Today I want to share how I localized my Windows Store application, very easy! Localization can also be implemented using “Resources File (.resw)” files. I will try it soon but first I wanted to implement a solution using my already existing resx files.

To test the developing process for Windows Store and Windows Phone I am using this project structure:

All localization terms are already in a portable class library, so that they are share between the Windows Phone and Windows 8 applications.

The terms are contained in “resx” files:

• AppResources.resx (default app language, English)
• AppResources.es-ES.resx  (Spanish)
• AppResources.fra.FR.resx (French)

These files contains a list of string properties that we can create be created easily using the editor:

Once the project is compiled a class “AppResources” with a property of type string with each entrance of the table is created. The value of the string is resolved using the resx corresponding to the current language of the UI Thread.

There are several ways to use this resources files in XAML, I wanted to use them with the support of IntelliSense, with my solution it is possible to define a common Localization Provider on my App.xaml that uses the resources files contained by the portable class library:

App.xaml, LocalizationProvider definition:

<Application x:Class="ChessClock.WindowsStore.App" 
             xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
             xmlns:utils="using:ChessClock.Core.Utils">
 
    <Application.Resources>
        <ResourceDictionary>
            <!--Localization Provider-->
            <utils:Localization x:Key="LocalizationProvider"/>
        </ResourceDictionary>
    </Application.Resources>
</Application>

The Localization Provider is a class that should be non static, so that it is possible to create a common instance in App.xaml. this class contains only one static property that returns a new instance of the AppResources class generated by the Resources files contained in the common project:

namespace ChessClock.Core.Utils
{
    // Must not be static to use it in XAML
    public static class Localization
    {
        private static readonly AppResources resources = new AppResources();
 
        /// <summary>
        /// Gets the application resources.
        /// </summary>
        public static AppResources Resources
        {
            get { return resources; }
        }
    }
}

Example of Localized TextBox using the defined LocalizationProvider:

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Resources.NewGameMainPage, Source={StaticResource LocalizationProvider}}"/>

The last step to upload an application to the store supporting more than one language, this means not only an application that can run with different languages but also appears with a different description and screenshots on the store depending of the language, is to add this in the appxmanifest:

  <Resources>
    <Resource Language="x-generate" />
    <Resource Language="es-ES" />
  </Resources>

Now the application is almost ready to be uploaded to the Windows Store!

–

My next step will be to create again the same application using  Windows Universal Application.

References:

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/xaml/hh965328.aspx