Locations Translations (native location name)

Translating Osclass Locations

Osclass introduced a new feature starting from version 4.1, allowing the setup of native names for countries, regions, and cities. This is a major improvement for multilingual websites.

Objective of Location Translations

The primary goal of location translations is not to translate cities or regions into multiple languages (which would require significant database resources and slow down Osclass). Instead, Osclass allows translating locations into a single native language format.

This is particularly useful for:

• Websites operating in multiple scripts (e.g., Cyrillic & Latin, Arabic & Latin).
• Ensuring location names are readable and meaningful to local users.
• Providing a better user experience when browsing in their native script.

For example, a website in Dubai might offer both Arabic and English. If location names are in English, Arabic users might find them difficult to understand, and vice versa. With this feature, Osclass allows locations to be displayed in their native format when needed.

New Fields and Options for Locations

Osclass has introduced several new fields for location translations:

Country

• New fields: Native name, Default currency, Phone country code

Region

• New fields: Native name

City

• New fields: Native name, Latitude, Longitude

Language

• New option: Native location names

How to Enable Native Location Names

To enable native location names:

1. Go to Settings > Locations in the Osclass backoffice.
2. For each country, region, or city, enter its native name in the corresponding field.
3. Go to Settings > International > Languages and enable “Native location names” for the desired languages.

When enabled, Osclass will display native names wherever they are available. If a native name is empty, Osclass will default to the original name.

Theme Modifications for Location Translations

Osclass core has been updated to support native location names, but complex themes may require manual updates. Below are the necessary modifications.

Using Country, Region, or City Models

If your theme retrieves location data using the following methods, modifications are required:

$country = Country::newInstance()->someFunction();
$region = Region::newInstance()->someFunction();
$city = City::newInstance()->someFunction();

And location names are printed like this:

$country['s_name'];
$region['s_name'];
$city['s_name'];

You must modify them as follows:

$country['s_name'] --->  osc_location_native_name_selector($country);
$region['s_name']  --->  osc_location_native_name_selector($region);
$city['s_name']    --->  osc_location_native_name_selector($city);

Explanation: The function osc_location_native_name_selector() checks whether the selected language has “Native location names” enabled. If so, it uses s_name_native (native name). Otherwise, it falls back to the original s_name.

Updating JavaScript & AJAX Calls

Many themes fetch location names via AJAX, especially for dropdown selections. If your theme does not display native names in these cases, follow this example to update JavaScript functions.

Original Code

success: function(data){
  var length = data.length;

  if(length > 0) {
    result += '';
    for(key in data) {
      result += '' + data[key].s_name + '';
    }
  }

Updated Code (Supports Native Names)

success: function(data){
  var length = data.length;
  var locationsNative = "";

  if(length > 0) {
    result += '';
    for(key in data) {
      var vname = data[key].s_name;
      if(data[key].hasOwnProperty('s_name_native')) {
          if(data[key].s_name_native != '' && locationsNative == "1") {
              vname = data[key].s_name_native;
          }
      }

      result += '' + vname + '';
    }
  }

Explanation: The function checks if native names exist and if the user has selected a language where native names should be displayed. If both conditions are met, the native name is used.

Final Thoughts

With these updates, you can now offer native location names to users in selected languages. This enhances usability, improves localization, and ensures better readability for users who prefer their native script.