I18n View Helpers

Introduction

Zend Framework comes with an initial set of helper classes related to Internationalization: e.g., formatting a date, formatting currency, or displaying translated content. You can use helper, or plugin, classes to perform these behaviors for you.

See the section on view helpers for more information.

CurrencyFormat Helper

The CurrencyFormat view helper can be used to simplify rendering of localized currency values. It acts as a wrapper for the NumberFormatter class within the Internationalization extension (Intl).

Basic Usage

// Within your view

echo $this->currencyFormat(1234.56, 'USD', null, 'en_US');
// This returns: "$1,234.56"

echo $this->currencyFormat(1234.56, 'EUR', null, 'de_DE');
// This returns: "1.234,56 €"

echo $this->currencyFormat(1234.56, null, true);
// This returns: "$1,234.56"

echo $this->currencyFormat(1234.56, null, false);
// This returns: "$1,235"

echo $helper(12345678.90, 'EUR', true, 'de_DE', '#0.# kg');
// This returns: "12345678,90 kg"

echo $helper(12345678.90, 'EUR', false, 'de_DE', '#0.# kg');
// This returns: "12345679 kg"

currencyFormat(float $number[, string $currencyCode = null[, bool $showDecimals = null[, string $locale = null[, string $pattern = null]]]])

Format a number

Parameters:

• $number – The numeric currency value.
• $currencyCode – (Optional) The 3-letter ISO 4217 currency code indicating the currency to use. If unset, it will use the default value null (getCurrencyCode()).
• $showDecimals – (Optional) Boolean false as third argument shows no decimals. If unset, it will use the default value true (shouldShowDecimals()).
• $locale – (Optional) Locale in which the currency would be formatted (locale name, e.g. en_US). If unset, it will use the default locale (Locale::getDefault()).
• $pattern – (Optional) Pattern string that is used by the formatter. If unset, it will use the default value null (getCurrencyPattern()).

Return type:

string

Available Methods

Set the currency code and the locale

The $currencyCode and $locale options can be set prior to formatting and will be applied each time the helper is used:

// Within your view

$this->plugin('currencyformat')->setCurrencyCode('USD')->setLocale('en_US');

echo $this->currencyFormat(1234.56);
// This returns: "$1,234.56"

echo $this->currencyFormat(5678.90);
// This returns: "$5,678.90"

setCurrencyCode(string $currencyCode)

The 3-letter ISO 4217 currency code indicating the currency to use

Parameters:$currencyCode – The 3-letter ISO 4217 currency code. Return type:Zend\I18n\View\Helper\CurrencyFormat

setLocale(string $locale)

Set locale to use instead of the default

Parameters:$locale – Locale in which the number would be formatted. Return type:Zend\I18n\View\Helper\CurrencyFormat

Show decimals

// Within your view

$this->plugin('currencyformat')->setShouldShowDecimals(false);

echo $this->currencyFormat(1234.56);
// This returns: "$1,235"

setShouldShowDecimals(bool $showDecimals)

Set if the view helper should show two decimals

Parameters:$showDecimals – Whether or not to show the decimals. Return type:Zend\I18n\View\Helper\CurrencyFormat

Set currency pattern

// Within your view

$this->plugin('currencyformat')->setCurrencyPattern('#0.# kg');

echo $this->currencyFormat(12345678.90, 'EUR', null, 'de_DE');
// This returns: "12345678,90 kg"

setCurrencyPattern(string $currencyPattern)

Set the currency pattern used by the formatter. (See the NumberFormatter::setPattern PHP method for more information.)

Parameters:$currencyPattern – Pattern in syntax described in ICU DecimalFormat documentation Return type:Zend\I18n\View\Helper\CurrencyFormat

DateFormat Helper

The DateFormat view helper can be used to simplify rendering of localized date/time values. It acts as a wrapper for the IntlDateFormatter class within the Internationalization extension (Intl).

Basic Usage

// Within your view

// Date and Time
echo $this->dateFormat(
    new DateTime(),
    IntlDateFormatter::MEDIUM, // date
    IntlDateFormatter::MEDIUM, // time
    "en_US"
);
// This returns: "Jul 2, 2012 6:44:03 PM"

// Date Only
echo $this->dateFormat(
    new DateTime(),
    IntlDateFormatter::LONG, // date
    IntlDateFormatter::NONE, // time
    "en_US"
);
// This returns: "July 2, 2012"

// Time Only
echo $this->dateFormat(
    new DateTime(),
    IntlDateFormatter::NONE,  // date
    IntlDateFormatter::SHORT, // time
    "en_US"
);
// This returns: "6:44 PM"

dateFormat(mixed $date[, int $dateType[, int $timeType[, string $locale]]])

Parameters:

• $date – The value to format. This may be a DateTime object, an integer representing a Unix timestamp value or an array in the format output by localtime().
• $dateType – (Optional) Date type to use (none, short, medium, long, full). This is one of the IntlDateFormatter constants. Defaults to IntlDateFormatter::NONE.
• $timeType – (Optional) Time type to use (none, short, medium, long, full). This is one of the IntlDateFormatter constants. Defaults to IntlDateFormatter::NONE.
• $locale – (Optional) Locale in which the date would be formatted (locale name, e.g. en_US). If unset, it will use the default locale (Locale::getDefault())

Public Methods

The $locale option can be set prior to formatting with the setLocale() method and will be applied each time the helper is used.

By default, the system’s default timezone will be used when formatting. This overrides any timezone that may be set inside a DateTime object. To change the timezone when formatting, use the setTimezone method.

// Within your view
$this->plugin("dateFormat")->setTimezone("America/New_York")->setLocale("en_US");

echo $this->dateFormat(new DateTime(), IntlDateFormatter::MEDIUM);  // "Jul 2, 2012"
echo $this->dateFormat(new DateTime(), IntlDateFormatter::SHORT);   // "7/2/12"

NumberFormat Helper

The NumberFormat view helper can be used to simplify rendering of locale-specific number and percentage strings. It acts as a wrapper for the NumberFormatter class within the Internationalization extension (Intl).

Basic Usage

// Within your view

// Example of Decimal formatting:
echo $this->numberFormat(
    1234567.891234567890000,
    NumberFormatter::DECIMAL,
    NumberFormatter::TYPE_DEFAULT,
    "de_DE"
);
// This returns: "1.234.567,891"

// Example of Percent formatting:
echo $this->numberFormat(
    0.80,
    NumberFormatter::PERCENT,
    NumberFormatter::TYPE_DEFAULT,
    "en_US"
);
// This returns: "80%"

// Example of Scientific notation formatting:
echo $this->numberFormat(
    0.00123456789,
    NumberFormatter::SCIENTIFIC,
    NumberFormatter::TYPE_DEFAULT,
    "fr_FR"
);
// This returns: "1,23456789E-3"

numberFormat(number $number[, int $formatStyle[, int $formatType[, string $locale]]])

Parameters:

• $number – The numeric value.
• $formatStyle – (Optional) Style of the formatting, one of the format style constants. If unset, it will use NumberFormatter::DECIMAL as the default style.
• $formatType – (Optional) The formatting type to use. If unset, it will use NumberFormatter::TYPE_DEFAULT as the default type.
• $locale – (Optional) Locale in which the number would be formatted (locale name, e.g. en_US). If unset, it will use the default locale (Locale::getDefault())

Public Methods

The $formatStyle, $formatType, and $locale options can be set prior to formatting and will be applied each time the helper is used.

// Within your view
$this->plugin("numberformat")
            ->setFormatStyle(NumberFormatter::PERCENT)
            ->setFormatType(NumberFormatter::TYPE_DOUBLE)
            ->setLocale("en_US");

echo $this->numberFormat(0.56);  // "56%"
echo $this->numberFormat(0.90);  // "90%"

Plural Helper

Most languages have specific rules for handling plurals. For instance, in English, we say “0 cars” and “2 cars” (plural) while we say “1 car” (singular). On the other hand, French uses the singular form for 0 and 1 (“0 voiture” and “1 voiture”) and uses the plural form otherwise (“3 voitures”).

Therefore, we often need to handle those plural cases even without using translation (mono-lingual application). The Plural helper was created for this. Please remember that, if you need to both handle translation and plural, you must use the TranslatePlural helper for that. Plural does not deal with translation.

Internally, the Plural helper uses the Zend\I18n\Translator\Plural\Rule class to handle rules.

Setup

In Zend Framework 1, there was a similar helper. However, this helper hardcoded rules for mostly every languages. The problem with this approach is that languages are alive and can evolve over time. Therefore, we would need to change the rules and hence break current applications that may (or may not) want those new rules.

That’s why defining rules is now up to the developer. To help you with this process, here are some links with up-to-date plural rules for tons of languages:

• http://unicode.org/repos/cldr-tmp/trunk/diff/supplemental/language_plural_rules.html
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Localization_and_Plurals

Basic Usage

The first thing to do is to defining rule. You may want to add this in your Module.php file, for example:

// Get the ViewHelperPlugin Manager from Service manager, so we can fetch the ``Plural``
// helper and add the plural rule for the application's language
$viewHelperManager = $serviceManager->get('ViewHelperManager');
$pluralHelper      = $viewHelperManager->get('Plural');

// Here is the rule for French
$pluralHelper->setPluralRule('nplurals=2; plural=(n==0 || n==1 ? 0 : 1)');

The string reads like that:

1. First, we specify how many plurals forms we have. For French, only two (singular/plural).
2. Then, we specify the rule. Here, if the count is 0 or 1, this is rule n°0 (singular) while it’s rule n°1 otherwise.

As we said earlier, English consider “1” as singular, and “0/other” as plural. Here is such a rule:

// Here is the rule for English
$pluralHelper->setPluralRule('nplurals=2; plural=(n==1 ? 0 : 1)');

Now that we have defined the rule, we can use it in our views:

<?php
   // If the rule defined in Module.php is the English one:

   echo $this->plural(array('car', 'cars'), 0); // prints "cars"
   echo $this->plural(array('car', 'cars'), 1); // prints "car"

   // If the rule defined in Module.php is the French one:
   echo $this->plural(array('voiture', 'voitures'), 0); // prints "voiture"
   echo $this->plural(array('voiture', 'voitures'), 1); // prints "voiture"
   echo $this->plural(array('voiture', 'voitures'), 2); // prints "voitures"
?>

Translate Helper

The Translate view helper can be used to translate content. It acts as a wrapper for the Zend\I18n\Translator\Translator class.

Setup

Before using the Translate view helper, you must have first created a Translator object and have attached it to the view helper. If you use the Zend\View\HelperPluginManager to invoke the view helper, this will be done automatically for you.

Basic Usage

// Within your view

echo $this->translate("Some translated text.");

echo $this->translate("Translated text from a custom text domain.", "customDomain");

echo sprintf($this->translate("The current time is %s."), $currentTime);

echo $this->translate("Translate in a specific locale", "default", "de_DE");

translate(string $message[, string $textDomain[, string $locale]])

Parameters:

• $message – The message to be translated.
• $textDomain – (Optional) The text domain where this translation lives. Defaults to the value “default”.
• $locale – (Optional) Locale in which the message would be translated (locale name, e.g. en_US). If unset, it will use the default locale (Locale::getDefault())

Gettext

The xgettext utility can be used to compile *.po files from PHP source files containing the translate view helper.

xgettext --language=php --add-location --keyword=translate my-view-file.phtml

See the Gettext Wikipedia page for more information.

Public Methods

Public methods for setting a Zend\I18n\Translator\Translator and a default text domain are inherited from

Zend\I18n\View\Helper\AbstractTranslatorHelper.

TranslatePlural Helper

The TranslatePlural view helper can be used to translate words which take into account numeric meanings. English, for example, has a singular definition of “car”, for one car. And has the plural definition, “cars”, meaning zero “cars” or more than one car. Other languages like Russian or Polish have more plurals with different rules.

The viewhelper acts as a wrapper for the Zend\I18n\Translator\Translator class.

Setup

Before using the TranslatePlural view helper, you must have first created a Translator object and have attached it to the view helper. If you use the Zend\View\HelperPluginManager to invoke the view helper, this will be done automatically for you.

Basic Usage

// Within your view
echo $this->translatePlural("car", "cars", $num);

// Use a custom domain
echo $this->translatePlural("monitor", "monitors", $num, "customDomain");

// Change locale
echo $this->translatePlural("locale", "locales", $num, "default", "de_DE");

translatePlural(string $singular, string $plural, int $number[, string $textDomain[, string $locale]])

Parameters:

• $singular – The singular message to be translated.
• $plural – The plural message to be translated.
• $number – The number to evaluate and determine which message to use.
• $textDomain – (Optional) The text domain where this translation lives. Defaults to the value “default”.
• $locale – (Optional) Locale in which the message would be translated (locale name, e.g. en_US). If unset, it will use the default locale (Locale::getDefault())

Public Methods

Public methods for setting a Zend\I18n\Translator\Translator and a default text domain are inherited from

Zend\I18n\View\Helper\AbstractTranslatorHelper.

Abstract Translator Helper

The AbstractTranslatorHelper view helper is used as a base abstract class for any helpers that need to translate content. It provides an implementation for the Zend\I18n\Translator\TranslatorAwareInterface which allows injecting a translator and setting a text domain.

Public Methods

setTranslator(Translator $translator[, string $textDomain = null])

Sets Zend\I18n\Translator\Translator to use in helper. The $textDomain argument is optional. It is provided as a convenience for setting both the translator and textDomain at the same time.

getTranslator()

Returns the Zend\I18n\Translator\Translator used in the helper.

Return type:Zend\I18n\Translator\Translator

hasTranslator()

Returns true if a Zend\I18n\Translator\Translator is set in the helper, and false if otherwise.

Return type:boolean

setTranslatorEnabled(boolean $enabled)

Sets whether translations should be enabled or disabled.

isTranslatorEnabled()

Returns true if translations are enabled, and false if disabled.

Return type:boolean

setTranslatorTextDomain(string $textDomain)

Set the translation text domain to use in helper when translating.

getTranslatorTextDomain()

Returns the translation text domain used in the helper.

Return type:string