', url_for( :locale => 'de' )
This works perfect, but it allows XSS Vulnerability just passing parameters in your URL like below:
http://localhost:3000/en/about?host=www.fishingsiteorbadurl.com/%23&port=80
Or worst case:
http://localhost:3000/en/about?host=%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8C%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%85%D0%BE%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%82.%D1%80%D1%84
Check out what URLs you will get after going through this link in your application.
My production solution.
Method "change language" redirects to any page with proper locale just using HTTP_REFERER in request object.
Please note: URI.path method for get only path, not whole url
Make "change language" method in any controller:
def change_lang
if request.referer.nil?
refer = root_url
else
uri = URI(request.referer)
refer = uri.path
end
lang = params[:lang]
cookies[:locale] = lang
redirect_to refer
end
application_controller.rb
before_action :set_locale
def set_locale
# -- Get lang from cookies or url parameter locale
user_locale = cookies[:locale] || params[:locale]
# -- If present
if user_locale.present?
# -- If it is has 2 symbols
user_locale = user_locale.scan(/[a-zA-Z]{2}/)
else
# -- If no - use default en locale
user_locale = 'en'
end
# -- Check, is this locale available for using.
# Please note: this needed for disable invalid locale warning.
if I18n.available_locales.include?(user_locale[0].to_sym)
I18n.locale = user_locale[0]
else
I18n.locale = "en"
end
end
add this to your layout
<%= link_to 'English', change_lang_path('en') %> <%= link_to 'Russian', change_lang_path('ru') %>
config/routes.rb
scope "(:locale)", locale: /[a-zA-Z]{2}/ do
get "change_lang/:lang" => "users#change_lang", :as => "change_lang"
end
There is no need to use params.merge or any monkey-patch solution.
I hope this helps, because I personally spent a lot of time to solve it.
A much quicker avenue - and convenient if you have many parameters that change in different places... avoid the clutter with an anchor tag that just merges the new locale param to the existing ones (and actually killing the old locale param).
<%= link_to "ру", request.params.merge( locale: 'ru' ) %>
But yes, one needs to whitelist parameters at that point, according to application's context.
You can parse request_uri, and replace your locale in the path with regular expression
Ok, here is helper example. If I correctly understand the goal
def locale_url(url, locale)
url.gsub(/\/\w*$/, "/#{locale}")
end
url = "http://www.domain.com/products/1/ru" # or request.request_uri
locale = "en"
locale_url(url, locale) #=> "http://www.domain.com/products/1/en"
This is a start point, so you can make some different stuff that you need
You can safely use url_for to switch locales with url params if you set only_path: true:
<%= link_to I18n.t('language_name', locale: I18n.locale), url_for( params.clone.permit!.merge(locale: locale, only_path: true ) %>
We .clone the params before permitting them all (.permit!), to preserve strong parameters elsewhere. The only more secure solution I could find would be to time consumingly whitelist all params instead...
Robust I18n implementation:
Add a locales.rb initializer to define what I18n.available_locales you support:
# config/initializers/locales.rb
# Permitted locales available for the application
I18n.available_locales = [:en, :fr]
Set a language_name value in each language's locale file (e.g. fr.yml):
fr:
language_name: "Français"
As you add more languages, this ERB will let you generically switch between them:
// app/views/layouts/_languages.html.erb
<span class="languages">
<% I18n.available_locales.each do |locale| %>
<% if I18n.locale == locale %>
<%= link_to I18n.t('language_name', locale: locale), url_for( params.clone.permit!.merge(locale: locale, only_path: true ), {style: "display:none" } %>
<% else %>
<%= link_to I18n.t('language_name', locale: locale), url_for( params.clone.permit!.merge(locale: locale, only_path: true ) %>
<% end %>
<% end %>
</span>
For the controller, we automatically find the correct language for the user by detecting their browser's Accept-Language HTTP header (using the http_accept_language gem).
Set a session cookie to preserve locale across requests.
Or optionally, use default_url_options to insert the ?locale= param into your app's url. I do both.
Controller:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
before_action :set_locale
private
def set_locale
I18n.locale = begin
extract_locale ||
session[:locale] ||
http_accept_language.compatible_language_from(I18n.available_locales) ||
I18n.default_locale
end
session[:locale] = I18n.locale
end
def extract_locale
parsed_locale = params[:locale].dup
I18n.available_locales.map(&:to_s).include?(parsed_locale) ? parsed_locale : nil
end
def default_url_options
{ locale: I18n.locale }
end
end
This is what worked for me, which preserves params and protects against xss:
= link_to_unless_current "English", url_for( request.params.merge(locale: 'en'))
You could use link_to instead of link_to_unless_current
Have a look at this, though it may not be DRY and proper one, but works perfectly for me. It reads all the parameters you supplied replacing only the locale
EX urls : http://example.com:3000/us/users?t=123&m=343 etc
def us_link
link_to "US", form_locale_url("/us")
end
def jp_link
link_to "Japan",form_locale_url("/jp")
end
def form_locale_url(locale)
new_url = request.request_uri
new_locale_url = new_us_url = new_jp_url = new_url
if new_url == "/"
new_locale_url.sub!(/\//,locale)
elsif (new_url =~/\/us/) == 0
new_us_url.sub!(/\/us/,locale)
elsif (new_url =~/\/jp/) == 0
new_jp_url.sub!(/\/jp/,locale)
end
end

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