Localize the UI

9 min

The default localization service uses a provider system to retrieve translated resource files from a predefined location in the project folders.

The default localization service configures the provider to look for XML string resource files in a folder under the content root named lang. You can add your own localizations or override system strings by adding files to this location. Translations added to an XML file in the lang directory override system-defined resources.

The default localizes the user interface according to the editor's Language Settings > Personal Language. However, you can create a localization provider and add more conditions if you want something more sophisticated. To do this, you have to inherit from LocalizationProvider and register it as described in Configure a custom localization providerConfigure a custom localization provider.

Setup

To get localization to work, specify a physical localization provider or a virtual one in the web.config file under <episerver.framework>:

<episerver.framework>
  ...
  <localization fallbackBehavior="Echo" fallbackCulture="en">
    <providers>
      <add virtualPath="~/Resources/LanguageFiles" 
           name="languageFiles" 
           type="EPiServer.Framework.Localization.XmlResources.FileXmlLocalizationProvider, EPiServer.Framework.Aspnet" />
    </providers>
  </localization>
</episerver.framework>

When you add the provider, you can add one or more language files in XML format to that location (or as embedded resources if EmbeddedXmlLocalizationProvider is used), such as ContentTypeNames.xml.

You can give the language file any name and have each language in a separate file (or in one file). However, you need a certain structure in the language file, as follows.

One language:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<languages>
  <language name="English" id="en">
  </language>
</languages>

Two languages:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<languages>
  <language name="English" id="en">
    ...
  </language>
  <language name="Swedish" id="sv">
    ...
  </language>
</languages>

Add localized text

You can localize the text shown in the user interface for your content types by adding localized texts in a convention-based format. The following code example shows how to add localized texts for the StandardPage content type, such as the attribute name and description or properties for the standard page like MainContentArea.

[ContentType(Description = "This text can you have in XML instead")]

public class StandardPage: PageData {
  [Display(
    GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content,
    Name = "This text can you have in XML instead",
    Description = "This text can you have in XML instead"
  )]
  public virtual ContentArea MainContentArea {
    get;
    set;
  }
}

If you have a StandardPage content type with the attributes and properties as in the example above, the structure in the language file would be as follows:

<language name="en">
  <contenttypes>
    <standardpage>
      <description>A description of the page type</description>
      <properties>
        <maincontentarea>
          <caption>Name text from XML</caption>
          <help>Description text from XML</help>
        </maincontentarea >
      </properties>
    </standardpage>
  </contenttypes>
</language>

Reuse localization for properties between content types

You can add common translations to an inherited type, for instance PageData or IContentData.

public class StandardPage: PageData {
  public virtual string Name {
    get;
    set;
  }
}

<language id="en" name="English">
  <contenttypes>
    <pagedata>
      <properties>
        <name>
          <caption>Name text from language file</caption>
        </name>
      </properties>
    </pagedata>
  </contenttypes>
</language>

<language id="en" name="English">
  <contenttypes>
    <icontentdata>
      <properties>
        <disableindexing>
          <caption>Disable indexing</caption>
          <help>Prevents the page from being indexed by search engines</help>
        </disableindexing>
      </properties>
    </icontentdata>
  </contenttypes>
</language>

📘 Note If you have your own base classes that are not registered as content types, and you want to add translations to these classes, you must create a UIDescriptor for the base class.

Localize headers

You can localize headers, such as tabs used to group properties, in the top-level section groups.

public class StandardPage: PageData {
  [Display(GroupName = SystemTabNames.Content, )]
  public virtual ContentArea MainContentArea {
    get;
    set;
  }
}

public static class SystemTabNames {
  public
  const string Content = "Information";
}

Group name on the property MainContentArea is referred to SystemTabNames.Content and, as shown in the previous example, SystemTabNames.Content is referring to Information.

The correct way here is to add <groups> and then the property name.

<language name="en">
  <groups>
    <information>Group name from XML file</information>
  </groups>
</language>