Look at the following image:

this is your home page

change language

We can create the Multilanguage application in ASP.NET like the following.

Step 1

Add the Master Page Site1.Master and design the menu and language selection dropdown list like this:

  1. <%@ Master Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Site1.master.cs" Inherits="MultilanguageSample.Site1" %>
  3. <!DOCTYPE html>
  5. <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  6. <head runat="server">
  7. <title></title>
  8. <style type="text/css">
  9. html {
  10. font-family: Tahoma;
  11. font-size: 14px;
  12. font-style: normal;
  13. background-color: Silver;
  14. }
  16. .Content {
  17. margin: auto;
  18. width: 700px;
  19. background-color: white;
  20. border: Solid 1px black;
  21. }
  22. .auto-style1 {
  23. width: 100%;
  24. }
  25. </style>
  26. <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="head" runat="server">
  27. </asp:ContentPlaceHolder>
  28. </head>
  30. <body>
  31. <form id="form1" runat="server">
  32. <div class="Content">
  33. <br />
  34. <table class="auto-style1">
  35. <tr>
  36. <td style="background-color: #339966"> <a href="Default.aspx">
  37. <asp:Label ID="Label1" meta:resourcekey="menuItemDefault" runat="server" Text="Home"></asp:Label>
  38. </a></td>
  39. <td style="background-color: #339966; " ><a href="Contact.aspx">
  40. <asp:Label ID="Label2" meta:resourcekey="menuItemContact" runat="server" Text="ContactUs"></asp:Label>
  41. </a></td>
  42. <td style="background-color: #339966;"><asp:DropDownList ID="DropDownList_Language" runat="server" Height="20px" Width="170px"
  43. OnSelectedIndexChanged="DropDownList_Language_SelectedIndexChanged" AutoPostBack="true">
  44. <asp:ListItem Value="en-US">English</asp:ListItem>
  45. <asp:ListItem Value="sv-SE">Swedish</asp:ListItem>
  46. </asp:DropDownList></td>
  47. </tr>
  48. </table>
  49. <br />
  50. <br />
  52. <div>
  53. <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="ContentPlaceHolder1" runat="server">
  54. </asp:ContentPlaceHolder>
  55. </div>
  56. </div>
  57. </form>
  58. </body>
  59. </html>
Step 2

Write the code in the code behind file like this:
  1. using System;
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;
  3. using System.Linq;
  4. using System.Web;
  5. using System.Web.UI;
  6. using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
  8. namespace MultilanguageSample
  9. {
  10. public partial class Site1 : System.Web.UI.MasterPage
  11. {
  13. protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
  14. {
  15. if (Session["language"] != null && !IsPostBack)
  16. {
  17. DropDownList_Language.ClearSelection();
  18. DropDownList_Language.Items.FindByValue(Session["language"].ToString()).Selected = true;
  19. }
  20. }
  21. protected void DropDownList_Language_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
  22. {
  23. switch (DropDownList_Language.SelectedValue)
  24. {
  25. case "en-US": this.SetMyNewCulture("en-US");
  26. break;
  27. case "sv-SE": this.SetMyNewCulture("sv-SE");
  28. break;
  29. default:
  30. break;
  31. }
  32. Response.Redirect(Request.Path);
  33. }
  35. private void SetMyNewCulture(string culture)
  36. {
  37. Session["language"] = culture;
  38. }
  39. }
  40. }
Note: Here you can also store the user language selection in cookies or Local Storage of HTML 5 using JavaScript. This can be used to maintain the user preference language at page Load.

Step 3

Create a “App_LocalResources” folder and add the resources as page wise.

Like Site.master.resx for English and Site1.Master.sv. resx for Swedish.

Note: Keep the separate resource file for each page for better maintainability.

master page

Step 4

Add this method in the global.asax file:
  1. void Application_AcquireRequestState(object sender, EventArgs e)
  2. {
  3. HttpContext context = HttpContext.Current;
  4. if (context.Session["language"] != null)
  5. {
  6. Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new CultureInfo(context.Session["language"].ToString().Trim());
  7. Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo(context.Session["language"].ToString().Trim());
  8. }
  9. }
This is used for getting the current state of the session.

Step 5

Call the resource key on the label like this as page wise.
  1. <asp:Label ID="Label1" meta:resourcekey="menuItemDefault" runat="server" Text="Home"></asp:Label>
You call also call the resource file in C# like this:
  1. protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
  2. {
  3. lblMsg.Text = GetLocalResourceObject("lblMsgHome.Text").ToString();
  5. }
Note: Please let me know if you have any good approach to do this.