Localizing WPF Controls via Satellite Resource Assemblies

• Mar 12, 2021
• 5 minutes to read

This document demonstrates the most common approach to localizing a .NET application using Satellite Resource Assemblies (libraries that contain translated resources). These assemblies are the standard localization mechanism provided by the .NET Framework, to build multi-language applications. Refer to the Localizing Applications topic in MSDN to learn more about localization.

Note

Important: You can also localize your applications using custom localizers, but some controls contain form resources (e.g., the XtraReports Search dialog), and the only way to translate them is to create satellite assemblies. Thus, localization via resources is the preferable solution.

This document consists of the following sections.

• Obtaining Satellite Assemblies
• Adding Satellite Assemblies to Your Application
• Selecting a Culture Different from the System Culture
• Troubleshooting

Obtaining Satellite Assemblies

In most cases, it is not necessary to manually translate all language-specific resources, because DevExpress ships with satellite assemblies for a variety of languages and cultures.

The .NET Products Installer provides resource assemblies for many popular languages. It registers these assemblies into the GAC (Global Assembly Cache) of your development machine, and also places them in the installation folder (“C:\Program Files (x86)\DevExpress 17.2\Components\Bin\Framework\“, by default).

This folder contains a subfolder with translated libraries. Each subfolder is named by its common culture abbreviation:

• de - German;
• es - Spanish;
• ja - Japanese;
• ru - Russian.

Note

For a full list of available culture names, refer to the Language Identifier Constants and Strings topic in MSDN.

If these folders do not contain assemblies for the language you require, or you wish to provide custom translations for specific UI elements, you can use the DevExpress Localization Service. This service allows you to download and modify the satellite assemblies required to localize applications created with DevExpress .NET controls.

For more information on preparing and downloading resource assemblies, refer to the Localization Service documentation, or watch the training video on YouTube.

Adding Satellite Assemblies to Your Application

To add localized resources to your application, copy satellite assemblies from the unpacked archive to the corresponding subfolders of your application’s directory. The subfolder’s name is the culture’s abbreviation.

For example, to include German assemblies, copy the folder named de from the \Bin\Framework\ directory to the directory where your application’s EXE file is located; most commonly, it is the bin\Debug\ subdirectory of an application. You can, however, select another location by changing your project’s Output path defined in its general settings, as shown in the following image.

The following diagram illustrates where satellite assemblies should be placed within your application’s directory.

Note

Instead of copying satellite assemblies into the application’s folder, it is also possible to install them to the GAC. Note that if there are different resource assemblies with the same name - one located near the application EXE file and another installed in the GAC - the assembly from the GAC will have a higher priority.

After the application is deployed on an end-user’s machine, the program will automatically determine the operating system’s culture.

Selecting a Culture Different from the System Culture

Assign the required culture’s abbreviation to the CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture and CurrentThread.CurrentCulture properties to manually specify the culture for an application (regardless of the target operating system).

Note that while you can use a short culture abbreviation (a neutral culture) for the CurrentUICulture property (e.g., “de”), the CurrentCulture property needs to be set a specific culture (e.g., “de-DE”).

The following sample code sets German regional settings for an application.

C#

using System.Globalization;
using System.Threading;
using System.Windows;

namespace AppSample {
    public partial class App: Application {
        public App() {
            // Subscribe the Startup event
            this.Startup += Application_Startup;
        }

        private void Application_Startup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e) {
            // Create a new object, representing the German culture. 
            CultureInfo culture = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("de-DE");

            // The following line provides localization for the application's user interface. 
            Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = culture;

            // The following line provides localization for data formats. 
            Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = culture;

            // Set this culture as the default culture for all threads in this application. 
            CultureInfo.DefaultThreadCurrentCulture = culture;
            CultureInfo.DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture = culture;
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports System.Globalization
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.Windows

Namespace AppSample
    Public Partial Class App
        Inherits Application
        Public Sub New()
            ' Subscribe the Startup event
            AddHandler Me.Startup, AddressOf Application_Startup
        End Sub

        Private Sub Application_Startup(sender As Object, e As StartupEventArgs)
            ' Create a new object, representing the German culture. 
            Dim culture As CultureInfo = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("de-DE")

            ' The following line provides localization for the application's user interface. 
            Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = culture

            ' The following line provides localization for data formats. 
            Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = culture

            ' Set this culture as the default culture for all threads in this application. 
            CultureInfo.DefaultThreadCurrentCulture = culture
            CultureInfo.DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture = culture
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Note

If you intend to allow end-users to select from multiple predefined cultures, execute this code before the form is loaded. Although it is possible to assign the CurrentCulture and CurrentUICulture properties on the fly, there is no common method to reload all resources.

Troubleshooting

My application is not localized.

To use satellite resource assemblies, place them in the appropriate locations, so that they can easily be found by the Common Language Runtime (CLR). In some cases, the application may not be able to locate the satellite assemblies. If this is the case, you can check to see where it looks for assemblies using the standard .NET Fuslogvw.exe utility. Refer to the Assembly Binding Log Viewer (Fuslogvw.exe) topic in MSDN for more information.

Some items in my application are not localized.

This may occur because satellite assemblies for a particular culture are not complete. You can translate the missing strings via the DevExpress Localization Service. Refer to the Localization Service documentation to learn more.

My security permissions prohibit running the application.

SecurityPermission must be set to ControlThread to change the culture of Thread.CurrentThread. Note that manipulating threads, however, is dangerous, because of the security state associated with threads. Therefore, permission should only be given to trustworthy code, and only when necessary. The application cannot change the thread culture in semi-trusted code (see the CultureInfo.CurrentCulture property description in MSDN for details).