How can I localize 3CX Phone System?

Introduction

The 3CX Phone System is designed to be multi-lingual. Each text element in the 3CX Management Console is stored in a file and referenced from this file. By creating a localised copy of this file, it is possible to easily translate the interface and allow users to select the preferred language option.

The user may choose the language for the 3CX Management Console from the Login page.

Location of Language Files in an installed system

An installation of 3CX Phone System will have the language files (assuming a standard installation folder) in the following location:

C:\Program Files\3CX PhoneSystem\Data\Http\includes

This folder will include a file named “languages.php”, which will in turn list the languages which the system will make available to the user.

The individual language files will be names “strings_en.ini”, “strings_de.ini”, and so on, with the last 2 characters of the filename before the extension representing the country’s language.

Management of Language Files

The primary file which contains the reference material is the “English” version – the “strings_en.ini” file. All development work which requires additions or changes to the text of the 3CX Management will occur in this file.

It is important, therefore, to ensure that the latest version of the English file is in hand before asking translators to work on it.

Making changes to any language file

It is recommended to use Notepad++ as the text-editing application for any language file.

The file MUST be in “Windows” format (in the Notepad++ menu, go to the “Format” menu and select “Convert to Windows Format”).

The file MUST be encoded in “UTF-8” (in the Notepad++ menu, go to the “Format” menu and select “Encode in UTF-8 without BOM”).

Format of the “languages.php” file

The format of the file is simplest explained by looking at the contents of the file itself, which is self explanatory.

To add a language, just insert a line between the “$gAvailableLanguages_arr = array(” line and the “);” line.

Please ensure that the English language is always the first in the list.
Please ensure that the languages are listed in alphabetical order by language name.
Please ensure that each line in the list MUST include a comma (“,”) at the end of the line, except the last line in the list, which must NOT include a comma (“,”) at the end of the line.

Keep in mind that the 2-character code will refer to the filename ofthe specified language file. So, for example, the line:

... will cause the system to look for a file “strings_hu.ini” for translating the text of the 3CX Management Console.

Format of the “strings_xx.ini” language file

Each line in the language file will be in the format:

For a complete list of the variables which will need to be translated, you must refer to the “strings_en.ini” file, which is the reference language.

Publishing your localized language on our website

After you have finished and tested your localized language file, you can request that 3CX publishes this file on our website so that users may download this file and use it.

These files will be downloaded by the PBX from the following location:

http://www.3cx.com/downloads/v5/languages

Please note that this location will host a zip file containing the full set of languages, rather than the files themselves.

After you have submitted the file to 3CX allow some time for the language to be published on our website.

How can I localize 3CX Phone System?

General 3CX Phone System FAQs