Locastic Api Translation Bundle

Translation bundle for API Platform based on Sylius translation: translations are stored per locale in a dedicated translation entity and exposed through your API as embedded objects, with the active locale resolved from each request.

Supported versions:

Installation:

Configuration:

The bundle works without any configuration. All options and their defaults:

For example, to resolve the locale from the Accept-Language header only and ignore the ?locale= query parameter:

Implementation:

Translatable entity:

• Extend your resource with Locastic\ApiPlatformTranslationBundle\Model\AbstractTranslatable
• Add a createTranslation() method which returns a new object of the translation entity
• Add a translations property: a OneToMany to the translation entity, indexed by locale, with the translations serialization group
• Add virtual fields for all translatable fields; getters delegate to getTranslation() (current locale, with fallback), setters to getOrCreateTranslation() (exact locale, created and attached when missing)

Example:

Translation entity:

• Add an entity with all translatable fields. The convention is the name of the translatable entity + Translation
• Extend Locastic\ApiPlatformTranslationBundle\Model\AbstractTranslation
• Add the translations serialization group to all fields, plus your usual read/write groups

Example:

API resource notes:

• The translation.groups filter (registered by this bundle) lets clients request all translation objects in a response via ?groups[]=translations. Without the translations group, responses contain only the requested (or fallback) locale.
• Add the translations group to the normalizationContext of POST and PUT/PATCH operations, as in the example above, so write operations return all translation objects.

Editing translations (PUT vs PATCH): the bundle populates the submitted translations onto the managed entity, keeping existing translation rows (and their ids) stable, following the HTTP semantics of each method:

• PATCH (application/merge-patch+json) is a partial edit: it updates the submitted locales and leaves the others untouched. This is the recommended way to edit translations and needs no extra configuration.
• PUT is a full replace: locales absent from the payload are removed.

For PUT you must disable API Platform's standard_put, either per operation (extraProperties: ['standard_put' => false], as above) or once for the whole API:

With standard_put on, API Platform deserializes into a brand-new object and copies its properties (including the translations collection) over the managed entity, so translations cannot be matched to their existing rows. The bundle detects this misconfiguration and fails with an explicit error instead of letting the write die in the persistence layer.

Usage:

Request a single locale

Pass the locale as a query parameter:

Or use the Accept-Language HTTP header:

Translatable fields are returned in the requested locale; when no translation exists for it, the fallback locale is used.

Restricting locales: if framework.enabled_locales or the bundle's own enabled_locales option (which takes precedence) is configured, only those locales are accepted: a ?locale= value outside the list and non-matching Accept-Language headers fall back to the default locale. When neither is configured (Symfony's default), any requested locale is accepted.

Return all translations in a response

Add the translations serialization group through the translation.groups filter (registered by this bundle, enabled on the resource via filters: ['translation.groups']):

The group is added on top of the operation's normalization groups, so the response contains the single-locale virtual fields plus the full collection:

Create a resource with translations (POST)

Submit translations as an object keyed by locale; each entry must repeat its locale field:

Update translations (PATCH, recommended)

A merge patch updates only the submitted locales and leaves the others untouched; existing translation rows are updated in place, no id needed:

Here the de title is updated while the en translation is left as is.

Replace all translations (PUT)

PUT is a full replace: locales absent from the payload are removed. It requires standard_put to be disabled (see the editing notes under Implementation above). Send the id of each existing translation so it is updated instead of replaced:

Limitations:

• Filtering and ordering by translated fields is not supported. The translated values live on the translation entity and are exposed through virtual getters, so built-in API Platform filters (SearchFilter, OrderFilter, ...) cannot target them on the resource. Filtering on translation fields requires a custom filter joining the translation entity.

Contribution

If you have an idea on how to improve this bundle, feel free to contribute. If you have problems or you found some bugs, please open an issue.

Support

Want us to help you with this bundle or any API Platform/Symfony project? Write us an email on [email protected]