Per Nergård (MVP)
Mar 5, 2013
  13013
(1 votes)

EPiServer localization xml files structure

In CMS7 there are a couple of new things that can be localized. I hadn’t had the time to check it out but a question in the forums   about localization of “GroupName” on page types got me curious.

Localization of page types and properties are the same as for earlier versions of EPiServer.

Blocks are new to CMS7. Thomas Krantz blogged about block localization over here but I will include it in the example below just for completeness. The example for blocks in the Alloy demo package ContentTypeNames.xml is incorrect at least in the first production release.

Groups then. The DisplayAttribute.GroupName is localized via heading elements. These headings localizes the tab names in edit mode.

I couldn’t find anything about ContentTypeAttribute.GroupName so I fired up good old reflector. It turned out that you can localize GroupName via specifying groups in the xml file.

I expected this to localize the labels for the different groups of page types  you get when creating a new page. This is not the case. What’s actually localized is the bracketed prefix on the page type when you view them in admin mode. I can’t see much use for this so I’ve checked with the support and they have an existing bug regarding that page type information localization doesn’t work so hopefully this will be fixed soon.

Below is an example lang file for reference.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<languages>
 
  <language name="English" id="en">
 
    <!-- Blocks -->
    <blocktypes>
      <blocktype name="PageListBlock">
        <name>Page List</name>
        <description>Blockbeskrivning</description>
      </blocktype>
    </blocktypes>
 
    <!-- Tab headings aka GroupName in Displayattribute for a property-->
    <headings>
      <heading name="Default">
        <description>Default</description>
      </heading>
    </headings>
    
    <pagetypes>
      <!-- PropertyNames -->
      <common>
        <property name="DisableIndexing">
          <caption>Disable indexing</caption>
          <help>Help</help>
        </property>
      </common> 
      
      <!-- Page types -->
      <pagetype name="ArticlePage">
        <name>Article</name>
        <description>Help</description>
      </pagetype>
      
      <!-- Groupname in ContentTypeAttribute-->
      <groups>
        <group name="Test">Prefix</group>
      </groups>
    </pagetypes>
  </language>
 
</languages>
Mar 05, 2013

Comments

Per Nergård (MVP)
Per Nergård (MVP) Apr 23, 2013 01:37 PM

Update: (It seems I can't edit old posts with live writer from another computer so a comment have to be sufficient).

if you wan't to localize propertynames on a per type basis the format is like this. The pagetype element name attribute can be both the name of a pagetype as well as a blocktype.




Caption
HelpText


janaka.podiralahamy
janaka.podiralahamy Nov 18, 2013 05:02 PM

i am able to see my changes on page types but not with blocks. can you help? thanks!

Please login to comment.
Latest blogs
From Prompting to Production: Optimizely Opal University Cohort and the Future of Agentic MarTech

Most organizations today are still playing with AI. They experiment with prompts, test ideas in isolated chats, and occasionally automate a task or...

Augusto Davalos | Apr 28, 2026

Six Compelling Reasons for Upgrading to CMS 13

Most software updates ask you to keep up. Optimizely CMS 13 asks something different — it asks whether your digital strategy is built for a world...

Muhammad Talha | Apr 28, 2026

Optimizely CMS 13 breaking changes: GetContentTypePropertyDisplayName

When upgrading from CMS 12 to 13, resolving property display names may not work as before. Here’s what changed.

Tomas Hensrud Gulla | Apr 27, 2026 |

Accelerate Optimizely DAM Adoption: Unlocking Business Value with Metadata Bulk Import

Accelerating Optimizely DAM Adoption How a Metadata-Driven Bulk Import Utility Unlocks Real Business Value Executive Summary For enterprises runnin...

Vaibhav | Apr 27, 2026