Language Translations

All of the fixed text displayed in Plotalot uses the standard Joomla translation system, with language strings held in a language file. Plotalot only needs a language file for the back end as there are no texts that need to be translated for the front end.

The main Plotalot language file is (for English):

<site>/administrator/components/com_plotalot/language/en-GB/en-GB.com_plotalot.ini

Plotalot has language files for several languages. All of them are installed when you install the component.

To make a new language file, make a copy of one of the existing language files to a new file of the correct name for your language, then translate the text on the right hand side of the = signs. For example:

`en-GB.com_plotalot.ini`	`NEW_CHART="New chart"`
`fr-FR.com_plotalot.ini`	`NEW_CHART="Nouvelle graphique"`
`it-IT.com_plotalot.ini`	`NEW_CHART="Nuova grafico"`

The format is critical and any mistakes may result in the language file being ignored by Joomla.

The double quotes around the translation text are important. You cannot use double quotes inside the text.

Be careful to preserve any %s markers. These mark the place where text or numeric values are inserted when the text is used.
Use a text editor to edit the file, not a word processor.
Make sure you save the file with UTF-8 encoding otherwise accented characters will not be displayed properly.

When you copy the new file to the correct directory on your website, it becomes active immediately. There is no need to reinstall the component.

If your language modifications are not working as you expect, Joomla has a language debugging system which is very easy to use. Go to Global Configuration, System, and enable both debug settings. Then, at the bottom of every page of your site, you will see a lot of information about which language files are loaded, and details of any errors.

If you create a new language file, or update or correct an existing file, please send the file to us so that we can include it in the product. All of our translations have been donated by other users, and most require updating because with each release, we add new features, which require new language strings. If you update language files, please send them to us so that we can include them in the next release of Plotalot and save other users from having to duplicate your work.