Laravel 4 Framework with i18n example

This code is a solution for route prefix solution and switch URL locale. This example it has been written thanks to https://github.com/barryvdh I found the "core" trick in official Laravel Forum. Link to discussion: http://forums.laravel.io/viewtopic.php?pid=44870

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1. How it Works? =====================================

First off all, you should look inside Laravel 4 Localization documentation: http://laravel.com/docs/localization

It Works thx to this code snippet inside app/routes.php

<?php

$languages = array('en', 'ru', 'es');
$locale = Request::segment(1);
if (in_array($locale, $languages)) {
    App::setLocale($locale);
} else {
    $locale = null;
}

Route::group(array('prefix' => $locale), function() {
    Route::get('/', array('as' => 'home', 'uses' => 'PageController@home' ));
    Route::get('news', array('as' => 'news', 'uses' => 'PageController@news' ));
    Route::get('contact', array('as' => 'contact', 'uses' => 'PageController@contact'));
});

Also you should save inside Session the previous route, after each request. app/filters.php

App::after(function($request, $response)
{
    //Store last route inside session
    $i = 1;
    $route_array = array();
    while(Request::segment($i)) {
        $route_array[] = Request::segment($i);
        $i++;
    }
    $route = implode("/", $route_array);
    Session::put('last_route', $route);
});

2. Then... How you can change locale and prefix, from any route

My solution:

Route::group(array('prefix' => $locale), function() {
    Route::get('/', array('as' => 'home', 'uses' => 'PageController@home' ));
    Route::get('news', array('as' => 'news', 'uses' => 'PageController@news' ));
    Route::get('contact', array('as' => 'contact', 'uses' => 'PageController@contact'));
    
    //Test locale with variable
    Route::get('/test/{variable}', function($variable) {
        return View::make('test')->with('variable', $variable);
    });

    //Change Language
    Route::get('change_locale/{locale}', array('as' => 'change_locale', function($locale) {
        //Set locale
        App::setLocale($locale);
        //Get last route from session
        $route = Session::get('last_route');
        //Convert route to array
        $array_route = explode("/", $route);
        //Change first segment of route to "es", "en" or whatever
        $array_route[0] = $locale;
        //Convert array to string
        $redirect_route = implode("/", $array_route);
        //Redirect to new route
        return Redirect::to($redirect_route);
    }));
});

Inside your blade template you should have something like this:

<ul>
    <li><a href="{{ URL::to('/change_locale/es') }}">Español</a></li>
    <li><a href="{{ URL::to('/change_locale/en') }}">English</a></li>
    <li><a href="{{ URL::to('/change_locale/ru') }}">Pусский</a></li>
</ul>

3. Wanna redirect to example.com/zh?

Inside PageController@home method, you should redirect to default_locale when Request::segment(1) is empty:

class PageController extends Controller {  
    public function home() {
        $locale = Request::segment(1);    
        if ($locale == '') {
            $default_locale = App::getLocale();
            return Redirect::to("/{$default_locale}");
        }
        return View::make('home');
    }
}

And all that shoud do the trick... sorry for my English folks!