[jbosstools-dev] Suggested coding guidelines for internationalisation

[Snjezana Peco]

There is a specific kind of properties files in Eclipse that are used 
for internationalizing plugins and features, i.e., plugin.xml, 
feature.xml and MANIFEST.MF. They are usually named plugin.properties 
and feature.properties and placed in the root of a plugin/feature (out 
of the source directory).

Snjeza

Sean Flanigan wrote:
> Max Rydahl Andersen wrote:
>   
>>> 1. Avoid including text in images.  If you need text in an image, it's
>>> best to draw it on top at runtime.  That way, we can pull in translated
>>> text.  Otherwise, we would have to provide multiple, localised, versions
>>> of the image, and that (a) wastes space, and (b) would mean a more
>>> complex build process.  (In other words, we haven't yet worked out how
>>> to support it in the build!)
>>>       
>> Thinking on these I *think* the only things we have is the splashscreen  
>> (which
>> cannot be dynamically calculated so it needs a localized version and  
>> eclipse
>> supports that afaik)
>>
>> Otherwise it is just icons with acronyms, i.e. there is an icon with HQL  
>> in the lower
>> right - but I assume you would not translate HQL anyway since it's a  
>> (technical) name and not a verb, correct ?
>>     
>
> Don't hold me to it, but I think that's generally true.
>
>   
>>> 2. Avoid locale-specific .properties files in the source tree.  All
>>> <snip>
>>> There are a few en-specific .properties files in svn, but as they don't
>>> live under ${plugin}/src, they shouldn't cause a problem for now:
>>> ./seam/tests/org.jboss.tools.seam.core.test/projects/Test1/src/messages_en.properties
>>> ./seam/tests/org.jboss.tools.seam.ui.test/projects/TestSeamELContentAssist/src/model/messages_en.properties
>>> ./documentation/development/usecases/en/modules/projectexample/lamp/src/action/messages_en.properties
>>>       
>> These are all from examples/test/doc projects and need to stay as is for  
>> now.
>> They don't end up in the enduser-distribution.
>>     
>
> Okay.
>
>   
>>> The locale-specific .properties files will be generated as part of the
>>> build process, by "localization"'s build.xml, for use at runtime.
>>> Remember, edit the .po file, not the generated .properties file!
>>>       
>> For main dev, we would just edit the original source properties file,  
>> correct ?
>> Your tooling will use those as input to your .po translation, correct ?
>>     
>
> If you're referring to files like
> /org.jboss.ide.eclipse.as.ui/jbossui/org/jboss/tools/as/wst/server/ui/action/messages.properties,
> correct and correct.
>
> Just don't create either of these:
> /org.jboss.ide.eclipse.as.ui/jbossui/org/jboss/tools/as/wst/server/ui/action/messages_en.properties
> /org.jboss.ide.eclipse.as.ui/jbossui/org/jboss/tools/as/wst/server/ui/action/messages_fr.properties
>
>   
>>> 3. Avoid underscores in the basenames of .properties files.  Underscores
>>> are used to separate the basename from the locale code, so these
>>> underscores could lead to problems.
>>>
>>> At present these files do contain translatable text:
>>> ./common/plugins/org.jboss.tools.common.model.ui/templates/web-facesconfig_1_2.properties
>>> ./common/plugins/org.jboss.tools.common.model.ui/templates/web-facesconfig_1_0.properties
>>> ./common/plugins/org.jboss.tools.common.model.ui/templates/web-facesconfig_1_1.properties
>>>
>>> I will be submitting a jira about these files, but we should try to
>>> avoid similar filenames in future.
>>>       
>> hmm - these are actually empty so i'm not sure what they are needed for.
>> Again, these are templates used for generating other projects so not sure  
>> it will be relevant
>> to localize it.
>>     
>
> Empty?  Oh, so they are.  Okay, it's coming back to me.
> /org.jboss.tools.common.model.ui/templates/default-templates.properties
> does contain English text, so I assumed I have to process that
> directory, but those other files contain underscores, which means they
> could cause problems.
>
> There were a few other .properties files under org.jboss.*/templates/,
> and I just noticed that the .xml files contained English text, but
> perhaps we can ignore all of the templates/ directories, at least for now?
>
>   
>> But is this not irrelevant since resourcebundles (and I assume pot too)  
>> just take the bsae name
>> (in this case e.g. web-facesconfig_1_2) and then append the localization  
>> to find localized version.
>>
>> I agree it should be avoided to avoid confusion, but technically it should  
>> just work find ?
>>     
>
> True, I can't think of anything that it will break at the moment, I've
> just got a bad feeling about this.  For instance, if one day we import
> some messages_${locale}.properties to be converted to .po, suddenly the
> "_"s will be significant.
>
> But it's probably not worth worrying too much about.
>
> <snip>
>   
>>> To avoid svn conflicts and make everyone's lives easier, I would
>>> probably leave the source dirs alone, but move all translatable
>>> properties files into, say, ${plugin}/resources/text.  Suggestions
>>> welcome, though.
>>>       
>> I would really really hate if the resources would have to move out of
>> the src trees. That would require us to have an extra build step when
>> just developing of copying the resources. The files would also still
>> have to have the full qualified name to be looked up.
>>
>> i.e. src/org/jboss/tools/as/Messages.properties would end up being
>> resource/org/jboss/tools/as/Messages.properties anyway. Wouldn't it
>> be easier to just get the UI resource properties to have the same name,
>> i.e. Messages.properties (and the sibling class Messages.java) ?
>>     
>
> I don't think I'm suggesting what you think I am.
>
> We just move ./src/org/jboss/tools/as/Messages.properties would be moved to
> ./resources/text/org/jboss/tools/as/Messages.properties,
> add resources/text to the compilers' sourcepaths (Ant and Eclipse), and
> the file ends up in exactly the same pathname in the compiled jar.  At
> runtime, you still look up org/jboss/tools/as/Messages.properties.
>
> Or from the class org.jboss.tools.as.Messages, you can use a
> class-relative resource path of Messages.properties, same as always.  No
> extra build step, just a minor change in build configuration.
>
>   
>>> Is there somewhere on the wiki this sort of thing should be recorded?
>>>       
>> jboss.org/tools, click wiki and add them there (lets put a "This is a  
>> *draft*" until
>> we reach a conscensus)
>>     
>
> Okay.
>
>
>   
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