Android Localization problem: Not all items in the layout update properly when switching locales

Question

Here\'s the problem: When I have an activity running in the background, and I switch locales, and I switch back to the application, everything updates... EXCEPT checkboxes and r

Answer 1

If some of these are in memory they will not change. If you reboot the phone, reinstall the application or at least completely kill the app it will work fine.

Answer 2

This 2 years old ticket proposes a workaround of not using the android:id so I fixed this issue by using a similar layout:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <!-- KEEP THIS ALWAYS THE FIRST because it dosen't have
        an android:id as a workaround of this bug
        https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=13252
        -->
    <RadioButton xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" />

    <!-- other elements -->

</RelativeLayout>

So now to get the RadioButton I use something like this:

private RadioButton getButton(RelativeLayout layout) {
    RadioButton button = null;
    if (layout.getChildCount() != 0) {
        button = (RadioButton) layout.getChildAt(0);
    }
    return button;
}

So I can set the properties programmatically.

Answer 3

The cause of the problem is that CompoundButton.onSaveInstanceState() calls setFreezesText(true) and thus saves&restores the text.

A simple solution is using a subclass like this:

public class CheckBoxNoPersistentText extends CheckBox {

    public CheckBoxNoPersistentText(final Context context) {
        super(context);
    }

    public CheckBoxNoPersistentText(final Context context, final AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
    }

    public CheckBoxNoPersistentText(final Context context, final AttributeSet attrs, final int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
    }

    @Override
    public void onRestoreInstanceState(final Parcelable state) {

        final CharSequence text = getText(); // the text has been resolved anew

        super.onRestoreInstanceState(state); // this restores the old text

        setText(text); // this overwrites the restored text with the newly resolved text

    }
}

Answer 4

That is a fascinating bug. I can reproduce it on my Nexus One.

It seems to be in the default implementation of onSaveInstanceState(). If you override that to be a no-op (do not chain to the superclass), the problem goes away.

The default onSaveInstanceState() is supposed to handle stuff like the checkbox state, but they must have botched that and are saving the text, too.

So, you have a couple of workarounds:

1. Override onSaveInstanceState() and do not chain to the superclass. This, however, eliminates any automatic state-saving you would ordinarily get.
2. In onRestoreInstanceState() (...I think...), after chaining to the superclass, call setText() on your affected widgets with the proper string resource, to reset it back to the right value.

I will try to follow up on this more tomorrow when I get a chance. I want to check the source code and probably file this as an issue.