Mailing subject length when using Smarty

Question

I am trying to make mailing subject lines automatically bilingual by using Smarty code, but I am running into an issue as the required code easily busts the 128 max character length for subject values.

For example, this automatic bilingual subject value:

{capture assign=l}{contact.preferred_language}{/capture}{if $l eq 'en_CA'}Spring cleaning on May 11th{else}Nettoyage du printemps le 11 mai{/if}

Gives the error "Value for subject is 145 characters - This field has a maxlength of 128 characters". Of course the resulting subject text in the mailing will be much shorter, but the Smarty version is too long for CiviMail.

I can only think of 2 ways to overcome this 128 character limitation:

• Change the subject field from a VARCHAR(128) to a VARCHAR(256) in the mailing DB table and it's matching maxlength value in the Mailing DAO code, but that would be an ugly and unmanageable hack when upgrading.
• Find way to define a $lang Smarty variable in a global scope so it can be used in the subject line without having to "capture" the value directly in the subject line. i.e. add this bit of code in a template somewhere "{capture assign=lang}{contact.preferred_language}{/capture}" so this bit of code is not necessary directly in the subject value.

I can't be the only one who ran into this challenge. How would you solve it?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Also - you can skip the capture... as the token is resolved first

{if '{contact.preferred_language}' eq 'en_CA'}Spring cleaning on May 11th{else}Nettoyage du printemps le 11 mai{/if}

Answer 2

You can create a language specific message template if you have the Message Admin extension enabled (it ships with Core)

I just tested it with an Invoice & my contact with Catalan language got the Catalan language when I used Download Invoice

(I did have a funky moment on saving which I can't replicate - but the data is written to civicrm_translation)