Multilingual Website in Asp.Net

Introduction:-This Article talks about creating Multilingual Website in Asp.net

Step 1:- Create a New ASP.NET Empty Web Application.

Step 2:- Add a new Webform and add below sample code for user interface inside form tag.

<asp:ToolkitScriptManager ID="ToolkitScriptManager1" runat="server"></asp:ToolkitScriptManager>

    <asp:UpdatePanel ID="UpdatePanel1" runat="server">

        <ContentTemplate>

           

        <div>

            <center>

                 <table>

            <tr>

                <td colspan="2">

                    <h2>Multilingual Demo</h2>

                </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                <td colspan="2" align="right">

                    <asp:DropDownList ID="ddlLang" runat="server" AutoPostBack="True" OnSelectedIndexChanged="ddlLang_SelectedIndexChanged">

                        <asp:ListItem Text="English" Value="en-US"></asp:ListItem>

                        <asp:ListItem Text="français" Value="fr-FR"></asp:ListItem>

                        <asp:ListItem Text="español" Value="es-ES"></asp:ListItem>

                    </asp:DropDownList>

                </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                <td>

                    <asp:Label ID="lblName" runat="server" Text="Name" meta:resourcekey="lblNameResource1"></asp:Label>

                </td>

                <td>

                    <asp:TextBox ID="txtName" runat="server" meta:resourcekey="txtNameResource1"></asp:TextBox>

                </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                <td>

                    <asp:Label ID="lblEmail" runat="server" Text="Email" meta:resourcekey="lblEmailResource1"></asp:Label>

                </td>

                <td>

                    <asp:TextBox ID="txtEmail" runat="server" meta:resourcekey="txtEmailResource1"></asp:TextBox>

                </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                <td>

                    <asp:Label ID="lblPhone" runat="server" Text="Phone" meta:resourcekey="lblPhoneResource1"></asp:Label>

                </td>

                <td>

                    <asp:TextBox ID="txtPhone" runat="server" meta:resourcekey="txtPhoneResource1"></asp:TextBox>

                </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                <td>

                    <br />

                </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                <td>

                   

                </td>

                <td>

                    <asp:Button ID="btnSubmit" runat="server" Text="Submit" />

                    <asp:Button ID="btnReset" runat="server" Text="Reset" />

                </td>

            </tr>

        </table>

            </center>

        </div>

        </ContentTemplate>

    </asp:UpdatePanel>

Step 3:- Now Add ASP.NET folder App_GlobalResources in order to save language resource file (.resx).

Right click  on project name in solution exploreràAddàAdd ASP.NET FolderàApp_GlobalResources

Step 4:- Add Resource file for different language inside App_GlobalResources folder.

Right Click App_GlobalResourcesàAddàNew ItemàResources File (.resx)

Note:-While naming file makes sure you follow below name.

List of different culture specification along with their name is available here

Step 5:- Now change Resource file Build Action to Embedded Resource.

Right Click Resource fileàpropertyàBuild Action=Embedded Resources.

Step 6:- Write below code in the code-behind file of the created Webform.

Firstly import few required namespaces

using System;

using System.Resources;

using System.Globalization;

using System.Threading;

using System.Reflection;

ResourceManager resourceManager; //use to access cultural specific resources at runtime.

        CultureInfo cultureInfo; //provide information related to specific culture.

        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

        {

            if(Session["Lang"]==null)

            {

                Session["Lang"] = Request.UserLanguages[0];//represent array of client language preferences.

            }

            if(!IsPostBack)

            {

                loadCulture();

            }

        }

        private void loadCulture()

        {

            Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo(Session["Lang"].ToString()); //fetch language preference.

            resourceManager = new ResourceManager("MultilingualDemo.App_GlobalResources.Lang", Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());

            cultureInfo = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture; //fetch language details.

          

            lblName.Text = resourceManager.GetString("Name", cultureInfo);

            lblEmail.Text = resourceManager.GetString("Email", cultureInfo);

            lblPhone.Text = resourceManager.GetString("Phone", cultureInfo);

            btnSubmit.Text = resourceManager.GetString("Submit", cultureInfo);

            btnReset.Text = resourceManager.GetString("Reset", cultureInfo);

        }

        protected void ddlLang_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)

        {

            Session["Lang"] = ddlLang.SelectedValue;

            loadCulture();

        }

Step 7:- Preview of the Work

Link to Github code

Hope you enjoyed it!!