The Visual Studio International Pack 1.0 has been released. The pack is a set of .NET Framework class libraries that extended internationalization support in the .NET Framework. In version 1.0 the set of classes all improve support for East Asian cultures. Here's what's in this release:-

• East Asia Numeric Formatting Library - Format numeric data into Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean capital style string.
• Japanese Kana Conversion Library - Convert one Kana character set to another character representation in Japanese.
• Japanese Text Alignment Library - Enable applications to render strings in Japanese-specific alignment style.
• Japanese Yomi Auto-Completion Library - Provide class library and TextBox control sample that support Japanese IME-aware auto-complete.
• Korean Auto Complete TextBox Control - Provide TextBox control that supports auto-complete and the Intellisense feature with Korean input.
• Simplified Chinese Pin-Yin Conversion Library - Retrieve Simplified Chinese characters' properties such as polyphone, homophone, Pinyin or number of strokes.
• Traditional Chinese to Simplified Chinese Conversion Library and Add-In Tool - Convert text in Traditional Chinese into Simplified Chinese or vice versa. This component also includes an add-in tool to the in VS IDE that can convert between Simplified and Traditional Chinese resource files.

Technorati Tags: Internationalization, East Asian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese

One of the new localization features in Visual Studio 2008 is the PublicResXFileCodeGenerator. In both Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 you can create a resource file (e.g. ExceptionResources.resx) and Visual Studio will associate a .Designer.cs file (e.g. ExceptionResources.Designer.cs) with it. The .Designer.cs file contains a strongly typed resource class that allows you to refer to the resource entries as properties of the generated class (e.g. ExceptionResources.CustomExceptionMessage). This system works well but the class and its properties are marked as internal and consequently they can only be accessed from within the same assembly. Visual Studio 2008 allows these classes and their properties to be public. By default the resources are still internal and you can see this by selecting the .resx file in Solution Explorer and then bringing up the Properties Window. You will see a property called Custom Tool and it will be set to ResXFileCodeGenerator. This is the code generator that uses the .NET Framework's StronglyTypedResourceBuilder class to generate the code for the .Designer.cs file. The StronglyTypedResourceBuilder (and its associated command line tool ResGen) both accept a parameter to generate public resources but the ResXFileCodeGenerator sets this value to false and so the resources are internal. Visual Studio 2008, however, introduces a new generator called a PublicResXFileCodeGenerator and this generator sets this value to true. To generate public strongly typed resource classes instead of internal ones set the Custom Tool to PublicResXFileCodeGenerator.

Alternatively you can set the Access Modifier drop down in the Resource Editor to Public to achieve the same result (there are three values: Internal, Public and No code generation). It is worth knowing that this Visual Studio 2008 feature is simply a design time feature and the generated code is still .NET Framework 2.0 compatible.

Of course, it is also possible to write your own replacement for the ResXFileCodeGenerator and PublicResXFileCodeGenerator and you can download an example of this at http://www.dotneti18n.com/downloads.aspx.

Technorati Tags: Localization, Internationalization, ResXFileCodeGenerator, PublicResXFileCodeGenerator, Strongly Typed Resource Classes, resx

I started this blog just over two and a half years ago on 21st October 2005. Today "blog mark 2" has gone live. There have been a number of changes I have been wanting to make for a long, long time now and recent events have ensured that now would be that time. This new blog has much improved functionality and I'm looking forward to using it for some of the ideas that I've been holding back for a while. The blog's not quite finished yet and you can still see a few rough edges but I'll be tweaking and updating over the coming days and weeks to shape it into what I want.

 Here's to the next two and a half years.

Unfortunately one on’t cross beams gone owt askew on’t treddle and I’ve been have some blog disturbance recently. The good news is that this has been temporarily resolved and will be permanently resolved shortly. At such time if you are using an RSS aggregator to read this blog then you will probably need to re-subscribe to the feed to enjoy uninterrupted coverage.

Watch this space...

After last year’s MIX:UK 07 comes the obvious successor: ReMix UK 08. This year it is on Thursday and Friday 18th and 19th September 2008 in Brighton (remember, Daniel Moth has gone now so it’s ok to hold events in Brighton again - it’s been a long wait). If you’re one of the first 300 people to book you can get in for £239 (inc. VAT) otherwise the full price is £349 (inc VAT). Here’s the official abstract:-

ReMix UK 08 is a 48 hour conversation between web designers, developers and business decision makers; showcasing topics and solutions that are helping to forge the future of this medium. Exploring beyond both Microsoft and non-Microsoft points of view; this event gives you the unique opportunity to participate in the inclusive and participatory nature of the next web.

And whilst we’re on the subject of MIX:UK you can now watch the videos of all of the MIX:UK 07 sessions at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/mix07.

Technorati Tags: MIX, MIX:UK, Remix, Remix UK

I rarely present at my home user group (The .NET Developer Network) in Bristol but next month I’m making an exception. On Tuesday 8th July 2008 I’m giving two separate presentations:-

• How To Give Great Presentations
  Ever wanted to give great presentations at work, user groups, conferences or DDD ? This presentation is for you. It is designed to teach you everything you need to know about making your presentation an excellent presentation. Almost anyone can learn how to give great presentations; it is all a matter of knowing how to choose your subject, how to prepare your presentation, how to give your presentation and what not to do in your presentation. The information provided in this session is the accumulation of tips and tricks of over 20 years of giving and receiving technical presentations, running a technical training company and being the trainer for Borland’s European Train The Trainer programme. No previous experience required.
• Top 10 Tips For Internationalizing ASP.NET Applications
  The localization model introduced in ASP.NET 2 is effective and easy to learn. On the face of it you select Tools | Generate Local Resources and you’re done. But this process is only effective if you know localization and globalization issues to look for. This session provides a Top Ten list of localization and globalization issues that are specific to ASP.NET applications and shows how to overcome these problems. Without giving too much away a few of the issues covered are localizing images, localizing JavaScript, globalizing regular expressions and preparing aspx and ascx files for effective localization.

These two don’t have much in common but they’re on two of my favourite subjects so it should be a good night. For full details go here.

Technorati Tags: DotNetDevNet, The .NET Developer Network, I18N, Internationalization, ASP.NET

Daniel Moth is going. 14 years he’s been in the UK and the last two and a half have been as a Developer Evangelist at Microsoft UK. And now he is off to Redmond to be a Program Manager on the .NET Parallel Extensions team. Fest 08, this Thursday 12th June 2008, will see his final UK presentation before he is gone and the UK will have lost another quarter of the finest Developer Evangelist team on the planet. Daniel has definately played his part over the last few years in the golden age of the UK .NET community delivering consistently excellent presentations in a style that is very uniquely Daniel.

Good luck in your new world, Daniel, and I hope it all goes horribly wrong so you come back to the UK to continue your good works.

And if you want to hear a great podcast all about Daniel Moth (by Daniel Moth doing a great impression of Richard Costall and Dave McMahon) featuring tributes from members of the community then download the latest NxtGen podcast at http://www.nxtgenug.net/Podcasts.aspx?PodcastID=54.

The USB flak jacket mentioned in the podcast that was the parting gift to Daniel from the community is being modelled here by Daniel himself after we caught him unawares at the end of his session at DDD Scotland:-

Technorati Tags: Daniel Moth, NxtGen, .NET Parallel Extensions, DDD Scotland

The Call For Speakers for DDD7 is now open. Sessions that are relevant to our community are requested from one and all (you have to be resident in this community to be eligible). If you haven’t spoken before and feel like giving it a go you can get some hints here. You can expect the following rough timetable of events (but don’t be surprised if the dates are out by a bit):-

• 2 June 2008 - Call For Speakers Opens
• Last week of August - Call For Speakers Closes
• First week of September - Voting For Sessions Opens
• Last week of September - Voting For Sessions Closes
• First week of October - Speakers Notified Of Results
• Second week of October - Agenda Published
• Third week of October - Registration Opens
• Third week of October plus a couple of hours - Registration Is Full
• 22 November 2008 - DDD7

See you there.

Technorati Tags: DDD7, DDD