Locale: Creating a Locale project with the DatoCMS Connector
Introduction
The DatoCMS connector from Locale allows you to easily translate any text content types in your content models quickly and easily. Simply add the necessary target languages to your settings page and let Locale do the rest. And by connecting it with your existing workflows, you do not need to make changes to your translation provider, whether it is a single person, a translation agency (LSP) or even an MT server.
What you will need to get started
The Login link for Locale.
The Full-access API token for your DatoCMS instance.
Note: This is provided to you by your DatoCMS account manager, support team, or contact person. If you are unsure of this information, please contact your system administrator or your DatoCMS representative.
Target languages enabled in your DatoCMS instance. For more information n this step, see our article on Locale: Adding Target Languages to DatoCMS.
User login information for both your Locale instance, and your DatoCMS instance.
A trial account of Locale can also be taken for free by going to locale.to and selecting the “Get Started” button.
Supported content types & limitations
Text Fields
Single line string (used for titles, headings etc),
Multi-paragraph text (markdown, html or plain text).
Limitations
Structured Text field is not yet supported, for things like nested content, or intersperse textual content with custom blocks.
Creating a Locale project with the DatoCMS connector
Start by accessing Locale with your username and password.
Once logged into Locale (instructions on that can be found here: Locale: Accessing your Locale instance), you will see a Dashboard which looks something like this image below.
Select the “Add Project” button and you will be presented with the Locale Connector Store.
Select the “CMS” option in the menu filter to the left, and select the “Create Project” button under DatoCMS in the first row.
After selecting “Create Project” a screen will appear which will ask for the API token to your DatoCMS instance. Simply paste this into the Access Token box, and select next.
Instructions on how to find this Access Token can be found by hovering over the tooltip, or reading the article here: Locale: How to find your DatoCMS Full-access API token.
Choose the languages you would like to add to your DatoCMS instance (in this case we chose French and German) and select “Add Project”. Locale will begin to analyze the content of your instance, and present you with the results for translation in a few seconds.
Note: In order for the translated content to arrive in your DatoCMS instance, it is necessary to first enable the target languages in your DatoCMS instance. If you have not yet done this, please pause project creation now and follow the steps in our article Locale: Adding Target Languages to DatoCMS.
The analysis will appear similar to the image below, showing the number of words requiring translation and the status will appear as “Missing”.
Once the translation workflow is complete, the Locale status will update to “Completed” and the localized content will be available in your DatoCMS instance.