How to use neutral language in Windows Phone

Question

I am facing the following issue:

• I have translated my application into different languages using resx files. I want to use the same resx files in other apps as well.
• For different apps, I should be able to change the default language (some apps will only be available in Spanish, others only in English, and others multilingual)

I figured I could just name the resources LanguageStrings.es.resx and LanguageStrings.en.resx, and use NeutralResourcesLanguageAttribute to set the default language of the app.

However, when there is no LanguageStrings.resx (invariant file) in the app, the application seems to break (MissingManifestResourceException). I thought the Resource Manager should use the setting in NeutralResourcesLanguageAttribute to find the correct resource (for example; fall back to Spanish) instead of looking for a neutral file.

Is my assumption correct and am I running into a platform bug? I have noticed that ResourceManager.GetNeutralResourcesLanguage doesn't returned the language defined using NeutralResourcesLanguageAttribute, but invariant culture instead

Answer 1

Without a invariant resource file (LanguageStrings.resx), the compiler won't pick it up. You should let the English resource file (Currently LanguageStrings.en.resx) be the invariant file, ie. without .en in the filename, and then set

[assembly: NeutralResourcesLanguage("en")]

All .NET applications work this way. It's not a unique "issue" to Windows Phone.

Answer 2

I believe if you specify your language as supported in the element in your csproj - you need to have the resx that you are trying to use in the supported culture. If you use the language that is supposedly supported and the resx is not there - you will get a MissingManifestResourceException. Neutral language will be picked up if the current language is not supported.