Accessing language via URL parameter

[Martin Krimmel]

Dear Madcap community,

I apologize in advance for this lengthy post trying to get our complex status quo explained and hope that someone findes the time to read and respond anyway.

As relative Madcap newbies, we have been trying to configure a help system for a new modular browser-based software in multiple languages that should be available as CSH and as a stand-alone platform.

Accessing content via context ID for CSH works in German via a URL works fine in German (e.g. …/HelpRoot/default.htm?cshid=500000027) but we would like to address specific languages via the URL as well (preferably via a URL parameter).

We know that something is probably wrong or missing in our multilingual project setup (see below) but cannot seem to find the solution with the MCF help resources alone.

Here are two questions for which we have not found any answer yet:

How can we access CSH in different languages in our setup using a URL parameter?

How can we switch between the languages/content and header/navigation in this setup?

We are using memoQ für the localization without Lingo as an interface.

When publishing the primary target (not multilingual), the EN content is also written to the web server (e.g. .../HelpRoot/Content/SuiteName/EN/SuiteName_About.htm)

We have also experimented with a multi-project setup with a primary project for DE with multilingual target and a localized project for EN.

However, we must have missed something there as this does not switch the navigation when we switch the topic body to a different language.

I hope, I have presented all relevant info to understand our current problem. If not, feel free to ask and I will provide further clarification.

TIA
Martin

The current project structure is as follows:
Content
Solution1 (specific content)
DE
EN
Solution2 (specific content)

DE
EN
MASTER (global content, e.g. landing pages etc.)
DE
EN
Resources
…
Project
Advanced
Aliasfile
Auto suggestion list
Header file
Metadata
Synonyms
…
…
Glossaries
Glossary DE
Glossary EN
Skins
HTML5 Top Nav DE
HTML5 Top Nav EN
Targets
HTML5 DE
HTML 5 EN
PDF Solution 1 DE
PDF Solution 1 EN
PDF Solution 2 DE
PDF Solution 2 EN
...
TOCs
MASTER_TOC DE
MASTER_TOC EN
PDF TOC Solution 1 DE
PDF TOC Solution 1 EN
…

The primary target is configured as follows:
General
Output: HTML5
Startup Topic: /Content/SoftwareSuite/DE/SoftwareSuite_About.htm
Primary TOC: MASTER_TOC DE
…
Skin
Skin: HTML5 DE
…
Publishing:
Webserver HelpRootDirectory (e.g. http://.../HelpRoot/Content/SuiteName/DE/SuiteName_About.htm#)
Language
German
...