ot_tax.php language definition ignored

All versions of Zen-Cart, e.g. 1.3.9h and upcoming 1.5
Clean Install

Problem:
You can define a text for the tax description in includes/languages/english/order_total/ot_tax.php
This is normally defined as:

define('MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_TAX_DESCRIPTION', 'Order Tax');

No matter what you define here during the checkout and in the order confirmation email this definition is not called and you only get shown the tax percentage as defined in Location/Taxes > Tax Rates > Description
So you get something like this:
Sub-Total: €583.09
Per Item (Best Way):€2.50
19%:€93.10
Total:€585.59

Solution:
Change in includes/modules/order_total/ot_tax.php
line 48 (1.3.9h)
from

$this->output[] = array('title' => ((is_numeric($key) && $key == 0) ? TEXT_UNKNOWN_TAX_RATE :  $key) . ':',

to

$this->output[] = array('title' => $this->description .' '.((is_numeric($key) && $key == 0) ? TEXT_UNKNOWN_TAX_RATE :  $key) . ':',

and in line 56 (1.3.9h)
from

$taxDescription .= ((is_numeric($key) && $key == 0) ? TEXT_UNKNOWN_TAX_RATE :  $key) . ' + ';

to

$taxDescription .= $this->description .' '.((is_numeric($key) && $key == 0) ? TEXT_UNKNOWN_TAX_RATE :  $key) . ' + ';

and you will get what is supposed to be:
Sub-Total: €583.09
Per Item (Best Way):€2.50
Order Tax 19%:€93.10
Total:€585.59

It appears in those cases you have not given a Tax Description when defining the Tax Rate.

When a description is provided in the Admin "Tax Rates" screen, it shows up as intended.

Your proposal would double-up both descriptions, so question: what will you do in that case?

I will investigate further when possible,
thanks.

I agree, this thread can be closed.

Hand raised in the corner.

Not having 2 or more languages installed on a test server that I can think of, the "tax rates" screen's description box: does it support multi-language? Meaning, can different text be entered for each language supported by the store or is it a one entry for all type thing?

If it is a one-size fits all, then I could see where it just might be desirable to have more flexibility with a language constant. Unless I'm wrong, the OP doesn't appear to imply the need for multi-language support, just some level of language.

Doh, that should be my hand since I do fall over language stuff that others forget.

This has cropped up as I have this post referenced in the file and so spotted it on 156 merging, even though I now do not use it.

So you are both right, the description in the tax definition does show up, BUT as it is not multilingual, it is something that does needs correcting as per this thread!

No doubt that was my (long-forgotton) reason for implementing it.

torvista:

So you are both right, the description in the tax definition does show up, BUT as it is not multilingual, it is something that does needs correcting as per this thread!

Steve, would you please work up a PR for this?

ok, but don't hold your breath.

I spent some time on this but it's too much of a rabbit hole for me.

I defined multiple taxes in the admin, then used the db id as part of the constant that would provide the language title.

includes/modules/order_total/ot_tax.php

define('MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_TAX_TITLE_1', 'EN Tax 1');
define('MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_TAX_TITLE_2', 'EN Tax 2');
define('MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_TAX_TITLE_3', 'EN Tax 3');

Then in

class ot_tax {
  var $title, $output;

  function __construct() {
    $this->code = 'ot_tax';
    $this->title = "MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_TAX_TITLE_";//stub of tax title constants
    $this->description = MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_TAX_DESCRIPTION;
    $this->sort_order = defined('MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_TAX_SORT_ORDER') ? MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_TAX_SORT_ORDER : null;
    if (null === $this->sort_order) return false;

    $this->output = array();
  }

  function process() {
    global $order, $currencies;

    $taxTitles = '';//concatenated tax titles shown for non-split display
    $taxValue = 0;
    if (STORE_TAX_DISPLAY_STATUS == 1)
    {
      $taxAddress = zen_get_tax_locations();
      $result = zen_get_all_tax_descriptions($taxAddress['country_id'], $taxAddress['zone_id']);
      if (count($result) > 0)
      {
        foreach ($result as $description)
        {
          if (!isset($order->info['tax_groups'][$description]))
          {
            $order->info['tax_groups'][$description] = 0;
          }
        }
      }
    }
    if (count($order->info['tax_groups']) > 1 && isset($order->info['tax_groups'][0])) unset($order->info['tax_groups'][0]);
    $index = 1;
      foreach($order->info['tax_groups'] as $key => $value) {
      if (SHOW_SPLIT_TAX_CHECKOUT == 'true')
      {
        if ($value > 0 or ($value == 0 && STORE_TAX_DISPLAY_STATUS == 1 )) {
            $this->output[] = array('title' => ((is_numeric($key) && $key == 0) ? TEXT_UNKNOWN_TAX_RATE :  constant($this->title . $index) . ':'),
                                  'text' => $currencies->format($value, true, $order->info['currency'], $order->info['currency_value']),
                                  'value' => $value);
        }
      } else
      {
        if ($value > 0 || ($value == 0 && STORE_TAX_DISPLAY_STATUS == 1))
        {
          $taxTitles .= ((is_numeric($key) && $key == 0) ? TEXT_UNKNOWN_TAX_RATE :  constant($this->title . $index)) . ' + ';
          $taxValue += $value;
        }
      }
      $index++;
    }
    if (SHOW_SPLIT_TAX_CHECKOUT != 'true' && ($taxValue > 0 or STORE_TAX_DISPLAY_STATUS == 1))
    {
      $this->output[] = array(
                      'title' => substr($taxTitles, 0 , strlen($taxTitles)-3) . ':' ,//remove final '+' from concatenated titles
                      'text' => $currencies->format($taxValue, true, $order->info['currency'], $order->info['currency_value']) ,
                      'value' => $taxValue);
    }
  }

Which gives these, depending if tax is split or not

So this would require either a column in the admin taxes table to show users the constant name they need to define for each tax/or the constant name in the info box.

Then I looked at this constant
MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_TAX_DESCRIPTION
and saw it gets used with
function zen_get_all_tax_descriptions
which collects the non-language-dependent descriptions defined in the admin...and I thought "nah".
I personally don't need this functionality so cannot justify the time to code this completely.
Just documenting it here for someone who DOES need it enough to work it through properly...