[This is preliminary
documentation and is subject to change.]
Though language differences may still hinder worldwide
communication, Microsoft has worked consistently to bridge the gap by
increasing the quality and accessibility of machine translators. These
automated interpreters are fast becoming necessary tools to increase
accessibility to products, services, and global social networking. How can
developers implement the Microsoft Translator into a website or application?
There are three easy techniques for PHP developers: the Web widget, AJAX, and
HTTP methods.
The Translator Web Widget – Translating a Site
The Translator Web Widget is the perfect tool for
translating an entire site. The sample below shows the widget translating a
web page from English to traditional Chinese. Additionally, when the cursor is
floated over a portion of the translated text, a window appears showing the
reverse translation back into English.
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Create the same functionality on any page using the web
widget. You can later customize the widget’s color, size, and translation
behaviors using JavaScript. Simply go to http://microsofttranslator.com/Widget
and specify a site’s domain name and current language, select from the color
and width options, and agree to Microsoft’s use policies. Then click the
Generate code button and copy and paste the new code into a site.
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The site is now accessible to people speaking multiple
languages.
Using the AJAX API – Translating a Block of Text
While delivering similar functionality as the Web widget,
the AJAX API is useful when more customization is desired. It is also more flexible
and allows for improved server response time because it can be called
asynchronously from the client and does not require a page reload if used with
JavaScript.
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In this scenario, the page design called for four different
languages to be available at the top of the page, and for the language names
to each appear in their own language. When the user clicks on the language
name, the page is quickly translated into the selected language.
To create a page that utilizes the Translator AJAX API in
such a way, you must first obtain an appId for your project to access the
Translator. Generate the appId by going to http://www.microsofttranslator.com/Dev/Ajax.
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Paste the generated script within the header section of the
code for your web project. Next, add this code within a script tag to
translate the HTML page (in this case from English to Spanish)
function translatePage()
{
// Tell the API to translate from English into Spanish
Microsoft.Translator.translate(document.body, "en", "es");
}
Add a clickable link to the page to enable the user to
translate the content.
<a onclick="translatePage();" style="cursor: pointer; cursor: hand; text-decoration: underline; color: #0000FF;">Español</a>
By hard-coding the original and resulting languages as
shown above, the translator is being told the exact languages to translate
from and to. If no values were set for these parameters, the translator would
use language identification technology to decipher the originating language.
It is also possible to use JavaScript variables to set the
language when the link is clicked instead of hard-coding it. First, create the
link so that it uses the variable. In the following case, the link specifies
that it will translate to French but the method does not use a hardcoded “fr”
language code; instead it uses the French variable that we will assign.
<a onclick="translatePage(french);" style="cursor: pointer; cursor: hand; text-decoration: underline; color: #0000FF;"> Français</a>
The following shows examples for Spanish, German, English,
and the French variable mentioned above.
<script type="text/javascript">
// Set the languages
var currentLanguage = "en";
var spanish = "es";
var german = "de";
var english = "en";
var french = "fr";
function translatePage(language)
{
Microsoft.Translator.translate(document.body, currentLanguage, language);
currentLanguage = language;
}
</script>
Using the HTTP API – Detecting the Language of a Block of Text
The HTTP API is easy to assemble and is therefore useful
for more dynamic applications. Since the HTTP method can work in conjunction
with any programming language and operating system, this option is useful in
many scenarios. The following HTTP example demonstrates how the Microsoft
Translator can be used to detect the written language of a page using PHP. The
demonstration begins with obtaining the necessary HTTP API application ID,
then demonstrations the writing of the code for the sample and proceeds to
creation of the interface.
Before beginning, you must obtain a Live Search API App ID.
Go to http://search.live.com/developers/appids.aspx,
sign in with your Windows Live ID, and follow the instructions to generate the
appId.
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Use the generated text in place of the highlighted
yourappIdhere in the code snippets below.
The below example handles the HTTP query and response to
and from the Microsoft Translator web service, and displays it on the page.
Begin a new PHP page and call it HTTPDemo.php. Create a POST form and add a
textbox, label, and a submit button to the page. Do not add a POST action
because you want the page to post back to itself.
<body>
<p>Enter
text of the language you would like to detect:
<p>
<form
method="post">
<p><input
type="text" name="language" /></p>
<p><input
type="submit" /></p>
</form>
</body>
Now add the code to handle the language detect
functionality. Enter the PHP tags below the form and create a PHP function to
detect when the language textbox has been posted back. Within the function,
add a query variable that receives the text from the textbox.
<?php
if ($_POST['language'] == true)
{
$query = urlencode($_POST['language']);
}
?>
Once the query variable has been created above, add a new
variable that will receive the response from the HTTP request. Use the below
code which does a request to the HTTP Translator web service, but replace
yourappIdhere with the appId generated at the start of this section.
Append the query variable that contains the textbox input
to the end of the web service URL (the text sent to be detected). Finally, add
an echo statement that will display the contents of the result returned from
the request.
$res = implode('',
file('http://api.microsofttranslator.com/V1/Http.svc/Detect?AppId=yourappIdhere&text='.$query));
echo "The detected language is: ".$res;
When text is typed into the textbox, the end result should appear like the
following:
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The above demonstration shows how PHP can be combined with an HTTP call to the
Microsoft Translator service so that it detects a language.
As the world shrinks and desire for instantaneous
communication expands, language barriers no longer impose the restrictions
they once did. With Microsoft’s Translator APIs, it is possible to attract a
wider audience to web pages and applications written in PHP.
Use the web widget to expose information on any web page to
worldwide visitors by simply inserting the code generated by the Translator.
Implement AJAX to customize Translator behaviors such as designating specific
languages. The HTTP method can be useful for detecting what language was used
in a block of text.
PHP developers have the benefit of using any of these
methods to allow translation for users. They are also able to work outside the
Microsoft platform while leveraging the Translator APIs. Use the samples in this
paper to build upon and create your own applications and solutions using PHP
and the Microsoft Translator.