I have two different strings.xml for multi-language app. Where can I set that I want to use English strings.xml file independent of phone locale language always but use Chinese language only in case when on splash screen we have chosen it?
To support language setting in your application you need to change current configuration and restart activity to reload all resources. You can change current configuration like this:
void changeLanguage(Context context, String language) {
final Locale locale = new Locale(language);
Locale.setDefault(locale);
final Resources res = context.getResources();
final Configuration config = new Configuration(res.getConfiguration());
config.setLocale(locale);
res.updateConfiguration(config, res.getDisplayMetrics());
}
And then don't forget to recreate your activity activity.recreate(); or reload your resources manually.
Also you need to set your locale on every process start. You can do it in application onCreate:
public void YourApplication extends Application {
#Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
changeLanguage(this, getLanguageSettingsFromPreferences());
}
}
Related
Following is the Application code of my Android app:
public class MyApplication extends Application
{
private Locale locale = null;
#Override
public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig)
{
super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
if (locale != null)
{
newConfig.locale = locale;
Locale.setDefault(locale);
getBaseContext().getResources().updateConfiguration(newConfig, getBaseContext().getResources().getDisplayMetrics());
}
}
#Override
public void onCreate()
{
super.onCreate();
SharedPreferences settings = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(this);
Configuration config = getBaseContext().getResources().getConfiguration();
String lang = settings.getString(getString(R.string.pref_language), "");
if (! "".equals(lang) && ! config.locale.getLanguage().equals(lang))
{
locale = new Locale(lang);
Log.i("Locale" , lang);
Locale.setDefault(locale);
config.locale = locale;
getBaseContext().getResources().updateConfiguration(config, getBaseContext().getResources().getDisplayMetrics());
}
}
}
I have got to change the value of settings.getString(getString(R.string.pref_language), ""); from the Settings Activity of my app.
The problem is none of the strings (which have a translation) and are accessed using getString() method, are showing the translated text.
EDIT1 : I am using Android 8.0
In android 8, the behavior of the Locales changed, now every Activity context will take its locale, i.e if you in Activity1 and changed the locale for Activity1, then Activity2 will remain on the default locale.
The solution is to change the locale for every Activity and your issue will be fixed.
When you are using getString(R.string.pref_language) the call will return the string from the language matching Locale.getDefault() as long as a translation is provided.
If a translation is not provided it will return the default language, that is the language your using in the values/strings.xml file.
All translated values are in values-xx folders, where xx is the 2 letter ISO code for the language.
I know how to use locale and strings.xml for global locale, in addition I created 3 buttons on rhe main activity with 3 different languages on them, how can I switch the whole strings in all screens in one click, how can I do that?
Step1:
Use a preference to store the locale language and country, if you want this language switching is persistent.
Step2:
Try a function like this
public void switchLocale(Locale locale) {
Configuration config = getBaseContext().getResources().getConfiguration();
if (locale != null && !config.locale.equals(locale)) {
Locale.setDefault(locale);
Configuration conf = new Configuration(config);
conf.locale = locale;
getBaseContext().getResources().updateConfiguration(conf,
getBaseContext().getResources().getDisplayMetrics());
}
}
Step3:
Restart your current activity.
Hope this helps.
after studying about supporting multiple languages in android application, i have good the basic idea about how i can make resources for different languages within application, for example i want to add Spanish language in my application so in res direction within my application i have added values-en directory and in that direct i have added strings resource and within that resource i have added strings with values of Spanish text, in my application default language is English now i want to know how can i switch it to Spanish, i have the resources ready i just need to change my application language to Spanish
Use below code in your onCreate() after setContentView:
String languageToLoad = "es";
Locale locale = new Locale(languageToLoad);
Configuration config = new Configuration();
config.locale = locale;
getBaseContext().getResources().updateConfiguration(config, getBaseContext().getResources().getDisplayMetrics());
You also have to change your value folder to values-es. values-en is for English. Hope this helps.
To change App locale follow below code:
1) Create LocaleUtils class:
public class LocaleUtils {
private static Locale sLocale;
public static void setLocale(Locale locale) {
sLocale = locale;
if(sLocale != null) {
Locale.setDefault(sLocale);
}
}
public static void updateConfig(ContextThemeWrapper wrapper) {
if(sLocale != null && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1) {
Configuration configuration = new Configuration();
configuration.setLocale(sLocale);
wrapper.applyOverrideConfiguration(configuration);
}
}
public static void updateConfig(Application app, Configuration configuration) {
if (sLocale != null && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1) {
//Wrapping the configuration to avoid Activity endless loop
Configuration config = new Configuration(configuration);
// We must use the now-deprecated config.locale and res.updateConfiguration here,
// because the replacements aren't available till API level 24 and 17 respectively.
config.locale = sLocale;
Resources res = app.getBaseContext().getResources();
res.updateConfiguration(config, res.getDisplayMetrics());
}
}
}
2) In Application Class:
public class YourAppName extends Application {
public void onCreate(){
super.onCreate();
LocaleUtils.setLocale(new Locale("es"));
LocaleUtils.updateConfig(this, getBaseContext().getResources().getConfiguration());
}
#Override
public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) {
super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
LocaleUtils.updateConfig(this, newConfig);
}
}
3) Remember, Your Application class name and <application android:name=".YourAppName"> should be same. Otherwise it won't work. Kudos to this answer.
I would like the application language to be set according to the user preferences but up till now it doesn't work how I would like it to.
I have set the default values: strings.xml and also values-es with a strings.xml inside in spanish. I have a menu option which brings the user to a Preference activity where he can amon gother things chose the language.
So here are some extracts of the code:
public class Preference extends PreferenceActivity implements
OnSharedPreferenceChangeListener {
......
// Set up a listener whenever a key changes
getPreferenceScreen().getSharedPreferences()
.registerOnSharedPreferenceChangeListener(this);
...}
//(......)
//and here I have the listener so when the language pref changes value the locale gets changed.
#Override
public void onSharedPreferenceChanged(SharedPreferences sharedPreferences,
String key) {
if (key.equals("listPref2")) {
String idioma = sharedPreferences.getString("listPref2", "catala");
if ("castella".equals(idioma)) {
idioma = "es_ES";
Locale locale = new Locale(idioma);
Locale.setDefault(locale);
Configuration config = new Configuration();
config.locale = locale;
getApplicationContext().getResources().updateConfiguration(config,
getBaseContext().getResources().getDisplayMetrics());
}
}
}
So when I change the language it works but then when I come back later or restart the emulator the language gets back to default locale the en_US and the app language gets changed back to default again. What can I do to sort that out?
I know I can get this preference (which I can access to from all my activities) and then each time set up the locale but I find it a bit heavy isn't there a way to do it in a more elegant way?
What I would like to do is if the user sets up the language so when he comes back 2 days later he doesn't have to change the language again.
Any ideas?
OK it may help someone. I have added the folowing to the main activity manifest:
android:configChanges="locale"
Then when the user choses the preferences I have put a confirm button and then this button brings you to main activity that is why the lnagages gets reset.
I have a static class where I have this code to change the locale:
public static void updateLanguage(Context context, String idioma) {
if (!"".equals(idioma)) {
if ("castella".equals(idioma)) {
idioma = "es_ES";
} else if ("catala".equals(idioma)) {
idioma = "ca_ES";
}
Locale locale = new Locale(idioma);
Locale.setDefault(locale);
Configuration config = new Configuration();
config.locale = locale;
context.getResources().updateConfiguration(config, null);
}
}
end at every activity I have like 20 of them I call this method before:
setContentView(R.layout.list_event);
With these methods when I rotate the screen the activities don't change the language
here is a link to a blog that helped me:
http://adrianvintu.com/blogengine/post/Force-Locale-on-Android.aspx
I would think that you need to be setting the locale in the MainActivity onCreate method. The same way you are setting it when the onSharedPreferenceChanged method.
So I have a language setting in my application. When the language is switched, I would like all the textviews etc to change language immediately. Currently I just change the locale in the configuration, so the language has changed when the user restarts the activity.
An ugly solution to my problem would be to make each textview load the new resources each time the language is changed. Is there a better solution? Perhaps a neat way to discretely restart the activity? Or maybe just force reload of the resources?
In your AndroidManifest.xml, add this attribute to your Activity
android:configChanges="locale"
In your activity override onConfigurationChanged()
#Override
public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) {
// refresh your views here
super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
}
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#config
I think the question is switching language in runtime for the app and displaying localized messages in UI. android:configChanges="locale" calls onConfigurationChanged if the system locale is changed (in setting of your device) while the app is running, and not if you change locale in the code for your app, which I guess is what you want to accomplish. That's why it's not refreshing.
Here is the method I use during every activity onCreate() or onResume() depending on my needs (if my activity will be resuming after user changed language settings or will always be created with language already set):
From there I just refresh the view manually or from onConfigurationChanged() which get called after this method finishes.
public static void changeLocale(Activity activity, String language)
{
final Resources res = activity.getResources();
final Configuration conf = res.getConfiguration();
if (language == null || language.length() == 0)
{
conf.locale = Locale.getDefault();
}
else
{
final int idx = language.indexOf('-');
if (idx != -1)
{
final String[] split = language.split("-");
conf.locale = new Locale(split[0], split[1].substring(1));
}
else
{
conf.locale = new Locale(language);
}
}
res.updateConfiguration(conf, null);
}
I'm not sure why this isn't picked up by onConfigurationChanged().
Hey, sandis, do you mean the method onConfigurationChanged() doesn't called in your activity when you changed the language? I met the same problem. The problem maybe this: when we change the language, the activity goes to onDestroy()(you can try this), so there is nobody to call onConfigurationChanged(). When we launch the activity again, the onCreate() is called, not the onConfigurationChanged(). There maybe something different in locale change and orientation change.
public void settingLocale(Context context, String language) {
Locale locale;
Configuration config = new Configuration();
if(language.equals(LANGUAGE_ENGLISH)) {
locale = new Locale("en");
Locale.setDefault(locale);
config.locale = locale;
}else if(language.equals(LANGUAGE_ARABIC)){
locale = new Locale("hi");
Locale.setDefault(locale);
config.locale = locale;
}
context.getResources().updateConfiguration(config, null);
// Here again set the text on view to reflect locale change
// and it will pick resource from new locale
tv1.setText(R.string.one); //tv1 is textview in my activity
}
Assuming you're changing the language through something like
private void updateLocale(#NonNull final Context context,
#NonNull final Locale newLocale) {
final Resources resources = context.getResources();
final DisplayMetrics displayMetrics = resources.getDisplayMetrics();
final Configuration configuration = resources.getConfiguration();
configuration.locale = newLocale;
resources.updateConfiguration(configuration, displayMetrics);
Locale.setDefault(newLocale);
}
You'll need to call Activity.recreate() in all currently open activities, which is what would happen if the user changed the system language while you were not subscribing to android:configChanges="locale".