JavaServer Pages, 3rd Edition

Using Localized Text

Automatic translation of numbers and dates into the local language is a great help, but until automatic translation software is a lot smarter than it is today, you have to translate all the text used in the application yourself. A set of Java classes can help you pick the right version for a specific locale.

The main class for dealing with localized resources (such as text, images, and sounds) is named java.util.ResourceBundle . This class is actually the abstract superclass for the two subclasses that do the real work, ListResourceBundle and PropertyResourceBundle, but it provides methods that let you get an appropriate subclass instance, hiding the details about which subclass actually provides the resources. Details about the difference between these two subclasses are beyond the scope of this book. Suffice it to say that the JSTL actions can use resources provided through either of them.

For most web applications, an instance of the PropertyResourceBundle is used. A PropertyResourceBundle instance is associated with a named set of localized text resources; a key identifies each resource. The keys and their corresponding text values are stored in a regular text file, known as a resource bundle file:

site_name=The Big Corporation Inc.
company_logo=/images/logo_en.gif
welcome_msg=Hello!

Here three keys, site_name, company_logo, and welcome_msg, have been assigned values. The key is a string, without space or other special characters, and the value is any text. ...