VC++ 10 MFC: What is the correct way to do localization

Question

I am a .NET guy who is having to do some work on an MFC app. The app is a VS2008 MFC executable which I have converted to VS2010. The original developers did localisation by specifying the name of a .txt file with key value pairs in it on the applications command line. Installed shortcuts to the executable specify a different .txt file depending on which country the app is being installed in. This of course does not work if you just run the .exe directly. This seems like a weird way to do things to me.

I want to do this the propper MFC way, but I am having difficulty finding definitive answers on Google. My understanding is that the String Table in the .rc file should be used for this localisation? Is this the current best practice for MFC?

With respect to the String Table I have read that the practice is to create multiple string tables each for a different language. How do MFC applications choose which language to use? Is it based on the machines current language settings or can I control this (it may be that we want the language to be specified by the Wix .msi installer we are also building)?

I have also read that embedding all resource inside an MFC application has fallen out of favor and that now you should compile seperate resource .dlls? Is this is true ill investigate how to do it...

Finally, do I have to do something special to get MFC to support Unicode or is MFC Unicode by default?

Thanks

Answer 1

The idea is that all localizable items should be stored in resources. Standard UI objects such as menus and dialogs are automatically stored in there (resources) for you but items such as string literals (eg: error messages, messagebox prompts,...) should be pulled from source code to the string table. This short codeproject article of mine demonstrates how to easily pull strings from the string table in your code.

Note: You should have only one string table in your resource script (.rc).

From there on, you can translate your resources and create resource DLLs (aka satellite DLLs). The idea is that you keep a different copy of the .rc file(s) for each language. Each translation is compiled into a codeless DLL that acts as a container for the resources.

This other codeproject article of mine lets you easily load resource DLLs according to system settings or user preferences: The code looks among your resource DLLs which available language best matches user settings (based on user's UI language and regional settings). The code also lets you easily build a menu with all available languages. That way, your user can override the default choice.

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Regarding the translation of resources, the management of translations and the creation of resource DLLs, you may want to check out appTranslator.

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Regarding Unicode, MFC ships with ANSI and Unicode versions of the code. It's up to you to choose if you want to build an ANSI or a Unicode app: Just make your pick in the first page of project settings. Of course, if you are startgin from scratch, you should definitely go Unicode. But if legacy reasons force you to stay ANSI/MBCS, don't worry to much: It won't prevent you from localizing your app.

Answer 2

Years ago when I had to work with multiple languages in MFC, we used separate resource DLLs. All you need do is make one call to switch which handle the resource functions would use and all was automatic from that point forward.

You need to do more than just change the strings. Dialogs in particular will have strings inside of them, and you may need to change the layout if those strings become too long after translation.