Describing a Culture with LDML Data 

When you save a culture with System.Globalization.CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder.Save(System.String), the resulting XML representation of the CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder object follows the format of Locale Data Markup Language (LDML) version 1.1. The CreateFromLdml method is the inverse of Save, and loads from this XML file.

Most of the meaningful data that describes a culture is contained in special elements within the XML file. LDML special elements allow for product-specific annotation and data.

The .NET Framework uses the special element as a place to put data drawn from the msLocale schema, https://schemas.microsoft.com/globalization/2005/carib/ldml. (As is normal for a schema, that URI provides a unique name for the schema, but is not the URL of an actual document.) Most of the relevant XML elements correspond to properties (or to values returned by methods) of the classes that describe a culture, such as CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder and CultureInfo. A small number of elements are specific to Windows rather than to .NET, and are not included as properties of CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder.

For more information about the LDML standard, see Unicode Technical Standard #35, "Locale Data Markup Language (LDML)," at the Unicode home site.

Windows-only elements

Several elements below are described as Windows-only. That means they are relevant for unmanaged code on the Microsoft Windows operating system, but no relevant for .NET Framework. If you create an LDML file outside of .NET Framework, then use .NET Framework to register it, it becomes available to Windows as well as to .NET Framework, so these properties may be relevant. Also, inside .NET Framework, if you start from an existing culture definition, then modify it and save it as a custom culture (either a replacement culture or a supplemental culture), these Windows-only elements will pass through intact from the original culture to the saved culture.

Identity

The following elements fall under identity.

The following elements fall under identity/special. Except as noted, all values are specified by a type attribute. For example:

    <identity>
        …
        <special xmlns:msLocale="https://schemas.microsoft.com/globalization/2005/carib/ldml">
             <!-- A typical case… -->
             <msLocale:cultureAndRegionInfoName type="en-US-fabricam"/>
             ...
             <!-- …but here are some examples that use CDATA -->
             <msLocale:geoId>244</msLocale:geoId>
             <msLocale:languageIsoName type="twoLetters">
                 en
             </msLocale:languageIsoName> 
             ...
        </special>
    </identity>

In the following table, properties and methods are from CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder unless otherwise noted.

Layout

The following element falls under layout.

The following element falls under layout/special.

In the following table, all properties and methods are from CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder.

Characters

The following element falls under characters.

The following elements fall under characters/special. Except as noted, Except as noted, all values are specified by a type attribute. Properties and methods are from CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder unless otherwise noted.

The following elements fall under characters/special/msLocale:fontSignature.

• msLocale:unicodeRanges

• msLocale:defaultCodePages

• msLocale:codePages

Each of these is strictly a container for further content drawn from the msLocale schema, see discussion following.

The following elements fall under characters/special/msLocale:fontSignature/msLocale:unicodeRanges. All values are specified by type attributes. This is Windows-only information, and corresponds, in part, to the Windows LOCALESIGNATURE structure.

The following elements fall under characters/special/msLocale:fontSignature/msLocale:defaultCodePages and characters/special/msLocale:fontSignature/msLocale:codePages.

• msLocale:ansiCodePage

• msLocale:ansiOemCodePage

• msLocale:oemCodePage

Each of these is strictly a container for msLocale:codePage elements, whose value is specified by a type attribute:

Under characters/special/msLocale:fontSignature/msLocale:defaultCodePages should be one of the following:

• A single msLocale:ansiOemCodePage element containing a single msLocale:codePage element.

• A single msLocale:ansiCodePage element containing a single msLocale:codePage element, and a single msLocale:oemCodePage element containing a single msLocale:codePage element.

This msLocale:defaultCodePages data is Windows-only data.

The characters/special/msLocale:fontSignature/msLocale:codePages data is Windows-only information. It lists all of the code pages that can support the language and script in question. Therefore, it is possible for this list to have multiple code pages of the same type. For example:

<msLocale:codePages>
    <msLocale:ansiCodePage>
        ...
    </msLocale:ansiCodePage>
    <msLocale:oemCodePage>
        <msLocale:codePage type="864" />
        <msLocale:codePage type="708" />
    </msLocale:oemCodePage>
</msLocale:codePages>

The following elements fall under characters/special/msLocale:fontSignature/msLocale:scripts. All values are specified by type attributes. This is Windows-only information; there is no way to set this data in Windows, but it corresponds to the return of the Windows GetStringScripts function.

Measurement

The following elements fall under measurement. Properties and methods are from CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder unless otherwise noted.

Dates

Note
When .NET Framework interprets a date and time formats from a standard LDML element (that is, one drawn from the LDML namespace, as against the msLocale schema), date and time formats are interpreted according to the POSIX rules: for example, the AM/PM indicator is "a". Elements in the msLocale schema follow Microsoft rules for date and time formats for example, the AM/PM indicator is "tt".

The following element falls under dates.

The following elements fall under dates/calendars. All values are specified by type attributes. Properties and methods are from CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder unless otherwise noted.

The following elements fall under dates/calendars/calendar. All values are specified by type attributes. Properties and methods are from DateTimeFormatInfo unless otherwise noted.

Under dates/calendars/calendar/months is a single monthContext element; it must have a type attributes of "format". Under dates/calendars/calendar/months/monthContext should be four monthWidth elements; properties and methods are from DateTimeFormatInfo:

Under dates/calendars/calendar/months/monthContext/monthWidth will be one month element for each month of the year (12 or 13 of these, depending on the calendar). For each month element, the type is the number of the month, and the CDATA is the relevant string. For example:

...
<calendar type="Gregorian">
   <months>
      <monthContext type="format">
          <monthWidth type="wide">            
              <month type="1">January</month>
              <month type="2">February</month>
              <month type="3">March</month>
              ...
          </monthWidth>
          <monthWidth type="abbreviated">
              <month type="1">Jan</month>
              <month type="2">Feb</month>
              <month type="3">Mar</month>
              ...
          </monthWidth>
          ...
      </monthContext>
   </months>
</calendar>

Under dates/calendars/calendar/days is a single dayContext element; it must have a type attributes of "format". Under dates/calendars/calendar/days/dayContext should be three dayWidth elements; properties and methods are from DateTimeFormatInfo:

Under dates/calendars/calendar/days/dayContext/dayWidth will be one day element for each day of the week. For each day element, the type is one of the values "sun", "mon", "tue", "wed", "thu", "fri", "sat". The CDATA is the relevant string. For example:

...
<calendar type="Gregorian">
   <days>
      <dayContext type="format">
          <dayWidth type="wide">
              <day type="sun">Sunday</month>
              <day type="mon">Monday</month>
              <day type="tue">Tuesday</month>
              ...
          </dayWidth>
          ...
      </dayContext>
   </days>
</calendar>

The following elements fall under dates/calendars/calendar/week; properties and methods are from DateTimeFormatInfo:

The following elements fall under dates/calendars/calendar/week/special; properties and methods are from DateTimeFormatInfo:

The following element falls under dates/calendars/calendar/dateformats:

The following elements fall under dates/calendars/calendar/dateformats/special; all values are specified by a type attribute; properties and methods are from DateTimeFormatInfo:

The following elements fall under dates/calendars/calendar/dateformats/special/msLocale:dateFormatLength; all values are specified by a type attribute; properties and methods are from DateTimeFormatInfo:

dates/calendars/calendar/dateformats/special/msLocale:dateFormatLength /msLocale:dateformat, dates/calendars/calendar/dateformats/special/msLocale:yearMonth, and dates/calendars/calendar/dateformats/special/msLocale:monthDay are containers for msLocale:pattern elements that give their values as CDATA. For example:

<dateFormats>
    <special xmlns:msLocale="https://schemas.microsoft.com/globalization/2005/carib/ldml">
        <msLocale:dateFormatLength type="long">
            <msLocale:default type="0"/>
            <msLocale:dateFormat type="0">
                <msLocale:pattern>dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy</pattern>
            </msLocale:dateFormat>
                       
            <msLocale:dateFormat type="1">
                <msLocale:pattern>MMMM dd, yyyy</pattern>
            </msLocale:dateFormat>
            ...
        </msLocale:dateFormatLength>
        ...
        <msLocale:yearMonth type=”0”>
            <msLocale:pattern>MMMM, yyyy</msLocale:pattern>
        </msLocale:yearMonth>

        <msLocale:yearMonth type=”1”>
            <msLocale:pattern>mm, yy</msLocale:pattern>
        </msLocale:yearMonth>

        <msLocale:monthDay>
            <msLocale:pattern>MMMM dd</msLocale:pattern>
        </msLocale:monthDay>
    </special>
</dateFormats>

The following element falls under dates/calendars/calendar/timeformats:

The following elements fall under dates/calendars/calendar/timeformats/special; all values are specified by a type attribute; properties and methods are from DateTimeFormatInfo:

The following elements fall under dates/calendars/calendar/dateformats/special/msLocale:durationFormats; ** all values are specified by a type attribute:

The following elements fall under dates/calendars/calendar/dateformats/special/msLocale:timeFormatLength; ** all values are specified by a type attribute; properties and methods are from DateTimeFormatInfo:

dates/calendars/calendar/dateformats/special/msLocale:durationFormats/msLocale:durationFormat and dates/calendars/calendar/dateformats/special/msLocale:timeFormatLength/msLocale:timeformat are containers for msLocale:pattern elements that give their values as CDATA. For example:

<timeFormats>
    <special xmlns:msLocale="https://schemas.microsoft.com/globalization/2005/carib/ldml">
        <msLocale:durationFormats>
            <msLocale:default type="0" />
            <msLocale:durationFormat type="0">
                <msLocale:pattern>HH:mm:ss</msLocale:pattern>
            </msLocale:durationFormat>
        </msLocale:durationFormats>

        <msLocale:timeFormatLength type="long">
            <msLocale:default type="0"/>
            <msLocale:timeFormat type="0">
                <msLocale:pattern>h:mm:ss tt</msLocale:pattern>
            </msLocale:timeFormat>
            <msLocale:timeFormat type="1">
                <msLocale:pattern>h:mm:ss a</msLocale:pattern>
            </timeFormat>
            ...
        </timeFormatLength>
        ...
    </special>
</timeFormats>

Numbers

The following elements fall under numbers.

The following elements fall under numbers/symbols. Except as noted, these give their data as CDATA; properties and methods are from NumberFormatInfo unless otherwise noted:

The following elements fall under numbers/symbols/special. Except as noted, these give their data as CDATA; properties and methods are from NumberFormatInfo unless otherwise noted:

For example:

<symbols>
    <decimal>.</decimal>
    <group>,</group>
    …
    <infinity type="positive">Infinity</infinity>
    <infinity type="negative">-Infinity</infinity>
    …
    <special xmlns:msLocale="https://schemas.microsoft.com/globalization/2005/carib/ldml">
        <msLocale:currencyDecimalSeparator>
            .
        </msLocale:currencyDecimalSeparator>
        <msLocale:currencyGroupSeparator>
            ,
        </msLocale:currencyGroupSeparator>
        <msLocale:leadingZero type="yes" />
    </special>
</symbols>

The following element falls under numbers/currencies.

The following elements fall under numbers/currencies/currency. Except as noted, these give their data as CDATA; properties and methods are from CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder:

The following elements fall under numbers/currencies/currency/special. Except as noted, these give their data as CDATA; properties and methods are from CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder unless otherwise noted:

For example:

<currencies>
    <currency type="default">
        <symbol>$</symbol>
        <displayName>Dollar</displayName>
        <special xmlns:msLocale="https://schemas.microsoft.com/globalization/2005/carib/ldml">
                <msLocale:isoCurrency>USD</msLocale:isoCurrency>
                <msLocale:currencyEnglishName>
                    Dollar
                </msLocale:currencyEnglishName>
    </special>
</currency>

The following elements fall under numbers/currencies/special. All values are specified by type attributes unless otherwise noted; properties and methods are from NumberFormatInfo unless otherwise noted:

For example:

<numbers>
    ...
    <special xmlns:msLocale="https://schemas.microsoft.com/globalization/2005/carib/ldml">
        <msLocale:decimalDigits>2</msLocale:decimalDigits>     
        <msLocale:negativePattern type="1"/>
        <msLocale:currencyDecimalDigits type="2"/>
        <msLocale:currencyPositivePattern type="0"/>
        <msLocale:currencyNegativePattern type="0"/>
        <msLocale:percentNegativePattern type="0"/>
        <msLocale:percentPositivePattern type="0"/>
        <msLocale:groupSizes type="0">3</msLocale:groupSizes>
        <msLocale:currencyGroupSizes type="0">
            3
        </msLocale:currencyGroupSizes>
        <msLocale:nativeDigits type="0">0</msLocale:nativeDigits>
        <msLocale:nativeDigits type="1">1</msLocale:nativeDigits>
        ...
        <msLocale:nativeDigits type="9">9</msLocale:nativeDigits>
        <msLocale:digitSubstitution type="context"/>
    </special>
</numbers>