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diff --git a/mobile/android/docs/localeswitching.rst b/mobile/android/docs/localeswitching.rst deleted file mode 100644 index 8fcb41976..000000000 --- a/mobile/android/docs/localeswitching.rst +++ /dev/null @@ -1,97 +0,0 @@ -.. -*- Mode: rst; fill-column: 80; -*- - -==================================== - Runtime locale switching in Fennec -==================================== - -`Bug 917480 <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=917480>`_ built on `Bug 936756 <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=936756>`_ to allow users to switch between supported locales at runtime, within Fennec, without altering the system locale. - -This document aims to describe the overall architecture of the solution, along with guidelines for Fennec developers. - -Overview -======== - -There are two places that locales are relevant to an Android application: the Java ``Locale`` object and the Android configuration itself. - -Locale switching involves manipulating these values (to affect future UI), persisting them for future activities, and selectively redisplaying existing UI elements to give the appearance of responsive switching. - -The user's choice of locale is stored in a per-app pref, ``"locale"``. If missing, the system default locale is used. If set, it should be a locale code like ``"es"`` or ``"en-US"``. - -``BrowserLocaleManager`` takes care of updating the active locale when asked to do so. It also manages persistence and retrieval of the locale preference. - -The question, then, is when to do so. - -Locale events -============= - -One might imagine that we need only set the locale when our Application is instantiated, and when a new locale is set. Alas, that's not the case: whenever there's a configuration change (*e.g.*, screen rotation), when a new activity is started, and at other apparently random times, Android will supply our activities with a configuration that's been reset to the system locale. - -For this reason, each starting activity must ask ``BrowserLocaleManager`` to fix its locale. - -Ideally, we also need to perform some amount of work when our configuration changes, when our activity is resumed, and perhaps when a result is returned from another activity, if that activity can change the app locale (as is the case for any activity that calls out to ``GeckoPreferences`` -- see ``BrowserApp#onActivityResult``). - -``GeckoApp`` itself does some additional work, because it has particular performance constraints, and also is the typical root of the preferences activity. - -Here's an example of the work that a typical activity should do:: - - // This is cribbed from o.m.g.sync.setup.activities.LocaleAware. - public static void initializeLocale(Context context) { - final LocaleManager localeManager = BrowserLocaleManager.getInstance(); - if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < Build.VERSION_CODES.GINGERBREAD) { - localeManager.getAndApplyPersistedLocale(context); - } else { - final StrictMode.ThreadPolicy savedPolicy = StrictMode.allowThreadDiskReads(); - StrictMode.allowThreadDiskWrites(); - try { - localeManager.getAndApplyPersistedLocale(context); - } finally { - StrictMode.setThreadPolicy(savedPolicy); - } - } - } - - @Override - public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) { - final LocaleManager localeManager = BrowserLocaleManager.getInstance(); - final Locale changed = localeManager.onSystemConfigurationChanged(this, getResources(), newConfig, mLastLocale); - if (changed != null) { - // Redisplay to match the locale. - onLocaleChanged(BrowserLocaleManager.getLanguageTag(changed)); - } - } - - @Override - public void onCreate(Bundle icicle) { - // Note that we don't do this in onResume. We should, - // but it's an edge case that we feel free to ignore. - // We also don't have a hook in this example for when - // the user picks a new locale. - initializeLocale(this); - - super.onCreate(icicle); - } - -``GeckoApplication`` itself handles correcting locales when the configuration changes; your activity shouldn't need to do this itself. See ``GeckoApplication``'s and ``GeckoApp``'s ``onConfigurationChanged`` methods. - -System locale changes -===================== - -Fennec can be in one of two states. - -If the user has not explicitly chosen a Fennec-specific locale, we say -we are "mirroring" the system locale. - -When we are not mirroring, system locale changes do not impact Fennec -and are essentially ignored; the user's locale selection is the only -thing we care about, and we actively correct incoming configuration -changes to reflect the user's chosen locale. - -By contrast, when we are mirroring, system locale changes cause Fennec -to reflect the new system locale, as if the user picked the new locale. - -When the system locale changes when we're mirroring, your activity will receive an ``onConfigurationChanged`` call. Simply pass this on to ``BrowserLocaleManager``, and then handle the response appropriately. - -Further reference -================= - -``GeckoPreferences``, ``GeckoApp``, and ``BrowserApp`` are excellent resources for figuring out what you should do. |