1. Home
2. Docs
3. Globalization

Globalization

IGlobalizationService combines culture state, translation lookup, region metadata, measurement-system policy, and framework-neutral flow direction. The service lives in the core and does not reference Avalonia, WPF, MAUI, WinUI, or Uno.

var cultures = new CultureService(CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"));
var translations = new TranslationService(provider, cultures);
var globalization = new GlobalizationService(cultures, translations);

Use the adapter packages to map this core state into native XAML bindings and native FlowDirection values.

Culture State

ICultureService exposes:

• CurrentCulture for number, date, currency, and string.Format behavior.
• CurrentUICulture for translation lookup.
• CurrentRegion derived from the formatting culture.
• FlowDirection derived from the UI culture.
• CultureChanged with old and new formatting/UI culture snapshots.

cultures.SetCulture(CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("pl-PL"));

cultures.SetCulture(
    CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("pl-PL"),
    CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"));

Calling SetCulture with the same formatting culture and UI culture is idempotent and does not raise a change event.

CultureService construction captures the initial culture without changing ambient thread state. By default, explicit SetCulture calls apply active cultures to CultureInfo.DefaultThreadCurrentCulture, CultureInfo.DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture, Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture, and Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture. Hosts that need culture isolation can opt out:

var cultures = new CultureService(
    CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"),
    new CultureServiceOptions
    {
        ApplyToCurrentThread = false,
        ApplyToDefaultThread = false
    });

RegionProfile

RegionProfile is an immutable snapshot over .NET RegionInfo plus the culture that was used to resolve it.

RegionProfile region = globalization.RegionProfile;

string regionCode = region.TwoLetterISORegionName;
string nativeName = region.NativeName;
string currency = region.ISOCurrencySymbol;
bool isMetric = region.IsMetric;

The default provider resolves regions from the formatting culture. Neutral cultures are converted to a specific culture before constructing RegionInfo; invariant culture falls back to RegionInfo.CurrentRegion in CultureService.

Use SetRegionOverride when the user wants language and region policy to differ:

globalization.SetRegionOverride(new RegionInfo("US"));
globalization.ClearRegionOverride();

A region override affects RegionProfile, MeasurementSystem, MeasurementSystemProfile, and IsMetric. It does not change CurrentCulture, CurrentUICulture, or provider lookup.

MeasurementSystemProfile

MeasurementSystemProfile describes default unit labels for the resolved measurement policy:

MeasurementSystemProfile profile = globalization.MeasurementSystemProfile;

string length = profile.LengthUnit;
string temperature = profile.TemperatureUnit;
string mass = profile.MassUnit;
string volume = profile.VolumeUnit;
string speed = profile.SpeedUnit;

The default resolver maps regions as follows:

Region	Measurement system	Profile
US, LR, MM	USCustomary	ft, F, lb, gal, mph
GB	Imperial	ft, C, st, imp gal, mph
metric regions	Metric	m, C, kg, l, km/h
remaining regions	Custom	empty unit labels

Use SetMeasurementSystemOverride when user preference should win over region defaults:

globalization.SetMeasurementSystemOverride(MeasurementSystem.Metric);
globalization.ClearMeasurementSystemOverride();

Overrides are evaluated when the profile is read. Setting or clearing region and measurement overrides raises IGlobalizationService.CultureChanged with the current formatting and UI cultures on both sides of the event payload. Use that event as the single refresh signal for culture and globalization preference changes.

Unit Conversion And Localized Units

IUnitConversionService converts values across supported length, temperature, mass, volume, and speed units:

double miles = globalization.UnitConverter.Convert(
    42.2,
    MeasurementUnit.Kilometer,
    MeasurementUnit.Mile);

ILocalizedUnitFormatter applies culture-aware number formatting and unit symbols:

string display = globalization.UnitFormatter.Format(
    miles,
    MeasurementUnit.Mile,
    globalization.CurrentCulture,
    "N1");

For profile-driven display, use the combined helpers:

MeasurementValue converted = globalization.ConvertMeasurement(100, MeasurementUnit.Kilometer);
string text = globalization.FormatMeasurementForProfile(100, MeasurementUnit.Kilometer, "N1");

Applications can replace either service in DI for domain-specific unit policies.

Flow Direction

Core flow direction is represented by TextFlowDirection:

TextFlowDirection direction = globalization.FlowDirection;

The value is derived from CurrentUICulture.TextInfo.IsRightToLeft. For example, ar-SA and he-IL resolve to RightToLeft; pl-PL resolves to LeftToRight.

Adapters map core or culture state to native framework values:

• Avalonia: Avalonia.Media.FlowDirection
• WPF: System.Windows.FlowDirection
• MAUI: Microsoft.Maui.FlowDirection
• WinUI and Uno: Microsoft.UI.Xaml.FlowDirection

In XAML, enable automatic direction updates through attached properties:

<Grid pt:Translation.Culture="{Binding Culture}"
      pt:Translation.AutoFlowDirection="True" />

When Translation.Culture changes, adapters set the shared ProTranslate culture service. If AutoFlowDirection is enabled, they also update the native flow-direction property for the target element. WPF and WinUI also update the native language metadata on framework elements.

Culture Switching In UI

Markup extensions bind through TranslationBindingSource. When the core translation service raises CultureChanged, the binding source raises PropertyChanged for Culture and Item[], which refreshes indexed translation bindings.

Attached Translation.Key paths subscribe weakly to binding-source changes and refresh supported text/content controls:

• Avalonia: TextBlock, TextBox, ContentControl
• WPF: TextBlock, TextBox, HeaderedContentControl, ContentControl
• MAUI: Label, Button, Entry, Editor, SearchBar
• WinUI and Uno: TextBlock, ContentControl

Avalonia runtime automation validates translated text refresh, formatted value refresh, attached translation properties, culture switching, automatic RTL flow direction, and release-only leak paths for disposed adapter targets. WPF, MAUI, WinUI, and Uno still rely primarily on build validation and manual/runtime host testing for broader dispatcher behavior. Keep long-lived application services in DI and dispose custom binding sources when you create them manually.