Multilanguage UI with localized resources
A multi-language user-interface (MUI) for use in a mobile electronic device accesses language-dependent information. The MUI system includes a display, an operating system, a localized data store, and an application. The MUI system is used in displaying information in a selected language on the mobile electronic device. The needed language-dependent information may be localized or include a portion that is localized. When the application needs to display localized language-dependent information (e.g., resource strings, settings stored in a registry, or file names), this information is obtained from the localized data store, which also contains language-dependent for all of the languages supported by the mobile electronic device.
1. A method for configuring a multi-language mobile device to accommodate data variances among geographic locations, the method comprising:
configuring the multi-language mobile device to include a language resource data store on the multi-language mobile device, wherein the language resource data store includes a first group of non-localized language-dependent elements for viewing an application in a first language and a second group of non-localized language-dependent elements for viewing an application in a second language, the second language being different than the first language;
configuring the multi-language mobile device to include a geographical resource data store on the multi-language mobile device, wherein the geographical resource data store includes geographically dependent elements for association with the application to update the application for a geographic location;
processing a request from an application to retrieve geographically dependent elements;
providing requested geographically dependent elements from the geographic resource data store to the application; and
displaying the geographically dependent elements on the multi-language mobile device.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising processing a second request to access the language resource data store, the language resource data store including the language-dependent elements for viewing the application in the first language, the language resource data store having a plurality of language-dependent elements, each language-dependent element being associated with a uniquely identified language.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the language resource data store comprises a dynamically linked library.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a language setting of the multi-language mobile device.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geographical resource data store is organized hierarchically with a plurality of levels.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein processing the request further comprises accessing a level of the geographical resource data store to retrieve the requested geographically-dependent element.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising accessing another level hierarchically below the level when the requested geographically-dependent element is not found in the level.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geographical resource data store comprises a look-up table.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geographically dependent element is a file name formatted in the first language.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the geographical resource data store is accessible by an application to load the file name into the application.
11. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for configuring a multi-language mobile device to accommodate data variances among geographic locations, the instructions comprising:
configuring the multi-language mobile device to include a language resource data store on the multi-language mobile device, wherein the language resource data store includes a first group of non-localized language-dependent elements for viewing an application in a first language and a second group of non-localized language-dependent elements for viewing an application in a second language, the second language being different than the first language;
configuring the multi-language mobile device to include a geographical resource data store on the multi-language mobile device, wherein the geographical resource data store includes geographically dependent elements for association with an application to update the application for a geographic location;
processing a request from the application to retrieve geographically dependent elements;
providing requested geographically dependent elements from the geographic resource data store to the application; and
displaying the geographically dependent elements on the multi-language mobile device.
12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising processing a second request to access the language resource data store, the language resource data store including the language-dependent elements for viewing the application in the first language, the language resource data store having a plurality of language-dependent elements, each language-dependent element being associated with a uniquely identified language.
13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the language resource data store comprises a dynamically linked library.
14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising determining a language setting of the multi-language mobile device.
15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the geographical resource data store is organized hierarchically with a plurality of levels.
16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein processing the request further comprises accessing a level of the geographical resource data store to retrieve the requested geographically-dependent element.
17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising accessing another level hierarchically below the level when the requested geographically-dependent element is not found in the level.
18. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the geographical resource data store comprises a look-up table.
19. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the geographically dependent element is a file name formatted in the first language.
20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the geographical resource data store is accessible by the application to load the file name into the application.
21. A multi-language mobile electronic device, comprising:
a geographic resource data store means on the multi-language mobile electronic device for storing geographically dependent elements for a plurality of geographic locations, wherein the geographically dependent elements are stored for association with an application of the multi-language mobile electronic device to update the application for a geographic location;
means for processing a request from the application to retrieve geographically-dependent elements from the geographic resource data store means;
a language resource data store means on the multi-language mobile electronic device for storing language-dependent elements for viewing the application in a first and second language, the language resource data store means having a plurality of language-dependent elements, each language-dependent element being associated with a uniquely identified language;
means for displaying information; and
means for providing requested geographically-dependent elements from the geographic resource data store means to the application to be displayed.
22. The multi-language mobile electronic device of claim 21 , further comprising:
means for processing a second request to access the language resource data store means.
23. The multi-language mobile electronic device of claim 21 , further comprising means for determining a language setting of the mobile electronic device.
24. The multi-language mobile electronic device of claim 21 , wherein the geographic resource data store means is organized hierarchically with a plurality of levels.
25. The multi-language mobile electronic device of claim 24 , wherein the means for processing the request further comprises means for accessing a level of the geographic resource data store means to retrieve the requested geographically-dependent elements.
26. The multi-language mobile electronic device of claim 25 , wherein the means for accessing is configured to access another level that is hierarchically below the level when the requested geographically-dependent elements are not found in the level.
27. The multi-language mobile electronic device of claim 21 , wherein the geographic resource data store means comprises a registry.
28. The multi-language mobile electronic device of claim 21 , wherein the geographic resource data store means comprises a look-up table.
29. The multi-language mobile electronic device of claim 21 , wherein the geographically-dependent element comprises a file name formatted in the first language.
30. The multi-language mobile electronic device of claim 29 , wherein the geographic resource data store means is accessible by an application to load the file name into the application.
31. A system for configuring a multi-language mobile device to accommodate data variances of geographical regions, comprising:
a display unit;
a language resource data store on the multi-language mobile device, wherein the language resource data store is configured to store a first group of language-dependent elements for viewing an application in a first language and a second group of language-dependent elements for viewing the application in a second language, the second language being different than the first language;
a geographical resource data store on the multi-language mobile device, wherein the geographical resource data store is configured to store geographically-dependent elements for association with an application to update the application for a geographic location;
an application associated with the multi-language mobile device; and
an operating system coupled to the display, the geographical resource data store, and the application, wherein the operating system is configured to process a request from the application to retrieve geographically-dependent elements from the geographical resource data store, provide requested geographically-dependent elements from the geographical resource data store to the application, and cause the display unit to display the geographically-dependent elements.
32. The system of claim 31 , wherein the language resource data store includes a plurality of language-dependent elements, each of the language-dependent elements being associated with a uniquely identifier language, wherein the operating system is configured to process a second request from the application to access the language resource data store.
33. The system of claim 32 , wherein the language resource data store comprises a dynamically linked library.
34. The system of claim 31 , wherein the operating system is further configured to determine a language setting of the multi-language mobile device.
35. The system of claim 31 , wherein the geographical resource data store is organized hierarchically with a plurality of levels.
36. The system of claim 31 , wherein the geographically-dependent elements are associated with a base key of the registry.
37. The system of claim 36 , wherein the geographically-dependent elements are associated with a sub key of the base key.
38. The system of claim 31 , wherein the geographical resource data store comprises a look-up table.
39. The system of claim 31 , wherein the geographically-dependent elements are comprises a file name formatted in the first language.
40. The system of claim 39 , wherein the geographical resource data store is accessible by the application to load the file name into the application.
41. A computer-implemented method for configuring a multi-language mobile device to accommodate data variances of geographical regions, the method comprising:
providing an application for generating user interface elements;
configuring the multi-language mobile device to include a language resource data store on the multi-language mobile device, wherein the language resource data store includes a first group of language settings for the user interface elements associated with a first language, and a second group of language settings for the user interface elements associated with a second language, the second language being different than the first language;
configuring the multi-language mobile device to include a geographic resource data store on the multi-language mobile device having geographically specific user interface elements;
requesting a language setting associated with a language;
providing user interface elements in the language;
requesting a geographic specific user interface element; and
associating the geographically specific user interface element with the application.
42. The computer-implemented method of claim 41 , wherein the geographically specific user interface element is at least one of: a time zone name, daylight savings, and a name of a location.
43. The computer-implemented method of claim 41 , wherein the geographically specific user interface element includes the language of the language setting.
44. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for configuring a multi-language mobile device to accommodate data variances of geographical regions, the instructions comprising:
providing an application for generating geographically neutral user interface elements and geographically dependent user interface elements;
configuring the multi-language mobile device to include a language resource data store on the multi-language mobile device, wherein the language resource data store includes a first group of language settings for the neutral user interface elements associated with a first language, and a second group of language settings for the neutral user interface elements associated with a second language, the second language being different than the first language;
configuring the multi-language mobile device to include a geographic resource data store on the multi-language mobile device having the geographically specific user interface elements;
requesting a language setting associated with a language;
providing geographically neutral user interface elements in the language;
requesting a geographic specific user interface element; and
associating the geographically specific user interface element with the application.
45. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 , wherein the geographically specific user interface element is at least one of: a time zone name, daylight savings, and a name of a location.
46. A multi-language mobile device for accommodating data variances among geographical regions, the device comprising:
a language resource data store on the multi-language mobile device, wherein the language resource data store includes a first group of language settings for user interface elements associated with a first language, and a second group of language settings for user interface elements associated with a second language, the second language being different than the first language;
a geographic resource data store on the multi-language mobile device, wherein the geographic resource data store includes geographically specific user interface elements;
an application associated with a display for displaying the user interface elements on a display, wherein the application is configured to:
request, from the language resource data store, a language setting associated with a language;
display the user interface elements in the language;
request, from the geographic resource data store, a geographically specific user interface element; and
display the geographically specific user interface elements.
47. The computer-implemented method of claim 46 , wherein the geographically specific user interface element is at least one of: a time zone name, daylight savings, and a name of a location.