International Application Development

A version of this page is also available for

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3

4/8/2010

Making software that accommodates differences in language, culture, and hardware is called internationalization. The goal of internationalization is to present users with a consistent look, feel, and functionality across different language editions of a product. Users expect localized software to support the same basic functionality that the original–language edition of the product does, and they expect it to have the same level of quality. They also expect different language editions to interact smoothly with one another.

Windows Mobile provides support for numerous character codes, as well as linguistic and cultural conventions through Unicode and national language support (NLS). Unicode is a universal character encoding system, while NLS carries information on date, time, calendar, number, and currency formats. NLS also provides sorting and character-type information for all the locales supported by the operating system (OS).

In This Section

• Programming and Designing a Global Application
  Describes the Unicode standard, and shows how to work with Unicode surrogates. Also describes how to specify locales with NLS.

• Window Layout and Mirroring
  Provides an overview of the mirroring concepts and describes how to mirror specific user interface elements.

• Complex Scripts Overview
  Provides a general overview of Complex Scripts and the supporting technologies.

  Note that there is currently no language support for Complex Scripts in Windows Mobile. Font files are available, however.

Related Sections

• Input Method Manager (IMM)
  Provides a comprehensive overview of IMM. IMM manages the communication between an Input Method Editor (IME) and an application.

• Multilingual User Interface (MUI)
  Provides information about MUI support in Windows Mobile. MUI allows users to change the language of the user interface (UI). Shows how to use MUI to create a multilingual run–time image.

• National Language Support (NLS)
  Provides information about NLS support in Windows Mobile. NLS enables to support the different locale–specific needs of users around the world.

• Programming with Unicode and NLS
  Provides guidelines on internationalizing software and shows how to create an international user interface.

• Working with the Input Method Editor
  Provides an overview of the Input Method System and the IME user interface. Shows how to work with the Input Method Editor using the Input Method Manager (IMM) programming elements.

• Fonts
  Provides a comprehensive overview of the fonts that are supported in Windows Embedded CE and shows how to customize fonts for an application.

• Software-based Input Panel
  Provides a comprehensive overview of the Software-Based Input Panel (SIP) architecture in Windows Mobile. Explains how to program input methods and a Software-based Input Panel.