Django translations with parler - show default language text when adding translation

Question

I'm working on a Django CMS with content to be translated into multiple languages. I'm using django-parler.

To make the translations easier I would like to have the text from the default language visible when adding the translated text, preferable just above the input field/textarea.

Any ideas on how to solve it?

Answer 1

You can override the get_form method in the Admin class, and update the widgets placeholder attribute. For example, if I have the folllowing model:

from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
from parler.models import TranslatableModel, TranslatedFields

class KeyCard(TranslatableModel):
    translations = TranslatedFields(
        series=models.CharField(_('series'), max_length=255, blank=True, null=True),
        skill=models.CharField(_('skill'), max_length=255, blank=True, null=True),
    )

Then I can use

from django.contrib import admin
from parler.admin import TranslatableAdmin
from parler.utils.context import switch_language

@admin.register(KeyCard)
class GuideAdmin(TranslatableAdmin):
    def get_form(self, request, obj=None, **kwargs):
        form = super().get_form(request, obj, **kwargs)
        with switch_language(obj, 'de'):
            for field in ['series', 'skill']:
                form.base_fields[field].widget.attrs['placeholder'] = getattr(obj, field)
        return form

Where de is my default language, and the fields series and skill are translatable fields.

Now this creates placeholders, which will disappear when typing, alternatively you can use:

form.base_fields[field].widget.attrs['value'] = getattr(obj, field)

To get the actuall value there, such that you can directly save it.

Now if you don't want to keep track of the translatable fields yourself, you can use:

for field in obj._parler_meta.get_all_fields():
    form.base_fields[field].widget.attrs['placeholder'] = getattr(obj, field)

Which will get you all translatable fields.

Note:

• value won't work on models.TextField