Why and when to perform this task
The WebSphere Application Server message logger provides the message() and msg() methods to allow the user to log localized messages. In addition, it provides the textMessage() method for logging of messages that are not localized. Applications can use either or both, as appropriate.
The mechanism for providing localized messages is the Resource Bundle support provided by the IBM Developer Java Technology Edition. If you are not familiar with resource bundles as implemented by the Developer's Kit, you can get more information from various texts, or by reading the Javadoc for the java.util.ResourceBundle, java.util.ListResourceBundle and java.util.PropertyResourceBundle classes, as well as the java.text.MessageFormat class.
The PropertyResourceBundle is the preferred mechanism to use. In addition, note that the JRas extensions do not support the extended formatting options such as {1, date} or {0,number, integer} that are provided by the MessageFormat class.
You can forward messages that are written to the internal WebSphere Application Server logs to other processes for display. For example, messages displayed on the administrator console, which can be running in a different location than the server process, can be localized using the late binding process. Late binding means that WebSphere Application Server does not localize messages when they are logged, but defers localization to the process that displays the message.
To properly localize the message, the displaying process must have access to the resource bundle where the message text is stored. This means that you must package the resource bundle separately from the application, and install it in a location where the viewing process can access it. If you do not want to take these steps, you can use the early binding technique to localize messages as they are logged.
The two techniques are described as follows:
To create a resource bundle, perform the following steps.
Steps for this task
See the Java documentation for the java.util.Properties class for a full description of the syntax and construction of properties files.
What to do next
The application locates the resource bundle based on the file's location relative to any directory in the classpath. For instance, if the property resource bundle named DefaultMessages.properties is located in the baseDir/subDir1/subDir2/resources directory and baseDir is in the class path, the name subdir1.subdir2.resources.DefaultMessage is passed to the message logger to identify the resource bundle.