Nov 18, 2009

Silverlight 4 Adds Arabic Support

Silverlight 4 adds support for Arabic culture:

  • Install, configuration and runtime UI are in Arabic and RTL layout on Arabic culture
  • Support mixed BiDi/ComplexScript text
  • Support RTL layout with FlowDirection attribute and implemented by all controls

Below screenshots demonstrate some of the support:

  • Install UI:
    Silverlight developer runtime install UI
  • Configuration UI:
    Silverlight Configuration UI
  • Controls with FlowDirection set to RightToLeft:
    RTL Layout and Controls Demo

For those curious, you may notice that:

  • there is a new ar directory under %programfiles%\Microsoft Silverlight\4.0.41108.0, besides the 10 directories that have been there since SL3: de, en-us, es, fr, it, ja, ko, zh-Hans, zh-Hint. The ar directory contains Arabic resources for Silverlight runtime assemblies.
  • the MUI resource dlls contain Arabic resources:
    image

We will continue adding more support to more cultures in Silverlight. The Arabic support debuted in Silverlight 4 Beta is particularly important, since it is the first RTL language Silverlight supports. If you notice any bug or have suggestions, please let me know.

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