On iPhone NSLocalizedString
returns the string in the language of the iPhone.
Is it possible to force NSLocalizedString
to use a specific language to have the app
in a different language than the device ?
Ios – How to force NSLocalizedString to use a specific language
internationalizationioslocalizationnslocalizedstringobjective c
Related Solutions
Creating ad-hoc distribution profiles
The instructions that Apple provides are here, but here is how I created a general provisioning profile that will work with multiple apps, and added a beta tester.
My setup:
- Xcode 3.2.1
- iPhone SDK 3.1.3
Before you get started, make sure that..
- You can run the app on your own iPhone through Xcode.
Step A: Add devices to the Provisioning Portal
Send an email to each beta tester with the following message:
To get my app on onto your iPhone I need some information about your phone. Guess what, there is an app for that!
Click on the below link and install and then run the app.
http://itunes.apple.com/app/ad-hoc-helper/id285691333?mt=8
This app will create an email. Please send it to me.
Collect all the UDIDs from your testers.
Go to the Provisioning Portal.
Go to the section Devices.
Click on the button Add Devices and add the devices previously collected.
Step B: Create a new provisioning profile
Start the Mac OS utility program Keychain Access.
In its main menu, select Keychain Access / Certificate Assistant / Request a Certificate From a Certificate Authority...
The dialog that pops up should aready have your email and name it it.
Select the radio button Saved to disk and Continue.
Save the file to disk.
Go back to the Provisioning Portal.
Go to the section Certificates.
Go to the tab Distribution.
Click the button Request Certificate.
Upload the file you created with Keychain Access: CertificateSigningRequest.certSigningRequest.
Click the button Aprove.
Refresh your browser until the status reads Issued.
Click the Download button and save the file distribution_identify.cer.
Doubleclick the file to add it to the Keychain.
Backup the certificate by selecting its private key and the File / Export Items....
Go back to the Provisioning Portal again.
Go to the section Provisioning.
Go to the tab Distribution.
Click the button New Profile.
Select the radio button Ad hoc.
Enter a profile name, I named mine Evertsson Common Ad Hoc.
Select the app id. I have a common app id to use for multiple apps: Evertsson Common.
Select the devices, in my case my own and my tester's.
Submit.
Refresh the browser until the status field reads Active.
Click the button Download and save the file to disk.
Doubleclick the file to add it to Xcode.
Step C: Build the app for distribution
Open your project in Xcode.
Open the Project Info pane: In Groups & Files select the topmost item and press Cmd+I.
Go to the tab Configuration.
Select the configuration Release.
Click the button Duplicate and name it Distribution.
Close the Project Info pane.
Open the Target Info pane: In Groups & Files expand Targets, select your target and press Cmd+I.
Go to the tab Build.
Select the Configuration named Distribution.
Find the section Code Signing.
Set the value of Code Signing Identity / Any iPhone OS Device to iPhone Distribution.
Close the Target Info pane.
In the main window select the Active Configuration to Distribution.
Create a new file from the file template Code Signing / Entitlements.
Name it Entitlements.plist.
In this file, uncheck the checkbox get-task-allow.
Bring up the Target Info pane, and find the section Code Signing again.
After Code Signing Entitlements enter the file name Entitlements.plist.
Save, clean, and build the project.
In Groups & Files find the folder MyApp / Products and expand it.
Right click the app and select Reveal in Finder.
Zip the .app file and the .mobileprovision file and send the archive to your tester.
Here is my app. To install it onto your phone:
Unzip the archive file.
Open iTunes.
Drag both files into iTunes and drop them on the Library group.
Sync your phone to install the app.
Done! Phew. This worked for me. So far I've only added one tester.
Edited on 2016-02-02
Starting from iOS 6 SKStoreProductViewController class was introduced. You can link an app without leaving your app. Code snippet in Swift 3.x/2.x and Objective-C is here.
A SKStoreProductViewController object presents a store that allows the user to purchase other media from the App Store. For example, your app might display the store to allow the user to purchase another app.
From News and Announcement For Apple Developers.
Drive Customers Directly to Your App on the App Store with iTunes Links With iTunes links you can provide your customers with an easy way to access your apps on the App Store directly from your website or marketing campaigns. Creating an iTunes link is simple and can be made to direct customers to either a single app, all your apps, or to a specific app with your company name specified.
To send customers to a specific application: http://itunes.com/apps/appname
To send customers to a list of apps you have on the App Store: http://itunes.com/apps/developername
To send customers to a specific app with your company name included in the URL: http://itunes.com/apps/developername/appname
Additional notes:
You can replace http://
with itms://
or itms-apps://
to avoid redirects.
Please note that itms://
will send the user to the iTunes store and itms-apps://
with send them to the App Store!
For info on naming, see Apple QA1633:
https://developer.apple.com/library/content/qa/qa1633/_index.html.
Edit (as of January 2015):
itunes.com/apps links should be updated to appstore.com/apps. See QA1633 above, which has been updated. A new QA1629 suggests these steps and code for launching the store from an app:
- Launch iTunes on your computer.
- Search for the item you want to link to.
- Right-click or control-click on the item's name in iTunes, then choose "Copy iTunes Store URL" from the pop-up menu.
- In your application, create an
NSURL
object with the copied iTunes URL, then pass this object toUIApplication
' sopenURL
: method to open your item in the App Store.
Sample code:
NSString *iTunesLink = @"itms://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id375380948?mt=8";
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:iTunesLink]];
iOS10+:
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:iTunesLink] options:@{} completionHandler:nil];
Swift 4.2
let urlStr = "itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id375380948?mt=8"
if #available(iOS 10.0, *) {
UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: urlStr)!, options: [:], completionHandler: nil)
} else {
UIApplication.shared.openURL(URL(string: urlStr)!)
}
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Best Answer
NSLocalizedString()
(and variants thereof) access the "AppleLanguages" key inNSUserDefaults
to determine what the user's settings for preferred languages are. This returns an array of language codes, with the first one being the one set by the user for their phone, and the subsequent ones used as fallbacks if a resource is not available in the preferred language. (on the desktop, the user can specify multiple languages with a custom ordering in System Preferences)You can override the global setting for your own application if you wish by using the setObject:forKey: method to set your own language list. This will take precedence over the globally set value and be returned to any code in your application that is performing localization. The code for this would look something like:
This would make German the preferred language for your application, with English and French as fallbacks. You would want to call this sometime early in your application's startup. You can read more about language/locale preferences here: Internationalization Programming Topics: Getting the Current Language and Locale