.networks: November 2008

The following web.config entry was giving me an error stating it could not find the dll:

The reason for it missing is because System.Web.Extensions.Design is now in the GAC with .NET 3.5 and it can not find version 1.0.61025.0.

To fix this I placed the following config entry which routes any old dll to the new dll:

dependentAssembly>

assemblyBinding>

runtime>

Make sure it is below the ConfigSections.

I am going so you a simple example of using HTTPModules to globalize a website. There are many reasons to use HTTPModules in this case - read more here.

First lets automatically detect the browser's prefered language in the web.config:

<system.web>

Next lets create an XML file of cultures our website supports:

xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

Cultures>

Lets call the XML file SupportedCultures.xml.

Next we will create the resx files that contain the language strings. Create the App_GlobalResources folder if it doesn't already exist within Visual Studio. Add the following resex files:

This is the contents of LocalizedText.resx:

This is the contents of LocalizedText.it-IT.resx:

Now lets move on and work on the web form:

<body>

<div>

Browser culture: <asp:Literal ID="CurrentCulture" runat="server" Text="Current culture:{0} Current UI culture:{1}">asp:Literal>

div>

<div>

Force culture:

<asp:DropDownList ID="CultureList" runat="server"

DataSourceID="SupportedCulturesDataSource" DataTextField="NativeName"

DataValueField="Name" AutoPostBack="True"

ondatabound="CultureList_DataBound"

onselectedindexchanged="CultureList_SelectedIndexChanged">

asp:DropDownList>

div>

<h1>

<asp:Literal ID="Header" runat="server" Text="<%$ Resources:LocalizedText, Heading %>">asp:Literal>h1>

<asp:Literal ID="MainBody" runat="server" Text="<%$ Resources:LocalizedText, Body %>">asp:Literal>

<div>

<asp:Literal ID="HomePageText" runat="server" Text="<%$ Resources:LocalizedText, HomeText %>">asp:Literal>

div>

<asp:Literal ID="Footer" runat="server" Text="<%$ Resources:LocalizedText, Footer %>">asp:Literal>

div>

<asp:XmlDataSource ID="SupportedCulturesDataSource" runat="server"

DataFile="~/Resources/SupportedCultures.xml">asp:XmlDataSource>

form>

body>

html>

On this web form we have created a literal to display the browers current culture settings (CurrentCulture). We have a drop down list (CultureList) that is databound to the XML file we created eariler which displays a list of supported cultures. You can see we using explicit localization i.e. <%$ Resources:LocalizedText, Body %>.

Now lets wire up the events:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

CurrentCulture.Text = string.Format(CurrentCulture.Text, Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.Name,

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture.Name);

}

protected void CultureList_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

Response.Redirect(Request.Url.AbsolutePath + "?culture=" + CultureList.SelectedValue);

}

protected void CultureList_DataBound(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

CultureList.SelectedValue = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.Name;

}

The HTTPModule code to handle every request is below:

using System;

using System.Data;

using System.Configuration;

using System.Globalization;

using System.Linq;

using System.Threading;

using System.Web;

using System.Web.Security;

using System.Web.UI;

using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;

using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace Sandbox.CondeNet.Platform20.HTTPModules

{

public class GlobalizationModule : IHttpModule

{

#region Implement IHttpModule

public void Init(System.Web.HttpApplication context)

{

context.BeginRequest += new EventHandler(Context_BeginRequest);

}

public void Dispose()

{

}

#endregion

private void Context_BeginRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

HttpRequest request = ((HttpApplication)sender).Request;

HttpContext context = ((HttpApplication)sender).Context;

string culture = request.QueryString.Get("culture");

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(culture) == false)

{

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture(culture);

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture;

}

context.RewritePath(request.Url.AbsolutePath);

}

Now link this in the web.config of your web site:

httpModules>

.networks

Wednesday 26 November 2008

The difference between Web Site and Web Application Projects in VS

Monday 24 November 2008

Point old dll versions to newer versions in web.config

Tuesday 18 November 2008

Using HTTPModules to globalize a website