Virtuemart 2 @ Joomla 2.5 Multilingual

[DarthVaderNow]

Hi,
this is my first post here...

I would like to create Vmart2 (on Joomla 2.5) based MULTILINGUAL web store.
I have already created Joomla and Vmart2 installation and added multilingual support to Joomla with FaLang extension. Changing language with flags on top of page suits me very much.

BUT, that in not working with Vmart. So my quesion is: how to do that?

Thanks

[jjk]

First make shure Joomla 2.5.x multilanguage setup is correct. See here: http://help.joomla.org/files/EN-GB_multilang_tutorial.pdf
Check if your required VM2 language pack has been installed in the Joomla language folders. If your language was not included in the com_virtuemart.2.x.x_ext_aio.zip, you might have to install it seperately.
Choose your primary language as the default frontend language in Joomla.
Then select your languages in VM2 Configuration - First tab - 'Multilingual shop' form field.
After that you should be able to switch between languages when you write product descriptions in VM2.
(Note: Set Joomla to use TinyMCE editor or use the JCE editor version 2.2.1 or higher. There is a conflict between VM2 and other editors)
In Joomla create a menu for each of your languages, holding menu items for all your VM2 categories and the cart.

You don't need FaLang for a multilingual shop.

[mark.j]

I run into this issue.

When I try to make a new category or product in my second language (French) by default only English is available at the top of the form. It is not a drop-down even. Once I save the category/product then I see the drop-down with French in it. However, I can not save it as French, it reverts back to being in English.

When switching language after the first save, I get this error: No (fr-fr) translation in Product Category, please fill the fields with Flags

I run Joomla 2.5.4 and VM 2.0.6. I have configured Joomla core for multilingual and on the Joomla side everything works fine - menus, content, modules, etc. I have selected both languages on the VM configuration page and switched to TinyMCE.

I have seen couple of people reported the same problem and got no answer. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[jjk]

Perhaps this helps to locate your problem: http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=95970.msg325592#msg325592
Have a look at your database content and check if your french text is stored in the virtuemart fr-FR tables and your english text in your en-GB tables. It might be mixed up if you originally started to enter french descriptions into the english (single language) tables.

[mark.j]

I looked at the tables and VM has created entries for the new French language category and product in both language tables - En and Fr. Looking at the back end I am not sure which version of the category am I looking at as the drop-down always starts with English.

Again, I guess the issue is two fold:

1) When I start adding new category or product the default language shown at the top of the form is English - no drop-down.
2) After initial saving, the language drop-down appears, but when I re-save it, it saves the changes in the French language table, while keeping the original copy in the original table. Looking at the back end I see only one category or product. In the En and Fr tables however, both are saved and have the same id number.

There is no language filter or any other indicator in the back-end to reassure me or the client that we are looking at the right language. Besides if left like this it doubles the database in size plus I have no idea yet what two items with the same id number would do to the front end or purchase process.

[mark.j]

Ohhh...

I understand now. Only one language version of the category or product is shown in the back end - default language. Once you click on it you can then flip back and forth between English and French versions of the category or product, etc. Thus the same id number.

This works more like JoomFish in 1.5 than Joomla 2.5 language management. It took a while to realize that.

[jjk]

When you click on "Save", it VM2 always goes back to the language which you have set as default frontend language in Joomla. In case you are working only in the non-default language for some time, you can prevent having to switch to the other language after every "Save" by temporarily setting the other language as the frontend default language in Joomla.