How can I manage site translations in code?

Question

I have a site with multiple translations, including a heavily customized version of the default Drupal "English." (The use case requires that a lot of the help text and labels throughout Drupal be changed.)

I am using the Features module to manage deployment. However, I can't find a way to manage translations in code.

Currently, I visit the Languages page, click export, download the .po file for each type (built-in interface, node types, taxonomy) for each language, and then commit these downloaded files to code. This seems extremely inefficient compared to working with Features.

I looked for a Drush command to help but the 5.0-rc3 version which I'm using doesn't have any i18n-related commands.

How can I manage site translations efficiently in code?

Answer 1

I had the same problem and had a look at the module Features Translation. However, there were some downsides to it. Don't know exactly what is was. From what I can remember is that when I import a feature, for example the menu link labels are imported in the built in interface. So it doesn't help to import the translations for Menu Items because the source labels are not available there but in the Built In interface. But maybe I am wrong, tried so many things I can really recall what I did.

But you can have a look at it, maybe it works for you.

Tell us when you have found a suitable solution. I am curious.

Answer 2

Drush 5.x, at least as of right now, doesn't have anything to help in this area.

Instead, I used Selenium IDE to automate a workflow for an admin account of logging in and importing the translations for each language. Exports must still be performed manually, which is a pain, but at least it's slightly faster than before. (Selenium IDE cannot be used to handle the exports because it's impossible to take over the downloading of files with Javascript.)