This section steps through a sample program named
.PropertiesDemo
A properties file is a simple text file. You can create and maintain a properties file with just about any text editor.
You should always create a default properties file. The name of this file begins with the base name of your ResourceBundle
and ends with the .properties
suffix. In the PropertiesDemo
program the base name is LabelsBundle
. Therefore the default properties file is called LabelsBundle.properties
. This file contains the following lines:
# This is the default LabelsBundle.properties file s1 = computer s2 = disk s3 = monitor s4 = keyboard
Note that in the preceding file the comment lines begin with a pound sign (#). The other lines contain key-value pairs. The key is on the left side of the equal sign and the value is on the right. For instance, s2
is the key that corresponds to the value disk
. The key is arbitrary. We could have called s2
something else, like msg5
or diskID
. Once defined, however, the key should not change because it is referenced in the source code. The values may be changed. In fact, when your localizers create new properties files to accommodate additional languages, they will translate the values into various languages.
To support an additional Locale
, your localizers will create a new properties file that contains the translated values. No changes to your source code are required, because your program references the keys, not the values.
For example, to add support for the German language, your localizers would translate the values in LabelsBundle.properties
and place them in a file named LabelsBundle_de.properties
. Notice that the name of this file, like that of the default file, begins with the base name LabelsBundle
and ends with the .properties
suffix. However, since this file is intended for a specific Locale
, the base name is followed by the language code (de
). The contents of LabelsBundle_de.properties
are as follows:
# This is the LabelsBundle_de.properties file s1 = Computer s2 = Platte s3 = Monitor s4 = Tastatur
The PropertiesDemo
sample program ships with three properties files:
LabelsBundle.properties LabelsBundle_de.properties LabelsBundle_fr.properties
The PropertiesDemo
program creates the Locale
objects as follows:
Locale[] supportedLocales = { Locale.FRENCH, Locale.GERMAN, Locale.ENGLISH };
These Locale
objects should match the properties files created in the previous two steps. For example, the Locale.FRENCH
object corresponds to the LabelsBundle_fr.properties
file. The Locale.ENGLISH
has no matching LabelsBundle_en.properties
file, so the default file will be used.
This step shows how the Locale
, the properties files, and the ResourceBundle
are related. To create the ResourceBundle
, invoke the getBundle
method, specifying the base name and Locale
:
ResourceBundle labels = ResourceBundle.getBundle("LabelsBundle", currentLocale);
The getBundle
method first looks for a class file that matches the base name and the Locale
. If it can't find a class file, it then checks for properties files. In the PropertiesDemo
program we're backing the ResourceBundle
with properties files instead of class files. When the getBundle
method locates the correct properties file, it returns a PropertyResourceBundle
object containing the key-value pairs from the properties file.
To retrieve the translated value from the ResourceBundle
, invoke the getString
method as follows:
String value = labels.getString(key);
The String
returned by getString
corresponds to the key specified. The String
is in the proper language, provided that a properties file exists for the specified Locale
.
This step is optional. When debugging your program, you might want to fetch values for all of the keys in a ResourceBundle
. The getKeys
method returns an Enumeration
of all the keys in a ResourceBundle
. You can iterate through the Enumeration
and fetch each value with the getString
method. The following lines of code, which are from the PropertiesDemo
program, show how this is done:
ResourceBundle labels = ResourceBundle.getBundle( "LabelsBundle", currentLocale); Enumeration bundleKeys = labels.getKeys(); while (bundleKeys.hasMoreElements()) { String key = (String)bundleKeys.nextElement(); String value = labels.getString(key); System.out.println( "key = " + key + ", " + "value = " + value); }
Running the PropertiesDemo
program generates the following output. The first three lines show the values returned by getString
for various Locale
objects. The program displays the last four lines when iterating through the keys with the getKeys
method.
Locale = fr, key = s2, value = Disque dur Locale = de, key = s2, value = Platte Locale = en, key = s2, value = disk key = s4, value = Clavier key = s3, value = Moniteur key = s2, value = Disque dur key = s1, value = Ordinateur