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Separate Translation Database

For advanced use cases, such as improving data isolation or scaling, you can configure the package to store all translations in a separate database. This keeps your main application database clean and allows you to manage translation data independently.

1. Configure the Connection​

First, define a new database connection in your config/database.php file. For this example, we'll name it translation_db.

// config/database.php

'connections' => [

    // ... your other connections

    'translation_db' => [
        'driver' => 'mysql',
        'host' => env('TRANSLATION_DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1'),
        'port' => env('TRANSLATION_DB_PORT', '3306'),
        'database' => env('TRANSLATION_DB_DATABASE', 'forge'),
        'username' => env('TRANSLATION_DB_USERNAME', 'forge'),
        'password' => env('TRANSLATION_DB_PASSWORD', ''),
        // ... other options
    ],

],

Next, instruct the package to use this new connection by setting the database_connection option in config/translatable.php.

// config/translatable.php

return [
    // ... other options

    'database_connection' => 'translation_db',
];

If this value is null, the application's default database connection will be used.

2. Isolate and Run Migrations​

This is a critical step. To ensure that only translation-related migrations are run on your separate database, it is best practice to keep them in a dedicated folder.

  1. Create a dedicated folder for your translation migrations, for example, database/migrations/translations.

  2. Generate the migration for your model using the provided Artisan command.

    php artisan make:translation-table Product

  3. Move the newly generated migration file into your database/migrations/translations folder.

  4. Run the migration on the correct database using the --database and --path flags. This ensures that only the migrations in your dedicated folder are executed against the translation database.

    php artisan migrate --database=translation_db --path=database/migrations/translations

This approach provides a clean, safe, and organized way to manage your database schema, preventing accidental changes to your main application database.