In a recent build we had a request from the client to automatically set the language of the content editor based on where in the tree they were viewing. The rules for selecting the language were quite simple:

– sitecore
— Content
— English site – field with value for default language set to be ‘en’
— French site – field with value for default language set to be ‘fr-fr’

If the user was making changes within the English site, they wanted the Content Editor to default to ‘en’. If they were editing within the French site, they wanted the Content Editor to default to ‘fr-fr’.

With the help of support, the following solution was suggested:

1. Create your own class inherited from Sitecore.Shell.Applications.ContentManager.ContentEditorForm
2. Add a new method:
   
   public void ChangeLanguage(string id) { Error.AssertString(id, "id", false); if (ShortID.IsShortID(id)) { id = ShortID.Decode(id); } //get the selected item Item item = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase(Context.ContentDatabase.ToString()).GetItem(id); if (item != null) { //get the current site root Item currentSiteRoot = item.Axes.GetAncestors().FirstOrDefault(a => a.TemplateID == new ID(new Guid(....))); if (currentSiteRoot != null) { //if the current language doesnt match the expected language, set the language Language siteLanguage = Language.Parse(currentSiteRoot.Fields["...."].Value); if (ContentEditorDataContext.Language != siteLanguage) { ContentEditorDataContext.Language = siteLanguage; } } } }

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   public void ChangeLanguage(string id) {     Error.AssertString(id, "id", false);     if (ShortID.IsShortID(id))     {         id = ShortID.Decode(id);     }       //get the selected item     Item item = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase(Context.ContentDatabase.ToString()).GetItem(id);       if (item != null)     {         //get the current site root         Item currentSiteRoot = item.Axes.GetAncestors().FirstOrDefault(a => a.TemplateID == new ID(new Guid(....)));           if (currentSiteRoot != null)         {             //if the current language doesnt match the expected language, set the language             Language siteLanguage = Language.Parse(currentSiteRoot.Fields["...."].Value);                          if (ContentEditorDataContext.Language != siteLanguage)             {                 ContentEditorDataContext.Language = siteLanguage;             }                     }     } }

3. Edit \sitecore\shell\Applications\Content Manager\Default.aspx, changing the sc:CodeBeside reference to point to your new class:
   
   <sc:CodeBeside runat="server" Type="YourNamespase.YourClass,YourAssembly" />

   1	<sc:CodeBeside runat="server" Type="YourNamespase.YourClass,YourAssembly" />

   
   Note, you need to keep the CodeBeside reference on one line as per the out the box version (the other controls are eg DataContext, RegisterKey etc)
4. Edit \sitecore\shell\Applications\Content Manager\Content editor.js, adding a call to your new method. This needs to happen in the onTreeNodeClick method after LoadItem.
   
   scContentEditor.prototype.onTreeNodeClick = function (sender, id) { ... scForm.postRequest("", "", "", "LoadItem(\"" + id + "\")"); //new call to ChangeLanguage scForm.postRequest("", "", "", "ChangeLanguage(\"" + id + "\")"); ... }

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   scContentEditor.prototype.onTreeNodeClick = function (sender, id) {     ...         scForm.postRequest("", "", "", "LoadItem(\"" + id + "\")");     //new call to ChangeLanguage     scForm.postRequest("", "", "", "ChangeLanguage(\"" + id + "\")");     ... }