Automatically detect Browser Language and Culture in ASPNet using C and VBNet

In this article I will explain with an example, how to automatically detect Browser Language and Culture in ASP.Net using C# and VB.Net.

Once the Browser Language and Culture is detected, the website will display content in the User’s language using Globalization and Localization.

Adding a Global Resource file

The very first thing is to add two Global Resource files one for English and one for French with the following names.

English - Resource.resx

French – Resource.fr.resx

Automatically detect Browser Language and Culture in ASP.Net using C# and VB.Net

As soon as you add the first Resource file you will get the following prompt from Visual Studio asking to create a folder named App_GlobalResources. You need to click Yes.

Once both the Resource files are added, the App_GlobalResources folder in the Solution Explorer should look as shown below.

Next you will need to add sets of Name and Values to the Resource files of both English and French.

Note: The Name will be same for all entries in the Resource files of both English and French only the Value will change.

English Resource file

French Resource file

HTML Markup

The following HTML Markup consists of an ASP.Net Label control and an HTML SPAN element. The ASP.Net Label has been assigned the Greetings Resource while the HTML SPAN element has been assigned the Introduction Resource.

There’s also another Label lblCulture which displays the automatically detected Browser culture.

Culture:

<asp:Label ID="lblCulture" runat="server"></asp:Label>

<hr />

<asp:Label ID="Label1" Text="<%$Resources:Resource, Greetings %>" runat="server"

Font-Bold="true" />

<%=Resources.Resource.Introduction %>

Below are the syntaxes for assigning Resource file to an ASP.Net Control and an HTML element.

ASP.Net Control

<asp:Label ID="Label1" Text="<%$Resources:Resource, <Resource Name> %>" runat="server" Font-Bold="true" />

HTML SPAN

<%=Resources.Resource.<Resource Name> %>

Namespaces

You will need to import the following namespaces.

using System.Threading;

using System.Globalization;

VB.Net

Imports System.Threading

Imports System.Globalization

Detecting Browser Language and Culture in ASP.Net

Inside the code behind of the page, the InitializeCulture event of the page is overridden and the User’s default language in browser is detected and is set as Current Culture.

Then inside the Page Load event of the page, the name of the Current Culture is set to the lblCulture Label.

protected override void InitializeCulture()

{

string language = "en-us";

//Detect User's Language.

if (Request.UserLanguages != null)

{

//Set the Language.

language = Request.UserLanguages[0];

}

//Set the Culture.

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo(language);

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new CultureInfo(language);

}

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

lblCulture.Text = CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.Name;

}

VB.Net

Protected Overrides Sub InitializeCulture()

Dim language As String = "en-us"

'Detect User's Language.

If Request.UserLanguages IsNot Nothing Then

'Set the Language.

language = Request.UserLanguages(0)

End If

'Set the Culture.

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = New CultureInfo(language)

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = New CultureInfo(language)

End Sub

Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

lblCulture.Text = CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.Name

End Sub

In order to test whether the ASP.Net website detects and loads the default user’s browser language, you will need open Internet Options window from the Tools menu of the Internet Explorer browser and then click on Languages button and finally add and make French language as default.