Android Localization

An android application can run on many devices in many different regions. In order to make your application more interactive, your application should handle text,numbers,files e.t.c in ways appropriate to the locales where your application will be used.

In this chapter we will explain , how you can localize your application according to different regions e.t.c. We will localize the strings used in the application, and in the same way other things can be localized.

Localizing Strings

In order to localize the strings used in your application , make a new folder under res with name of values-local where local would be the replaced with the region.
For example, in the case of italy, the values-it folder would be made under res. It is shown in the image below:

<;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="hello_world">Ciao mondo!</string>
</resources>
<;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="hello_world">Hola Mundo!</string>
</resources>
<;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="hello_world">Bonjour le monde !</string>
</resources>

Sr.No	Language & code
1	Afrikanns Code: af. Folder name: values-af
2	Arabic Code: ar. Folder name: values-ar
3	Bengali Code: bn. Folder name: values-bn
4	Czech Code: cs. Folder name: values-cs
5	Chinese Code: zh. Folder name: values-zh
6	German Code: de. Folder name: values-de
7	French Code: fr. Folder name: values-fr
8	Japanese Code: ja. Folder name: values-ja

Example

Here is an example demonstrating the use of Localization of strings. It creates a basic application that allows you to customize your application according to US and Italy region.
To experiment with this example , you can run this on an actual device or in an emulator.

Steps	Description
1	You will use Eclipse IDE to create an Android application and name it as Locals under a package com.example.locals. While creating this project, make sure you Target SDK and Compile With at the latest version of Android SDK to use higher levels of APIs.
2	Modify src/MainActivity.java file to add necessary code.
3	Modify the res/layout/activity_main to add respective XML components
4	Modify the res/values/string.xml to add necessary string components
5	Create the res/values-it/string.xml to add necessary string components
6	Run the application and choose a running android device and install the application on it and verify the results

package com.example.locals; 
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.view.Menu; 
public class MainActivity extends Activity { 
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
} 
@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return true;
} 
}
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".MainActivity" > 
<TextView
android:id="@+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="174dp"
android:text="@string/hello_world"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" /> 
</RelativeLayout>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources> 
<string name="app_name">Locals</string>
<string name="action_settings">Settings</string>
<string name="hello_world">Hello world!</string> 
</resources>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources> 
<string name="app_name">Locals</string>
<string name="action_settings">Settings</string>
<string name="hello_world">Ciao mondo!</string> 
</resources>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.example.locals"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0" > 
<uses-sdk
android:minSdkVersion="8"
android:targetSdkVersion="17" /> 
<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
<activity
android:name="com.example.locals.MainActivity"
android:label="@string/app_name" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" /> 
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>

Now change your device language setting from menu/system-settings/language to italy.
Now opne the application again and this time you will see hello world in italian language. It has been shown below::

Once that folder is made, copy the strings.xmlfrom default folder to the folder you have created. And change its contents. For example, i have changed the value of hello_world string.

• ITALY, RES/VALUES-IT/STRINGS.XML
• SPANISH, RES/VALUES-IT/STRINGS.XML
• FRENCH, RES/VALUES-IT/STRINGS.XML

Apart from these languages, the region code of other languages have been given in the table below:

• Following is the content of the modifed main activity file src/com.example.locals/MainActivity.java.
• Following is the modified content of the xml res/layout/activity_main.xml.
• Following is the content of the res/values/string.xml.
• Following is the content of the res/values-it/string.xml.
• Following is the content of AndroidManifest.xml file.

Let's try to run our Localization application we just modified. I assume you had created your AVD while doing environment setup. To run the app from Eclipse, open one of your project's activity files and click Run icon from the toolbar. Eclipse installs the app on your AVD and starts it and if everything is fine with your setup and application, it will display following Emulator window: