When adapting applications for Windows localization, you need to provide your application:
C:\Program Files\Contoso\Grobber.exe
and include various dll files (with a .mui extension) in subfolders that contain localized resources:
C:\Program Files\Contoso\Grobber.exeC:\Program Files\Contoso\en-US\Grobber.exe.muiC:\Program Files\Contoso\en-CA\Grobber.exe.muiC:\Program Files\Contoso\fr-CAca\Grobber.exe.muiC:\Program Files\Contoso\fr-FR\Grobber.exe.muiC:\Program Files\Contoso\es-US\Grobber.exe.muiC:\Program Files\Contoso\fr-DE\Grobber.exe.mui
According to Microsoft's documentation on localizing an application, when running on Windows Vista or later, calling LoadLibrary should transparently select the appropriate file from the correct folder based on the system's current locale:
// 1. Basic application obtains access to the proper resource container
// LoadLibraryEx is the preferred alternative for resource modules as used below because it
// provides increased security and performance over that of LoadLibrary
HMODULE resContainer = LoadLibraryExW(HELLO_MODULE_CONTRIVED_FILE_PATH,NULL,LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_IMAGE_RESOURCE | LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE);
if(!resContainer)
{
swprintf_s(displayBuffer,SUFFICIENTLY_LARGE_ERROR_BUFFER,L"FAILURE: Unable to load the resource container module, last error = %d.",GetLastError());
MessageBoxW(NULL,displayBuffer,L"HelloMUI ERROR!",MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
return 1; // exit
}
However, when I run it, it only loads my base executable instead of:
- C:\Program Files\Contoso\en-US\Grobber.exe.mui
In my pseudo-code:
HMODULE resContainer = LoadLibraryExW("C:\Program Files\Contoso\Grobber.exe", NULL, LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_IMAGE_RESOURCE | LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE);
int n = LoadStringW(resContainer, SInternalRequestsMUI, buffer, bufferLen);
MessageBox(0, "TestApp", buffer, MB_OK);
The returned string isunlocalized- the one in the Language Neutral (LN) file.
Note: It seems puzzling how Windows is expected to know to load a different library rather than the specified one, but that's what the documentation indicates.
What am I missing? It should be loading a different file from a language-COUNTRY folder based on the system's language. Why isn't it doing so?
Setting a custom language
Microsoft also mentions that in your Windows Vista or newer app, you can override the default system language and specify another language by calling SetThreadPreferredUILanguages:
MUI: Application-Specific Settings Sample (Windows Vista)
// supported on Windows Vista and forward
if(!SetThreadPreferredUILanguages(MUI_LANGUAGE_NAME,userLanguagesMultiString,&langCount) || langCount == 0)
{
swprintf_s(displayBuffer,SUFFICIENTLY_LARGE_ERROR_BUFFER,L"FAILURE: Unable to set the user defined, last error = %d.",GetLastError());
MessageBoxW(NULL,displayBuffer,L"HelloMUI ERROR!",MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
return 1; // exit
}
They also mention that pre-Vista, the system wouldn't perform automatic searching for you, and you had to use an alternative to LoadLibrary called LoadMUILibrary for the searching work:
MUI: Application-Specific Settings Sample (Pre-Windows Vista)
resContainer = LoadMUILibraryW(HELLO_MODULE_CONTRIVED_FILE_PATH,MUI_LANGUAGE_NAME,0);
These are insightful details. However, since I'm not using Windows XP or earlier, they may not be applicable. I'm mainly concerned with the default system language and not overriding it.