While testing, we were able to use the language parameter to retrieve Products in individual languages, but there appears to be an issue as requests made per WPML's documentation do NOT work as documented (specifically, passing 'all' as a language parameter). I have restated the issue & outlined next steps below to stay organized.
Issue
WPML adds a custom parameter ('lang') to the WC GET products endpoint, which only returns products in the default language when non-default ids are included using the (WC) 'include' parameter.
This causes issues with other plugins daily product sync requesting product data.
How We Tested
• Using linked documentation, we show using the documented 'all' value in the language parameter when requesting products does not function as documented
• Defining a specific language in using the 'lang' parameter my site responds with
products which match the language defined in the parameter
- The response will also contain the translations in the defined language for the product ids that are NOT in the specified language
I am trying to:
Obtain all product ids including all languages
Link to a page where the issue can be seen:
N/A
I expected to see:
Either the product in the specified language parameter or use 'all' to see the complete list.
Instead, I got:
Only the default language product IDs.
I've tested this feature on my demo site and see it works properly. Can you please try to replicate the issue on a clean installation of WordPress? With the link below, you can log in directly to the admin area hidden link
Kindly follow the steps below:
- Don’t restore your site there.
- Install a standard theme with the "WooCommerce REST PHP client library" in the code.
- Try to replicate the issue.
- Then let me know the steps to replicate it.
In my test case, I also installed that PHP library to retrieve products in a specific language or "all" language.
If yes then why it's not an addon? Why do I need to have my service hosting side load stuff?
You can read more about WooCommerce REST API Client Library here to know how it works hidden link
or contact WooCommerce support to get further information.
I hope I was helpful. Don't hesitate to ask if you find any problem along the way, I'll gladly help you.
Dear Long,
is this library installation necessary just because of WPML? I have many other 3rd party plugins communicating with the REST API and they didn't require for me to install any side library.
The document you send me is from 2014 !
Again my huge concern is that I install WPML, the plugins sort of get in the middle of the standard WordPress architecture and to be able to interact normally with the REST API and have the parameters working properly I have to go and install something else??
Without WPML, the PHP client library is recommended for use by WooCommerce in their documentation to interact with WordPress Rest API. https://woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-rest-api/
As you said, "QPilot tells me that we have to install this so that the Woo REST API can reply in a straight forward manner", so with WPML, we also suggest you use a library that is developed by Automattic to get the products by language through WooCommerce Rest API.
There are many PHP libraries that can work with WooCommerce Rest API (for example hidden link), maybe other plugins have a PHP library or custom code in their source code to work with WooCommerce Rest API. And currently, it is not available in WPML source code and you need to install it on your plugin or theme to use that feature.
I see. I understand now that it's Woocommerce who is reportedly the one requiring that library? The document seems to be quite old (2014) so I wonder if that is still relevant.
The documentation from 2014, still has value in knowing how WooCommerce Rest API works till now. In our case, we suggest using a library of Automattic, you can use another library, or some lines of custom code that fit your case.
Well, it seems it's not the case. An engineer from Woocommerce just confirmed the document is obsolete and must not be used anymore.
Please see his response where he reiterates that it's WPML responsibility to return the products in the language specified with the parameter lang and not just the default as it happens now without having to install any extra library at all.
Please read the whole answer from him and if necessary escalate the issue to T2 or the dev team. Thanks!
If a plugins wants to interact with the REST API and fetch product information for example they need to have the library above installed?
No, don't use that library. It is over 8 years old and you should be able to obtain all of the information necessary, including a link to the technical documentation, which can be found here:
One of our plugins need to fetch product information in 'all' languages configured in WPML. Only the products in the default language are returned.
If you review the WooCommrece API documentation above, you'll see that WooCommerce only supports the language parameter, which only fetches the WordPress language. The lang parameter isn't from WooCommerce but rather WPML's API. That said, WPML's support team will have to help the AND condition when making a request.
If you're not finding the help you need from WPML and if the developer documentation doesn't include what you're looking to achieve, you might want to check out our advanced WooCommerce Community in Slack:
There are many developers gathered in those communities, including the authors of our plugins, so their coding advice should be a great addition to the support from WPML. As a side note, AutomateWoo has the ability to generate more revenue through marketing campaigns to users based on their purchase history.
Is this something you'd like to add to the business?
John Coy - Happiness Engineer
Following the WooCommerce documentation (hidden link), I can see the Rest API returns the products in all languages without the extra library (Postman app), please check this screenshot hidden link
So then how do you interact with WooCommerce Rest API, handle the JSON data returned, and display products in the frontend on your site? If you use PHP language:
- You can use the PHP client library above that supports pre-built methods and helps you to do that.
- If you don't use the library, you still need to create some custom PHP code on your own to do the same steps.
Also, we suggest using the PHP client library from Automattic in the documentation, which has the last release on March 2022, screenshot hidden link
Now, can you please let me know how you get the WooCommerce products via Rest API in your case?
In your screenshot of the response to the POSTMAN I see only one product id not multiple ones which what I need.
Our use case is not about displaying products on a page but it's a plugin that manages product subscriptions (auto ship) and the platform needs to sync all the time every product so that it can be scheduled.
What's happening as it's explained in the first contact is that since the French translations are considered different products for the plugin they need to be synced and when they fetch the list of products with the parameter lang=all only the products in English (default) are part of the response.
Here is the screen record of the test case with Postman hidden link
products in all languages are retrieved via Rest API. And now, I understand that the issue here is not about the compatibility between WooCommerce and WPML. It is the compatibility between "WooCommerce-WPML" and "Autoship Cloud powered by QPilot".
