Changing Locale within the app itself

Question

My users can change the Locale within the app  they may want to keep their phone settings in English but read the content of my app in French  Dutch or any other language       Why is this working perfectly fine in 1 5 1 6 but NOT in 2 0 anymore       Override public boolean onOptionsItemSelected MenuItem item        switch item getItemId          case 201          Locale locale2   new Locale  fr             Locale setDefault locale2           Configuration config2   new Configuration            config2 locale   locale2          getBaseContext   getResources   updateConfiguration              config2  getBaseContext   getResources   getDisplayMetrics                loading data             refresh               refresh the tabs and their content         refresh Tab             break       case 201  etc      The problem is that the MENU  shrinks  more and more everytime the user is going through the lines of code above       This is the Menu that gets shrunk    Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu Menu menu        menu add 0  100  1   REFRESH   setIcon android R drawable ic menu compass       SubMenu langMenu   menu addSubMenu 0  200  2   NL-FR   setIcon android R drawable ic menu rotate           langMenu add 1  201  0   Nederlands            langMenu add 1  202  0   Fran  ais        menu add 0  250  4  R string OptionMenu2  setIcon android R drawable ic menu send       menu add 0  300  5  R string OptionMenu3  setIcon android R drawable ic menu preferences       menu add 0  350  3  R string OptionMenu4  setIcon android R drawable ic menu more       menu add 0  400  6   Exit   setIcon android R drawable ic menu delete        return super onCreateOptionsMenu menu       What should I do in API Level 5 to make this work again    HERE IS THE FULL CODE IF YOU WANT TO TEST THIS    import java util Locale   import android app Activity  import android content res Configuration  import android os Bundle  import android view Menu  import android view MenuItem  import android view SubMenu  import android widget Toast   public class Main extends Activity           Called when the activity is first created            Override     public void onCreate Bundle savedInstanceState            super onCreate savedInstanceState           setContentView R layout main                Override     public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu Menu menu             SubMenu langMenu   menu addSubMenu 0  200  2   NL-FR   setIcon android R drawable ic menu rotate               langMenu add 1  201  0   Nederlands                langMenu add 1  202  0   Fran  ais             return super onCreateOptionsMenu menu               Override     public boolean onOptionsItemSelected MenuItem item            switch item getItemId              case 201               Locale locale   new Locale  nl                 Locale setDefault locale               Configuration config   new Configuration                config locale   locale              getBaseContext   getResources   updateConfiguration config  getBaseContext   getResources   getDisplayMetrics                 Toast makeText this   Locale in Nederlands     Toast LENGTH LONG  show                break           case 202               Locale locale2   new Locale  fr                 Locale setDefault locale2               Configuration config2   new Configuration                config2 locale   locale2              getBaseContext   getResources   updateConfiguration config2  getBaseContext   getResources   getDisplayMetrics                  Toast makeText this   Locale en Fran  ais     Toast LENGTH LONG  show                break                       return super onOptionsItemSelected item             AND HERE IS THE MANIFEST     lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt       lt manifest xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android            package  com cousinHub ChangeLocale            android versionCode  1            android versionName  1 0  gt           lt application android icon   drawable icon  android label   string app name  gt               lt activity android name   Main                        android label   string app name  gt                   lt intent-filter gt                       lt action android name  android intent action MAIN    gt                       lt category android name  android intent category LAUNCHER    gt                   lt  intent-filter gt               lt  activity gt           lt  application gt           lt uses-sdk android minSdkVersion  3    gt        lt  manifest gt    THIS IS WHAT I FOUND     lt uses-sdk android minSdkVersion  5    gt       IT WORKS JUST FINE       lt uses-sdk android minSdkVersion  3    gt       Menu shrinks every time you change the locale      as I want to keep my application accessible for users on 1 5  what should I do

User · Answer

If you want to effect on the menu options for changing the locale immediately You have to do like this     onCreate method calls only once when menu is called first time  public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu Menu menu        super onCreateOptionsMenu menu         1 Here you can add your  locale settings          2 Your menu declaration      This method is called when your menu is opend to again      Override public boolean onMenuOpened int featureId  Menu menu        menu clear        onCreateOptionsMenu menu       return super onMenuOpened featureId  menu

User · Answer

After a good night of sleep  I found the answer on the Web   a simple Google search on the following line  getBaseContext   getResources   updateConfiguration mConfig  getBaseContext   getResources   getDisplayMetrics        here it is    link text    this link also shows screenshots of what is happening     Density was the issue here   I needed to have this in the AndroidManifest xml   lt supports-screens android smallScreens  true  android normalScreens  true  android largeScreens  true  android anyDensity  true    gt    The most important is the android anyDensity    true      Don t forget to add the following in the AndroidManifest xml for every activity  for Android 4 1 and below    android configChanges  locale    This version is needed when you build for Android 4 2  API level 17  explanation here   android configChanges  locale layoutDirection

User · Answer

In Android M the top solution won t work  I ve written a helper class to fix that which you should call from your Application class and all Activities  I would suggest creating a BaseActivity and then make all the Activities inherit from it   Note  This will also support properly RTL layout direction    Helper 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  amp  amp  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   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  amp  amp  Build VERSION SDK INT  lt  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                         Application   public class App extends Application       public void onCreate            super onCreate             LocaleUtils setLocale new Locale  iw             LocaleUtils updateConfig this  getBaseContext   getResources   getConfiguration                 Override     public void onConfigurationChanged Configuration newConfig            super onConfigurationChanged newConfig           LocaleUtils updateConfig this  newConfig             BaseActivity   public class BaseActivity extends Activity       public BaseActivity             LocaleUtils updateConfig this

User · Answer

This is for my comment on Andrey s answer but I cant include code in the comments   Is you preference activity being called from you main activity  you could place this in the on resume      Override protected void onResume         if    PreferenceManager getDefaultSharedPreferences              getApplicationContext    getString  listLanguage    en                equals langPreference              refresh              super onResume       private void refresh         finish        Intent myIntent   new Intent Main this  Main class       startActivity myIntent

User · Answer

Through the original question is not exactly about the locale itself all other locale related questions are referencing to this one  That s why I wanted to clarify the issue here  I used this question as a starting point for my own locale switching code and found out that the method is not exactly correct  It works  but only until any configuration change  e g  screen rotation  and only in that particular Activity  Playing with a code for a while I have ended up with the following approach   I have extended android app Application and added the following code   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 locale                if       equals lang   amp  amp    config locale getLanguage   equals lang                         locale   new Locale lang               Locale setDefault locale               config locale   locale              getBaseContext   getResources   updateConfiguration config  getBaseContext   getResources   getDisplayMetrics                         This code ensures that every Activity will have custom locale set and it will not be reset on rotation and other events    I have also spent a lot of time trying to make the preference change to be applied immediately but didn t succeed  the language changed correctly on Activity restart  but number formats and other locale properties were not applied until full application restart   Changes to AndroidManifest xml  Don t forget to add android configChanges  layoutDirection locale  to every activity at AndroidManifest  as well as the android name   MyApplication  to the  lt application gt  element

User · Answer

I couldn t used android anyDensity  true  because objects in my game would be positioned completely different    seems this also does the trick       creating locale Locale locale2   new Locale loc    Locale setDefault locale2   Configuration config2   new Configuration    config2 locale   locale2      updating locale mContext getResources   updateConfiguration config2  null

[android] Changing Locale within the app itself

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