.NET Internationalization, Addison-Wesley
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C# Online.NET Book Review
Globalization leads to internationalization (i18n)—writing software which can run in native languages in foreign markets. Even in the U.S.A. with its enormous home market for software, foreign markets beckon. Internationalization is, also, called globalization and localization.
.NET has now achieved a rough parity with Java internationalization support. But, we—C# developers—still lag our Javanese brethren. Not only have we little experience with internationalization, it is still a demanding enterprise requiring a thorough understanding of localization. It remains a specialty—not easy, but doable.
.NET Internationalization: The Developer's Guide to Building Global Windows and Web Applications explains the latest .NET internationalization support and tools. .NET features like custom cultures and custom resource managers make it possible to create an application which displays different messages and behavior according to the application or browser settings for culture, locale, and language. The primary approach is to organize GUI strings into sets which can be indexed by message name. Then, the proper set can be selected based upon locale information such as language or dialect.
The book covers localization by both Windows Forms applications and ASP.NET Web applications. The book contains ample proofs of concept in C# source code.
The author has worked in localization for—virtually—his entire career. As he writes this book, he shares with the reader his accumulated wisdom in this still uncommon area of expertise. This includes best practices and work arounds when necessary.
All of the source code examples are written in the C# language. Visual Studio 2003-5 is often used for illustration.
Bottom line
.NET Internationalization is a great guide to creating .NET applications which are truly global.
From the back cover
As business becomes more and more global, software developers increasingly need to make applications multi-lingual and culturally aware. The .NET Framework may well have the most comprehensive support for internationalization and globalization of any development platform to date, and .NET Internationalization teaches developers how to unlock and utilize that support.
Experienced international application developer Guy Smith-Ferrier covers the internationalization of both Windows Forms and ASP.NET applications, using both Versions 1.1 and 2.0 of the .NET Framework. Smith-Ferrier not only teaches you the best ways to take advantage of the globalization and internationalization features built in to the .NET Framework and Visual Studio, he also provides original code to take globalized applications to the next level of international utility and maintainability.
Key topics include
- An introduction to the internationalization process and how localization and globalization are supported in Windows and the .NET Framework
- The use of resource managers, cultures, resource DLLs, and localized strings, images, and files—including strongly typed resources
- Detailed coverage of form localization in Windows Forms and Web Forms
- Dealing with regional cultures and their casing, collation, and calendars
- Managing right-to-left Middle-Eastern text and pictographic East Asian languages
- How to use the book’s original resource administration utilities
- How to translate resources with machine translation
- How to create custom cultures and integrate them with the .NET Framework 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005
- How resource managers work and how to write custom resource managers, including a resource manager that uses a database
- How to test your internationalization with FxCop using new and existing globalization rules
- How to effectively include the translator in the internationalization process
Whether you are a developer, architect, or manager, if you are involved in international applications with the .NET Framework, this is the one book you need to read and understand before you start development.
About the author(s)
Guy Smith-Ferrier is an author, developer, trainer, and speaker with more than 20 years of software engineering experience. He has internationalized applications in four development platforms, including the .NET Framework. A frequent conference speaker, Guy is the author of C# and .NET courseware and has written numerous articles. You can read his blog at www.guysmithferrier.com.
Table of Contents (abbreviated)
1 A Roadmap for the Internationalization Process
2 Unicode, Windows, and the .NET Framework
3 An Introduction to Internationalization
4 Windows Forms Specifics
5 ASP.NET Specifics
6 Globalization
7 Middle East and East Asian Cultures
8 Best Practices
9 Machine Translation
10 Resource Administration
11 Custom Cultures
12 Custom Resource Managers
13 Testing Internationalization Using FxCop
14 The Translator
A New Internationalization Features in the .NET Framework 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005
B Information Resources
Books in this series
Microsoft .NET Development Series (Addison-Wesley):
- .NET Developer's Guide to Directory Services Programming, Addison-Wesley
- .NET Developer's Guide to Windows Security, Addison-Wesley
- .NET Framework Standard Library Annotated Reference, v.1, Addison-Wesley
- .NET Framework Standard Library Annotated Reference, v.2, Addison-Wesley
- .NET Internationalization, Addison-Wesley
- .NET Web Services, Addison-Wesley
- ASP.NET 2.0 Illustrated, Addison-Wesley
- C# Programming Language, The, 2nd Ed., Addison-Wesley
- Common Language Infrastructure Annotated Standard, Addison-Wesley
- Data Binding with Windows Forms 2.0, Addison-Wesley
- Enterprise Services with the .NET Framework, Addison-Wesley
- eXtreme .NET, Addison-Wesley
- Framework Design Guidelines, Addison-Wesley
- Visual Studio Tools for Office, Addison-Wesley
- Windows Forms 2.0 Programming, Addison-Wesley
