Make since of this script.

[slambam]

Could someone please explain to me how this script works.

I would like to add this language changing drop down menu from http://www.google.com/support/webmasters to my website.

I looked at the code to try to make since of where it is getting the languages and I can not figure out how it works. Is it another page hidden somewhere or does it have something to do with the "en_GB" codes? I tried cutting and pasting what I thought I needed and the language will not change. I do not get any error, the page simply reloads to english and places a cookie on my computer. I am a total beginner with Javascript and could use some help.

Here the code that I copied to my site between the head tags:

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
 function correctLangCode_default(lang){
   s = window.location;
   s = s.toString();
   
   if (lang == "zh-CN")
      correctedLang = "zh_CN";
   else if (lang == "zh-CN_CN")
      correctedLang = "zh_CN";
   else if (lang == "zh-TW")
      correctedLang = "zh_TW"; 
   else if (lang == "zh-TW_TW")
      correctedLang = "zh_TW"; 
   else if (lang == "pt-BR")
      correctedLang = "pt_BR"; 
   else if (lang == "pt-BR_BR")
      correctedLang = "pt_BR"; 
   else if (lang == "en-GB")
      correctedLang = "en_GB"; 
   else if (lang == "en-GB_GB")
      correctedLang = "en_GB"; 
   else if (lang == "en-US")
      correctedLang = "en_US"; 
	  
   s = s.replace(lang, correctedLang);
   location.replace(s);

   return correctedLang;
 }

function setCookies_default(cookieName,cookieValue,calledFrom) {
   if (cookieValue == "") {
     var cookieValue = getQueryVariable_default("hl");
   }
   //added because most Google products uses dashes for langs
   if (cookieValue == "zh-TW"){
     correctLangCode_default('zh-TW');
     cookieValue = 'zh_TW';
   }
   if (cookieValue == "zh-TW_TW"){
     correctLangCode_default('zh-TW');
     cookieValue = 'zh_TW';
   }
   if (cookieValue == "zh-CN"){
     correctLangCode_default('zh-CN');
     cookieValue = 'zh_CN';
   }
   if (cookieValue == "zh-CN_CN"){
     correctLangCode_default('zh-CN');
     cookieValue = 'zh_CN';
   }
   if (cookieValue == "pt-BR"){
     correctLangCode_default('pt-BR');
     cookieValue = 'pt_BR';
   }
   if (cookieValue == "pt-BR_BR"){
     correctLangCode_default('pt-BR');
     cookieValue = 'pt_BR';
   }
   if (cookieValue == "en-GB"){
     correctLangCode_default('en-GB');
     cookieValue = 'en_GB';
   }
   if (cookieValue == "en-GB_GB"){
     correctLangCode_default('en-GB');
     cookieValue = 'en_GB';
   }
   if (cookieValue == "en-US"){
     correctLangCode_default('en-US');
     cookieValue = 'en_US';
   }
   if (cookieValue) {
     var today = new Date();
     var expire = new Date();
     expire.setTime(today.getTime() + 3600000*24*365);
     document.cookie = cookieName+"="+escape(cookieValue)
                  + ";expires="+expire.toGMTString()
                   + ";path=/";
   }
   if (calledFrom == "dropdown") {
	 newURL = new String(window.location);
	 newURL = newURL.replace("hl=", "hlrm=");
	 window.location.href = newURL;
   }
}
function getQueryVariable_default(variable) {
  var query = window.location.search.substring(1);
  var vars = query.split("&");
  for (var i=0;i<vars.length;i++) {
    var pair = vars[i].split("=");
    if (pair[0] == variable) {
      return pair[1];
    }
  } 
 }
-->
</script>

Here is the drop down menu placed in the body.

<form method="post" name="changelang" action="javascript:setCookies_default ('WebmasterLocale',this.document.changelang.lang.value, 'dropdown')" style="padding:0;margin:0;"><font style="font-size:10px ">Change Language:
  <select name="lang" onchange="this.form.submit()" style="font-size:10px">
		<option value="da" >Dansk</option>
  <option value="de" >Deutsch</option>
  <option value="en" selected>English</option>
<option value="en_GB" >English (UK)</option>
  <option value="es" >Espa&#241;ol</option>
  <option value="fi" >Suomi</option>
		<option value="fr" >Fran&#231;ais</option>
  <option value="it" >Italiano</option>
  <option value="nl" >Nederlands</option>
  <option value="no" >Norsk</option>
  <option value="pl" >Polski</option>
  <option value="pt_BR" >Portugu&#234;s</option>
		<option value="sv" >Svenska</option>
  <option value="ru" >Русский</option>
  <option value="zh_CN" >中文（简体）</option>
  <option value="zh_TW" >中文（繁體）</option>
  <option value="ja" >日本語 </option>
  <option value="ko" >한국어</option>
  </select></font>
  </form>

Any help would be great.

[Twey]

No, it redirects to a different page. This is a very bad idea -- content negotiation should be performed on the server-side instead.

[slambam]

Thank you for the information. For further learning, what part of the script is the other page? I do not see any other page names so I do not recognize the page right away. A little guidance would be appreciated. Also, how do they keep it from showing in the address bar?

I will search the web for server side includes and hopefully my quest will lead me in the right direction. Thank you again Twey for the help.

[Twey]

   s = window.location;
   // ...
   s = s.replace(lang, correctedLang);
   location.replace(s);

[slambam]

thank you. Have a good weekend.