Howdo you keep all your code organized?

webvandals

I really need some fundamental advice on organizing my code. Lets say I have a simple "sign-up" page in English and German with very similar functions, but localized. Here's how I'm thinking to organize it:

english/
  sign_up.php
  thank_you.php
  admin.php

german/
  sign_up.php
  thank_you.php
  admin.php

library/
  mail_functions.inc.php
  sign_up_functions.inc.php
  admin_functions.inc.php
  localization/
    english.inc.php
    german.inc.php

Is this a logical approach?

TheDefender

Sure, it definitely makes more sense to keep your files separated like that... Beats putting all of the language files together, and sifting through it... Plus, it makes more sense, so you can always refer to the same page (sign_up.php, or thank_you.php) and just change the language designation...

In the end, it all comes down to your preferences... If this is what works best for you, then go for it... You are the one who has to make changes later, so do what makes the most sense and works best for you.

crimaniak

Very bad. If you have bugfix or change in admin.php (..for example) you need to change N files (N = count of languages supported). You can:

move all language-dependent strings to separate file and make array or set of defines. Then use this file. Example:

// english.php
define(_HELLO_STRING,"Hello");
// and so on

// ---------------------------
// include current language
$language="english";
include $language.".php";
// use it
 echo _HELLO_STRING;

Better way then your, but still bad.

Forget about multilignual support at your code. All code uses English so you can write echo "Hello world";. It's no problem because you can translate it on the fly by separate class using translation table. Example of such code:
```
include "translator.class.php";
// translation table, target language
$t=new translator("translations.txt","italian");

// Now all output will be translated to italian - just fill translations.txt by english - italian pairs.
 echo "Hello!";
```
You can see it in action on this test site: http://yeswine.biz/

Here is CPU overhead but for sites with big traffic you need caching any way.