Is there a way of setting culture for a whole application All current threads and new threads

Question

Is there a way of setting culture for a whole application  All current threads and new threads   We have the name of the culture stored in a database  and when our application starts  we do   CultureInfo ci   new CultureInfo theCultureString   Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture   ci  Thread CurrentThread CurrentUICulture   ci    But  of course  this gets  lost  when we want to do something in a new thread  Is there a way of setting that CurrentCulture and CurrentUICulture for the whole application  So that new threads also gets that culture  Or is it some event fired whenever a new thread is created that I can hook up to

User · Answer

For  NET 4 5 and higher  you should use  var culture   new CultureInfo  quot en-US quot    CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentCulture   culture  CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture   culture

User · Answer

DefaultThreadCurrentCulture and DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture are present in Framework 4 0 too  but they are Private  Using Reflection you can easily set them  This will affect all threads where CurrentCulture is not explicitly set  running threads too    Public Sub SetDefaultThreadCurrentCulture paCulture As CultureInfo      Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture GetType   GetProperty  DefaultThreadCurrentCulture   SetValue Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture  paCulture  Nothing      Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture GetType   GetProperty  DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture   SetValue Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture  paCulture  Nothing  End Sub

User · Answer

If you are using resources  you can manually force it by    Resource1 Culture   new System Globalization CultureInfo  fr       In the resource manager  there is an auto generated code that is as follows        lt summary gt        Overrides the current thread s CurrentUICulture property for all       resource lookups using this strongly typed resource class       lt  summary gt   global  System ComponentModel EditorBrowsableAttribute global  System ComponentModel EditorBrowsableState Advanced   internal static global  System Globalization CultureInfo Culture       get           return resourceCulture            set           resourceCulture   value            Now every time you refer to your individual string within this resource  it overrides the culture  thread or process  with the specified resourceCulture   You can either specify language as in  fr    de  etc  or put the language code as in 0x0409 for en-US or 0x0410 for it-IT  For a full list of language codes please refer to  Language Identifiers and Locales

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This answer is a bit of expansion for  rastating s great answer  You can use the following code for all versions of  NET without any worries       public static void SetDefaultCulture CultureInfo culture                Type type   typeof  CultureInfo           try                          Class  ReflectionContext  exists from  NET 4 5 onwards              if  Type GetType  System Reflection ReflectionContext   false     null                                type GetProperty  DefaultThreadCurrentCulture                        SetValue System Threading Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture                          culture  null                    type GetProperty  DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture                        SetValue System Threading Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture                          culture  null                             else    NET 4 and lower                               type InvokeMember  s userDefaultCulture                       BindingFlags SetField   BindingFlags NonPublic   BindingFlags Static                      null                      culture                      new object    culture                     type InvokeMember  s userDefaultUICulture                       BindingFlags SetField   BindingFlags NonPublic   BindingFlags Static                      null                      culture                      new object    culture                     type InvokeMember  m userDefaultCulture                       BindingFlags SetField   BindingFlags NonPublic   BindingFlags Static                      null                      culture                      new object    culture                     type InvokeMember  m userDefaultUICulture                       BindingFlags SetField   BindingFlags NonPublic   BindingFlags Static                      null                      culture                      new object    culture                                    catch                          ignored

User · Answer

Working solution to set CultureInfo for all threads and windows    Open App xaml file and add a new  Startup  attribute to assign startup event handler for the app     lt Application                       Startup  Application Startup   gt     Open App xaml cs file and add this code to created startup handler  Application Startup in this case   The class App will look like this        public partial class App   Application               private void Application Startup object sender  StartupEventArgs e                        CultureInfo cultureInfo   CultureInfo GetCultureInfo  en-US                System Globalization CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentCulture   cultureInfo              System Globalization CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture   cultureInfo              Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture   cultureInfo

User · Answer

If you are using resources  you can manually force it by    Resource1 Culture   new System Globalization CultureInfo  fr       In the resource manager  there is an auto generated code that is as follows        lt summary gt        Overrides the current thread s CurrentUICulture property for all       resource lookups using this strongly typed resource class       lt  summary gt   global  System ComponentModel EditorBrowsableAttribute global  System ComponentModel EditorBrowsableState Advanced   internal static global  System Globalization CultureInfo Culture       get           return resourceCulture            set           resourceCulture   value            Now every time you refer to your individual string within this resource  it overrides the culture  thread or process  with the specified resourceCulture   You can either specify language as in  fr    de  etc  or put the language code as in 0x0409 for en-US or 0x0410 for it-IT  For a full list of language codes please refer to  Language Identifiers and Locales

User · Answer

This gets asked a lot  Basically  no there isn t  not for  NET 4 0  You have to do it manually at the start of each new thread  or ThreadPool function   You could perhaps store the culture name  or just the culture object  in a static field to save having to hit the DB  but that s about it

User · Answer

Working solution to set CultureInfo for all threads and windows    Open App xaml file and add a new  Startup  attribute to assign startup event handler for the app     lt Application                       Startup  Application Startup   gt     Open App xaml cs file and add this code to created startup handler  Application Startup in this case   The class App will look like this        public partial class App   Application               private void Application Startup object sender  StartupEventArgs e                        CultureInfo cultureInfo   CultureInfo GetCultureInfo  en-US                System Globalization CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentCulture   cultureInfo              System Globalization CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture   cultureInfo              Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture   cultureInfo

User · Answer

This gets asked a lot  Basically  no there isn t  not for  NET 4 0  You have to do it manually at the start of each new thread  or ThreadPool function   You could perhaps store the culture name  or just the culture object  in a static field to save having to hit the DB  but that s about it

User · Answer

For ASP NET5  i e  ASPNETCORE  you can do the following in configure   app UseRequestLocalization new RequestLocalizationOptions       DefaultRequestCulture   new RequestCulture new CultureInfo  en-gb         SupportedCultures   new List lt CultureInfo gt                new CultureInfo  en-gb                      SupportedUICultures   new List lt CultureInfo gt                new CultureInfo  en-gb               Here s a series of blog posts that gives more information

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Here is the solution for c  MVC    First   Create a custom attribute and override method like this   public class CultureAttribute   ActionFilterAttribute       public override void OnActionExecuting ActionExecutingContext filterContext                   Retreive culture from GET         string currentCulture   filterContext HttpContext Request QueryString  culture                Also  you can retreive culture from Cookie like this             string currentCulture   filterContext HttpContext Request Cookies  cookie   Value              Set culture         Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture   new CultureInfo currentCulture           Thread CurrentThread CurrentUICulture   CultureInfo CreateSpecificCulture currentCulture            Second   In App Start  find FilterConfig cs  add this attribute   this works for WHOLE application   public class FilterConfig       public static void RegisterGlobalFilters GlobalFilterCollection filters                   Add custom attribute here         filters Add new CultureAttribute                    That s it    If you want to define culture for each controller action in stead of whole application  you can use this attribute like this    Culture  public class StudentsController   Controller       Or    Culture  public ActionResult Index         return View

User · Answer

This gets asked a lot  Basically  no there isn t  not for  NET 4 0  You have to do it manually at the start of each new thread  or ThreadPool function   You could perhaps store the culture name  or just the culture object  in a static field to save having to hit the DB  but that s about it

User · Answer

This gets asked a lot  Basically  no there isn t  not for  NET 4 0  You have to do it manually at the start of each new thread  or ThreadPool function   You could perhaps store the culture name  or just the culture object  in a static field to save having to hit the DB  but that s about it

User · Answer

Actually you can set the default thread culture and UI culture  but only with Framework 4 5   I put in this static constructor   static MainWindow       CultureInfo culture   CultureInfo      CreateSpecificCulture CultureInfo CurrentCulture Name     var dtf   culture DateTimeFormat    dtf ShortTimePattern    string Microsoft Win32 Registry GetValue       HKEY CURRENT USER  Control Panel  International    sShortTime    hh mm tt      CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture   culture      and put a breakpoint in the Convert method of a ValueConverter to see what arrived at the other end  CultureInfo CurrentUICulture ceased to be en-US and became instead en-AU complete with my little hack to make it respect regional settings for ShortTimePattern   Hurrah  all is well in the world  Or not  The culture parameter passed to the Convert method is still en-US  Erm  WTF   But it s a start  At least this way    you can fix the UI culture once when your app loads it s always accessible from CultureInfo CurrentUICulture string Format   0    DateTime Now  will use your customised regional settings   If you can t use version 4 5 of the framework then give up on setting CurrentUICulture as a static property of CultureInfo and set it as a static property of one of your own classes  This won t fix default behaviour of string Format or make StringFormat work properly in bindings then walk your app s logical tree to recreate all the bindings in your app and set their converter culture

User · Answer

Actually you can set the default thread culture and UI culture  but only with Framework 4 5   I put in this static constructor   static MainWindow       CultureInfo culture   CultureInfo      CreateSpecificCulture CultureInfo CurrentCulture Name     var dtf   culture DateTimeFormat    dtf ShortTimePattern    string Microsoft Win32 Registry GetValue       HKEY CURRENT USER  Control Panel  International    sShortTime    hh mm tt      CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture   culture      and put a breakpoint in the Convert method of a ValueConverter to see what arrived at the other end  CultureInfo CurrentUICulture ceased to be en-US and became instead en-AU complete with my little hack to make it respect regional settings for ShortTimePattern   Hurrah  all is well in the world  Or not  The culture parameter passed to the Convert method is still en-US  Erm  WTF   But it s a start  At least this way    you can fix the UI culture once when your app loads it s always accessible from CultureInfo CurrentUICulture string Format   0    DateTime Now  will use your customised regional settings   If you can t use version 4 5 of the framework then give up on setting CurrentUICulture as a static property of CultureInfo and set it as a static property of one of your own classes  This won t fix default behaviour of string Format or make StringFormat work properly in bindings then walk your app s logical tree to recreate all the bindings in your app and set their converter culture

User · Answer

This answer is a bit of expansion for  rastating s great answer  You can use the following code for all versions of  NET without any worries       public static void SetDefaultCulture CultureInfo culture                Type type   typeof  CultureInfo           try                          Class  ReflectionContext  exists from  NET 4 5 onwards              if  Type GetType  System Reflection ReflectionContext   false     null                                type GetProperty  DefaultThreadCurrentCulture                        SetValue System Threading Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture                          culture  null                    type GetProperty  DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture                        SetValue System Threading Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture                          culture  null                             else    NET 4 and lower                               type InvokeMember  s userDefaultCulture                       BindingFlags SetField   BindingFlags NonPublic   BindingFlags Static                      null                      culture                      new object    culture                     type InvokeMember  s userDefaultUICulture                       BindingFlags SetField   BindingFlags NonPublic   BindingFlags Static                      null                      culture                      new object    culture                     type InvokeMember  m userDefaultCulture                       BindingFlags SetField   BindingFlags NonPublic   BindingFlags Static                      null                      culture                      new object    culture                     type InvokeMember  m userDefaultUICulture                       BindingFlags SetField   BindingFlags NonPublic   BindingFlags Static                      null                      culture                      new object    culture                                    catch                          ignored

User · Answer

DefaultThreadCurrentCulture and DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture are present in Framework 4 0 too  but they are Private  Using Reflection you can easily set them  This will affect all threads where CurrentCulture is not explicitly set  running threads too    Public Sub SetDefaultThreadCurrentCulture paCulture As CultureInfo      Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture GetType   GetProperty  DefaultThreadCurrentCulture   SetValue Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture  paCulture  Nothing      Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture GetType   GetProperty  DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture   SetValue Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture  paCulture  Nothing  End Sub

User · Answer

In  NET 4 5  you can use the CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentCulture property to change the culture of an AppDomain   For versions prior to 4 5 you have to use reflection to manipulate the culture of an AppDomain   There is a private static field on CultureInfo  m userDefaultCulture in  NET 2 0 mscorlib  s userDefaultCulture in  NET 4 0 mscorlib  that controls what CurrentCulture returns if a thread has not set that property on itself   This does not change the native thread locale and it is probably not a good idea to ship code that changes the culture this way   It may be useful for testing though

User · Answer

Here is the solution for c  MVC    First   Create a custom attribute and override method like this   public class CultureAttribute   ActionFilterAttribute       public override void OnActionExecuting ActionExecutingContext filterContext                   Retreive culture from GET         string currentCulture   filterContext HttpContext Request QueryString  culture                Also  you can retreive culture from Cookie like this             string currentCulture   filterContext HttpContext Request Cookies  cookie   Value              Set culture         Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture   new CultureInfo currentCulture           Thread CurrentThread CurrentUICulture   CultureInfo CreateSpecificCulture currentCulture            Second   In App Start  find FilterConfig cs  add this attribute   this works for WHOLE application   public class FilterConfig       public static void RegisterGlobalFilters GlobalFilterCollection filters                   Add custom attribute here         filters Add new CultureAttribute                    That s it    If you want to define culture for each controller action in stead of whole application  you can use this attribute like this    Culture  public class StudentsController   Controller       Or    Culture  public ActionResult Index         return View

User · Answer

For ASP NET5  i e  ASPNETCORE  you can do the following in configure   app UseRequestLocalization new RequestLocalizationOptions       DefaultRequestCulture   new RequestCulture new CultureInfo  en-gb         SupportedCultures   new List lt CultureInfo gt                new CultureInfo  en-gb                      SupportedUICultures   new List lt CultureInfo gt                new CultureInfo  en-gb               Here s a series of blog posts that gives more information

User · Answer

For  NET 4 5 and higher  you should use  var culture   new CultureInfo  quot en-US quot    CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentCulture   culture  CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture   culture

User · Answer

In  NET 4 5  you can use the CultureInfo DefaultThreadCurrentCulture property to change the culture of an AppDomain   For versions prior to 4 5 you have to use reflection to manipulate the culture of an AppDomain   There is a private static field on CultureInfo  m userDefaultCulture in  NET 2 0 mscorlib  s userDefaultCulture in  NET 4 0 mscorlib  that controls what CurrentCulture returns if a thread has not set that property on itself   This does not change the native thread locale and it is probably not a good idea to ship code that changes the culture this way   It may be useful for testing though

[c#] Is there a way of setting culture for a whole application? All current threads and new threads?

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