ScottGu's Blog

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

I am currently working on a white paper that will explain how to make resource changes in production while the site is precompiled (something that every serious web application will need).
I think that such info should have been arrived from the MSDN.
Thanks

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

I am really into the localization, but when I saw Hilo video I smiled. Switching languages in IE is not really convenient, O.K., it is really a pain when developing and doing it multiple times.

Most of us which are using Firefox (as I hope so) have a nice 3KB extension, which can switch languages easily. Just to go to language menu and pick one.
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/356/
alternatively more complex one:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1333/

What would be nice on localization is better work with resources. If there was some application, that would just parse our project, reading localization tags or attributes and automaticaly generating xml resources for selected ones.

And we would just fill the missing text for additional languages to generated xml resources, e.g. next to server control ID and its english equivalent.

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott,

the 1st link I provided sux :-) But the 2nd work, so if you be so kind to delete the:
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=356&application=firefox

Had it under bookmark, but didn't notice this isn't what I was talking about.

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Great video. Is there any "smart" way to handle this using Masterpages/ContentPlaceHolders. All my controls are renamed to something I don't quite know until runtime (like "ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_Button1" instead of just "Button1" as in the video)

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott!

I am exactly at this moment searching on localization!!

Tks!

# Link Listing - May 31, 2006

A Bird’s eyeview of Sharepoint 2007
Architecture [Via: Sahil Malik ]
AJAX Enabling ASP.NET 2.0 Web...

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

I would like to add a link to my latest article on ASPAlliance.com, the article title is:
Localization in ASP.NET 2.0, you can check the article at: http://aspalliance.com/821

You can also check a session of mine I did last week at Microsoft Office, Beirut with the same title, the presentation download can be found at http://www.lebdev.net

Regadrs

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott,

The 2.0 localization features are indeed a great improvement over the 1.1 versions but there is one thing I wish was different. I wish I could pre-compile my app as in using the new Web Application project but I wish I could leave the resource files uncompiled and still in xml format so that they can be easily updated on a server using a text editor.

In my situation, I'm developing an open source portal/cms solution but I don't think it should require any re-compilation or developer involvement to update a label on a deployed site.

The deployed source code approach I suppose allows this but I'd rather not deploy source code on production servers while I don't mind deploying uncompiled string resources. As a developer I prefer my apps pre-compiled but I think a non-technical site stakeholder should be able to change a label on a whim with little notice. For example the marketing dept might want to change the Register link to say "Sign Up" instead of "Register" and this should not require the developer to be involved. Ideally I would even develop a web page to provide a ui on top of the xml.resx file.

Now the custom resource provider from the db solves that problem fairly well but as the manager of an open source project I think the the db approach makes it more difficult for others to contribute translations to the project where the xml.resx makes it easy. So I'm wishing for the best of both worlds.

I guess I could build a custom provider that gets data from a flat file and perhaps this is what I will do but thought I would mention this in case there is a way of compiling the app but not the resources. Is this possible? Have missed something?

Many Thanks for all the great work you guys are doing.

Joe

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Awesome! I was under the impression that putting them in those folders would cause them to be compiled into the assembly. You are saying it won't do that? I'm not sure I understand entirely, do I need to mark them as content only instead of embedded resource? Or is it that it will compile them but if those folders and the .resx files are deployed they will take precedence over the versions in the assembly?

Thanks Again for your help!

Joe

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Localization features are great but I have a question about updates.
I have generated local resource file for a page.
This works fine.
How to update the generated local resource file on changing the page contents?
Can I update the contents automatically or does it need to be done manually?

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Nice articles BY Wei-Meng Lee.

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Conspicuously absent from the provider toolkit page on MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/downloads/providers/default.aspx) is a ResourceProvider. Jeff Modzel's sample is nice as far as it goes. But it doesn't cover: basic concepts (what does an IResourceReader do and why is it needed? what provider methods are called when? etc.); design-time support; the IImplicitResourceProvider interface and where it fits in, etc. FWIW... Donnie

# Hanselminutes Podcast 26 - Globalization/Internationalization with .NET

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

I am using String Resource file. The changes I make in resx is not reflecting if I save the resx with changes. It works only when i compile the application. The application is now in the production server and I cannot update the compiled code often there. Your valuable suggestion will be appreciated. If possible, please reply to gowthami_sharma@yahoo.com Thanks

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi scott, Thanks for your reply. I have sent an email to you. Thanks Sai(Gowthami)

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott, I am using resources in a DLL. I created a reference to the resource DLL in my project. I could access them via aspx.cs files. But if I try to use them in aspx files using the <%Resources: syntax I am unable to get anything. Do you see a problem? (I am using import statement in aspx file to import the resource namespace). I am using Visual Studio 2005 team suite. Please help me out. Thanks

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

I need information on how to make resource changes in production while the site is precompiled. It will be a great help if anyone can point me to how to do that. Thanks.

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

If anyone found how to deploy only the resources while the site is pre-compiled, it would be a great help. I found that I can compile the whole project and just copy the resource dlls to the target and it works. But is there a way to create just the resource dll?

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott, I have a query: In the WAP model, we can edit the RESX files on the production server and the compiler will dynamically generate the class for the changed file, but does this mean that the entire application will be restarted? If yes, then do we need to maintain the resources in a separate project so that we can recompile the dll and update the dll on the fly. The application will pick up the new dll and continue to work. Please shed some light on this as I have read in MSDN that the application restart will happen if we change resource files or add new files. Thanks, Vivek

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hey Scott, Thanks for the reply! But what if we do not deploy the .resx but only its assembly (which comes from a separate project created specially for resource files). If we want to update the resources, we do so in the .RESX files in the project, compile it and place the generated DLL in the deployed web app's bin folder. Will this avoid the App will restart? I think so as there would be no dynamic compilation of the .resx files. Is this the recommended approach if we do not want to use a database? Again, I really appreciate you taking time out to answer things! My heartiest thanks to you! Regards, Vivek

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott, Thanks for taking time out to answer my query. Actually I had sent another comment but it is not getting reflected even after a day. Just to be sure that it got sent properly I am posting it again: If we do not want to use a database and instead would create a separate class library project just having resource files. Then we can put these DLLs in the deployed web application's bin folder and it should pick up these new modified resource DLLs at runtime without restarting the app. Is this recommended approach or do you foresee any potential gotchas here? Thanks again for taking time out of your busy schedule. Regards, Vivek

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Scott, Thanks a lot! Cheers, Vivek

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

I was wondering how I could programmatically read the "meta:resourcekey="TemplateFieldResource1" from my C# code page. I used to read "col.Header" to use as the key to localize text (see below). However, now that I am using "meta:resourcekey" that are auto generated for me in my html I cannot figure out how to "read meta data" from my C# code. Any ideas? Thank you in advance!!! public static void LocalizeGridView(ref GridView grid, string ResourceFile) { string key; string localizedText; foreach (System.Web.UI.WebControls.TemplateField col in grid.Columns) { // Localize the header text for each template field key = col.HeaderText; if (!(key == StandardNull.NullString)) { localizedText = DotNetNuke.Services.Localization.Localization.GetString(key + ".Header", ResourceFile); if (!(localizedText == StandardNull.NullString)) { col.HeaderText = localizedText; } } } // Localize the text for each type of certain type control found in each row foreach (GridViewRow gridRow in grid.Rows) { foreach (TableCell gridCell in gridRow.Cells) { if ((gridCell.GetType().ToString()) == "HyperLink") { //HyperLink gridControl = (HyperLink) gridCell.Text; key = gridCell.Text; localizedText = DotNetNuke.Services.Localization.Localization.GetString(key + ".Text", ResourceFile); if (!(localizedText == StandardNull.NullString)) { gridCell.Text = localizedText; } } } } }

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Dear Scott! I recently attended your AZGroups meeting and it was terrific. Fortunately we are already using Atlas, sitemap feature, and other features that you explained in the meeting. Thanks for coming to Arizona. :) Coming to the point, we are having problems with using the sitemap feature and satellite assemblies together. Our application supports English and Spanish versions through a drop down in the header. We are using satellite assemblies (one for english and another project with spanish translations) to store our resources and are reading from them from our base page. For ex: our application name is "App1" and the engligh and spanish satellite assemblies will be "App1.en-US.resources.dll" and "App1.es-MX.resources.dll" right? So far everything works fine. Now we want to localize the sitemap file that we are using for navigation. As far as i know, the options are using app_globalresources folder and use the format "$resources: , " for the titles of the sitemap nodes. But there are two problems here. 1) We dont want to use app_globalresources as it will restart the application. 2) Even if we use app_globalresources, the compiler automatically generating "App1.en-US.resources.dll" and "App1.es-MX.resources.dll" thus overwriting my satellite assemblies. I think there is a potential problem here unless i'm missing something here. The problem here is, the names of the dlls the compiler is creating from app_globalresources and the satellite assemblies are the same. My question is, How do we localize the sitemap file if we are using satellite assemblies. I think the option of app_globalresources is ruled out as there is naming conflict. Also any changes made to the app_globalresources is restarting the application which we dont want. Can we localize the sitemap from the satellite assembly? Thanks a lot for your time.

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

We are building a web site that we want to localize. We've had no problem creating the resource files, but having to manually enter the translated text into each file, but compare/update every resource file after changes are made to controls/pages is time consuming and prone to errors (typos, missing items, etc.) As anyone come up with a database-driven approach using resource files where the transations are stored in a database?

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

I have developed a web application in .NET (application A) and a sub application (application B). It’s already published on the server and runs fine. When I made changes to B in the code, there is a change in dll when I compile in my local machine. When I publish B’s dll to the server, the application B logs out the users from B (I guess it’s because of restart). Is there a simple work around that will help me publish the new dll file and make the application B pick the new dll file on the fly with out a restart? any help is appreciated Jo

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Thanks Scott, I am aware of SQL Session State, but I was wondering if there is any other work around like moving the dll to GAC. Will the dll of the project be recognised by .net if it is placed in the GAC instead of bin folder ?

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott, cool video! Is there any possibility to set the resourcekey from codebehind? I've tried to paste button1.Attributes.Add("meta:resourceKey", "button1") into OnInit section but it didn't work.. I always want to set the same resourcekey as the name of the control and I would like to do it in the MasterPage because I don't want to set them individualy. Thanks! ap

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott, I have been asked to prepare a current website for Internationalization. The current requirement is to have it capable of displaying in 4 - 6 languages. There are approx. 65 aspx pages, an Access DB of approx 70 tables and 150 queries. I have developed this website using VWD but with the requirement to Localize i am wondering whether or not to use Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition. Could you perhaps explain whether or not the benefits of VS 2005's built in features of using localizaion are worth moving to VS 2005 or do you think that VWD would work just as well? thx, ciao, Dan

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott,  Regarding VS 2005 Standards auto-generating of the .resx files, if one needs to be able to display the website in, for this example, 4 different languages, are you saying that VS 2005 Std Ed will auto generate 4 different .resx files for each .aspx page?  I am trying to understand how much benefits going to VS 2005 Std Ed will bring in my situation.

thx,

ciao, Dan

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott

Many thanks for the article. Useful as always and much appreciated.

Currently i'm in the process of developing a website for a travel company. The company already has a SQL DB with the contents for the website, each language in a different table (contents, contents_EN, contents_ES and so on). Now here's the question: how can i pull the content from the correct table according to the selected language? I know that i could write all the SQL-stuff by myself, but i'd like to use the designer-generated datasets and table-adapters. Do you have any hint for me?

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

I hope someone can help me with this question...

I read both Jeff Modzel and the "leftslipper" articles but i agree with another poster here that...Jeff Modzel's article doesnt show how to call the ResourceReader...

Basic Question: how do I call this piece of code to localize, for example, 5 lables on a page??

# re: ASP.NET 2.0 Localization (Video, Whitepaper, and Database Provider Support)

Hi Scott, I was wondering if you had a copy of the code contained in the "leftslipper" example located at: http://www.leftslipper.com/ShowFaq.aspx?FaqId=9

It appears this site is erroring out. I was able to find a cached search engine page of it, but as for the source and links contained within, they're inaccessible.

Thanks!

# Multi-lingual web sites in ASP.NET - Manually changing localization settings via querystring

Multi-lingual web sites in ASP.NET - Manually changing localization settings via querystring