Including language data in API responsesfor Drupal 8 , 9 , 10 , and 11

Having seen how to set up language prefixes or domains for multilingual support, the next step is ensuring your API responses carry comprehensive language data. This empowers your frontend applications to tailor content delivery based on a user’s language preferences efficiently.

Understanding Language Data in JSON:API

Language data is pivotal in a headless Drupal setup, particularly when dealing with a global audience. Language metadata within API responses helps in:

• Indicating the language in which content is served.
• Facilitating language switching for end users.
• Providing a better context for interpreting content linguistically.

Setting Up Language Data in JSON:API Responses

The JSON:API module in Drupal efficiently supports multilingual data exposure by default. Here’s how you can leverage this power:

Step 1: Configuring Multilingual Settings

Before you can include language data, ensure your Drupal setup is configured for multilingual support. You should have the Language, Content Translation, and Interface Translation modules enabled and properly configured.

Step 2: Exploring Default Language Data Inclusion

Perform a simple API request to see default language metadata:

GET /jsonapi/node/article/1

The response JSON will contain language metadata within the attributes:

{
  "data": {
    "type": "node--article",
    "id": "1",
    "attributes": {
      "title": "Sample Title",
      "langcode": "en",
      ...
    }
  }
}

The langcode field is essential for differentiating responses based on language.

Enhancing Language Support with Additional Metadata

Step 3: Customizing Responses with More Language Information

To provide more language-related data, such as translations available or metadata for the language, you might customize the JSON:API outputs. Use hooks or tweak the response data to suit your needs.

Example: Adding Translation Information

Create a custom module to extend JSON:API response attributes:

namespace Drupal\custom_language_data\Plugin\jsonapi\FieldEnhancer;

use Drupal\jsonapi\FieldEnhancer\FieldEnhancerBase;

/**
 * Adds translation data to the API response.
 *
 * @JsonapiFieldEnhancer(
 *   id = "translation_enhancer",
 *   label = @Translation("Translation Enhancer"),
 *   entity_type = "node",
 *   bundle = "article"
 * )
 */
class TranslationEnhancer extends FieldEnhancerBase {
  public function enhance($value, EntityInterface $entity) {
    // Logic to add translation details
  }
}

This approach allows you to introduce more detailed language-specific data, aiding clients in rendering and processing multilingual content effectively.

Best Practices

Conclusion and What’s Next?

Including comprehensive language data in your API responses makes your headless Drupal environment more robust, allowing seamless integration with frontend applications that require locale-aware functionalities.

In our upcoming lesson, "Using hook_jsonapi_resource_response_alter() for Translations", we’ll dive deeper into customizing JSON:API responses to efficiently handle translations and other contextual data modifications.