Moodle supports localization out of the box. Your own plugins should provide at least an English language file, for example ''/mod/yourmod/lang/en/yourmod.php''.

**WARNING:** After adding or changing language strings, don't forget to:

  * Purge the cache
  * Restart Apache (if you're using php caching)

====== Strings And Translations ======

===== Output String in Arbitrary Language =====

To output a translation string in an arbitrary language (instead of the current default language), you can use the string_manager class' get_string function. This is not a static function, however, so you need an instance first. Here's a oneliner to call the function properly:

<code>
echo get_string_manager()->get_string('invitation', 'yourmod', $data_object, $arbitrary_language_code);
</code>

If you don't have any data to replace variables like ''{$a->firstname}'', simply call the same function with ''NULL'' as the 3rd argument.

The language string in ''$arbitrary_language_code'' should consist of a two character code (e.g. ''nl'' or ''en''). Moodle uses these codes in ''mdl_course.lang'' and ''mdl_user.lang''.

===== Output Formatted Date in Current Locale =====
<code>
echo userdate($currentcourse->startdate, get_string('strftimedate', 'langconfig'));
</code>

===== Output Dates in Arbitrary Locale =====

In addition to selecting a specific language, sometimes you also need to switch to the 'locale' of the user. For instance, you may want to output the date in the proper format, with the correct strings for the names of the months and days of the week.

<code>
$old_locale = setlocale(LC_ALL, 0);
setlocale(LC_ALL,  get_string_manager()->get_string("locale", "langconfig", NULL, $arbitrary_language_code) );
echo userdate($start_date, get_string_manager()->get_string("strftimedaydate", "langconfig", NULL, $arbitrary_language_code));
setlocale(LC_ALL, $old_locale);
</code>

This code will switch to the locale of the string retrieved from the ''moodledata/lang/{$arbitrary_language_code}/langconfig.php'' file (for the key ''locale''). Then, a date is properly formatted and printed. And finally, we switch back to the original locale setting.

Please note that this will only work if your server actually supports the locale you're switching to (but that is a Moodle requirement anyway). To install a new locale under Ubuntu:

<code>
    sudo locale-gen nl_NL
    sudo locale-gen nl_NL.UTF-8
    sudo update-locale
</code>

===== Correct Database Settings for UTF-8 =====

Moodle uses UTF-8 character encoding. Make sure that your database is configured to use UTF-8 everywhere.

<code>
mysql> show variables like '%character%';
+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| Variable_name            | Value                      |
+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| character_set_client     | utf8                       |
| character_set_connection | utf8                       |
| character_set_database   | utf8                       |
| character_set_filesystem | binary                     |
| character_set_results    | utf8                       |
| character_set_server     | utf8                       |
| character_set_system     | utf8                       |
| character_sets_dir       | /usr/share/mysql/charsets/ |
+--------------------------+----------------------------+
8 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> show variables like '%collat%';
+----------------------+-----------------+
| Variable_name        | Value           |
+----------------------+-----------------+
| collation_connection | utf8_general_ci |
| collation_database   | utf8_general_ci |
| collation_server     | utf8_general_ci |
+----------------------+-----------------+
3 rows in set (0.01 sec)

</code>

If you're not seeing utf8, edit your ''/etc/mysql/my.cnf'' file.

<code>
[client]
## This only works in the [client] section:
default-character-set=utf8

[mysqld]
character-set-server = utf8
</code>

===== Save Language Files in UTF-8 Encoding =====

If you've got language files (e.g. ''mod/rainmaker/lang/fr/rainmaker.php''), make sure they're in UTF-8 character encoding. In vim, use '':bomb'' and '':set fileencoding=utf-8'' (and then save the file).