Change culture before ModelBinder is used

Question

I want to create a website in different languages. I already read that I could create an ActionFilter, but I have a litte problem:
I had to create a custom ModelBinder in order to work with english and german number formats (123,456,789.1 vs. 123.456.789,1)

public class DecimalModelBinder : DefaultModelBinder
{
    public override object BindModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
    {
        string key = bindingContext.ModelName;
        var v = ((string[])bindingContext.ValueProvider.GetValue(key).RawValue)[0];
        float outPut;
        if (float.TryParse(v, NumberStyles.Number, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, out outPut))
            return outPut;
        return base.BindModel(controllerContext, bindingContext);

    }
}

This ModelBinder uses the current culture to decide which format is used. But unfortunatly, the ModelBinder is used before the ActionFilter could change the culture.

How can I change the culture before the ModelBinder becomes active?

Answer 1

You can implement an IHttpModule and set the culture in the BeginRequest, as seen here.

void context_BeginRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // eat the cookie (if any) and set the culture
    if (HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies["lang"] != null)
    {
        HttpCookie cookie = HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies["lang"];
        string lang = cookie.Value;
        var culture = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo(lang);
        Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = culture;
        Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = culture;
    }
}