Global Resources

• Aug 26, 2024
• 5 minutes to read

Tip

In v12.1 and higher, we recommend that you localize your application with the Satellite Resource Assemblies. This technique is more modern and allows you to get the most recent string translations.

This topic describes the native ASP.NET localization technique and contains download links to localized resources for DevExpress ASP.NET controls.

You can download default and translated resources from the following link:

Download: v24.1(2024_05_16)

Note that the downloaded file contains translations that are relevant as of May 16, 2024. These translations were generated by the DevExpress developer community. You should verify accuracy before incorporating resources into your software project.

Resource Files

A resource file is an XML file that contains strings that can be translated into different languages. Resource files in ASP.NET have a .resx extension. Each localized resource file contains name/value pairs. You can use a text editor to customize a resource file’s string values.

Refer to the following topic in the Visual Studio documentation to learn more about global resource files: ASP.NET Web Page Resources Overview.

DevExpress ASP.NET products ship with a default resource file and numerous localized resource files (one for each culture).

List of default resource files

Product	Default Resource File
Card View	DevExpress_Web_ASPxGridView_v24_2.resx
Data and Image Navigation	DevExpress_Web_v24_2.resx
Data Editors	DevExpress_Web_ASPxEditors_v24_2.resx
Diagram	DevExpress_Web_ASPxDiagram_v24_2.resx
Docking and Popups	DevExpress_Web_v24_2.resx
Gantt	DevExpress_Web_ASPxGantt_v24_2.resx
Grid View	DevExpress_Web_ASPxGridView_v24_2.resx
File Management	DevExpress_Web_v24_2.resx
HTML Editor	DevExpress_Web_ASPxHtmlEditor_v24_2.resx
Multi-Use Site Controls	DevExpress_Web_v24_2.resx
Pivot Grid	DevExpress_Web_ASPxPivotGrid_v24_2.resx
Reporting	DevExpress_XtraReports_v24_2_Web.resx
Rich Text Editor	DevExpress_Web_ASPxRichEdit_v24_2.resx
Scheduler	DevExpress_Web_ASPxScheduler_v24_2.resx
Site Navigation and Layout	DevExpress_Web_v24_2.resx
Spell Checker	DevExpress_Web_ASPxSpellChecker_v24_2.resx
Spreadsheet	DevExpress_Web_ASPxSpreadsheet_v24_2.resx
Tree List	DevExpress_Web_ASPxTreeList_v24_2.resx
Vertical Grid	DevExpress_Web_ASPxGridView_v24_2.resx

A localized resource file name consists of the corresponding default name and a culture name, such as the following:

• DevExpress_Web_v24_2.resx - the default resource file for DevExpress ASP.NET controls.
• DevExpress_Web_v24_2.de.resx - a resource file for the German localization of DevExpress ASP.NET controls.

List of available cultures

Chinese (Simplified) [zh-CHS] (prior v12.1 - see “zh-Hans” vs “zh-CHS” and “zh-Hant” vs “zh-CHT”)
Chinese [zh-Hans] v12.1+
Chinese [zh-Hant] v12.1+
Croatian [hr]
Czech [cs]
Danish [da]
Dutch - The Netherlands [nl]
French [fr]
German [de]
Greek [el]
Hungarian [hu]
Italian [it]
Japanese [ja] v11.1+
Norwegian [no]
Polish [pl]
Portuguese (Brazil) [pt-BR]
Portuguese (Portugal) [pt-PT]
Romanian [ro]
Russian [ru]
Slovak [sk] v12.1+
Slovenian [sl]
Spanish [es]
Swedish [sv] v11.2+
Turkish [tr] v14.2+

Add Global Resources to an Application

Copy localized and corresponding default resource files to the App_GlobalResources folder.

Note that if the App_GlobalResources folder contains only a localized resource file (DevExpress_Web_v24.2.de.resx), without the corresponding default resource file (DevExpress_Web_v24.2.resx), an exception will occur.

Set an Application Culture

An application culture is defined by the Culture and UICulture properties. You can specify them in the following ways.

Localize an Application for a Specific Culture (regardless of operating system settings)

Set the Culture and UICulture properties to a certain culture ID. You can specify the properties at design time or runtime.

Design Time

• To set the culture for all pages, add the globalization element to the Web.config file. Set the Culture and uiCulture attributes.

  ASPX

  <system.web>
      <globalization uiCulture="es" culture="es" />
      ...
  </system.web>
  

• To set the culture for an individual page, set the Culture and UICulture attributes of the @ Page directive.

  ASPX

  <%@ Page UICulture="es" Culture="es" %>
  

Runtime

Override the InitializeCulture() method to specify the Culture and UICulture properties for the page.

C#

protected override void InitializeCulture() {
     var lang = Request.QueryString["lang"];
     if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(lang)) {
          Culture = lang;
          UICulture = lang;
     }
}

VB.NET

Protected Overrides Sub InitializeCulture()
     Dim lang = Request.QueryString("lang")
     If (Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(lang)) Then
          Culture = lang
          UICulture = lang
     End If
End Sub

ASPX

<style type="text/css">
     .lang-btn
     {
          text-decoration: none;
     }
</style>
...
<a class="lang-btn" href="Default.aspx?lang=en">
     <img src="Images/english.png" alt="English" />
</a>
<a class="lang-btn" href="Default.aspx?lang=de">
     <img src="Images/german.png" alt="Deutsch" />
</a>
<a class="lang-btn" href="Default.aspx?lang=es">
     <img src="Images/spanish.png" alt="Spanish" />
</a>

<dx:ASPxGridView ID="ASPxGridView1" ...
</dx:ASPxGridView>

The animation below shows the result.

Localize an Application for Numerous Cultures (based on operating system settings)

• Provide multiple localization sources within your application for each culture to support.
• Set the Culture and UICulture properties to auto.

The application automatically determines the operating system’s culture information and loads the appropriate assemblies for this culture. You can set the Culture and UICulture properties in any of the ways described above.

ASPX

<%@ Page UICulture="auto" Culture="auto" %>

Create Culture-Independent Settings in an Application

You can specify culture-independent settings in your application. For instance, always show currency in euros. To change settings without changing the current culture, follow the steps below:

1. Clone current CultureInfo.
2. Change settings of the new CultureInfo object. Note that it is possible to copy settings from another culture instead of setting them manually.
3. Assign the new CultureInfo object to CurrentCulture and CurrentUICulture properties.

C#

protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e) {  
    CultureInfo newCulture = (CultureInfo)CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.Clone();

    // Use the dot symbol as a thousand separator
    newCulture.NumberFormat.NumberGroupSeparator = ".";
    // Use the comma symbol as a decimal separator
    newCulture.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator = ",";
    // Show currency in euros
    newCulture.NumberFormat.CurrencySymbol = "€";
    // Copy date-time format from the en-us culture
    newCulture.DateTimeFormat = new CultureInfo("En-US").DateTimeFormat;

    System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = newCulture;
    System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = newCulture;
}  

VB.NET

Protected Sub Page_Init(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    Dim newCulture As CultureInfo = DirectCast(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.Clone(), CultureInfo)

    ' Use the dot symbol as a thousand separator
    newCulture.NumberFormat.NumberGroupSeparator = "."
    ' Use the comma symbol as a decimal separator
    newCulture.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator = ","
    ' Show currency in euros
    newCulture.NumberFormat.CurrencySymbol = "€";
    ' Copy date-time format from the en-us culture
    newCulture.DateTimeFormat = (New CultureInfo("En-US")).DateTimeFormat

    System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = newCulture
    System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = newCulture
End Sub