What is Localization/Multilingual and Globalization?
The term "Localization" defined as "Process of translating
resources for a specific culture/languages", where
"Globalization" defined "Process of designing applications that
can adapt to different cultures/languages". When we publish a site for different
regions then it'll be great if the site content is displayed in that regional
language. SharePoint provides Language Packs which can be downloaded and
installed from Microsoft Site. but the limitation in this is only the
SharePoint site labels/text will be displayed in selected language and the user
defined contents won't be translated by SharePoint.
How to enable Localization in SharePoint 2010?
Assume we develop a webpart that has a registration form. A user from German
wish to register and he needs the form in German/Dutch language. Even though
Dutch language pack installed and enabled in SharePoint, the webpart text won't
be translated/displayed in German. So how to make webpart that can adapt
different languages. For those working in .Net platform knows it can be done
with Resource files (.resx). Resource files are nothing but Key/Value Pair
defined XML format files.
Here the steps to create a Webpart that detects the selected language in
SharePoint and display contents that fetched from Resource Files.
- Open Visual Studio 2010 -> File -> New -> Project
- Select [Template] Visual C# -> SharePoint -> 2010 [Framework] .Net Framework 3.5 [Project] -> Empty SharePoint 2010 Project. Name of the Project : vsProject
- In the SharePoint Customization Wizard, enter the URL of the local site (http://vsnet/) and select Deploy as a farm solution.
- Create Resource Files
- Resource files should be present in SharePoint Root "Resources" folder. In Solution Explorer select project "vsProject", right click and select Add -> SharePoint Mapped Folder.
- In the Window select "Resources" Folder.
- Now an empty "Resources" folder is created inside SharePoint project. Any files placed inside this folder will be copied to SharePoint Root (14)\Resources Folder while deploying.
- Right click on Resources folder and select Add -> New Folder -> vsProject [Folder Name]. Always create folder and place files. This will avoid the files getting deleted when any SharePoint service pack installed.
- Right click on Newly created folder [vsProject] and select New -> New Item.
- In the New Item window select [Template] Visual C# -> General -> Resources File -> Name the files as "vsProject.resx". This is for default language which in English (LCID : 1033).
- Select vsProject.resx file, right click and Open.
- Add Name and Value pairs as required.
- Repeat Step "f." and provide name "vsProject.de-DE.resx". This file is for Dutch language. Refer the end of the article to get full list.
- Open "vsProject.de-DE.resx" and enter the same Name as in vsProject.resx and provide value in German Language. Here "Comment" Field is optional.
- Create Webpart
The Resource file is ready to use and now need to create Web part that get value from those resource files.- Right Click on the Project "vsProject" and "Add -> New Item"
- Select "Visual C# -> SharePoint -> 2010 -> Web Part". Name : "LocalizationDemo".
- Copy
paste the below code inside LocalizationDemo class or just
refer it.
protected override void CreateChildControls() { int intLCID = System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture.LCID; Label lblWelcomeText = new Label(); lblWelcomeText.Text = "Value : " + getLocalizedValue("WelcomeText", intLCID); this.Controls.Add(lblWelcomeText); } public string getLocalizedValue(string strInput, int intLCID) { // Function to retreive specified Language Variation Value string strLocalizedValue = ""; strLocalizedValue = Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.GetLocalizedString("$Resources: " + strInput, "vsProject\\vsProject", (uint)intLCID); return strLocalizedValue; }
- Save all files, Build and Deploy. The solution will be deployed in SharePoint and ready to use.
- Open the SharePoint site any page and click "Edit" Icon on top (or Site Actions -> Edit page).
- Select "Editing Tools [Tab] -> Insert [Tab] -> Web Part -> Custom [Categories] -> LocalizationDemo -> Add [Button]".
- Once the webpart added to the page select "Save and close" Icon.
- Now it'll show the content in default language (English - 1033). Select "User Menu" at top right and select "Select Display Language -> Deutsch".
- The page will be refreshed the Web Part will show the German Content which specified in the resource file.
Reference List - Locale ID (LCID) and Language
HTTP |
LCID |
Language |
|
1033 |
Default |
af |
1078 |
Afrikaans |
sq |
1052 |
Albanian |
ar-sa |
1025 |
Arabic(Saudi Arabia) |
ar-iq |
2049 |
Arabic(Iraq) |
ar-eg |
3073 |
Arabic(Egypt) |
ar-ly |
4097 |
Arabic(Libya) |
ar-dz |
5121 |
Arabic(Algeria) |
ar-ma |
6145 |
Arabic(Morocco) |
ar-tn |
7169 |
Arabic(Tunisia) |
ar-om |
8193 |
Arabic(Oman) |
ar-ye |
9217 |
Arabic(Yemen) |
ar-sy |
10241 |
Arabic(Syria) |
ar-jo |
11265 |
Arabic(Jordan) |
ar-lb |
12289 |
Arabic(Lebanon) |
ar-kw |
13313 |
Arabic(Kuwait) |
ar-ae |
14337 |
Arabic(U.A.E.) |
ar-bh |
15361 |
Arabic(Bahrain) |
ar-qa |
16385 |
Arabic(Qatar) |
eu |
1069 |
Basque |
bg |
1026 |
Bulgarian |
be |
1059 |
Belarusian |
ca |
1027 |
Catalan |
zh-tw |
1028 |
Chinese(Taiwan) |
zh-cn |
2052 |
Chinese(PRC) |
zh-hk |
3076 |
Chinese(Hong Kong) |
zh-sg |
4100 |
Chinese(Singapore) |
hr |
1050 |
Croatian |
cs |
1029 |
Czech |
da |
1030 |
Danish |
n |
1043 |
Dutch(Standard) |
nl-be |
2067 |
Dutch(Belgian) |
en |
9 |
English |
en-us |
1033 |
English(United States) |
en-gb |
2057 |
English(British) |
en-au |
3081 |
English(Australian) |
en-ca |
4105 |
English(Canadian) |
en-nz |
5129 |
English(New Zealand) |
en-ie |
6153 |
English(Ireland) |
en-za |
7177 |
English(South Africa) |
en-jm |
8201 |
English(Jamaica) |
en |
9225 |
English(Caribbean) |
en-bz |
10249 |
English(Belize) |
en-tt |
11273 |
English(Trinidad) |
et |
1061 |
Estonian |
fo |
1080 |
Faeroese |
fa |
1065 |
Farsi |
fi |
1035 |
Finnish |
fr |
1036 |
French(Standard) |
fr-be |
2060 |
French(Belgian) |
fr-ca |
3084 |
French(Canadian) |
fr-ch |
4108 |
French(Swiss) |
fr-lu |
5132 |
French(Luxembourg) |
mk |
1071 |
FYRO Macedonian |
gd |
1084 |
Gaelic(Scots) |
gd-ie |
2108 |
Gaelic(Irish) |
de |
1031 |
German(Standard) |
de-ch |
2055 |
German(Swiss) |
de-at |
3079 |
German(Austrian) |
de-lu |
4103 |
German(Luxembourg) |
de-li |
5127 |
German(Liechtenstein) |
e |
1032 |
Greek |
he |
1037 |
Hebrew |
hi |
1081 |
Hindi |
hu |
1038 |
Hungarian |
is |
1039 |
Icelandic |
in |
1057 |
Indonesian |
it |
1040 |
Italian(Standard) |
it-ch |
2064 |
Italian(Swiss) |
ja |
1041 |
Japanese |
ko |
1042 |
Korean |
ko |
2066 |
Korean(Johab) |
lv |
1062 |
Latvian |
lt |
1063 |
Lithuanian |
ms |
1086 |
Malaysian |
mt |
1082 |
Maltese |
no |
1044 |
Norwegian(Bokmal) |
no |
2068 |
Norwegian(Nynorsk) |
p |
1045 |
Polish |
pt-br |
1046 |
Portuguese(Brazil) |
pt |
2070 |
Portuguese(Portugal) |
rm |
1047 |
Rhaeto-Romanic |
ro |
1048 |
Romanian |
ro-mo |
2072 |
Romanian(Moldavia) |
ru |
1049 |
Russian |
ru-mo |
2073 |
Russian(Moldavia) |
sz |
1083 |
Sami(Lappish) |
sr |
3098 |
Serbian(Cyrillic) |
sr |
2074 |
Serbian(Latin) |
sk |
1051 |
Slovak |
s |
1060 |
Slovenian |
sb |
1070 |
Sorbian |
es |
1034 |
Spanish(Spain - Traditional Sort) |
es-mx |
2058 |
Spanish(Mexican) |
es |
3082 |
Spanish(Spain - Modern Sort) |
es-gt |
4106 |
Spanish(Guatemala) |
es-cr |
5130 |
Spanish(Costa Rica) |
es-pa |
6154 |
Spanish(Panama) |
es-do |
7178 |
Spanish(Dominican Republic) |
es-ve |
8202 |
Spanish(Venezuela) |
es-co |
9226 |
Spanish(Colombia) |
es-pe |
10250 |
Spanish(Peru) |
es-ar |
11274 |
Spanish(Argentina) |
es-ec |
12298 |
Spanish(Ecuador) |
es-c |
13322 |
Spanish(Chile) |
es-uy |
14346 |
Spanish(Uruguay) |
es-py |
15370 |
Spanish(Paraguay) |
es-bo |
16394 |
Spanish(Bolivia) |
es-sv |
17418 |
Spanish(El Salvador) |
es-hn |
18442 |
Spanish(Honduras) |
es-ni |
19466 |
Spanish(Nicaragua) |
es-pr |
20490 |
Spanish(Puerto Rico) |
sx |
1072 |
Sutu |
sv |
1053 |
Swedish |
sv-fi |
2077 |
Swedish(Finland) |
th |
1054 |
Thai |
ts |
1073 |
Tsonga |
tn |
1074 |
Tswana |
tr |
1055 |
Turkish |
uk |
1058 |
Ukrainian |
ur |
1056 |
Urdu |
ve |
1075 |
Venda |
vi |
1066 |
Vietnamese |
xh |
1076 |
Xhosa |
ji |
1085 |
Yiddish |
zu |
1077 |
Zulu |