Laravel Multilingual Routes Laravel Package

Getting Started

1. Install the package via Composer: composer require chinleung/laravel-multilingual-routes.
2. Add the DetectRequestLocale middleware to the top of your web middleware group in bootstrap/app.php to automatically detect and switch the app locale per request.
3. Define your supported locales via app.locales config or use chinleung/laravel-locales.
4. Run php artisan vendor:publish --provider="ChinLeung\MultilingualRoutes\MultilingualRoutesServiceProvider" --tag="config" to publish config if you need to prefix the default locale.
5. Start with simple routes: Route::multilingual('/', 'HomeController')->name('home');, then create translation files at resources/lang/{locale}/routes.php (e.g., 'home' => 'accueil' for French).

Implementation Patterns

• Bulk Route Registration: Use Route::multilingualResource('photos', 'PhotoController') to auto-generate full RESTful routes across locales—avoid repetitive boilerplate.
• Dynamic Naming: Rename routes per locale with ->names(['en' => 'dashboard', 'fr' => 'tableau-bord']) for natural localization, not just translation.
• Route Inference & Flexibility:
  • Use ->except(['fr']) or ->only(['en', 'es']) to selectively expose routes by locale.
  • Use ->view('welcome') to map multilingual URIs to Blade views without controllers.
  • For complex views, chain ->data([...]) or ->middleware([...]).
• Link Generation: Replace route() with localized_route('home', [], 'fr') for explicit locale URLs, and current_route() to switch context (e.g., language switcher dropdowns).
• Route Validation: Use Request::localizedRouteIs('home') in Blade or middleware to check route context agnostic of locale prefix.

Gotchas and Tips

• Parameterized Routes Require Explicit Translations: For multilingualResource, always include translated patterns like 'test/{test}' => 'teste/{test}'—missing entries cause broken parameterized URIs.
• Default Locale Prefixing: If publishing the config, set prefix_default_locale to true to avoid inconsistent route naming (e.g., /en/about vs /about).
• Middleware Placement Matters: DetectRequestLocale must run first in the web middleware group—placing it after auth/session causes locale detection to be too late.
• Signed URLs: Use URL::signedLocalizedRoute() instead of route()—Laravel’s native signed routes won’t work with multilingual names.
• Debugging URIs: Run php artisan route:list to verify all generated localized routes—ensure the URI column matches expectations.
• Extension Points: Extend via MultilingualRouteServiceProvider customization or override Route::multilingual() resolution by listening to Route::afterResolving() in a custom macro.