Translated Alias

The “Translated Alias” attribute is the multilingual variant of the Alias attribute. It generates a separate URL-compatible identifier (slug) per language. The values are not stored in the MetaModel table, but in the translation table tl_metamodel_translatedtext.

Typical use cases:

Multilingual URL parameters for filtering (e.g. /products/my-product in English, /produkte/mein-produkt in German)
Readable, stable identifiers for deep links or SEO URLs
Unique short identifiers automatically generated from names or titles

Installation

The attribute is installed via the Contao Manager or Composer:

composer require metamodels/attribute_translatedalias

Settings when Creating the Attribute

In addition to the general attribute settings (name, column name, description, override variants), the translated alias attribute offers the following specific options:

Option	Description
Alias fields	Selection of one or more attributes from which the alias is generated. In addition to MetaModels attributes, system meta-fields (ID, PID, sorting, etc.) are also available.
Force alias regeneration	If this checkbox is active, the alias is automatically regenerated whenever one of the source attributes changes. The field is displayed as read-only in the backend.
Valid alias characters	Character set for automatic generation: Unicode digits and lowercase letters (default), Unicode digits and letters, ASCII digits and lowercase letters, ASCII digits and letters.
Do not add integer prefix	If this checkbox is active (default), no `id-` prefix is prepended when the resulting alias is purely numeric.
Alias prefix and postfix	Optional prefix and postfix prepended or appended to the alias. Unlike the monolingual alias, a separate prefix/postfix can be set per language here (multi-column wizard with language selection, prefix field, and postfix field).

Note

The “Conversion language” option from the monolingual alias attribute is not available here — the active MetaModels language is used automatically.

Settings in Render Settings

The attribute has no specific render settings. In the attribute list of a render setting, the usual options (Template, CSS class) are available.

Settings in the Input Form

When the attribute is added to an input form, the following options are available:

Display

Option	Description
Backend class	CSS classes for the display (e.g. `w50`, `long`).
Template for backend	Selection of a custom widget template for the backend form.
Template for frontend	Selection of a custom widget template for frontend editing (only available if the “Frontend Editing” extension is installed).

Functions

Option	Description
Required field	Makes the field a required field.
Always save	Set automatically when “Force alias regeneration” is active.

Overview (backend filter and search)

Option	Description
Filterable	The attribute is available in the backend as a filter criterion.
Searchable	The attribute is available in the backend as a search field.

Filter Rules

Same filter rules as the monolingual Alias attribute: Simple lookup, Text search, Levenshtein, Loupe.

Special Functions

Database storage

The alias values are stored per language in tl_metamodel_translatedtext (fields: att_id, item_id, langcode, value as varchar(255)). No column is created in the MetaModel table.

Language-dependent prefix/postfix

Unlike the monolingual alias, each language version can be assigned its own prefix or postfix (e.g. de- for the German, en- for the English URL variant).

Uniqueness with suffix

When uniqueness is enabled, MetaModels checks separately per language and automatically appends a counter for duplicates (my-product-2, etc.).