Using CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder to update built-in .Net culture

Question

I'm attempting to change the built in .Net culture fr-CA, using the following method:

    CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder cib = new CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder("fr-CA", CultureAndRegionModifiers.Replacement);

    try
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Updating " + cib.CultureName);

        cib.NumberFormat.CurrencyGroupSeparator = ",";
        cib.NumberFormat.CurrencyDecimalSeparator = ".";
        cib.NumberFormat.NumberGroupSeparator = ",";
        cib.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator = ".";

        cib.Register();

        Console.WriteLine("Culture updated.");
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(e);
        Console.ReadKey();
    }

However, the Register() call fails with "System.InvalidOperationException: The 'Register' method failed because the custom culture 'fr-CA' already exists."

Is it possible to update the built-in culture? According to the docs (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.globalization.cultureandregioninfobuilder.cultureandregioninfobuilder.aspx), it looks like I can just update it, though I might be reading that wrong.

Answer 1

I just had to add:

CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder.UnRegister("fr-CA");

before Register().

Answer 2

You may be better to create a copy of an existing culture and Register it with a new name such as "fr-CACustom".

[Note that a custom culture can be registered on a computer only by a user who has administrative rights on that computer.]

try
{
    CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder cib = new CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder("fr-CACustom", CultureAndRegionModifiers.None);
    cib.LoadDataFromCultureInfo(new CultureInfo("fr-CA"));
    Console.WriteLine("Creating" + cib.CultureName);

    cib.NumberFormat.CurrencyGroupSeparator = ",";
    cib.NumberFormat.CurrencyDecimalSeparator = ".";
    cib.NumberFormat.NumberGroupSeparator = ",";
    cib.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator = ".";

    // add some region info also
    cib.LoadDataFromRegionInfo(new RegionInfo("CA"));
    cib.RegionEnglishName = "RegionInfo derived from French-speaking Canada";

    cib.Register();

    Console.WriteLine("New culture created.");
}
catch (Exception e)
{
    Console.WriteLine(e);
    Console.ReadKey();
}

This code registers the custom culture identified by the culture name in the %WINDIR%\Globalization system directory, where %WINDIR% is the Windows operating system directory. This will make the custom culture available to other applications.

CultureInfo test = new CultureInfo("fr-CACustom");

[Note: in order to have access to the CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder class you need a reference to the sysglobl assembly which is not reference by default in most Visual Studio project templates.]