UI forms

This page covers how config entity langcodes are determined when entities are created or edited through the Drupal UI. For programmatic creation via config actions, see Config actions.

How Drupal determines langcode without a lock

Most config entity types have no language selector in their forms. The langcode is simply set to the current request language at save time — whichever language the admin interface was accessed in (typically determined by URL prefix negotiation on multilingual sites). Content types are a representative example of this majority case.

Four core config entity types expose a language selector in their forms: menu, date_format, taxonomy_vocabulary, and view. For three of them the selector defaults to the request language. Views is the exception:

• Views add (wizard): no language selector; WizardPluginBase::instantiateView() sets the langcode to getDefaultLanguage()->getId() — the site default language, not the request language.
• Views edit-details form: has a language selector that defaults to the request language.

Form	Has selector	Langcode source (no lock)
Content type add / edit	No	Request language ⚠
Most other config entities	No	Request language ⚠
Menu add / edit	Yes	Request language ⚠
Date format add / edit	Yes	Request language ⚠
Vocabulary add / edit	Yes	Request language ⚠
Views add (wizard)	No	Site default language
Views edit-details	Yes	Request language ⚠

⚠ The langcode silently follows whichever language the admin accessed the page in. On a multilingual site with URL prefix negotiation, an admin visiting /xx/admin/… unintentionally creates config with langcode: xx.

Contributed projects may ship config entity types that also expose language selectors. This module does not know about those selectors and does not hide them, but presave enforcement still applies — any save is overwritten to the lock language regardless.

How this module enforces the lock

When a lock language is configured:

1. Language selector hidden — hook_form_alter sets #access = FALSE on the langcode field for the four known core types: menu, date_format, taxonomy_vocabulary, and view (including the views edit-details form). This removes the selector so administrators cannot accidentally choose a different language.

2. Presave enforcement — hook_entity_presave overwrites the langcode on every config entity save, regardless of what the form or caller set. This is the final guarantee: it covers all entity types — including those with no selector, those with unknown contrib selectors, and any programmatic save that bypasses the form entirely.

flowchart TD
    A[Config entity form submitted or programmatic save] --> B{Lock language set?}
    B -- No --> C{Has language selector?}
    C -- No --> D[langcode = request language ⚠]
    C -- Yes\nViews wizard --> E[langcode = site default language]
    C -- Yes\nother forms --> D
    B -- Yes --> F{Known core type\nwith selector?}
    F -- Yes --> G[Selector hidden by hook_form_alter\nUser cannot change it]
    F -- No --> H[Selector shown if present\nbut value is irrelevant]
    G --> I[hook_entity_presave overwrites\nlangcode → lock language]
    H --> I
    D --> J[Saved with resolved langcode]
    E --> J
    I --> K[Saved with lock language]

URL prefix scenarios — no lock

URL prefix	Entity type	Saved langcode
xx	Content type (no selector)	xx ⚠
xx	Menu	xx ⚠
xx	Date format	xx ⚠
xx	Vocabulary	xx ⚠
xx	Views (add wizard)	site default (e.g. en)
xx	Views (edit-details)	xx ⚠

⚠ Langcode silently follows the request language — an admin visiting the page under a different URL prefix unintentionally creates config in that language.

URL prefix scenarios — lock = de

URL prefix	Entity type	Saved langcode
xx	Content type	de
xx	Menu	de
xx	Date format	de
xx	Vocabulary	de
xx	Views (add wizard)	de
xx	Views (edit-details)	de
yy	Any	de

Related pages

• Language management — language deletion protection and stale lock handling
• Config actions — programmatic entity creation via config actions
• Recipes — direct config files and extension config installed via recipes
• Module install — module install langcode behavior