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Multiple language menu in template

Thread began 9/08/2011 4:27 am by CraigR | Last modified 9/08/2011 12:14 pm by CraigR | 2140 views | 6 replies |

9/08/2011 4:27 am | #1 CraigRBeta Tester

Multiple language menu in template

I am creating a multiple language site, and as such, am using a session variable to select which menu to load.

The block I added to my template is as follows…

<div id="topNavigation">
  <?php switch ($_SESSION['language']) {
  case 'english': //use the english menu
  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/menu.php");
  break;	  
  case 'spanish': //use the spanish menu
  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/spanish/menu.php");
  break;
  case 'mandarin': //use the mandarin menu
  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/mandarin/menu.php");
  break;
  case 'hindi': //use the hindi menu
  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/hindi/menu.php");
  break;
  default: //use the english menu
  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/menu.php");
  }
  ?>
</div>

Any pages based on this template which occur in a subfolder, work perfectly, the code above is inserted exactly as above onto my page.

However, pages in the root folder, based on the same template do not work properly, the menu block appears as follows, with the first require line (only) missing the leading ../

I would expect all of the require lines to point to CSSMenuWriter...

<div id="topNavigation">
     <?php switch ($_SESSION['language']) {
  case 'english': //use the english menu
  require_once("CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/menu.php");
  break;	  
  case 'spanish': //use the spanish menu
  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/spanish/menu.php");
  break;
  case 'mandarin': //use the mandarin menu
  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/mandarin/menu.php");
  break;
  case 'hindi': //use the hindi menu
  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/hindi/menu.php");
  break;
  default: //use the english menu
  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/menu.php");
  }
  ?>
  </div>

I could create another template specifically for files in the root folder, but this seems daft. Is there something else i can do ?

9/08/2011 6:41 am | #2 Jason ByrnesWebAssist

why not use Framework Builder. Add the menus as a dynamic plugin, framework builder will automatically adjust the require paths for you.

9/08/2011 7:01 am | #3 CraigRBeta Tester

I think I am too far down the line with this project.

If the multi-lingual aspect was part of the original plan, I may have gone down this route

9/08/2011 10:52 am | #4 Jason ByrnesWebAssist

looks like this is an issue when you have multiple require_once() statements in the same PHP block. The work around is to create a unique php block for each require_once:

php:

<?php switch ($_SESSION['language']) {

  case 'english': //use the english menu

  ?>

  <?php

  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/menu.php");

    ?>

  <?php

  break;      

  case 'spanish': //use the spanish menu

  ?>

  <?php

  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/spanish/menu.php");

    ?>

  <?php

  break;

  case 'mandarin': //use the mandarin menu

  ?>

  <?php

  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/mandarin/menu.php");

    ?>

  <?php

  break;

  case 'hindi': //use the hindi menu

  ?>

  <?php

  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/hindi/menu.php");

    ?>

  <?php

  break;

  default: //use the english menu

  ?>

  <?php

  require_once("../CSSMenuWriter/cssmw/menu.php");

    ?>

  <?php

  }

  ?>

9/08/2011 11:10 am | #5 CraigRBeta Tester

thanks Jason, I'll try that.

This would be a real p.i.a. if it was a big code block

Is this a bug in dreamweaver ?

9/08/2011 11:36 am | #6 Jason ByrnesWebAssist

it appears to be.

as a test i created a template with multiple require once lines to the same file:

php:

<?php

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

?>

<?php

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

?>

<?php

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

?>

<?php

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

?>

<?php

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

?>

when i applied this to a page, the results was:

php:

<?php

require_once("phpinfo.php");

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

?>

<?php

require_once("phpinfo.php");

require_once("../phpinfo.php");

?>

<?php

require_once("phpinfo.php");

?>

<?php

require_once("phpinfo.php");

?>

<?php

require_once("phpinfo.php");

?>

It seams Dreamweaver will only alter the path of the first require_once() statement in an individual php code block.

9/08/2011 12:14 pm | #7 CraigRBeta Tester

thanks for testing that out Jason.

I just did the same and got the same result.

putting the code into separate blocks is a good workaround, so i have done it for the 2 menus and the footer, which appears to work fine.

the workaround is (obviously) only needed for the template, when using my php switch block within a page, it works asis.

Thanks again for your help

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