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WPML 3.1.8 – Big Stability Improvements

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This release of WPML packs important stability improvements, as well as improvements for compatibility with other plugins and themes. We’ve improved the installation and registration process, reducing steps and preventing manual data-entry errors. On the GUI, almost nothing has changed, but the underlying code has been optimized and improved significantly.

Before we dive into a huge list of changes, please note one major difference in WPML 3.1.8, compared to all previous versions. This release allows to have taxonomy in the same name in different languages AND it no longer filters away the @lang suffixes for taxonomy names.

So, if you had taxonomy like ‘Index’ in several languages, it will now be really ‘Index’ and not ‘Index @es’, ‘Index @de’, etc. Previous versions of WPML (and WordPress) could not support these taxonomy names, so we added the language suffixes and filtered them out on the front-end. Now, it’s no longer needed and we’ve also removed the filtering (which caused issues in different cases).

After you update WPML, it will scan and check your database, looking for taxonomy with language suffixes. If found, WPML will offer to rename them, so that you don’t get ugly posts and categories on the front end.

Improvements

  • Click-to-register functionality in Installer, avoiding the need to copy/paste site URL and possibly including un-needed characters.
  • Added support for translation of string packages – this is a big deal and I’ll write about it separately.
  • Added template tag to display HTML input with current language wpml_the_language_input_field().
  • Minor speed improvements related to operations on arrays, string caching and loading of JS files.
  • Button “Post type assignments” added to Troubleshooting page allowing to synchronise post types and languages in translation table.

    • Compatibility Improvements

    • Fixed category setting for WooCommerce products

    General Bug Fixes

    • Fixed search form on secondary language – now returning results in the correct language
    • Fixed influence of admin language on settings for language switcher in menu
    • Fixed issue with caching on page set as front page
    • Fixed issue with taxonomy terms not showing on the Taxonomy Translation page
    • icl_object_id function now works well also with unregistered custom post types
    • Fixed minor issues with language switcher on mobile devices
    • Fixed problem with language switcher options during installation
    • Textarea for additional CSS for language switcher was too wide, now it fits into screen.
    • wp_nav_menu now always displays language switcher when configured
    • Fixed custom queries while using a root page
    • Fixed DB error when fetching completed translations from ICanLocalize
    • Installer: Fixed problem with WPML registration information (site key) not being saved when the option_value field in the wp_options table used a different charset than the default WordPress charset defined in wp-config.php
    • Installer: Reversed the order in which the site keys are displayed.
    • Fixed pagination and minor permalink issue on root page
    • Fixed permalink preview on post edit screen
    • Fixed display glitches in wp-admin with RTL languages
    • Fixed conflicting values of context when registering strings for translation
    • Fixed: Archive of untranslated custom post type should not display <link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”” href=””/> in header
    • Fixed language filters for get_terms() function
    • Fixed problem with taxonomy (e.g. category) parents synchronization
    • Fixed problem with editing post slug
    • Removed unnecessary taxonomy selector from Taxonomy translation page
    • Fixed some PHP notices on WPML Languages page with “All Languages” selected on language switcher
    • Fixed problem with adding categories by simply pressing “Enter” key (post edit screen).
    • Removed option to delete default category translations
    • Fixed permalink to be displayed properly when set to “Date and Time”

    Download and update

    If you are running WPML 3.1.7 and above, you should get this update automatically to the WordPress admin (be sure to have WPML registered for that to happen).

    If you are upgrading from earlier version, which worked with our discontinued Installer plugin, follow these instructions:

    1. Deactivate and remove Installer plugin.
    2. Download the new version of WPML from your account, under Downloads. Be sure to include all WPML components that you are using.
    3. Deactivate WPML.
    4. Extract the new version and upload it.
    5. Activate WPML 3.1.8.
    6. In the Plugins admin screen, right after activating, you will see a message to register WPML. Be sure to do this registration, so that you receive automatic updates for new versions.

    Questions? Ideas? Suggestions? Leave your comments and we’ll reply.

26 Responses to “WPML 3.1.8 – Big Stability Improvements”

    • Thanks Piet. We’ve also confirmed already two small glitches and we’re releasing a quick update. Nobody thrilling, but better fix early.

    • That’s not exactly a ‘bug’ but new development that we are working on, together with Elliot. We’re getting close, but still not there.

  4. Hi Amir,

    quote -> “Deactivate and remove Installer plugin.”

    What is with wp-toolset? Therefore I need the installer plugin?

    Thanks in advance
    Angelika

    • You’re right, but I have good news about this too. We’re removing Installer from Toolset too, so you will not need it anymore for anything. You can deactivate Installer already, because the next Toolset updates will have a similar update mechanism as WPML.

    • Deactivating a plugin means its PHP files are not loaded, so the web server can update them. It’s the safest way to update and prevent some files from being left behind. This is not ‘life or death’. Usually, you can update plugins without deactivating them. If you do that, just make sure that you don’t get any errors about files not being overwritten.

  7. Hi there,
    a few days ago I reported an Issue with WooCommerce Product Bundles and WPML Multilingual CMS here. The problem with WMPL CMS and Product Bundles (In short: translated product bundles fail to show product variations in select lists) reappeared once I have updated to Beta Version 4 and still persists now with this new release (3.1.8.1). I was talking with Pawel Wawrzyniak on this issue via email and he assured me, that this issue is will be taken care of. Could you please look into this again?

    Best, Daniel

  8. Congratulations on your work with this upgrade. The one thing I could not find in the list of improvements was a facility to hide the active language. A choice in the setup. It’s easily done with a fix in the theme’s function.php – but after every theme update it must be manually inserted. For many years now it has been requested. Is it in 3.1.8. and just not on the above list? Or is there a reason why it is not included? WPML is great in so many ways, it seems odd that this apparently small issue is taking so long…
    Yours faithfully, Jan.

  10. Excellent change to have the option of identical tags/categories in multiple language. However, it does not seem to work. After the update, the string translation module insists that none of my tags have translations, even while I can go to the Tags page and see that they do. Same thing with the Categories.

    Perhaps this is related to the page of possible maintenance actions that showed itself once after the update, but which I cannot find any longer?

    • Actually, it’s a display glitch in the taxonomy translation page. ‘Magically’, the translation is applied, but it doesn’t display it. We noticed that bug on Friday and we’re going to release an update to fix it today. The taxonomy is translated and should work correctly on the front-end. It just displays incorrectly in the translation table, insisting that it’s not translated.

      It’s not something related to your actions, so better not try to fix it in the DB. We’ll have 3.1.8.2 a little later today to resolve this.

  11. hi

    I don’t understand this part:

    1. Deactivate Installer plugin and remove it from your plugins folder (using an FTP program)

    If I delete entire plugin I will lose all translations made so far. Or?

    • Johny,

      We are asking to remove only the Installer plugin, if you have it installed, not all WPML plugins.

      Anyway, even removing all WPML plugins, you would not lose your translations.

  13. Hi, I’m using 3.1.7.2 and am in the process of upgrading to 3.1.8. I’ve deactivated all WPML plugins and started to upgrade the WPML CMS plugin first. I get this error message:

    Updating Plugin WPML Multilingual CMS (1/1)

    Downloading update from http://wpml.org/?download=6088&version=3.1.8.2&site_key=4LPxorDqj7&site_url=http://aganai.com…
    Unpacking the update…

    An error occurred while updating WPML Multilingual CMS: The package could not be installed. PCLZIP_ERR_BAD_FORMAT (-10) : Unable to find End of Central Dir Record signature

    What am I doing wrong? Thanks for your help.
    j

    • You’re not doing anything wrong. It looks like a temporary connection problem. If the problem continues, just download WPML manually from your account, unzip and upload to your site.