Translated File

The “Translated File” attribute is the multilingual variant of the File attribute. It provides a separate file picker per language for selecting files from the Contao file directory. The values are not stored in the MetaModel table, but in the translation table tl_metamodel_translatedlongblob.

Typical use cases:

• Language-specific product images (e.g. a DE product photo with German text, an EN product photo with English text)

• Different PDFs per language (e.g. German and English data sheets)

• Language-dependent media content such as videos or audio files

See also

The monolingual variant of this attribute is described under File.

See also

This attribute is supported by the File-Usage Integration. This allows the Contao file manager to display whether and where a file is embedded.

See also

For file uploads in the frontend, the Frontend Editing (FEE) extension is available.

See also

Information on multilingual support in MetaModels can be found on the Multilingual Support in MetaModels page.

Installation

The attribute is installed via the Contao Manager or Composer:

composer require metamodels/attribute_translatedfile

Settings when Creating the Attribute

In addition to the general attribute settings, the file attribute offers the following specific options:

Option	Description
Multiple selection	Allows the selection of multiple files. If this option is not set, only a single file can be selected.
Specify root folder	Restricts the file picker to a specific starting folder in the file directory.
Valid file types	Comma-separated list of allowed file extensions (e.g. jpg,jpeg,png,gif).
Allowed file types	Restriction of the selection to files, folders, or both.

Settings in Render Settings

The attribute has its own render settings for output:

Option	Description
Use as image field with thumbnail	Enables image output with thumbnail generation. This option must be set for any direct image display in the backend or frontend.
Image width and height	Size specification for the generated thumbnail (width × height).
Create link as download or lightbox	Embeds the file in a link that serves either as a download or for a large view in a lightbox.
Protected download	The download URL is only temporarily valid (time-limited signed URL).
Sort by	Defines the sort order for multiple files: name ascending/descending, date ascending/descending, or random.
Image as placeholder	Selects a placeholder image to be displayed when no file is selected.

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 of the field in the backend form.
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).
Widget mode	Determines the display type of the file widget. Available modes: Normal — Standard file picker Downloads — Display as download list Gallery — Display as image gallery FE single upload — Frontend upload for a single file FE single upload with preview — Frontend upload with thumbnail FE multi upload — Frontend upload for multiple files FE multi upload with preview — Frontend upload with thumbnails

Upload settings (only for frontend editing modes)

Option	Description
Target folder	Folder in the file directory where uploaded files are stored.
Use home directory	Stores the file in the home directory of the logged-in member.
Expand folder	Expands the target folder path dynamically via insert tags or ##post_*## tokens.
Normalize expanded folder	Normalizes the expanded folder path with the alias generator.
Normalize filename	Normalizes the filename on upload with the alias generator.
Filename prefix / postfix	Prepends or appends a fixed or dynamic text to the filename.
Preserve existing files	Adds a numeric suffix for duplicate filenames instead of overwriting the file.
Deselect file	Allows the user to remove a file from the record.
Delete file	Allows the user to remove a file and delete it from the file directory.
Sort by	Defines the sort order of uploaded multiple files.
Width and height of thumbnails	Size of the thumbnails displayed in the upload widget.

Functions

Option	Description
Required field	Makes the field a required field.

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

No dedicated frontend filter rule is currently available for the translated file attribute. A search by filename or UUID is possible in the backend.

Special Functions

Database storage

The file references are stored per language in tl_metamodel_translatedlongblob (fields: att_id, item_id, langcode, value as blob). No column is created in the MetaModel table.

Language-dependent files

Each language version can reference a completely different file. In the backend, the file widget appears per language with the language-specific value.

Fallback language

If a file is missing for a language, MetaModels falls back to the fallback language.

Sorting for multiple files

The order of multiple files can be configured independently in the render settings (for output) and in the input form settings (for frontend upload).