Lugha.WinUI 0.2.0

Lugha.WinUI

WinUI 3 integration for the Lugha typed localisation ecosystem. Provides a reactive locale host, an immutable locale registry with BCP 47 fallback, system language synchronisation, and RTL flow direction support - enabling runtime language switching with full compile-time safety.

dotnet add package Lugha.WinUI

Requires .NET 10 and Windows App SDK 1.8 or later.

Quick Start

1. Create a locale registry

LocaleRegistry<TLocale> is an immutable, thread-safe dictionary mapping BCP 47 language tags to pre-constructed locale instances. It uses FrozenDictionary with case-insensitive lookup. Create it once at application startup.

var registry = new LocaleRegistry<IAppLocale>([
    new EnGbLocale(),
    new ArSaLocale(),
    new EsEsLocale(),
]);

Each locale's Culture.Name is used as the lookup key.

2. Create a locale host

LocaleHost<TLocale> is the reactive bridge between Lugha's immutable locale model and WinUI's binding system. It implements INotifyPropertyChanged so that x:Bind with Mode=OneWay re-evaluates all text bindings when the active locale changes.

EnGbLocale defaultLocale = new();
var host = new LocaleHost<IAppLocale>(
    registry.Resolve("en-GB", defaultLocale),
    DispatcherQueue.GetForCurrentThread());

The host is the single point of mutable state in the Lugha ecosystem - all text resolution remains pure. Only the selection of which locale is active is mutable.

3. Store as a singleton

Both LocaleRegistry and LocaleHost should be created once and shared across the application. In App.xaml.cs:

public sealed partial class App : Application
{
    public static LocaleRegistry<IAppLocale>? Registry { get; private set; }
    public static LocaleHost<IAppLocale>? Host { get; private set; }
    public static Window? MainWindow { get; private set; }

    protected override void OnLaunched(LaunchActivatedEventArgs args)
    {
        EnGbLocale defaultLocale = new();
        Registry = new LocaleRegistry<IAppLocale>([
            defaultLocale,
            new ArSaLocale(),
            new EsEsLocale(),
        ]);

        MainWindow = new MainWindow();
        Host = new LocaleHost<IAppLocale>(
            Registry.Resolve("en-GB", defaultLocale),
            MainWindow.DispatcherQueue);
        MainWindow.Activate();
    }
}

4. Bind in XAML

Invariant text (labels, titles) binds directly to the locale host's Current property:

<Page x:Class="MyApp.Views.MainPage">
    <StackPanel>
        
        <TextBlock Text="{x:Bind Host.Current.Navigation.Dashboard, Mode=OneWay}" />
        <TextBlock Text="{x:Bind Host.Current.Navigation.Settings, Mode=OneWay}" />
    </StackPanel>
</Page>

Parameterised text (methods with arguments) can use x:Bind path-to-function syntax. x:Bind re-evaluates the entire path when Host.PropertyChanged fires for Current:

<TextBlock Text="{x:Bind Host.Current.Connection.Connected(ViewModel.ServerName), Mode=OneWay}" />

This eliminates the need for code-behind bridge properties for parameterised strings. The x:Bind compiler generates the method call and re-evaluates it whenever either Host.Current or ViewModel.ServerName changes.

5. Switch locale at runtime

Use the registry to resolve a locale by tag, then set it on the host. This can be called from any thread - the property change notification is dispatched to the UI thread via DispatcherQueue.

private void OnLanguageSelected(string languageTag)
{
    if (App.Registry is not { } registry) return;
    if (registry.Resolve(languageTag) is not { } locale) return;
    if (App.Host is { } host) host.SetLocale(locale);
    if (App.MainWindow?.Content is FrameworkElement root)
        SystemLanguageSync.Apply(locale, root);
}

BCP 47 Subtag Fallback

Resolve(string) strips subtags right-to-left until a match is found. This enables registering a base locale (e.g. es) and matching regional variants (e.g. es-419, es-MX) without registering each explicitly:

var registry = new LocaleRegistry<IAppLocale>([
    new EsLocale(),     // es
    new EsEsLocale(),   // es-ES
]);

registry.Resolve("es-ES");  // exact match -> EsEsLocale
registry.Resolve("es-419"); // strips to es -> EsLocale
registry.Resolve("es-MX");  // strips to es -> EsLocale
registry.Resolve("fr-FR");  // no match -> null

The fallback overload provides a non-nullable result:

EnGbLocale fallback = new();
IAppLocale locale = registry.Resolve("zh-Hans", fallback); // returns fallback

Exact matches use the original string with no allocation. The fallback loop allocates one string per subtag stripped - acceptable for this cold path (called once per locale switch).

System Language and RTL

SystemLanguageSync

SystemLanguageSync synchronises the Windows App SDK language setting with the active locale. It is deliberately separate from LocaleHost because ApplicationLanguages.PrimaryLanguageOverride is a global, persistent side effect that survives application restarts.

Packaged apps only. ApplicationLanguages.PrimaryLanguageOverride requires a packaged (MSIX) application identity. Calling it from an unpackaged app (WindowsPackageType=None) throws InvalidOperationException. If your application is unpackaged, skip SystemLanguageSync and use FlowDirection() directly for RTL support.

// Set the platform language override only
SystemLanguageSync.Apply(locale);

// Set the platform language override and update RTL flow direction
SystemLanguageSync.Apply(locale, rootElement);

FlowDirection() extension

The FlowDirection() extension method on ILocale returns the WinUI FlowDirection enum value based on CultureInfo.TextInfo.IsRightToLeft:

FlowDirection direction = locale.FlowDirection();
// en-GB -> LeftToRight
// ar-SA -> RightToLeft

Use this to update layout when switching locales:

rootElement.FlowDirection = locale.FlowDirection();

Full locale switch

Combine registry resolution, host update, and system sync for a complete locale switch:

private void OnLanguageSelected(string languageTag)
{
    if (App.Registry is not { } registry) return;
    if (registry.Resolve(languageTag) is not { } locale) return;
    if (App.Host is { } host) host.SetLocale(locale);
    if (App.MainWindow?.Content is FrameworkElement root)
        SystemLanguageSync.Apply(locale, root);
}

Multi-Window Locale

Each LocaleHost<TLocale> is bound to the DispatcherQueue of the thread that owns its UI elements. For multi-window applications, create a separate LocaleHost per window, sharing the same LocaleRegistry:

// Main window
var mainHost = new LocaleHost<IAppLocale>(locale, mainWindow.DispatcherQueue);

// Secondary window (different thread)
var secondaryHost = new LocaleHost<IAppLocale>(locale, secondaryWindow.DispatcherQueue);

Both hosts share the immutable registry and locale instances. Switching locale on one host does not affect the other - coordinate explicitly if desired.

API Reference

LocaleRegistry<TLocale>

LocaleHost<TLocale>

SystemLanguageSync

LocaleExtensions

Thread Safety

• LocaleRegistry<TLocale> is immutable after construction. Safe to read from any thread.
• LocaleHost<TLocale>.SetLocale may be called from any thread. If called off the UI thread, the property update is dispatched via DispatcherQueue.TryEnqueue. The PropertyChanged event always fires on the UI thread.
• Locale instances themselves are immutable and pure - sharing them across threads is safe.
• SystemLanguageSync.Apply must be called from the UI thread (it accesses FrameworkElement properties).

Sample Application

See Lugha.Samples.WinUI for a complete packaged WinUI 3 app demonstrating registry setup, locale switching, RTL layout, x:Bind bindings, and Gettext source generation with four locales.

Dependencies

• Lugha - core runtime library.
• Microsoft.WindowsAppSDK 1.8 or later.

Licence

Apache License 2.0