Loading extra language files

Overview

Many times, you need to load extra language files in your code. An example is loading your component's language file into a module for that component. This example loads a single language file, and appends the results to the existing language strings. Following is the code that helps you do this

PHP Code

$lang = JFactory::getLanguage();
$extension = 'com_helloworld';
$base_dir = JPATH_SITE;
$language_tag = 'en-GB';
$reload = true;
$lang->load($extension, $base_dir, $language_tag, $reload);

Following is an explanation of the variables

1. $extension - This is the extension whose language file will be loaded

2. $base_dir - Should be JPATH_SITE in case you have language files stored elsewhere. Defaults to JPATH_BASE. [optional]

Note: Joomla will look in its /languages/ folder for a en-GB.com_helloworld.ini language file. If you put your component's language file in your own components language folder /components/com_helloworld/language/en-GB/en-GB.com_helloworld.ini, then you need to specify the path:

$base_dir = JPATH_SITE . '/components/com_helloworld'

3. $language_tag - This is the locale string. Language files for this locale will be loaded. Defaults to the one set in backend. [optional]

4. $reload - Flag that will force a language to be reloaded if set to true. [optional]