Localization 

Localization is the process of translating and adapting a product for a specific country or region. OroPlatform allows a user to customize the format of date/time/datetime, numeric and percent values, monetary values, and the format of names and addresses.

System Configuration 

To define localization parameters, navigate to the System > Configuration > General Setup > Localization menu in the system configuration.

Localization configuration settings

  • Primary Location — usually refers to the current country and is used to define appropriate address formats and the default currency.

  • Format Address per country — a flag that defines whether the address should be formatted according to its country’s rules or if the application’s primary location should be used instead.

  • Timezone — defines the timezone to render time and datetime values.

  • First Quarter Starts on — defines the first day of the first quarter. This value is used to generate proper reports.

  • Temperature Unit and Wind Speed Unit — used to render additional information on location maps.

  • Default Localization — specifies the default language of the back-office and storefront UI.

  • Enabled Localizations — provides a list of automatically generated localizations based on the data preconfigured under the System > Localization > Localizations in the back-office.

Configuration Files 

Localization information is stored in configuration files. Each bundle can add its own localization information using appropriate files (each has to be stored in the bundle’s Resources/config/oro directory):

locale_data.yml 

Resources/config/oro/locale_data.yml 
 US:
     currency_code: USD
     phone_prefix: '1'
     default_locale: en_US
 RU:
     currency_code: RUB
     phone_prefix: '7'
     default_locale: ru

This file contains the most basic information for countries (US and RU are country codes as defined by ISO 3166).

Each country configuration provides information about a country’s currency (according to ISO 4217):

  • the phone number prefix (as defined in E.164)

  • its default locale (e.g., the locale that is used to define the appropriate name format by country for a specific address).

name_format.yml 

Resources/config/oro/name_format.yml 
 en: "%prefix% %first_name% %middle_name% %last_name% %suffix%"
 ru: "%last_name% %first_name% %middle_name%"

This file specifies a name format per locale. Allowed placeholders are:

  • %prefix%

  • %prefix%

  • %first_name%

  • %middle_name%

  • %last_name%

  • %suffix%

address_format.yml 

Resources/config/oro/address_format.yml 
 US:
     format: "%name%\n%organization%\n%street%\n%CITY% %REGION_CODE% %COUNTRY_ISO2% %postal_code%"
 RU:
     format: "%postal_code% %COUNTRY% %CITY%\n%STREET%\n%organization%\n%name%"

This file specifies the name format for addresses and some additional address information optionally. Each placeholder can be lowercase (data will be rendered as is) or uppercase (data will be rendered in uppercase).

The allowed placeholders are:

  • %name%

  • %street%

  • %city%

  • %country%

  • %country_iso2%

  • %country_iso3%

  • %region%

  • %region_name%

  • %region_code%

  • %postal_code%

  • %organization%

Date and Numeric Formatting 

Both dates and numbers (decimal, percent, or currency) are formatted using the INTL library functions. Therefore, this library is required, and dates and numbers are formatted according to the installed version of the library.

The application provides formatter services used to format dates and numbers in the backend, which serve as wrappers for the INTL library:

  • Oro\Bundle\LocaleBundle\Formatter\DateTimeFormatter

    • formatDate()

    • formatTime()

    • format()

  • Oro\Bundle\LocaleBundle\Formatter\NumberFormatter

    • formatDecimal()

    • formatPercent()

    • formatCurrency()

    • formatSpellout()

    • formatDuration()

    • formatOrdinal()

You can use these formatter methods in twig templates as filters:

  • oro_format_date

  • oro_format_time

  • oro_format_datetime

  • oro_format_number

  • oro_format_currency

  • oro_format_decimal

  • oro_format_percent

  • oro_format_spellout

  • oro_format_duration

  • oro_format_ordinal

For example, the following Twig template prints a formatted datetime and a formatted monetary value:

{{ entity.createdAt|oro_format_datetime }}
{{ item.value|oro_format_currency }}

Suppose that the current locale is en, and that the currency is USD, the template will render the following values:

May 28, 2014 1:40 PM
$5,103.00

In addition to backend formatters, the application also provides the following JavaScript-powered similar formatters on the frontend side, which can be accessed using JS modules aliases:

  • orolocale/js/formatter/datetime (datetime.js)

    • formatDate(value)

    • formatTime(value)

    • formatDateTime(value)

  • orolocale/js/formatter/number (number.js)

    • formatDecimal(value)

    • formatInteger(value)

    • formatPercent(value)

    • formatCurrency(value)

Name Formatting 

Some entities in the application may have names that require localization before they are rendered. Localization includes the formatting of name parts according to a specified format (see name_format.yml).

On the backend side, such an entity must implement the Oro\Bundle\LocaleBundle\Model\FullNameInterface. This interface contains methods to extract all parts of a name, including the name prefix, the first name, the middle name, the last name, and the name suffix. Furthermore, separate interfaces for each name part can be used when an entity defines only a subset of the full name definition.

Formatting is done on the backend side by applying the Oro\Bundle\LocaleBundle\Formatter\NameFormatter::format method from the Oro\Bundle\LocaleBundle\Formatter\NameFormatter class. It receives an entity and returns it as a string which is formatted according to the defined rules.

The same formatting can be used in twig templates using the oro_format_name filter:

{{ entity|oro_format_name }}

For the en locale, an entity implementing the FullNameInterface will be formatted like this:

Mr. John S Doe Jr.

On the frontend side, you can perform the same formatting with the orolocale/js/formatter/name JS module, located in Oro/Bundle/LocaleBundle/Resources/public/js/formatter/name.js. This module uses a similar format() method.

Address Formatting 

Other entities may represent addresses that should be appropriately formatted when being rendered. The application provides a list of default address formats for several countries (see address_format.yml).

Further, an address entity may have person fields and implement the FullNameInterface interface. In this case, the name will be rendered according to the country’s default locale and will be used instead of an appropriate placeholder.

To support formatting, an address entity should implement the Oro\Bundle\LocaleBundle\Model\AddressInterface which defines methods to retrieve all required address parts (street, city, region name/code, postal code, country name/ISO2/ISO3 and organization).

The backend formatter, Oro\Bundle\LocaleBundle\Formatter\AddressFormatter, provides a format() method that returns a string representation of an address that can include the default newline separators (\n).

To use this formatter in a template, use the oro_format_address filter:

{{ address|oro_format_address }}

When used with the USA, such an address will be rendered like in the example below:

Mr. Roy K Greenwell
Products Inc.
2413 Capitol Avenue
ROMNEY IN US 47981

As with other entities, the frontend provides an appropriate JavaScript formatter, the orolocale/js/formatter/address JS module. This module is located in the address.js file in the Locale bundle and contains a format() method, which behaves exactly like the backend formatter.