Laravel Localization

Introduction

The Laravel Localization package is built for Laravel 5.5+ and provides:

• Localized routes with language URL prefixes.
• Domain based localized routes.
• Middleware to detect user language based on HTTP header and cookie.
• Redirect the user to the localized version.
• Possibility to hide the language URL prefix for the default language.
• Possibility to localize a subset of routes only.
• Language Switcher and Hreflang Meta Tags
• Patched route() method to use localized routes whenever possible.
• Compatibility with artisan route:cache.

Installation

To get started, use Composer to add the package to your project's dependencies:

composer require josiasmontag/laravel-localization

Add the HandleLocalization Middleware to the web group in App/Http/Kernel.php:

    protected $middlewareGroups = [
        'web' => [
        
            // Other Middleware
            
            \Lunaweb\Localization\Middleware\LocalizationHandler::class,
        ],
    ];

Configuration

To publish the config file to config/localization.php:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider "Lunaweb\Localization\LocalizationServiceProvider"

Default configuration:

return [
    
    // Add any language you want to support
    'locales' => [
        'en' => ['name' => 'English'],
        'de' => ['name' => 'German'],
    ],

    // The default locale is configured in config/app.php (locale)

    // Default locale will not be shown in the url.
    // If enabled and 'en' is the default language:
    // / -> English page, /de -> German page
    // If disabled:
    // /en -> English Page, /de -> German page
    'hide_default_locale_in_url' => true,

    // Use query parameter if there are no localized routes available.
    // Set it to null to disable usage of query parameter.
    'locale_query_parameter' => 'hl',

    // Enable redirect if there is a localized route available and the user locale was detected (via HTTP header or session)
    'redirect_to_localized_route' =>  true,

    // Try to detect user locale via Accept-Language header.
    'detect_via_http_header' => true,

    // Remember the user locale using a cookie.
    'remember_via_cookie' => true,

    // Cookie expire time in minutes
    'cookie_expires' => 20160 // 14 days

];

Usage

Prefix Based Localized Routes

To add localized routes with language prefixes, edit your routes/web.php and use localizedRoutesGroup helper:

Localization::localizedRoutesGroup(function() {
    Route::get('/', 'HomeController@uploadDocuments')->name('index');
    Route::get('/register', 'RegisterController@showRegisterForm')->name('register');
});

Under the hood this will create the following routes for you:

Route	Route Name	Language
/	index	English (Default Language)
/de	de.index	German
/fr	fr.index	French
/register	register	English (Default Language)
/de/register	de.register	German
/fr/register	fr.register	French

Domain Based Localized Routes

To add domain-based localized routes, add the localized domains to your config/localization.php configuration:

'locales' => [
   'en' => ['domain'=> 'domain.com', 'name' => 'English'],
   'de' => ['domain'=> 'domain.de', 'name' => 'German'],
   'fr' => ['domain'=> 'domain.fr', 'name' => 'French'],
],

The example from above will then create the following routes:

Route	Route Name	Language
domain.com	index	English (Default Language)
domain.de	de.index	German
domain.fr	fr.index	French
domain.com/register	register	English (Default Language)
domain.de/register	de.register	German
domain.fr/register	fr.register	French

Localization Specific Routes

You can manually create language specific routes using the localization() macro.

Route::get('/contact', 'ContactController@showContactForm')
    ->localization('en')
    ->name('contact');
    
Route::get('/kontakt', 'ContactController@showContactForm')
    ->localization('de')
    ->name('de.contact');

Helpers

Localized route()

route() will automatically use the localized version, if there is any available. Using the example from above, route('index') resolves to the index, de.index or fr.index route depending on the user's language.

Check if the current route is localized

Localization::isLocalizedRoute()

or...

Route::current()->getLocalization() === null

Get the localization of the current route

Route::current()->getLocalization()

Get the URL to a different language version of the current route

Localization::getLocaleUrl($localeCode)

Get the route name to a different language version of the current route

Localization::getLocaleRoute($localeCode)

Hreflang Meta Tags

@if(Localization::isLocalizedRoute())
   @foreach(Localization::getLocales() as $localeCode => $properties)
        <link rel="alternate" hreflang="{{ $localeCode }}" href="{{ Localization::getLocaleUrl($localeCode) }}">
   @endforeach
@endif

Language Switcher

<ul>
    @foreach(Localization::getLocales() as $localeCode => $properties)
        <li>
            <a rel="alternate" hreflang="{{ $localeCode }}" href="{{ Localization::getLocaleUrl($localeCode, true) }}">
                 {{ $properties['native'] }} </a>
        </li>
    @endforeach
</ul>