Multi Lingual Web sites using ASP.Net

In one of our projects, we were given a task to create a website that supports multi languages. Majority of the samples were difficult to test and implement. The best one I found so far is in the video found in the ASP.Net website.

This is what I have derived from the video.

1. This only applies for Framework 2.0 and above (not applicable for Framework 1.1).
2. We need to override the InitializeCulture in the page class (or codebehind class).

I am focusing on changing the words. So I need to use labels. For each of these labels, I will need to add expression linked to Resources. The ClassKey is used to identify the resource filename and the ResourceKey are the entries in the resource file. The following is the example of the interface in Visual Studio.


The resulting html tag will be as follows:

<asp:Label ID="lblMessage" runat="server"
Text="<%$ Resources:LocalizedText, Msg1 %>"></asp:Label>


For example if the ClassKey is "LocalizedText", then the resx files will be:

LocalizedText.fr.resx for French
LocalizedText.ms.resx for Malay
LocalizedText.resx for the default.

In the above example the files should all be placed in App_GlobalResources under the application folder (just like there is a bin under the application folder).

As for the resource entry, this is a sample of the resource file entry interface in Visual Studio:



This is a sample of the overridden method:

Protected Overrides Sub InitializeCulture()
Dim lang As String = Request("Language1")

If lang IsNot Nothing Or lang <> "" Then
Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = New CultureInfo(lang)
Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture(lang)
End If

End Sub

In the above example, I used the dropdownlist similar to the video:

<asp:DropDownList ID="Language1" runat="server" AutoPostBack="True">
<asp:ListItem>auto</asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Value="en-US">English</asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Value="ms-MY">Malay</asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Value="fr-FR">French</asp:ListItem>
</asp:DropDownList>

However, given the logic, we can also use a url parameter, radio button etc to identify the language.

To deployment, it will be like normal with the additional App_GlobalResources folder to copy.

This was the key thing I was looking for. In majority of the examples I saw, the language is automatically detected based on the browser setting. This will not work if the users are sharing a public computer to access the site.