how to call google.language.translate, multiple times on setOnLoadCallback

[kv]

I am probably mistaken on the way to use jsapi, but does anybody has a
clue on how to call, (if possible) google.language.translate, multiple
times on setOnLoadCallback ?

for example :
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/jsapi"></
script>
<script type="text/javascript">
google.load("language", "1");

function translate_all(){

var an_array= ...some stuff in a multi-dimensionnal array, ie: Array
(0=>Array(0=>'the text',1=>'the src lang',2=>'the target lang'),
(1=>Array(0=>'the text',...

for(i=0;i<an_array.length;i++){
google.language.translate(an_array[i][0], an_array[i][1],
an_array[i][2],function(result) {
if (!result.error) {
document.write(result.translation); //for instance, or stored in a
string
}
});
}
}
google.setOnLoadCallback(translate_all);
</script>

Thanks a lot

[Jeremy Geerdes]

If I was going to do this, I would do it something like this:

function translate_all(){
var an_array=[
{
text : "Text 1 to translate",
srcLang : "source_language1",
destLang : "dest_language1"
},
{
text : "Text 2 to translate",
destLang : "dest_language2"
}
];
var myClosure=function(a){
return function(result){
if(result.error){
alert('There was a problem translating "' + a.text + '"');
return
}
a.translation = result.translation;
var div = document.createElement('div');
div.appendChild(document.createTextNode(a.translation));
document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].appendChild(div);
}
};
for(var i=0; i<an_array.length; i++){
var toTrans = an_array[i];
google.language.translate(toTrans.text, toTrans.srcLang || '',
toTrans.destLang, myClosure(toTrans))
}
}

A couple of things you'll notice about this code:

1. instead of using a multi-dimensional array, I used an array of
objects. It makes it a little easier to keep track of what's what.

2. I implemented a closure so you could keep track of what you're
doing when the translations come back. A closure is essentially a
function that returns a function which will remember where you were
and what you were doing when you created it, so it can pick up at that
point again.

3. Instead of using document.write, I used DOM methods to create a div
element, put the translated string inside it, and add that to the
document. This is essential because, after the onload event fires,
document.write will have unpredictable and almost-always disastrous
effects on your page.

4. When the translation returns, it will be assigned back to the
original object as a translation property, so you'll be able to access
an_array[0].translation.

And that's that. Hope it helps. If you have questions, feel free to
post again.

Jeremy R. Geerdes
Effective website design & development
Des Moines, IA

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!

[Kaveh Rassoulzadegan]

Dear Jeremy,

first of all, thank you a lot for your time.
Your explanations were very clear.
I saw today another page dealing with the closure, but finally thought it would be faster to solve that with few lines of php. Thanks for your closure implementation anyways.

Instead, I looped the very handy php's 'file_get_contents' function, changing only id, '&q', and '&langpair' from my array, in the urls sent by this function.

The front array is still multi, but I got your oo advice, thanks for that.
In this case, the array is multi because its human-readable clarity was not really an issue. It was the result of preg_matches on a sql query result set, with three capture groups.

It worked really fine but thank you again for writing this because it clarify a lot  language.translate for my possible future uses and may help a lot people wanting to use jsapi.

Don't worry, I hate document.write and this is yet another reason. I heavily use dom methods but between us, I am not that dom-clean(I use also innerhtml and stuff when I don't have time :)

Thank you again for your kind move.

Take care,
Kaveh Rassoulzadegan

Jeremy Geerdes a écrit :

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[Alvin Wong]

I used this in my forum with discuz.

<script type="text/javascript">
var translate=new Object();
translate.ready=false;
translate.queried=new Array();
translate.run=function(text,toLang,onTranslated){
if(toLang=="zh-hk"){
toLang="zh-tw";
}
if(this.ready){
google.language.translate(
text,
"",
toLang,
function(result){
if (result.translation){
onTranslated(result.translation,result);
}
}
);
}else{
return false;
}
};
translate.query=function(text,toLang,onTranslated){
if(toLang=="zh-hk"){
toLang="zh-tw";
}
if(this.ready){
this.run(text,toLang,onTranslated);
}else{
this.queried.push(new Array(text,toLang,onTranslated));
}
};
translate.processQuery=function(){
if(this.ready){
var cur;
while(this.queried.length>0){
cur=this.queried.shift();
this.run(cur[0],cur[1],cur[2]);
}
this.queried=new Array();
return true;
}else{
return false;
}
};

google.load("language", "1");

function translateInit(){
translate.ready=true;
translate.processQuery();
}
google.setOnLoadCallback(translateInit);
</script>

This is fully written by myself.
There is a translate object, where you can do translations like this:

<script type="text/javascript">
function translateForums(toLang){
<?php for($cat in $cats){ ?>
translate.query($('category_<?=$cat[fid]?
>_title').innerHTML,toLang,function(t,r){$('category_<?=$cat[fid]?
>_title').innerHTML=t;});
<php } ?>
}
</script>

<a href="javascript:;" onclick="translateForums('zh-tw');">Translate
to Traditional Chinese!</a>