Question

I’m using the Laravel Lang class for localization of my web app. I’ve added two languages to the languages array in application/config/application.php. This changes the default language it uses for localization to whatever the first part of the URI indicates (e.g. bla.com/en/bla and bla.com/co/bla). Now I need to be able to check what the current default language is in my view. However, the Lang class provides no way of checking this as far as I’ve been able to figure out, as the Lang::$language variable is protected. Is there any way of checking this apart from manually parsing the URI?

Answer 1

BenjaminRH’s answer is very good, and his suggested approach works perfectly. I’ve improved the snippet a bit. Now it detects the browser language and checks if that language is supported according to the application’s config file.

It’s a quick hack, but it works on my app. Note that the application language is also set now. Feel free to use ore improve it.

Route::filter('before', function()
{
    // current uri language ($lang_uri)
    $lang_uri = URI::segment(1);

    // Set default session language if none is set
    if(!Session::has('language'))
    {
        // use lang in uri, if provided
        if(in_array($lang_uri, Config::get('application.languages')))
        {
            $lang = $lang_uri;  
        }
        // detect browser language
        elseif(isset(Request::server('http_accept_language')))
        {
            $headerlang = substr(Request::server('http_accept_language'), 0, 2);

            if(in_array($headerlang, Config::get('application.languages')))
            {
                // browser lang is supported, use it
                $lang = $headerlang;
            }
            // use default application lang
            else
            {
                $lang = Config::get('application.language');
            }
        }
        // no lang in uri nor in browser. use default
        else 
        {
                // use default application lang
                $lang = Config::get('application.language');            
        }

        // set application language for that user
        Session::put('language', $lang);
        Config::set('application.language',  $lang);
    }
    // session is available
    else
    {
        // set application to session lang
        Config::set('application.language', Session::get('language'));
    }

    // prefix is missing? add it
    if(!in_array($lang_uri, Config::get('application.languages'))) 
    {
        return Redirect::to(URI::current());
    }
    // a valid prefix is there, but not the correct lang? change app lang
    elseif(in_array($lang_uri, Config::get('application.languages')) AND $lang_uri != Config::get('application.language'))
    {
        Session::put('language', $lang_uri);
        Config::set('application.language',  $lang_uri);    
    }
});