Localization

You can provide your extension in multiple cultures (languages). Instead of hardcoding strings, you can write message files for each supported culture and later consume them in your code.

Message Files

Message files are written in a subdirectory Messages within your project directory. The messages for the event source culture should be written in the und.json file. For each additional supported culture, add a .json file named with the corresponding BCP 47 language tag.

Tip

It is recommended to minimize (remove likely subtags) the language tag used as the file name. Enter the language tag below to compute a possible minimized tag.

The content of a message file is structured as follows.

{
	"Culture": "en-US",
	"Strings": {
		"MyString1": "This is an example message.",
		"MyString2": "...",
		"MyString3": "..."
	},
	"StringSets": {
		"MyStringSet1": {
			"Strings": {
				"MyStringInStringSet": "This is an example message in an example string set."
			}
		}
	}
}

The Culture field specifies the actual culture of this message file (especially useful for identifying the culture of und.json).

Consume Messages in Code

To consume the messages in your code, use the LocalizedResource class.

using var lres = new LocalizedResource("", ref culture); // Pass the favored culture by reference. When the constructor returns, it will be set to the actual culture of the messages.
var res = lres.RootMessageStringSet;
string myString1 = res.GetStringRequired("MyString1");
string myStringInStringSet = res.GetStringSetRequired("MyStringSet1").GetStringRequired("MyStringInStringSet");

If the favored culture is not known or should not be considered when consuming a message, use the LocalizableResource class instead.

using var lres = new LocalizableResource("");
var res = lres.RootMessageStringSet;

Localize Components and Properties

You can link messages in the localized resources to assemblies, components (classes), and properties to provide a localized name and description for them. To do that, apply LocalizableDisplayNameAttribute and LocalizableDescriptionAttribute.

To apply the attributes to an assembly, create a file named AssemblyInfo.cs and put the following code.

using Cryville.EEW.ComponentModel;

// Apply localized display name and description to the assembly (extension)
[assembly:LocalizableDisplayName("$ExtensionName")]
[assembly:LocalizableDescription("$ExtensionDesc")]