Google Translate v2 using jQuery and Ajax

[seb86]

<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function($){
		jQuery('.description-en').keyup(function(){
				var value = jQuery(this).val();
				jQuery("div.original").text(value);
		});
		var apiKey = "ENTER-YOUR-API-KEY-HERE";
		var langSource = "en";
		jQuery('a.translate-de').click(function(){
				var langTarget = "de"; // The language Google will translate the text in.
				var description = jQuery("div.original").val(); // Fetch source of text to translate.
				var apiurl = "https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2?key=" + apiKey + "&source=" + langSource + "&target=" + langTarget + "&q=" + description + "";
				alert(apiurl); // This is just to see if all data is sent through
				// Now we call the data
				$.ajax({
						url: apiurl + encodeURIComponent(description),
						dataType: 'jsonp',
						success: function(data){
								// console.log(data);
								console.log(data.data.translations[0].translatedText);
								jQuery('.description-de').text(data); // Inserts translated text.
								jQuery('span.status').text('Translation Complete!'); // Updates the status of translation if successfull.
						}
				});
				return false;
		});
});
</script>
<textarea class="description-en" rows="5" cols="20"></textarea>
<div class="original">Your description is presented here.</div>
<a href="#" class="translate-de">Translate Description</a><br>
<textarea class="description-de" rows="5" cols="20">Translation is inserted here!</textarea>
<br>Status: <b><span class="status">No Translation</span></b>
[/CODE]

I'm in need of some help to get this working. I have a text-area field box to which I enter my text in English and then I have a link that when clicked it will translate it in German and enter the translation text in another text-area field below.

I am having trouble trying to get the value of the original text when sending it through and would like some feed back to tell me what is missing or wrong with the code.

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated and any one can you use this if they wish once it works.

P.S. 'div.original' will be hidden off screen once this function works so the user will not see what they are typing appearing below the text-area field.

[seb86]

Updated code: 17.12.2011 - 12:00am

I added the post method as I'm sure this is needed but the value of the description is still not fetched.

<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function($){
		jQuery('.description-en').keyup(function(){
				var value = jQuery(this).val();
				jQuery("div.original").text(value);
		});
		var apiKey = "ENTER-YOUR-API-KEY-HERE";
		var langSource = "en";		jQuery('a.translate-de').click(function(){
				var langTarget = "de"; // The language Google will translate the text in.
				var description = jQuery("div.original").val(); // Fetch source of text to translate.
				var apiurl = "https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2?key=" + apiKey + "&source=" + langSource + "&target=" + langTarget + "&q=" + description + "";
				alert(apiurl); // This is just to see if all data is sent through
				// Now we call the data
				$.ajax({
						type: "GET",
						url: apiurl + encodeURIComponent(description),
						dataType: 'jsonp',
						beforeSend: function(){
								jQuery('span.status').text('Translating...'); // Updates the status of translation.
						},
						success: function(data){
								// console.log(data);
								console.log(data.data.translations[0].translatedText);
								jQuery('.description-de').text(data); // Inserts translated text.
								jQuery('span.status').text('Translation Complete!'); // Updates the status of translation if successfull.
						},
						error: function(data){
								jQuery('span.status').text('Translatiion Failed!'); // Updates the status of translation if failed.
						}
				});
				return false;
		});
});
</script>
[/CODE]

[seb86]

Made a few improvements but the text to translate is still not parsing through when link to translate text is clicked. Any help with the code would be very much appreciated.

<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function($){
var apiKey = "ENTER-YOUR-API-KEY-HERE";
var langSource = "en";
jQuery('.description-en').keyup(function(){
  var value = jQuery(this).val();
  var toTranslate = jQuery(".description-en").val(); // Fetch source of text to translate.
  jQuery("div.original").text(value); // This is just to see that the script is working while I'm typing.
});
jQuery('a.translate-de').click(function(e){
  e.preventDefault;
  var langTarget = "de"; // The language Google will translate the text in.
  var apiurl = "https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2?key=" + apiKey + "&source=" + langSource + "&target=" + langTarget + "&q=";
  var text = toTranslate; // This inserts the text to translate.
  alert(text); // This tells me the text to translate came through.
  // Now we call the data
  $.ajax({
   type: "GET",
   url: apiurl + encodeURIComponent(text),
   dataType: 'json',
   beforeSend: function(){
	jQuery('span.status').text('Translating...'); // Updates the status of translation.
   },
   success: function(data){
	// console.log(data);
	console.log(data.data.translations[0].translatedText);
	jQuery('.description-de').text(data); // Inserts translated text.
	jQuery('span.status').text('Translation Complete!'); // Updates the status of translation if successfull.
   },
   error: function(data){
	jQuery('span.status').text('Translatiion Failed!'); // Updates the status of translation if failed.
   }
  });
  return false;
});
});
</script>
[/CODE]

[seb86]

I have the text to translate parsing through now. I just need to fetch the results and put it into the other textarea field. Any one able to help me with this would be of great help. Thank you.

<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function($){
var apiKey = "ENTER-YOUR-API-KEY-HERE";
var langSource = "en";
jQuery('.description-en').keyup(function(){
  var value = jQuery(this).val();
  $toTranslate = jQuery(".description-en").val(); // Fetch source of text to translate.
  jQuery("div.original").text(value); // This is just to see that the script is working while I'm typing.
});
jQuery('a.translate-de').click(function(e){
  e.preventDefault;
  var langTarget = "de"; // The language Google will translate the text in.
  var apiurl = "https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2?key=" + apiKey + "&source=" + langSource + "&target=" + langTarget + "&q=";
  var text = $toTranslate; // This inserts the text to translate.
  var failed = 0;
  //alert(text); // This tells me the text to translate came through.
  // Now we call the data
  $.ajax({
   type: "GET",
   url: apiurl + encodeURIComponent(text),
   dataType: 'json',
   beforeSend: function(){
	if(failed == 1){
	 jQuery('span.status').text('Translating Again ...'); // Updates the status of translation.
	}
	else{
	 jQuery('span.status').text('Translating...'); // Updates the status of translation.
	}
   },
   success: function(data){
	// console.log(data);
	console.log(data.data.translations[0].translatedText);
	jQuery('.description-de').text(data); // Inserts translated text.
	jQuery('span.status').text('Translation Complete!'); // Updates the status of translation if successfull.
   },
   error: function(data){
	failed = 1;
	jQuery('.description-de').text($toTranslate); // Insert original text if failed.
	jQuery('span.status').text('Translation Failed!'); // Updates the status of translation if failed.
   }
  });
  return false;
});
});
</script>
[/CODE]

[Calculator]

Something I noticed: you don't have to manually URL-encode and append all GET parameters to the request URL. jQuery will take care of them when you pass them as an object in the data attribute:

var apiurl = "https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2";
// ...
$.ajax({
	type: "GET",
	data: {
	   key: apiKey,
	   source: langSource,
	   target: langTarget,
	   q: text
	},
	dataType: "json",
	// ...
});

Does this line:

console.log(data.data.translations[0].translatedText);

give you the desired output? If so, you can simply change the next line to:

jQuery('.description-de').text(data.data.translations[0].translatedText);

If not, try logging the whole data object and see if the object is structured as expected. Too many times already, I have found myself struggling with a bit of code when I was just looking at the wrong object attribute. :p

Another tip: enable the Net panel in Firebug (or whatever debugging console you use) and see what AJAX interactions are going on. You can investigate both sent and received data and try to find out where it may have gone wrong.

[seb86]

  On 17/12/2011 at 20:05, Calculator said:

Something I noticed: you don't have to manually URL-encode and append all GET parameters to the request URL. jQuery will take care of them when you pass them as an object in the data attribute:

var apiurl = "https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2";
// ...
$.ajax({
	type: "GET",
	data: {
	   key: apiKey,
	   source: langSource,
	   target: langTarget,
	   q: text
	},
	dataType: "json",
	// ...
});

Does this line:

console.log(data.data.translations[0].translatedText);

give you the desired output? If so, you can simply change the next line to:

jQuery('.description-de').text(data.data.translations[0].translatedText);

If not, try logging the whole data object and see if the object is structured as expected. Too many times already, I have found myself struggling with a bit of code when I was just looking at the wrong object attribute. :p

Another tip: enable the Net panel in Firebug (or whatever debugging console you use) and see what AJAX interactions are going on. You can investigate both sent and received data and try to find out where it may have gone wrong.

I tried it your way and as much as it makes more sense it's still not working. I get a 200 OK report but still nothing returns and the response on firebug is empty.

Here is my latest code.

<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function($){
var apiKey = "ENTER-YOUR-API-KEY-HERE";
var langSource = "en";
jQuery('.description-en').keyup(function(){
  var value = jQuery(this).val();
  $toTranslate = jQuery(".description-en").val(); // Fetch source of text to translate.
  jQuery("div.original").text(value); // This is just to see that the script is working while I'm typing.
});
jQuery('a.translate-de').click(function(e){
  e.preventDefault;
  var langTarget = "de"; // The language Google will translate the text in.
  var apiurl = "https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2";
  var text = $toTranslate; // This inserts the text to translate.
  var failed = 0;
  // Now we call the data
  $.ajax({
   type: "GET",
   url: apiurl,
   data: { key: apiKey, source: langSource, target: langTarget, q: text },
   dataType: 'json',
   beforeSend: function(){
	if(failed == 1){
	 jQuery('span.status').text('Translating Again ...'); // Updates the status of translation.
	}
	else{
	 jQuery('span.status').text('Translating...'); // Updates the status of translation.
	}
   },
   success: function(data){
	// console.log(data);
	console.log(data.data.translations[0].translatedText);
	jQuery('.description-de').text(data.data.translations[0].translatedText); // Inserts translated text.
	jQuery('span.status').text('Translation Complete!'); // Updates the status of translation if successfull.
   },
   error: function(data){
	failed = 1;
	jQuery('.description-de').text($toTranslate); // Insert original text if failed.
	jQuery('span.status').text('Translation Failed!'); // Updates the status of translation if failed.
   }
  });
  return false;
});
});
</script>
[/CODE]

[seb86]

When testing in firebug, console log says undefined. I added console.log for error return.

<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function($){
		var apiKey = "ENTER-YOUR-API-KEY-HERE";
		var langSource = "en";
		jQuery('.description-en').keyup(function(){
				var value = jQuery(this).val();
				$toTranslate = jQuery(".description-en").val(); // Fetch source of text to translate.
				jQuery("div.original").text(value); // This is just to see that the script is working while I'm typing.
		});
		jQuery('a.translate-de').click(function(e){
				e.preventDefault;
				var langTarget = "de"; // The language Google will translate the text in.
				var apiurl = "https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2";
				var text = $toTranslate; // This inserts the text to translate.
				var failed = 0;
				// Now we call the data
				$.ajax({
						type: "GET",
						url: apiurl,
						data: { key: apiKey, source: langSource, target: langTarget, q: text },
						dataType: 'json',
						beforeSend: function(data){
								if(failed == 1){
										jQuery('span.status').text('Translating Again ...'); // Updates the status of translation.
								}
								else{
										jQuery('span.status').text('Translating...'); // Updates the status of translation.
								}
						},
						success: function(data){
								$fromTranslate = data.data.translations[0].translatedText;
								console.log($fromTranslate); // Reports result in debug.
								jQuery('.description-de').text(data.data.translations[0].translatedText); // Inserts translated text.
								jQuery('span.status').text('Translation Complete!'); // Updates the status of translation if successfull.
						},
						error: function(data){
								failed = 1;
								console.log(data.error.code); // Returns a 403 in debug.
								jQuery('.description-de').text($toTranslate); // Insert original text if failed.
								jQuery('span.status').text('Translation Failed!'); // Updates the status of translation if failed.
						}
				});
				return false;
		});
});
</script>
[/CODE]

[seb86]

I got it working now.

[-Alex-]

Feel like posting up the working code?

[seb86]

  On 20/12/2011 at 04:20, -Alex- said:

Feel like posting up the working code?

You can get the final code here: http://t.co/pEO9mBtd