How to test a localized app for Windows Phone 8
[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]
You can use the Windows Phone Emulator to test your localized app. By changing the display language to each language that your app targets, you can help verify that your content renders correctly.
This topic contains the following sections.
- Mapping culture names to display languages
- Testing a localized app title
- Testing localized strings
- Related Topics
Mapping culture names to display languages
When selecting a display language in the region & language settings page, the strings that are displayed for each language are not always easily recognizable. The following table maps which display language string applies to which culture name.
Culture name |
Culture code |
Display language string |
|---|---|---|
Chinese Simplified (PRC) |
zh-CN |
中文(繁体) |
Chinese Traditional (Taiwan) |
zh-TW |
中文(繁體) |
Czech (Czech Republic) |
cs-CZ |
Čeština |
Danish (Denmark) |
da-DK |
Dansk |
Dutch (Netherlands) |
nl-NL |
Nederlands |
English (United Kingdom) |
en-GB |
English (United Kingdom) |
English (United States) |
en-US |
English (United States) |
Finnish (Finland) |
fi-FI |
Suomi |
French (France) |
fr-FR |
Français |
German (Germany) |
de-DE |
Deutsch |
Greek (Greece) |
el-GR |
Ελληνικά |
Hungarian (Hungary) |
hu-HU |
Magyar |
Indonesian (Indonesia) |
id-ID |
Bahasa Indonesia |
Italian (Italy) |
it-IT |
Italiano |
Japanese (Japan) |
ja-JP |
日本語 |
Korean (Korea) |
ko-KR |
한국어 |
Malay (Malaysia) |
ms-MY |
Bahasa Melayu |
Norwegian (Norway) |
nb-NO |
Norsk (bokmål) |
Polish (Poland) |
pl-PL |
Polski |
Portuguese (Brazil) |
pt-BR |
Português (Brasil) |
Portuguese (Portugal) |
pt-PT |
Português (Portugal) |
Russian (Russia) |
ru-RU |
Pусский |
Spanish (Spain) |
es-ES |
Español |
Swedish (Sweden) |
sv-SE |
Svenska |
Testing a localized app title
To test a localized app title
On the Debug menu, click Start debugging.
The app opens in the emulator.
Click the Start button, and then click the arrow icon.
The app list appears.
Click and hold your app title until the context menu appears, and then click pin to start.
Click the Start button, and then click the arrow icon.
The app list appears.
Click Settings, and then click region & language.
The settings appear.
Click Display language and then click one of the languages. You can use the table in the "Mapping Culture Names to Display Languages" section to determine which display language string to click.
You automatically return to the region & language settings page.
Click Tap here to accept changes and restart your phone.
The emulator changes the setting, and returns to the Start screen.
Verify that the language of the title that appears on the app Tile matches the language setting that you selected.
Click the arrow icon.
The app list appears.
Verify that the language of the title that appears on the app Tile matches the language setting that you selected.
Repeat the above steps to test the other language resource strings that you created.
Note
The placement of each UI element on the screen remains the same regardless of the display language. Note the placement of UI items in your primary language so that you can easily change between display languages.
Testing localized strings
If your app has localized strings, follow the below steps to test the strings.
To test localized strings
On the Debug menu, click Start debugging.
The app opens in the emulator.
Click the Start button, and then click the arrow icon.
The app list appears.
Click Settings, and then click region & language.
The settings appear.
Click Display language and then click one of the languages. You can use the table in the "Mapping Culture Names to Display Languages" section to determine which display language string to click.
You automatically return to the region & language settings page.
Click Tap here to accept changes and restart your phone.
The emulator changes the setting, and returns to the Start screen.
Launch your app by returning to the app list, and clicking the name of your app.
Verify that the language of each localized string matches the display language setting that you selected.
Repeat the above steps to test the other language resource strings that you created.
Note
The placement of each UI element on the screen remains the same regardless of the display language. Note the placement of UI items in your primary language so that you can easily change between display languages.