Question - What is Globalization and Localization in ASP.NET?
Answer - Localization is the
process of adapting a software application for a specific locale. Globalization
is the process of identifying the localizable resources of the application. You
can provide support for Localization and Globalization to the application using
System.Globalization, System.Resources and System.Threading namespaces.
The developer can define culture specific information using the
System.Globalization namespace. The System.Resources namespace contains
ResourceManager class that allows access to resources either from the main
assembly or from the Satellite Assemblies. The System.Threading namespace
supports for multithreaded programming.
A web form has two culture values, Culture and UICulture. Culture value is
used for date and number formatting and UICulture values are used to determine
culture specific resources.
You can set culture and UICulture values in the application as follows.
Using <globalization>
element of
Web.Config.
Using @Page directive in the Page.
In Code-Behind Page e.g.
Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture
("en-GB");
Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture=new CultureInfo("en-GB");
Question - What are the Globalization approaches
possible in ASP.NET?
Answer - You can follow many
approaches to have globalized application.
You can create separate web application for each culture.
You can create an application that can detect the user’s culture and adjusts
output at run time using format specifiers and other tools.
You can store culture-dependent strings in resource files that are compiled
into satellite assemblies.
Question - Implementing ASP.NET Globalization.
Answer - Create resource files and
compile them into a binary resource file.
Create satellite assembly for each of the resource file for each culture.
Store them in separate folders for easy access and replacement.
Read the resources from the satellite assembly that is stored in different
folders based on the locale and culture.
Question - Define Resource Files and
Satellite Assemblies.
Answer - Resource Files: A
resource file contains non-executable data that are used by the application and
deployed along with it. Bitmaps, Icons etc are the examples of resource files.
In ASP.NET, resource files are used to make application to support multiple
cultures. You can create resource files each of them correspond to specific
locale or culture of the application. You can use resgen utility to compile
resource file into an assembly. You can create a satellite assembly from a
compiled resource file using the AL utility provided with Microsoft .NET SDK.
Advantages of resource files are as follows.
It supports Globalization features in ASP.NET.
You can have culture based information separate from the content and logic of
the application.
You can change resource content without effecting application's code.
Satellite Assemblies
Satellite Assemblies are the special kinds of assemblies that exist as DLL and
contain culture-specific resources in a binary format. They store compiled
localized application resources. They can be created using the AL utility and
can be deployed even after deployment of the application.
Satellite Assemblies encapsulate resources into binary format and thus make
resources lighter and consume lesser space on the disk.
Note: Resource-only assemblies can contain any resource, such as images and
text. Satellite assemblies contain only culture-specific resources.
Define Caching in ASP.NET | Advantages of Caching | What are
the types of Caching in ASP.NET? | Explain in brief each kind of caching in
ASP.NET.
What is Globalization and Localization in ASP.NET? | What are
the Globalization approaches possible in ASP.NET? | Implementing ASP.NET
Globalization | Define Resource Files and Satellite Assemblies
Define Session, SessionId and Session State in ASP.NET. |
What is Session Identifier? | Advantages and disadvantages of using Session
State Management. | What are the Session State Modes? | Define each Session
State mode supported by ASP.NET.
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