create a multilingual site using umbraco

Naru 3 posts 23 karma points

Mar 13, 2011 @ 23:07

Create a multilingual site using Umbraco

Hello,

I've been looking into building a simple multilingual website using Umbraco. The main point is that I would not want to have different folders and pages for different languages. I am looking for the equivalent of what we can have in a basic .NET web application: unique web pages pages and several resource files (*.resx), where the pages contain keys, whose values can be determined at runtime dependening on the language the user chooses to view the application in.

I have already followed the video tutorial:
http://umbraco.com/help-and-support/video-tutorials/introduction-to-umbraco/developer-introduction/using-net-user-controls

So I know the resource files can be used... I just need a language selector, say a drop down list... I actually tried to make such a user control and add it side by side to my HelloWorld user control, but didn't work, as we cannot change the application's culture using a user control:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3209105/asp-net-changing-a-sites-culture-programmatically
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4876520/programmatically-set-culture-of-user-controls-in-asp-net

So I could put the language selector in the master page? What is the recommended approach? I've been searching about this topic, and found lots of references to the broken link:
http://our.umbraco.org/books/multilingual-11-sites ... It would be nice to read a bit about this topic before proceeding... If any one can provide me with any advice or references, I'd appreaciate it a lot.

Thanks in advance.

Copy Link

Sherry Ann Hernandez 320 posts 344 karma points

Mar 14, 2011 @ 06:35

I use a global.asax to change the culture

 protected override void Application_BeginRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            base.Application_BeginRequest(sender, e);

            HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie("lang");

            if (Request.QueryString["lang"] != null)
            {
                String lang = Request.QueryString["lang"];

                cookie.Value = Request.QueryString["lang"];
                
                Response.Cookies.Add(cookie);
        
                Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new CultureInfo(lang);
                Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo(lang);
            }
            else if (Request.Cookies["lang"] != null )
            {
                cookie = Request.Cookies["lang"];
                Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new CultureInfo(cookie.Value);
                Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo(cookie.Value);
            }

            else
            {
                Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new CultureInfo("en-US");
                Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo("en-US");
            }

And then delete the one used by umbraco.

Copy Link

Naru 3 posts 23 karma points

Mar 26, 2011 @ 23:34

Thank you Sherry for your suggestion and for sharing your code.

I ended up with a somewhat different appoach, an http module, but still used the cookies! I wasn't being able to get a compiled App_global.asax.dll (just the Global.asax) to replace the original one, so I ended up looking into Http Handlers and Http Modules, and created an Http Module with the cookie code in the Application_BeginRequestion function:

private void Application_BeginRequest(Object source, EventArgs e)
{            
           HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie("lang");
            if (Request.Cookies["lang"] != null)
            {
                cookie = Request.Cookies["lang"];
                Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new CultureInfo(cookie.Value);
                Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo(cookie.Value);
            }
}

Any advantages or disadvantages to one or other approach? So far it's working. Thanks!

Copy Link

is working on a reply...

This forum is in read-only mode while we transition to the new forum.

You can continue this topic on the new forum by tapping the "Continue discussion" link below.

Flag this post as spam?

Create a multilingual site using Umbraco