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Dictionaries

Introduction​

Dictionaries is the system for translating the website interface's fixed text — labels, messages, button text — things that aren't page content, but text "embedded" in the code, and which still needs to exist in every language.

It involves two forms in the backoffice:

  • Entry (dictionary_entry)
  • Dictionary (dictionary)

Entry​

Defines a translation "key" — Code (code, used in the code to fetch the value) and Description. E.g.: an entry contact-form-success, used for the contact form's success message (it's exactly this one that shows up in the Functionality's ContactForm).

Dictionary​

This is the translated value of an Entry, for a given Language (language_id) — Value field (value, accepts HTML).

No generic/languageless value

Unlike Settings, Dictionary doesn't have a languageless fallback mechanism — each Entry needs a Value explicitly set for every language it's used in. If a translation is missing for a language, the text that shows up is the Entry's own code (e.g., contact-form-success), not a generic value.

Programmatically​

The website/src/common/Cluar.js class provides functions to read dictionary entries, all of them returning the entry's code as the result if there's no translation (useful to notice missing translations):

  • Cluar.dictionary(entry) — gets the translated value in the current language, exactly as it was saved (may include HTML).
  • Cluar.plainDictionary(entry) — same, but removes <p> and <br> tags. It's the most commonly used for interface labels (buttons, form fields, notifications).
  • Cluar.plainTitle(entry) — same, but only removes <p> tags.
  • Cluar.plainHTML(entry) — removes all HTML tags.
  • Cluar.dictionaryNoParagraph(entry) — removes only <p> tags (equivalent to plainTitle).

Next step​

Explore Templates.