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Aug
24
Posted by:
Erik van Ballegoij
8/24/2008 10:23 PM
This blog is long overdue. In DotNetNuke 04.06.00 the language skinobject was beefed up to be much more versatile. Apart from just a dropdown menu, it can also display links to languages. Even though Lorraine blogged about the new appearance, there is much more to the skinobject than meets the eyes!
The skinobject supports 2 display modes: dropdown menu and template based repeater (you can even use both at the same time). Apart from that, there is a common header and a common footer available (both templatable).
All templates of the skinobject use the DNN core TokenReplace functionality as template engine. This means that you can control visible appearance of the language skin object to a great extent.
First, let us look at all attributes of the skinobject:
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Attribute Name
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Functionality
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Allowed values
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Default Value
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| CssClass |
String attribute, used to style the language dropdown list
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Any valid CSS Class name
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[empty]
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ShowMenu
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Boolean attribute, used to either display or hide the dropdown menu
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Tue, False
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True
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ShowLinks
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Boolean attribute, used to either display or hide the language links repeater
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True, False
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False
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CommonHeaderTemplate
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String attribute for template to be used as common header
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Any valid string
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[empty]
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HeaderTemplate
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String attribute for template to be used as repeater header
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Any valid string
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ItemTemplate
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String attribute for template to be used as repeater item
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Any valid string
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<a href="[URL]" class="Language" title="[CULTURE:NATIVENAME]"><img src="[I][FLAGSRC]" alt="[CULTURE:NATIVENAME]" border="0" /></a>
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AlternateTemplate
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String attribute for template to be used as alternate repeater item
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Any valid string
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[empty]
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SeparatorTemplate
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String attribute for template to be used as repeater separator item
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Any valid string
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FooterTemplate
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String attribute for template to be used as repeater footer item
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Any valid string
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[empty]
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CommonFooterTemplate
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String attribute for template to be used as common footer
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Any valid string
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[empty]
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In order to facilitate the display of cultures, a CulturePropertyAccess class was created, which is used to render the name of a culture based on the different display attributes of the .NET CultureInfo class. Inside the different template you can use the following CULTURE token properties to display the name of a culture:
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[CULTURE:DISPLAYNAME]
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Gets the culture name in the format "<languagefull> (<country/regionfull>)" in the language of the localized version of .NET Framework.
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[CULTURE:ENGLISHNAME]
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Gets the culture name in the format "<languagefull> (<country/regionfull>)" in English.
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[CULTURE:LCID]
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Gets the culture identifier for the current CultureInfo
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[CULTURE:NAME]
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Gets the culture name in the format "<languagecode2>-<country/regioncode2>".
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[CULTURE:NATIVENAME]
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Gets the culture name, consisting of the language, the country/region, and the optional script, that the culture is set to display.
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[CULTURE:TWOLETTERISOCODE]
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Gets the ISO 639-2 three-letter code for the language of the current CultureInfo
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[CULTURE:THREELETTERISOCODE]
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Gets the ISO 639-1 two-letter code for the language of the current CultureInfo |
(Descriptions copied from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.globalization.cultureinfo_members.aspx)
By the way: the CULTURE token is available throughout DotNetNuke in every module that supports TokenReplace
The following tokens are also supported inside the Language skinobject template:
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[URL]
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This will generate the correct URL for the current page in a specific culture
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[FLAGSRC]
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The name of a flag image (.gif only) for a specific culture, in the format "<languagecode2>-<country/regioncode2>.gif".
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[SELECTED]
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Returns “True” if a specific culture is the current culture.
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[LABEL]
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Inserts the Label text from the resource file.
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[I]
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Returns the directory that holds the core country flag images (/images/Flags)
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[P]
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Returns the portal directory
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[S]
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Returns the directory of the current skin
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[G]
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Returns the global (host) skin folder
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Some samples:
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Display
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Code (ascx)
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Description
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<dnn:LANGUAGE runat="server" ID="dnnLANGUAGE" ShowMenu="False" ShowLinks="True" />
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Default configuration in default DotNetNuke skin.
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<dnn:LANGUAGE runat="server" ID="dnnLANGUAGE" ShowLinks="False" ShowMenu="True" />
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Displays only dropdownlist
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<dnn:LANGUAGE runat="server" ID="dnnLANGUAGE" ShowLinks="False" ShowMenu="True" CommonFooterTemplate=' <img src="[I][FLAGSRC]" alt="[CULTURE:NATIVENAME]" border="0" />' />
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Displays dropdownlist and flag of currently selected language
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<dnn:LANGUAGE runat="server" ID="dnnLANGUAGE" ShowLinks="True" ShowMenu="False" ItemTemplate='<a href="[URL]" class="Language" title="[CULTURE:NATIVENAME]"><span class="Language[SELECTED]">[CULTURE:NAME]</span></a>'/>
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Displays text links for languages. Selected language has different classname
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Tags:
4 comment(s) so far...
Re: The Language SkinObject explained
Thanks for this indepth look at the Language SkinObject Erik. Great to learn the different options of what can be displayed. I'll update the Online Help accordingly.
By Lorraine Young on
8/25/2008 9:36 AM
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Re: The Language SkinObject explained
Nice documentation. But I allway use your MLLanguageSelector when I build ML DNN Sites for customers.
By kalak on
9/15/2008 8:46 AM
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Re: The Language SkinObject explained
Can we Hide "language/en-US" QueryString parameter for currently selected Language form URL ?
By chandresh_tycs on
9/15/2008 8:46 AM
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Re: The Language SkinObject explained
@chandresh_tycs: The question you are asking has nothing to do with the LANGUAGE skin object. You can turn off the language parameter in the url by going to Admin>Languages, and turn off the appropriate checkbox
By ErikVB on
9/15/2008 8:48 AM
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