Android: Debug and Release different language

Question

Right now, I am building an Android app using Kotlin. This app supports multiple languages that I put my strings into strings.xml. I've been developed the app using Locale to change the language.

This is my resources tree:

res
-values
--strings.xml
-values-ko-rKR
--strings.xml

I want my debug app using the English version, while my release app using the Korean version. Is there any way to do that on the build settings? If I can't do that, where can I set my default locale easily?

Pavel B. · Answer 1 · 2021-05-07T12:17:18.587

To set other locale than the one set in the device setting, just add the debug/release check:

public class LocaleUtil {


    public static Context setForceLocale(Context context) {
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.N) {
            return updateResources(context);
        } else {
            return lockLocale(context);
        }
    }

    public static Context lockLocale(Context context) {
        Locale myLocale = new Locale("en-US");
        Locale.setDefault(myLocale);
        Resources res = context.getResources();
        Configuration conf = res.getConfiguration();
        conf.setLocale(myLocale);
        return context.createConfigurationContext(conf);
    }

    private static Context updateResources(Context context) {
        Locale locale = new Locale("en-US");
        Locale.setDefault(locale);
        Resources res = context.getResources();
        Configuration config = new Configuration(res.getConfiguration());
        config.setLocale(locale);
        return context.createConfigurationContext(config);
    }
}

Inside Your Application class:

@Override
    protected void attachBaseContext(Context base) {
        super.attachBaseContext(LocaleUtil.setForceLocale(base));
    }

    @Override
    public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) {
        super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
        LocaleUtil.setForceLocale(this);
    }

Add a ParentActivity and make all your app's activities inherit from this one

public abstract class ParentActivity extends AppCompatActivity {



    @Override
    protected void attachBaseContext(Context base) {
        super.attachBaseContext(LocaleUtil.setForceLocale(base));

    }

    @Override
    public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) {
        super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < Build.VERSION_CODES.N) {
            LocaleUtil.setForceLocale(this);
        }
    }
}

And finally add this line to AndroidManifest inside all the activity tags:

android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize"

Android: Debug and Release different language

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