We have added a full translation and deployment workflow with the new release of Open Atrium beta 2. With Open Atrium currently available in 22 languages, all of which are in the process of being translated, we needed a good workflow to access the latest version of translations. The new workflow goes like this:

• Select a language on the installer and the translation is downloaded and imported

• Fix or add missing translations, which can be automatically contributed to the server

• Get an upgrade with all updates.

Translation update options

Downloading and installing translations upon request is important. As the number of languages Open Atrium is available in grows (currently 22), packaging all of the the translations with the installer will become an issue, since each additional language added will cause the installer profile to grow a bit more. Also, we want you to get the latest updated translation file every time.

Plenty of languages on the installer, and growing!

We have also implemented requirements checking so that if the server or translation is not available, you can alternately download a translation file and place it in the right folder. This will allow you to do an offline install.

Properly handling an offline installation

The translation update system has been designed after the Drupal core update module and actually reuses some of its code. The main difference between the two systems is that for Open Atrium there is no need for manual downloads — you just need to click a button to automatically download the latest translation and import it to your site.

One-click translation updates

It will take just three minutes to update a translation of Open Atrium. To try this yourself, download the latest beta 2 Open Atrium version, select one of the languages available, and see how the translation is automatically downloaded and installed.

This approach is promising for other packages built on Drupal as well, but some more work may be needed to handle all Drupal translations this way, since with Open Atrium we simplified the update problem to a known number of modules that are included in the Open Atrium package.

Translations downloaded and imported on the fly