How to add Windows Phone project with resx localization to Xamarin PCL solution?

Question

I have a working PCL project for iOS and I'm trying to create the Windows Phone 8.1 version.

I'm following this tutorial: https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/xamarin-forms/advanced/localization/

And checking the app at: https://github.com/xamarin/xamarin-forms-samples/tree/master/UsingResxLocalization

But it is too deprecated. Even the git project is different from the tutorial, and none of them works.

The ILocalize interface for Windows should look like:

[assembly: Dependency(typeof(UsingResxLocalization.WinPhone.Localize))]

namespace UsingResxLocalization.WinPhone
{
    public class Localize : UsingResxLocalization.ILocalize
    {
        public System.Globalization.CultureInfo GetCurrentCultureInfo ()
        {
            return System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture;
        }
    }
}

But System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture simply doesn't exist. I found out that I can use Windows.System.UserProfile.GlobalizationPreferences.Languages[0].ToString() instead.

It works for the localized language resources but the default Resource is not working either for the default language "en" or any other non localized language like "ru". I get another error:

In the TranslateExtention class ProvideValue() method I get:

Key 'Start' was not found in resources 'AppNameSpace.AppResources' for culture 'en'

Being "Start" the first key it tries to get from the resource. It happens for all the other keys on the project.

AppNameSpace.AppResources would be the right file, and "en" is the region I set, so it should work. But it's not.

I'm also getting the following warning when compiling:

The assembly "MyApp.dll" does not have a NeutralResourcesLanguageAttribute on it. To be used in an app package, portable libraries must define a NeutralResourcesLanguageAttribute on their main assembly (ie, the one containing code, not a satellite assembly). 4>C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0\AppxPackage\Microsoft.AppXPackage.Targets(1216,5): warning APPX2002: Cannot find the neutral resource language for the resources for portable library 'MyApp'. Verify that the portable library defines a NeutralResourcesLanguageAttribute. The build is continuing assuming the project's default culture of 'en-US' correctly identifies the portable library's neutral resources. 4>MakePRI : warning 0xdef00522: Resources found for language(s) 'de, es, fr, pt' but no resources found for default language(s): 'en-US'. Change the default language or qualify resources with the default language. http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=231899

But I have no idea how to fix it.

On the tutorial it also says:

Windows Phone projects must be properly configured for localized text to be displayed. Supported languages must be selected in the Project Options and the WMAppManifest.xml files. If these settings are not updated the localized RESX resources will not be loaded.

Fine, but those options doesn't exist anymore. At least where they should be. I even found a Package.appxmanifest file in my project, but it doesn't have those regional options.

So, I need help with an updated way to do it.

Thanks

Dpedrinha Dpedrinha · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-10T04:47:08

So I found out that when you add a Windows Phone project to a solution with no Windows Phone projects, it doesn't add everything it needs.

Also the tutorials don't show everything that is necessary (no big news there).

All my project was missing was [assembly: NeutralResourcesLanguage("en-US")] in my PCL AssemblyInfo.cs file.

The RESX tutorial also says that you should use:

     if (Device.OS == TargetPlatform.iOS || Device.OS == TargetPlatform.Android)
     {
          ci = DependencyService.Get<ILocalize>().GetCurrentCultureInfo();
     }

In the TranslateExtention.cs file because Windows Phones don't need it. Well, that's false. At least for the emulator to get the right language, it needs to use the DependencyService and get the CultureInfo this way:

   System.Globalization.CultureInfo ci = null;
   ci = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo(Windows.System.UserProfile.GlobalizationPreferences.Languages[0].ToString());
   return ci;

How to add Windows Phone project with resx localization to Xamarin PCL solution?

1 Answers