How to Set up an Online Multi-Language Magazine with Sulu

Sulu CMS: Building a Multi-lingual Online Magazine

This tutorial builds upon a previous "Hello World" Sulu installation (using Vagrant), diving into core concepts and creating a simple, multi-lingual online magazine. Before proceeding, familiarity with setting up isolated PHP development environments and the initial Sulu Vagrant setup is recommended.

Key Concepts:

• Multi-language Support: Sulu excels at managing content across multiple locales (languages) using customizable page templates.
• Page Templates: These are defined by Twig templates (for rendering) and XML configuration (for structure).
• Caching: Efficient content delivery is crucial. Development environments should utilize Symfony's development environment variables (SYMFONY_ENV and SYMFONY_DEBUG) for easy debugging and immediate cache clearing (bin/adminconsole cache:clear --env=prod).
• ArticleBundle: Essential for managing large article volumes, leveraging ElasticSearch for search functionality. (Note: This bundle is under active development.)
• ElasticSearch: Required by the ArticleBundle. Installation on Ubuntu 16.04 involves Java 8 installation and configuring ElasticSearch.
• Multi-locale Setup: Adding languages involves modifying the webspace file and running php bin/adminconsole sulu:document:initialize to initialize PHPCR documents for each new locale. Failure to do so can lead to data loss; recovery commands are provided in the original article.
• Shadow Pages: These provide fallback content in a secondary language when a translation is missing.

Pages and Page Templates:

A page is a content block, often composed of smaller blocks. A page template uses Twig for rendering and XML for structural definition. The example XML and Twig snippets illustrate this. Modifying the master.html.twig layout and publishing changes demonstrates the workflow.

Themes:

A theme is a collection of page templates and assets (CSS, JS, etc.), distinct from the master layout. This tutorial focuses on page templates, not themes.

Caching Considerations:

Ensure your environment variables are set correctly for efficient development and debugging. Remember to clear the cache appropriately for each environment.

Building the Online Magazine:

An online magazine requires: informational pages, numerous articles (often categorized), user roles, and a media library. The ArticleBundle addresses the challenge of managing a large number of articles by sharding content (to avoid PHPCR's 10,000-child limit).

ElasticSearch Installation:

Detailed instructions are provided for installing Java 8 and ElasticSearch on Ubuntu 16.04. Troubleshooting steps are included for resolving startup issues.

ArticleBundle Installation and Configuration:

The tutorial provides detailed steps for installing the ArticleBundle (using composer), configuring it in AbstractKernel.php and config.yml, adding routes, creating example templates, and initializing the bundle. Permissions must be adjusted in the Admin UI to access the Article functionality.

URL Schemes:

Modifying the route_schema in config.yml allows customization of article URLs.

Adding Locales:

Adding a new language (e.g., Croatian - "hr") to the webspace file requires subsequent execution of php bin/adminconsole sulu:document:initialize. Crucially, this command must be run before creating content in the new locale to prevent data loss.

Language Switcher:

Adding a language switcher to the master.html.twig layout allows users to easily switch between languages.

Shadow Pages:

Shadow pages enable fallback content from a default language (e.g., English) when a translation is missing for a specific page.

Conclusion:

This tutorial provides a comprehensive guide to building a multi-lingual online magazine using Sulu CMS, covering key concepts, bundle integration, and locale management. Remember the importance of proper caching, ElasticSearch configuration, and the critical sulu:document:initialize command for locale management. The tutorial concludes with a FAQ section addressing common questions about Sulu and its features. The images included in the original text are retained in their original format and location.

The above is the detailed content of How to Set up an Online Multi-Language Magazine with Sulu. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!