Chapter 15
Localization
What's in this chapter?
Understanding culture types
Getting culture settings from a thread
Declaring culture in ASP.NET
Understanding differences in dates
Understanding differences in currency and numbers
Understanding differences in sorting
Using culture specific resource files
The wrox.com code downloads for this chapter are found at www.wrox.com/remtitle.cgi?isbn=9781118314456 on the Download Code tab. The code is in the chapter 15 download and individually named according to the code filenames noted throughout the chapter.
As the audience for an application expands, businesses often realize they need to globalize the application. Of course, the ideal solution is to build the application to handle an international audience right from the start, but in most cases this may not be feasible because building for localized versions requires extra work and cost.
The core of any localization effort is the translation of resources and user interface changes. Such changes are application specific and, therefore, not really open to generic implementation across the multitude of potential cultures for which you might choose to target an application. However, some common elements of localization, such as date support or numeric and currency formats, can be implemented by .NET Framework classes.
The .NET Framework has made a considerable effort to support the internationalization of .NET applications. API support, server controls, and even Visual Studio itself equip you to do the extra work required to bring your application to an international audience. This chapter looks at some of the important items to consider when building your applications for the world.