Language switcher block (User interface text language detection) doesn't appear

The TF1 issue has been committed. Please check now if the issue is still present. Keep in mind that (as in D6) you should select a language negotiation setting that is influenced by links (URL or Session enabled) to make the language switch links appear.

I have done all that. The switcher does not appear in drupal 7

@anne1960:

Please, provide some more info: which languages did you enable? Which language detection methods did you enable? Which region did you assign the language switcher block? Of which theme? Did you enable any module that could interfere with the language switcher?

Edit: if you could provide a list of steps to reproduce the bug, it would be great (see http://drupal.org/node/73179 for details).

I am using drupal 7 and have downloaded the i18n-7X1.0 alpha 3
I have downloaded the dutch and french languages 7po. I have them enabled and put english as default language.
When I change the languages in the admin section it does show the site in the chosen language, but there is no dropdownbox for the user to choose from.
I am using the bartik theme and have tried to put the language switcher in different regions to no avail. header, sidebar first,content or highlight..
In the modules I have currently checked:
block languages,field translations,internationilizations,menu translations,multilingual content,multilingual select, multilingual variables, path translation, string translation, synchronize translation, taxonomy translation and translation sets

I may have a little too many of them currently?
thank you

@anne1960:

One thing I ain't sure about yet: did you visit the Detection and Selection page? If so which detection methods did you enable? Only URL and Session will make the language switcher block appear.

When I change the languages in the admin section it does show the site in the chosen language, but there is no dropdownbox for the user to choose from.

How do you change the site's language?

Wonderfull. I had forgotten to check url and session. Do you have to enable both?
thanks a lot

No, one is enough.

I notice that when the language switcher is on, it doesn't translate the page. It just translates the interface for admin. is this normal?
I would like to have the customer see the page in another language

Thanks @plach!
That is that i was looking for! I changed the Detection Mode to "URL" and now, it works!

Thank you very much!

I usually use i18n, so I never came across this one until I needed to help testing in #1060246: Translation alters language switch links even if node translation is disabled and I was hit bit this wtf. I know, I know... one needs to visit the 'Detection and selection' page and enable either one of the 'URL' or 'Session' methods in order for the block to actually show up, but...

I am re-opening this as a bug (IMHO it is at the very least a UX issue). I believe we should be checking if any of these two methods are enabled and if not do a couple of things...

1. Display a message to the user linking to the 'Detection and selection' page:

The Language switcher block is now enabled. In order to be displayed though either the URL and/or the Session language detection methods should be enabled. You can enable and configure them here[link to the 'Detection and selection' page].

2. In addition, there should be a section in the block's config page pointing to the 'Detection and selection' page and explaining what needs to be done. Ideally, instead of making the user go to that page, enable and configure the detection methods, then come back again to the block to configure it, we could have a radio box right there giving the user the following three options:

The Language switcher block is now enabled. In order to be displayed though either the URL and/or the Session language detection methods should be enabled.

( ) Enable the URL detection method
( ) Enable the Session detection method
( ) Enable both

[ Save ]

Finally, there should be a help text explaining to them that this 'shortcut' is provided for their convenience and that they should/might need to actually go to that config page later on to separately configure/tweak these methods in order to function as desired.

Drupal 7 is UI frozen. We cannot perform the suggested fixes in D7. There is already an open issue for UX improvements for D8: #1082902: Improve language switcher usability.

...thanx for pointing that out Francesco ;)