Working with XLIFF files

Label access in PHP

In PHP, a typical call in the Backend to fetch a string in the language selected by a user looks like this:

$this->getLanguageService()->sL('LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_core.xlf:labels.minutesHoursDaysYears')

getLanguageService() is a call to a helper method that accesses $GLOBALS['LANG']. In the Backend, the bootstrap parks an initialized instance of \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Localization\LanguageService at this place. This may change in the future, but for now the LanguageService can be reliably fetched from this global.

If additional placeholders are used in a translation source, they must be injected, a call then typically looks like this:

// Text string in .xlf file has a placeholder:
// <trans-unit id="message.description.fileHasBrokenReferences">
//     <source>The file has %1s broken reference(s) but it will be deleted regardless.</source>
// </trans-unit>
sprintf($this->getLanguageService()->sL(
    'LLL:EXT:core/Resources/Private/Language/locallang_core.xlf:message.description.fileHasBrokenReferences'),
    count($brokenReferences)
);

Various classes are involved in the localization process, with \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Localization\LanguageService providing the actual methods to retrieve a localized label. sL() loads a language file if needed first, and then returns a label from it (using a string with the LLL:EXT:... syntax as argument).

Extbase class \TYPO3\CMS\Extbase\Utility\LocalizationUtility is essentially a convenience wrapper around the \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Localization\LanguageService class, whose translate() method also takes an array as argument and runs PHP's vsprintf() on the localized string. However, in the future it is expected this Extbase specific class will melt down and somehow merged into the Core API classes to get rid of this duplication.

Label access in Fluid

In Fluid, a typical call to fetch a string in the language selected by a user looks like this:

<f:translate key="key1" extensionName="SomeExtensionName" />
// or inline notation
{f:translate(key: 'someKey', extensionName: 'SomeExtensionName')}

If the correct context is set, the current extension name and language is provided by the request. Otherwise it must be provided.

The documentation for the Viewhelper can be found at Translate ViewHelper <f:translate>.