Localization and globalization handling in ASP.NET Core?
Handling localization and globalization in ASP.NET Core involves making your application flexible enough to adapt to different languages, regions, and cultural preferences. Here's a straightforward guide on how this can be achieved:
1. Configure Localization in Startup:
In the Startup.cs
file, configure localization services in the ConfigureServices
method. This involves adding the required services and setting the supported cultures. Typically, you would add the Localization and Mvc services as follows:
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
services.AddLocalization(options => options.ResourcesPath = "Resources");
services.AddMvc()
.AddViewLocalization()
.AddDataAnnotationsLocalization();
}
2. Configure Supported Cultures:
Still in the ConfigureServices
method, specify the supported cultures for your application. You can add the cultures to the RequestLocalizationOptions
:
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
// ...
var supCultures = new[] { "en-US", "fr-FR", "es-ES" };
services.Configure<RequestLocalizationOptions>(options =>
{
options.DefaultRequestCulture = new RequestCulture("en-US");
options.SupportedCultures = supCultures;
options.SupportedUICultures = supCultures;
});
}
3. Add Resource Files:
Create resource files for each supported language under the Resources
folder. The resource files should have the same name and be organized by culture code, for example: Resources/Resource.en-US.resx
, Resources/Resource.fr-FR.resx
, etc. These resource files will hold localized strings for your views and other components.
4. Configure Middleware:
In the Configure
method of Startup.cs
, add the UseRequestLocalization
middleware to enable the localization:
public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env)
{
// ...
var supCultures = new[] { "en-US", "fr-FR", "es-ES" };
var localizationOptions = new RequestLocalizationOptions
{
DefaultRequestCulture = new RequestCulture("en-US"),
SupportedCultures = supCultures,
SupportedUICultures = supCultures
};
app.UseRequestLocalization(localizationOptions);
// ...
}
5. Use Localized Resources in Views:
In your views, you can access the localized strings using the IViewLocalizer
. Inject IViewLocalizer
into your view and use it to retrieve the localized strings from resource files:
@using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Localization
@inject IViewLocalizer Localizer
<h1>@Localizer["WelcomeMessage"]</h1>
6. Change the Current Culture:
By default, ASP.NET Core uses the culture specified in the DefaultRequestCulture
. However, you can change the current culture dynamically based on user preferences or other criteria. To do this, you can set the CultureInfo
of the current thread, or use the CookieRequestCultureProvider
to store the user's preference in a cookie.
These steps should help you set up localization and globalization in your ASP.NET Core application. By following these practices, you can create web applications that cater to users from different regions and languages, providing them with a seamless and localized experience.