How do you localize/internationalize an MVC Controller when using a SQL based localization provider?

Question

Hopefully this isn't too silly of a question. In MVC there appears to be plenty of localization support in the views. Once I get to the controller, however, it becomes murky.

• Using meta:resourcekey="blah" is out, same with <%$ Resources:PageTitle.Text%>.
• ASP.NET MVC - Localization Helpers -- suggested extensions for the Html helper classes like Resource(this Controller controller, string expression, params object[] args). Similarly, Localize your MVC with ease suggested a slightly different extension like Localize(this System.Web.UI.UserControl control, string resourceKey, params object[] args)

None of these approaches works while in a controller. I put together the below function and I'm using the controllers full class name as my VirtualPath. But I'm new to MVC and assume there's a better way.

    public static string Localize (System.Type theType, string resourceKey, params object[] args) {
         string resource = (HttpContext.GetLocalResourceObject(theType.FullName, resourceKey) ?? string.Empty).ToString();
         return mergeTokens(resource, args);
    }

Thoughts? Comments?

Answer 1

I had the same question. This blogpost showed different ways to solve the problem: http://carrarini.blogspot.com/2010/08/localize-aspnet-mvc-2-dataannotations.html

In the end I used a T4 template to generate a resources class. I also have a HtmlHelper method to access my resources:

public static string TextFor(this HtmlHelper html, string resourceName, string globalResourceName, params object [] args)
{
    object text = HttpContext.GetGlobalResourceObject(globalResourceName, resourceName);
    return text != null ? string.Format(text.ToString(), args) : resourceName;
}

Another version generates a localized version from Controller and View:

public static string LocalTextFor(this HtmlHelper html, string resourceName, params object [] args)
{
    string localResourceName = string.Format("{0}.{1}", html.ViewContext.RouteData.Values["controller"],
                                                 html.ViewContext.RouteData.Values["action"]);
    object text = HttpContext.GetGlobalResourceObject(localResourceName, resourceName);
    return text != null ? string.Format(text.ToString(), args) : langName;
}