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Implementing In-app and pre-locale language selection in Android

Modern Android App Architecture

One of the essential features for a globalized app is the ability to provide users with the option to choose their preferred language within the application. In this blog post, we will guide you through the process of implementing in-app language selection in an Android app.

Step 1: Create Locale String Resource

Create a string resource file for each respective locale by navigating to res > new > Android Resource File. Select Locale and create a 
string.xml
file. Copy and paste the translations of your app content into these files.

Step 2: Configure Locale Preferences

In the res/xmlfolder, create a new file called locales_config.xml and specify the locales of your choice. for example look at the following code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <locale-config xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <locale android:name="en" /> //English <locale android:name="ta" /> //Tamil <locale android:name="hi" /> //Hindi <locale android:name="ml" /> //Malayalam </locale-config>

Step 3: Add resource.properties file

Switch to project view and in the resfolder, create a new file called resources.properties and specify the default locales of your choice, this will be the fallback locale if the requested one is un-available,for example look at the following code:

unqualifiedResLocale=en

Step 4: Update Module Gradle File

The list of language tags need to added to resourseConfiguration make sure you add all the language tags, have shared the updated code below as per my sample app:

android { ... androidResources { generateLocaleConfig = true } ... defaultConfig { ... resourceConfigurations.plus(listOf("ta", "en", "hi", "your-language-tag")) } }

Step 5: Manifest Configuration

You can let the device handle the locales, for that we are going to use a service called androidx.appcompat.app.AppLocalesMetadataHolderService with the following configuration, you can just copy paste the following code

<application ...> <service android:name="androidx.appcompat.app.AppLocalesMetadataHolderService" android:enabled="false" android:exported="false"> <meta-data android:name="autoStoreLocales" android:value="true" /> </service> </application>

Step 6: Implement Locale Selection Function

fun localeSelection(context: Context, localeTag: String) { if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.TIRAMISU) { context.getSystemService(LocaleManager::class.java).applicationLocales = LocaleList.forLanguageTags(localeTag) } else { AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales( LocaleListCompat.forLanguageTags(localeTag) ) } }

Step 7: Usage Example

val context = LocalContext.current Button(onClick = { localeSelection(context = context, localeTag = Locale("ta").toLanguageTag()) }) { Text(text = "Tamil") }

That's it! You've successfully implemented in-app language selection in your Android app. Feel free to check out the sample app on GitHub for a hands-on example.

If you encounter any issues or have questions, please leave a comment, and will do my best to assist you.

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