Symfony
sponsored by SensioLabs
Menu
  • About
  • Documentation
  • Screencasts
  • Cloud
  • Certification
  • Community
  • Businesses
  • News
  • Download
  1. Home
  2. Documentation
  3. Validation
  4. How to Translate Validation Constraint Messages
  • Documentation
  • Book
  • Reference
  • Bundles
  • Cloud
Search by Algolia

How to Translate Validation Constraint Messages

Edit this page

Warning: You are browsing the documentation for Symfony 4.4, which is no longer maintained.

Read the updated version of this page for Symfony 6.2 (the current stable version).

How to Translate Validation Constraint Messages

The validation constraints used in forms can translate their error messages by creating a translation resource for the validators translation domain.

First of all, install the Symfony translation component (if it's not already installed in your application) running the following command:

1
$ composer require symfony/translation

Suppose you've created a plain-old-PHP object that you need to use somewhere in your application:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
// src/Entity/Author.php
namespace App\Entity;

class Author
{
    public $name;
}

Add constraints through any of the supported methods. Set the message option to the translation source text. For example, to guarantee that the $name property is not empty, add the following:

  • Annotations
  • YAML
  • XML
  • PHP
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
// src/Entity/Author.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Author
{
    /**
     * @Assert\NotBlank(message="author.name.not_blank")
     */
    public $name;
}
1
2
3
4
5
# config/validator/validation.yaml
App\Entity\Author:
    properties:
        name:
            - NotBlank: { message: 'author.name.not_blank' }
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
<!-- config/validator/validation.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<constraint-mapping xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping/constraint-mapping-1.0.xsd">

    <class name="App\Entity\Author">
        <property name="name">
            <constraint name="NotBlank">
                <option name="message">author.name.not_blank</option>
            </constraint>
        </property>
    </class>
</constraint-mapping>
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
// src/Entity/Author.php
namespace App\Entity;

// ...
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\NotBlank;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Mapping\ClassMetadata;

class Author
{
    public $name;

    public static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata)
    {
        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('name', new NotBlank([
            'message' => 'author.name.not_blank',
        ]));
    }
}

Now, create a validators catalog file in the translations/ directory:

  • XML
  • YAML
  • PHP
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
<!-- translations/validators/validators.en.xlf -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<xliff version="1.2" xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">
    <file source-language="en" datatype="plaintext" original="file.ext">
        <body>
            <trans-unit id="author.name.not_blank">
                <source>author.name.not_blank</source>
                <target>Please enter an author name.</target>
            </trans-unit>
        </body>
    </file>
</xliff>
1
2
# translations/validators/validators.en.yaml
author.name.not_blank: Please enter an author name.
1
2
3
4
// translations/validators/validators.en.php
return [
    'author.name.not_blank' => 'Please enter an author name.',
];

You may need to clear your cache (even in the dev environment) after creating this file for the first time.

This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.
We stand with Ukraine.
Version:
Show your Symfony expertise

Show your Symfony expertise

Peruse our complete Symfony & PHP solutions catalog for your web development needs.

Peruse our complete Symfony & PHP solutions catalog for your web development needs.

↓ Our footer now uses the colors of the Ukrainian flag because Symfony stands with the people of Ukraine.

Avatar of Julia, a Symfony contributor

Thanks Julia for being a Symfony contributor

1 commit • 2 lines changed

View all contributors that help us make Symfony

Become a Symfony contributor

Be an active part of the community and contribute ideas, code and bug fixes. Both experts and newcomers are welcome.

Learn how to contribute

Symfony™ is a trademark of Symfony SAS. All rights reserved.

  • What is Symfony?
    • Symfony at a Glance
    • Symfony Components
    • Case Studies
    • Symfony Releases
    • Security Policy
    • Logo & Screenshots
    • Trademark & Licenses
    • symfony1 Legacy
  • Learn Symfony
    • Symfony Docs
    • Symfony Book
    • Reference
    • Bundles
    • Best Practices
    • Training
    • eLearning Platform
    • Certification
  • Screencasts
    • Learn Symfony
    • Learn PHP
    • Learn JavaScript
    • Learn Drupal
    • Learn RESTful APIs
  • Community
    • SymfonyConnect
    • Support
    • How to be Involved
    • Code of Conduct
    • Events & Meetups
    • Projects using Symfony
    • Downloads Stats
    • Contributors
    • Backers
  • Blog
    • Events & Meetups
    • A week of symfony
    • Case studies
    • Cloud
    • Community
    • Conferences
    • Diversity
    • Documentation
    • Living on the edge
    • Releases
    • Security Advisories
    • SymfonyInsight
    • Twig
    • SensioLabs
  • Services
    • SensioLabs services
    • Train developers
    • Manage your project quality
    • Improve your project performance
    • Host Symfony projects
    Deployed on
Follow Symfony
Search by Algolia