Question

I am attempting to write a multilingual application in Silverlight 4.0 and I at the point where I can start replacing my static text with dynamic text from a SampleData xaml file. Here is what I have:

My Database

<SampleData:something xmlns:SampleData="clr-namespace:Expression.Blend.SampleData.MyDatabase" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation">
  <SampleData:something.mysystemCollection>
    <SampleData:mysystem ID="1" English="Menu" German="Menü" French="Menu" Spanish="Menú" Swedish="Meny" Italian="Menu" Dutch="Menu" />
  </SampleData:something.mysystemCollection>
</SampleData:something>

My UserControl

<UserControl
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d"
    x:Class="Something.MyUC" d:DesignWidth="1000" d:DesignHeight="600">
    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource MyDatabase}}">
        <Grid Height="50" Margin="8,20,8,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" d:DataContext="{Binding mysystemCollection[1]}" x:Name="gTitle">
            <TextBlock x:Name="Title" Text="{Binding English}" TextWrapping="Wrap" Foreground="#FF00A33D" TextAlignment="Center" FontSize="22"/>
        </Grid>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

As you can see, I have 7 languages that I want to deal with. Right now this loads the English version of my text just fine. I have spent the better part of today trying to figure out how to change the binding in my code to swap this out when I needed (lets say when I change the language via drop down).

Was it helpful?

Solution

You are going about this the wrong way. Best practice for localization in Silverlight is to use resource files holding the translated keywords. Here is some more info about this:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc838238%28VS.95%29.aspx

EDIT:

Here is an example where I use a helper class to hold the translated strings. These translations could then be loaded from just about anywhere. Static resource files, xml, database or whatever. I made this in a hurry, so it is not very stable. And it only switches between english and swedish.

XAML:

<UserControl x:Class="SilverlightApplication13.MainPage"
             xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
             xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
             xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
             xmlns:local="clr-namespace:SilverlightApplication13"
             mc:Ignorable="d"
             d:DesignWidth="640"
             d:DesignHeight="480">

    <UserControl.Resources>
        <local:TranslationHelper x:Key="TranslationHelper"></local:TranslationHelper>
    </UserControl.Resources>

    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
        <StackPanel>

            <TextBlock Margin="10"
                       Text="{Binding Home, Source={StaticResource TranslationHelper}}"></TextBlock>

            <TextBlock Margin="10"
                       Text="{Binding Contact, Source={StaticResource TranslationHelper}}"></TextBlock>

            <TextBlock Margin="10"
                       Text="{Binding Links, Source={StaticResource TranslationHelper}}"></TextBlock>

            <Button Content="English"
                    HorizontalAlignment="Left"
                    Click="BtnEnglish_Click"
                    Margin="10"></Button>

            <Button Content="Swedish"
                    HorizontalAlignment="Left"
                    Click="BtnSwedish_Click"
                    Margin="10"></Button>
        </StackPanel>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

Code-behind + TranslationHelper class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Animation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.Windows.Threading;
using System.ComponentModel;

namespace SilverlightApplication13
{
    public partial class MainPage : UserControl
    {
        public MainPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            //Default
            (this.Resources["TranslationHelper"] as TranslationHelper).SetLanguage("en-US");
        }

        private void BtnEnglish_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            (this.Resources["TranslationHelper"] as TranslationHelper).SetLanguage("en-US");
        }

        private void BtnSwedish_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            (this.Resources["TranslationHelper"] as TranslationHelper).SetLanguage("sv-SE");
        }
    }

    public class TranslationHelper : INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        private string _Contact;

        /// <summary>
        /// Contact Property
        /// </summary>
        public string Contact
        {
            get { return _Contact; }
            set
            {
                _Contact = value;
                OnPropertyChanged("Contact");
            }
        }

        private string _Links;

        /// <summary>
        /// Links Property
        /// </summary>
        public string Links
        {
            get { return _Links; }
            set
            {
                _Links = value;
                OnPropertyChanged("Links");
            }
        }

        private string _Home;

        /// <summary>
        /// Home Property
        /// </summary>
        public string Home
        {
            get { return _Home; }
            set
            {
                _Home = value;
                OnPropertyChanged("Home");
            }
        }



        public TranslationHelper()
        {
            //Default
            SetLanguage("en-US");
        }

        public void SetLanguage(string cultureName)
        {
            //Hard coded values, need to be loaded from db or elsewhere

            switch (cultureName)
            {
                case "sv-SE":
                    Contact = "Kontakt";
                    Links = "Länkar";
                    Home = "Hem";
                    break;

                case "en-US":
                    Contact = "Contact";
                    Links = "Links";
                    Home = "Home";
                    break;

                default:
                    break;
            }
        }

        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

        protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
        {
            if (PropertyChanged != null)
            {
                PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
            }
        }
    }
}

OTHER TIPS

It sounds like you're looking for code like this:

Title.SetBinding(TextProperty, new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath(language) });

All it does is create a new Binding for the language you requested and use it to replace the old binding for the Title's Text property.

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