Localization in ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio .NET 2005 : Code free Localization
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Published: 20 Apr 2004
Unedited - Community Contributed
Abstract
In this piece you can see how ASP.NET 2.0 will make Localizing your ASP.NET applications so simple, you won't even need to write any code to do it!
by Phil Winstanley
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Code free Localization
Localization in ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio .NET 2005
 
This topic is pre-release documentation and is subject to change in future releases.
Tested against Visual Studio .NET 2005, v8.0.40301.9 and the .NET Framework v2.0.40301
 
Part 1 : Code free Localization
 
Visual Studio .NET 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0 offer some great features for beginners in the Localization arena. With the new designer support in Visual Studio it's possible to Localize your whole website without writing a single line of code. That includes full support for other Cultures and Languages.
 
In this part of the Localization in ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio .NET 2005 series, I hope to explore the Codeless Localization provided.
 
Adding a Localized Label to your Web Form
 
Create a new Web Site in Visual Studio .NET 2005, then on the Default.aspx page, add a Label. The HTML for the page will look like this: -
<%@ page language="C#" %>
<script runat="server">
</script> 
<html>
<head runat="server"> 
<title>My Localized Page</title> 
</head>
<body> 
<form id="form1" runat="server"> 
<div> 
<asp:Label ID="Heading" Runat="server"> 
</asp:Label> 
</div> 
<div> 
</div>
</form> 
</body> 
</html>
 
You can see a Label on the page above. Now making sure you're in Design View, go to the Tools Menu and Click on the "Generate Page Resource" (GPR) entry.
A Folder will have been created in the same place as your Default.aspx page called "LocalResources". Within that folder there will be a file called Default.aspx.resx.
 
If you switch to Source View on your Default.aspx page you'll notice some changes to your HTML Code: -
<%@ page language="C#" meta:resourceKey="PageTitleResource1" %> 
<script runat="server"> </script> 
<html> 
<head runat="server"> 
<title>My Localized Page</title> 
</head> 
<body> 
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div> 
<asp:Label ID="Heading" Runat="server" meta:resourcekey="LabelResource1">
</asp:Label> 
</div> 
<div>   
</div> 
</form> 
</body>
</html>
 
What Visual Studio has done is parse all the Controls on your Web Form (Default.aspx) searching for any marked with the [Localizable(true)] attribute set (to true). This tells Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework that the control contains Properties that are Localizable (i.e. contain Textual Content such as the Text and ToolTip properties on a System.Web.UI.WebControl.Label control).
 
When Visual Studio finds a Localizable control whilst running the GPR command, any Localizable properties on a control are added to the .resx file for the associated .aspx in the LocalResources folder. Visual Studio also marks each Localizable control with a specific MetaData property with a ResourceKey category such as meta:resourcekey="LabelResource1" on the Label control.
 
Opening the .resx file shows the following Resource Keys have been added: -
  • LabelResource1.Text
  • LabelResource1.ToolTip
  • PageTitleResource1

The PageTitleResource1 key has a value of "My Localized Page" pulled directly from the <title /> portion of the .aspx.

If the page is executed as is, the page will display with no content, as expected. Adding a value to the LabelResource1.Text entry in the .resx file "Walk" for example, and then reloading the page will cause that value ("Walk") to be displayed as the Text of the Label control. 

Localizing the web page from this point is very simple, firstly a copy of the .resx file needs to be made and placed in the LocalResources folder associated with the .aspx file. Rename the file for the appropriate culture, such as French-French (fr-FR), to be called Default.aspx.fr-fr.resx.

Within the Default.aspx.fr-fr.resx file are the Resources that were in the Default.aspx.resx file, editing the value "Walk" for LabelResource1.Text to "Paid" will complete the French version of the Web Page. Loading the page at this point will still load the default non-culture specific .resx file.

One way to show the French Resources is to change the UICulture property of the page to the appropriate culture (fr-FR). If the Property UICulture="fr-fr" is added to the Page directive and the page is reloaded you will see "Paid" load on the page.

Whilst this is handy, ASP.NET 2.0 has some even cooler features baked right in to the Framework, one of which is automatically sensing a clients culture and loading the appropriate resources based on this. Modern browsers send a value with each HTTP Request indicating the preferred culture. The Browser I am currently using (IE 6.0) sends a value of en-GB (British English) to the web server with each request.

It is quite simple to turn on the automatic Resource loading based on the browser client's preffered culture. Change the UICulture property's value to "auto" so it reads UICulture="auto" then save and reload the page. You will see that (unless you're using a French browser!) that the value displayed on the page has returned to "Walk". This is because the Web Server has decided to revert to the default .resx file as it cannot find a .resx file for your culture.

Change the default culture on your browser, on IE 6 this can be done by going to: -

  1. Tools
  2. Internet Options
  3. Languages
  4. Adding French
  5. Clicking "Move Up" to make French the Top entry on the list.

Reload the Page, you will see that the Web Server has picked up your client settings and automatically served you the French Resources.

Don't forget to set your Browser back to the correct Language before continuing (or things might get a little confusing).

So there's how you can get simple Localization in ASP.NET 2.0, in the next article I'll talk about the other ways you can access Resources using code, some of that is even cooler than the above.



User Comments

Title: Software Developer   
Name: Yuvraj Randive
Date: 2012-07-03 1:51:34 AM
Comment:
A resource file is an XML file that can contain strings and other resources, such as url
Title: venkat   
Name: venkat
Date: 2010-05-06 5:09:42 PM
Comment:
nice
Title: Wow V.Good Overview for beginner Like Me   
Name: Ranks
Date: 2009-03-19 11:14:13 AM
Comment:
I found it very useful especially when I was working on VS2008 where there is no option of auto generate Local Resource. This article provide me basic concept.
Title: axles,axel,hub,half axle,trailer parts,utv axle,atv axle,adv axle,rims,supplier   
Name: windsor exports
Date: 2009-01-02 1:10:42 AM
Comment:
Manufacturer and Exporter of axles, Manufacturer and Exporter of axles, trailer parts, utv axle, atv axle, adv axle, half axle, hub caps, rims, wheels, brake axle, nutbolts, Essieu, moyeu, eje, eixo, trailer spare parts, eye bolt, supplier, trader from India.
Title: Software Engineer   
Name: César F. Qüeb Montejo
Date: 2007-10-30 8:53:00 PM
Comment:
Let me say that your information is clear and forthright. All topic to add a local resource linked to an ASP web page. I had spent hours trying to implement the meta:resourcekey="theresourcekey" and not happy results. the book Programing ASP.NET 2.0 never says that te key is the Tool menu and the GRP command does all for us. Thank you...

I had adding (mistakenly) manually the App_LocalResources and placinf a resource file into, after adding strings and doing reference to this keys via meta:resourcekey command. But... all was time spent.

Thank you!
Title: mr   
Name: dimiter
Date: 2007-09-13 9:23:44 AM
Comment:
I tryed to localize my page but I cann't
Title: Nice stuff, know how to localize the metadata?   
Name: Andy
Date: 2007-06-13 6:52:59 PM
Comment:
got any ideas on how to localize the keywords and description that it assiocated with the page metadata??
Title: Thanks   
Name: Cindy
Date: 2007-04-27 1:49:21 PM
Comment:
Thanks this is much better description of how this works than in MSDN
Title: help required from anybody   
Name: Rajnish
Date: 2006-09-07 2:29:37 AM
Comment:
Can anybody give me an idea of deployment of globalized applications
Title: Localization   
Name: Sony
Date: 2006-08-02 6:54:41 AM
Comment:
Very good, simple and straight away, without much complexities, good!!!!!!
Title: very nice   
Name: shikha gupta
Date: 2006-07-26 6:46:44 AM
Comment:
very good
Title: Sr. Software Engineer   
Name: Vinoo Thomas
Date: 2006-04-26 5:31:14 AM
Comment:
I have found this article very useful.. It would have been nice if you had some example that let you know more about usiage of pictures say like a flag for each country... using localization technique
Title: Nice Article   
Name: Ryan Smith
Date: 2005-12-16 5:50:20 PM
Comment:
Nice article. I found it to be a nice simple start into localization in .NET

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