ok, i have gone and actually done this however, i've only one language installed and so can't test it much beyond that... what i've got appears to be the minimum necessary to work...
i followed your instructions above to the letter... i saved a new copy of empty.php as emptytest.php and did all my work in there... here is all the code... the only real mod i've done to the original file is to fix toroot and actually use it in the code (ie: replace "./ with $toroot.")
this is emptytest.php
<?php
error_reporting(0);
$toroot = "./";
$currentpage = "custom_a";
$this_is_index = "1";
ob_start ("ob_gzhandler");
@include ($toroot."basecode/SCRIPT_slashwork.php");
@include ($toroot."basecode/SECURITY_datacleaner.php");
@include ($toroot."basecode/SETUP_settings.php");
@include ($toroot."basecode/SCRIPT_connect.php");
@include ($toroot."basecode/SCRIPT_uncookied.php");
$uncookied_base_id = "";
if (isset($_POST['u'])) {
$u = ee_datacleaner($_POST['u']);
ee_uncookied_update_log ($u);
if ($u=="") $u = 1;
ee_uncookied_extract ($u); // now we have all post variables back
}
if (isset($_GET['u'])) {
$u = ee_datacleaner($_GET['u']);
ee_uncookied_update_log ($u);
$u = str_replace($uncookied_foochar,"",$u);
$vartalo = explode($uncookied_splitter,$u);
$u = $vartalo[0];
if ($u=="") $u = 1;
if (isset($vartalo[1])) {
$offset = $vartalo[1];
}
if (ee_uncookied_get_id ($u)) {
ee_uncookied_extract ($u); // now we have all get variables back
} else {
$offset_finder = "1";
}
}
@include ($toroot."basecode/SCRIPT_language.php");
unset($exhibition);
if (isset ($_GET['exhibition'])) {
$exhibition = ee_datacleaner($_GET['exhibition']);
}
@include ($toroot."languages/" . $ee_lang . "/global.php");
@include ($toroot."languages/" . $ee_lang . "/custom.php");
@require ($toroot."basecode/SECURITY_check_user_authorization.php");
@require ($toroot."basecode/SECURITY_check_exhibition_validity.php");
@include ($toroot."basecode/SCRIPT_common_functions.php");
@include ($toroot."basecode/SCRIPT_fetchsettings.php");
@include ($toroot."basecode/SCRIPT_get_styledata.php");
@include ($toroot."basecode/SCRIPT_indexfunctions.php");
@include ($toroot."basecode/SCRIPT_get_structure.php");
$uncookied = array(
"sortby_off" => @$sortby_off,
"sort_row" => @$sort_row,
"order" => @$order,
"search_row" => @$search_row,
"keyword" => @$keyword,
"category" => @$category,
"select_output" => @$select_output,
"size" => @$size,
"exhibition" => @$exhibition,
"perpage" => @$perpage,
"revealforms" => @$revealforms,
"viewall" => @$viewall,
"hidedetail" => @$hidedetail,
"ee_lang" => @$ee_lang
);
$temp = $uncookied;
$uncookied_base_id = ee_uncookied_make ($temp);
@include ($toroot."basecode/SCRIPT_common_items.php");
ob_start();
// content here
?>
<?php
ob_start();
$titletext = $s_indexpage_title . " -> " . ee_translate_A($translated["Contact_form"]);
print trim($titletext);
$browser_title_html = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
@include ($toroot."languages/" . $ee_lang . "/emptytest1.php");
?>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="20" cellpadding="0"><tr><td>
<h2 class="ee_css_header_large ee_css_capitalize">hello world</h2>
<?php
print "<p class=\"ee_css_paragraph\">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nulla tristique mollis magna. Ut vel ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec et nibh. Suspendisse non neque. Cras vel sem. Quisque pellentesque, ligula quis faucibus gravida, odio augue porttitor justo, at suscipit nulla mauris sit amet arcu. Sed at arcu. Nullam arcu nulla, feugiat sed, convallis ac, bibendum id, ante. Quisque libero lacus, imperdiet ac, blandit in, tempus ac, urna. Sed tristique malesuada pede. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. In fringilla, quam at tempor sodales, nibh felis iaculis neque, eget porta pede pede at tellus. Duis nec elit ac neque placerat malesuada. Duis lacinia malesuada neque. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Vestibulum felis.</p>";
?>
</td></tr></table>
<?php
// content ends
$custom_content_html = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
ob_start();
@include ("./" . $custom_a_content);
$ee_all_html = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
print $ee_all_html;
mysql_close ();
ob_end_flush();
?>
this is emptytest1.php
<?php
error_reporting(0);
$toroot = "../../";
@include ($toroot."basecode/SECURITY_datacleaner.php");
if (isset($_POST['myquery'])) {
$myquery = ee_datacleaner($_POST['myquery']);
}
?>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="20" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td>
<h2 class="ee_css_header_large">Login op de site</h2>
<p class="ee_css_paragraph">
blablabla<br />
and so on<br />
<br />
more to say
<br />
<br />
ee_lang: |<?php print $ee_lang ?>|<br />
myquery: |<?php print $myquery ?>|<br />
</p>
<div class="login ee_css_paragraph">
<?php print "<form action=\"emptytest.php?ee_lang=".$ee_lang."\" method=\"post\">\n" ?>
<input type="text" name="myquery" size="25" />
<input type="submit" class="button" value="Go" />
</form>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<?php
// content ends
?>
the only "problem" i'm having is getting the title to come up as the translated contact form entry that i placed in languages/eng/global.php...
i tried numerous ways of writting the "form" line but the only way i was able to get it to work properly was by letting php do the entire line...
i tested by going to /emptytest.php and then filling in the field and hitting the button... the language is already defined when you first go to the page and when you click the button, the url in the address bar will change to include the "?ee_lang=whatever" portion... i think the form line in php is really all you need...
give it a try and see how it goes ;)