Static Localization

[sbwalker]

Static localization is the ability to customize the static text in the user interface of an application. Usually this is for localizing the user interface into other languages, however it can also be used to customize terminology or descriptions to make them more applicable to your audience. Note that static localization is not intended to be a solution for user generated content.

As per the Oqtane philosophy, the solution should leverage standard Microsoft approaches as much as possible. It should also leverage encapsulation in terms of minimizing the number of individual assets which need to be deployed. And to ensure a consistent development experience, static localization should follow the same pattern for the core framework as it does for external modules.

[kevind2000]

Sounds like this is related to supporting multiple languages/cultures on the web site level as well as admin/hosting level.

Do we have the (default) language/culture setting in the framework? can we switch the language/culture dynamically on the website and hosting level?

I suppose the above is required infrastructure feature to enable static localization.

Quick link/reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/blazor/globalization-localization?view=aspnetcore-5.0

[kevind2000]

Here are some initial ideas for the localization feature:

1. The framework should have a list of "locales", based on supported localized Admin Pages.
2. Host user can select preferred "locale" from the list, saved into host user's setting; Host user may set default locale for newly created site.
3. Site Admin can define list of supported "locales" and change the site's default locale.
4. Site user can select his/her preferred "locale" from the above list
5. Site user's preferred "locale" persisted in Blazor WebAssembly or cookie for anonymous user; saved into user setting for registered user.

From the link above:

1. "The following .NET globalization and localization scenarios are available: .NET's resources system";
2. A limited set of ASP.NET Core's localization scenarios are currently supported:

• IStringLocalizer and IStringLocalizer are supported in Blazor apps.
• IHtmlLocalizer, IViewLocalizer, and Data Annotations localization are ASP.NET Core MVC scenarios and not supported in Blazor apps.

The plan is to use ".NET's resource system" to support localized Blazor UI Component (localized razor page resx) for both core framework and external modules.

[sbwalker]

@hishamco can you please explain this line of code in Startup.cs:

            // TODO: Check if there's a better way instead of building service provider
            ServiceActivator.Configure(services.BuildServiceProvider());

I do not understand what it is doing - and it is throwing a compilation warning which we want to avoid.

[hishamco]

Ya, it shows a warning that's why I made a comment in my PR that seems you don't look about it. Basically the LoadSatelliteAssemblies() needs to aware of the supported cultures but while there is no injection in extension methods, I introduce sort of service locator to get the dependencies without injection, this is useful for accessing services even from static classes, the problem is that AddOqtane is run too early, so I build the service provider to get all the registered services at that point of time

I planned to remove this line and either:

1. Move the LoadSatelliteAssemblies into Startup or

2. Pass the Supported cultures into AddOqtane

[sbwalker]

Option 2 would be preferable. You should avoid changing the current order of events in Startup as there are some fairly complicated dependencies which rely on the current order ( ie. for installation ).

[hishamco]

I will create a PR now, BTW this was on my TODOs list

[sbwalker]

Excellent! Yes, I see the TODO comment. In general my personal preference is to deal with any TODOs while they are still fresh in your mind rather than moving on to other things and assuming we will come back to them later.

[kevind2000]

While we are exploring the depth of Static Localization using .NET Core Resource Files, I'd like to ask what might be the options to localize the content and data? As an application framework, we might have to take one approach and recommend/request module developers to use the same.

Is it possible to localize the UI and Content in the same way?

[hishamco]

Content Localization is a second piece of cake ;) that we can implement later, let us first agree on the first piece which UI Localization

[sbwalker]

@kevind2000 I would just like to clarify that Oqtane is not a CMS - it is a modular application framework. There is a substantial difference between them from my perspective. A CMS is built around the concept of "content" - it usually has a generic content repository which is designed for handling content versioning, workflow, localization, indexing, etc... Oqtane is not built around the concept of "content" - it is built around the concept of "modules" - which are applications that are responsible for their own data, business rules, etc... It might be possible for someone to create a suite of external modules for Oqtane which provide CMS functionality - but that is not the focus of the Oqtane framework itself. This is documented in the Oqtane Philosophy ( https://www.oqtane.org/Resources/Blog/PostId/538/oqtane-philosophy ) but I am mentioning it again so that people do not get the false expectation that Oqtane is a CMS.

[sbwalker]

@kevind2000 to answer your other question.... DNN is built on WebForms/.NET Framework - not Blazor/.NET Core - so the user interface is managed in a completely different way. DNN did not use the standard .NET Framework method for localization ( ie. satellite assemblies ) - it used loose RESX files stored in an App_LocalResources folder in each module. DNN would load all of these loose RESX files, merge them based on fallback rules, and then cache them in memory so that they could be used in modules ie. DotNetNuke.Entities.Modules.LocalizeString("KeyName"). The code for loading/merging resource files contributed significantly to some of the performance issues in DNN.

[sbwalker]

@kevind2000 sorry... my answer above described how DNN supports static UI localization. For content localization, a variety of third party modules implemented their own solutions, and there was an attempt to create a centralized solution in the framework itself but it had some major limitations so adoption was very low. The centralized solution added a lot of complexity to the framework which impacted the user experience and performance.

[kevind2000]

@sbwalker totally understand Oqtane Framework's positioning as Blazor based Application Framework.

[hishamco]

I'm glad to announce that the localization is now supported in both Blazor Server-Side & Web Assembly with that this long discussion could be answered and closed now

[hishamco]

@nicpitsch this could be happen due namespace changes, please share your module or try to have a look to Oqtane blog module

@sbwalker could you please give me permission into a docs repo, I think we need to document many things there such as localization

[sbwalker]

@hishamco the docs repo already exists at https://github.com/oqtane/oqtane.docs and is open for contributions.

[nicpitsch]

@nicpitsch this could be happen due namespace changes, please share your module or try to have a look to Oqtane blog module

@hishamco I have created an example here, see PR#1. Localization isn't working.

[hishamco]

As I see there's no Resources folder in both Client & Server projects, also you need to add the default culture and supported cultures too in appsettings.json

[nicpitsch]

As I see there's no Resources folder in both Client & Server projects

@hishamco I was not precise, the branch test-localization contains the localization based modifications.

you need to add the default culture and supported cultures too in appsettings.json

I added now the default culture "de" but no (further) supported cultures, since the audience is "de". If the browser has set "de" language, the translation should be raised, otherwise the hard-coded text is ok.

[nicpitsch]

@nicpitsch this could be happen due namespace changes, please share your module or try to have a look to Oqtane blog module

Thanks @hishamco for the hint. The missing part in my external Module Project was AssemblyInfo.cs with the RootNamespace setting, look at AssemblyInfo.cs within the Oqtane.Blogs Client project.

Pull request PR#7 in Oqtane.Blogs contains the necessary settings for localization.

[hishamco]

I suggest to change the module creator if @sbwalker agrees to avoid such issues in custom modules

[sbwalker]

Yes I think this is a good idea

[hishamco]

I will handle this next few days

[nicpitsch]

In case any one out there is looking for how to retrieve common localization strings also for Oqtane Controls like <ActionLink>:
#1029 (comment)

[hishamco]

@nicpitsch a proper solution could be this #1029 (comment) because you break the ResourceKey thing, but it's a trick to override the localization

FYI what it happening behind the scene is the component's localizer will look for the text you supplied as key, if it's accidently there you will not get the expected result