Pull Request resolves #48358 .

• I read the Generative AI policy and my contribution is either not created with the help of AI or is compatible with the policy and GNU/GPL 2 or later.

Summary of Changes

The Article Associations setting previously used the flags parameter as a simple on/off option to control whether language flags were displayed.

This Pull Request changes the setting to provide four display options while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing configuration values:

0 — Language Code
1 — Flags
2 — Native Language Title
3 — Language Title

The default remains 1 (Flags), so existing installations retain their current behaviour.

The setting is available in both the global Content component configuration and the Article Options, with the options presented in the following order:

1. Flags
2. Language Code
3. Native Language Title
4. Language Title

The association display in the article category layout and content information layout has been updated so that the three text-based options use the same button styling as the existing language-code display.

Existing language strings have been retained for backwards compatibility, with deprecated strings marked accordingly.

Testing Instructions

1. Install multiple languages
2. Install the multilingual sample data
3. In the global article options make sure associations are set to show and test each of the Associations option

Language Code

Native Language Title

Language Title

5. Check that the correct values are being used

Actual result BEFORE applying this Pull Request

The Article Associations setting only provides the existing flag/code behaviour. The flags parameter is effectively treated as a binary setting, so there is no option to display the associated language using either its native language title or its translated language title.

Expected result AFTER applying this Pull Request

The Article Associations setting provides four display choices: Flags, Language Code, Native Language Title, and Language Title.

The selected option controls how associated article languages are displayed on the frontend. Flags retain the existing behaviour, while all three text-based options are displayed using the same button styling.

Existing values remain compatible, with 0 continuing to mean Language Code and 1 continuing to mean Flags.

Link to documentations

Please select:

• Documentation link for guide.joomla.org:

• No documentation changes for guide.joomla.org needed

• Pull Request link for manual.joomla.org:

• No documentation changes for manual.joomla.org needed