Android RTL issue in API 24 and higher on locale change

Question

I was trying to change locale of app at runtime. It is working fine in Andorid below API level 24. But in API level 24 or greater the layout direction is not changing accord

Answer 1

package www.ourshopee.com.utils;

import android.annotation.SuppressLint;
import android.annotation.TargetApi;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.SharedPreferences;
import android.content.res.Configuration;
import android.content.res.Resources;
import android.os.Build;
import android.preference.PreferenceManager;
import android.support.annotation.RequiresApi;
import android.util.Log;

import java.util.Locale;

public class LocaleHelper {

    private static final String SELECTED_LANGUAGE = "Locale.Helper.Selected.Language";

    public static void onCreate(Context context) {
        String lang = getPersistedData(context, Locale.getDefault().getLanguage());
        setLocale(context, lang);
    }

    public static void onCreate(Context context, String defaultLanguage) {
        String lang = getPersistedData(context, defaultLanguage);
        setLocale(context, lang);
    }

    public static String getLanguage(Context context) {
        return getPersistedData(context, Locale.getDefault().getLanguage());
    }

    public static void setLocale(Context context, String language) {
        persist(context, language);


        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.N) {
             updateResources(context, language);
        }

           updateResourcesLegacy(context, language);






    }

    private static String getPersistedData(Context context, String defaultLanguage) {
        SharedPreferences preferences = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(context);
        return preferences.getString(SELECTED_LANGUAGE, defaultLanguage);
    }

    private static void persist(Context context, String language) {
        SharedPreferences preferences = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(context);
        SharedPreferences.Editor editor = preferences.edit();

        editor.putString(SELECTED_LANGUAGE, language);
        editor.apply();
    }



//    private static void updateResources(Context context, String language) {
//
//
//
//
//
//        Locale locale = new Locale(language);
//        Locale.setDefault(locale);
//        Configuration config = context.getResources().getConfiguration();
//        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1) {
//            config.setLocale(locale);
//        }
//        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1) {
//            context.createConfigurationContext(config);
//        }
//        context.getResources().updateConfiguration(config, context.getResources().getDisplayMetrics());
//
//
//
//
//
//
//    }







    @TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.N)
    private static Context updateResources(Context context, String language) {
        Locale locale = new Locale(language);
        Log.d("LocaleHelper", "language above 24: "+language);
        Locale.setDefault(locale);

        Configuration configuration = context.getResources().getConfiguration();
        configuration.setLocale(locale);
        configuration.setLayoutDirection(locale);
        return context.createConfigurationContext(configuration);
    }

    @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
    private static Context updateResourcesLegacy(Context context, String language) {
        Locale locale = new Locale(language);
        Log.d("LocaleHelper", "language below 24: "+language);
        Locale.setDefault(locale);

        Resources resources = context.getResources();

        Configuration configuration = resources.getConfiguration();
        configuration.locale = locale;
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1) {
            configuration.setLayoutDirection(locale);
        }
        resources.updateConfiguration(configuration, resources.getDisplayMetrics());

        return context;
    }

















}

Answer 2

The problem seems to be that it doesn't reflect layout direction changes at first update. I solved the problem by overriding the onAttachedToWindow method of Activity like below:

@Override
public void onAttachedToWindow() {
    super.onAttachedToWindow();
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1) {
        getWindow().getDecorView().setLayoutDirection(
                "ur".equals(LocaleHelper.getLanguage(this)) ?
                View.LAYOUT_DIRECTION_RTL : View.LAYOUT_DIRECTION_LTR);
    }
}

Tested on API 25 and it's working fine. Be careful though I'm not sure about any side effects for this approach at this moment. Nevertheless, I think it is what you are looking for.

I'll also update the blog post to reflect more elegant, generic code for this.