How to edit the JReviews language files

JReviews uses language files for all the text that is used in the themes. To change the text or translate it to a different language you need to edit the files in:

• /components/com_jreviews/jreviews/locale/

There's a folder for each language. You can modify the default.po file for your language or copy one of the 3-letter word language folders and rename it for your language. Then edit the default.po file.

When translating or changing the .po file it is very important to keep the character encoding of the file. In order to do this you need to use a special editor like Notepad++ or Poedit. Both are free applications.

When changing the file it is only necessary to change the msgstr, changing the msgid will not work. For example:

#: jreviews\views/helpers/custom_fields.php:312
#: jreviews\views/helpers/custom_fields.php:462
msgid "Submit"
msgstr "Submit"

Would be changed like this for a Spanish translation:

#: jreviews\views/helpers/custom_fields.php:312
#: jreviews\views/helpers/custom_fields.php:462
msgid "Submit"
msgstr "Enviar"

The msgid serves as the lookup reference from the .thtml theme files, where you'll find it in this format:

__t("Submit");

There is no need to change the theme .thtml files for translation, but if you do change the references in the __t("text"); format, then those will not be translatable via the language file unless you add to them new reference:

msgid "text" msgstr "translated text"

After making changes to a language file you must clear the cache in JReviews using the "Clear cache" link in the JReviews administration. You need to do this even if caching is disabled in JReviews.

If you use the JReviews Code Overrides feature for your customizations, you can also place the modified language files in /jreviews_overrides/locale/... to preserve your changes even after an upgrade. Just make sure you check the new file for new language strings after you upgrade.