Perform this task to begin the localization of strings
in an application component.
About this task
You can create a catalog as either a java.util.ResourceBundle
subclass or a Java properties file. The properties-file
approach is more common, because properties files can be prepared
by people without programming experience and swapped without modifying
the application code.
Procedure
- For each string that is identified for localization, add
a line to the message catalog that lists the string key and value
in the current language. In a properties file, each line
has the following structure:
key = string associated with the key
- Save the catalog, giving it a locale-specific name. To enable resolution to a specific properties file, the Java API specifies naming conventions for the
properties files in a resource bundle as bundleName_localeID.properties.
Give the set of message catalogs a collective name, for example, BankingResources.
For information about locale IDs that are recognized by the Java APIs, see "Resources for learning".
Example
The following English catalog (BankingResources_en.properties)
supports the labels for the list and its two list items:
accountString = Accounts
savingsString = Savings
checkingString = Checking
Do not create compound strings
by concatenation (for example, combining the values of savingsString
and accountString to form Savings Accounts in English. Success
depends upon the grammar of the original language (in this case, English)
and is not likely to extend to other languages.
The corresponding
German catalog (BankingResources_de.properties) supports the labels
as follows:
accountString = Konten
savingsString = Sparkonto
checkingString = Girokonto