Hey B.J.,
I think this is a great beginning, and it will go a long way to creating
a robust and internationalized server. I can provide a couple of
answers/comments to your questions.
B.J. Reed wrote:
Questions/Answers
2) Is there a numbering standard for the key? The standard that I have
started for the message key is as follows:
mmmmlxxxx
mmmm - 4 char module name abbreviation
l - one char level (E - error, W - warning, I - information
xxxx - 4 digit error number
Since I haven't gotten very far...if there is a better suggestion, then
it will be easier to change this sooner rather than later.
I think this is a good prefix system, but I would put the message level
after the message number. I think COMM001W is easier to read than
COMMW001 and understand the level. Especially when an E or W or I ends
the module name prefix. Compare GJEEE0001 to GJEE0001E.
Also, since you provide an API for fetching these messages, I would
prefer not to include the message prefix and level in the message
itself. Use the provided GeronimoMessageBundle API to change messages in
a standard way. This also makes message writing easier as this first
message is easier to write than the second:
COMM0003E=Unable to find message for {0}.
COMM0003E=COMM0003E Error: Unable to find message for {0}.
3) Tell me more about the string substitutions. To make messages more
flexible, placeholders can be put in the messages that look like {0} {1}
etc. An ArrayList can be passed in to the getMessage method that will
be used to replace the placeholders. This way, if a language needs the
replacements in a different order, the code will not need to be changed.
Very useful and definitely needed for messages such as
COMM0022E=Could not find the resource named {0}.
The translators will have to move these placeholders around, as
different languages have different orders for Subject/Verb/Object etc.
4) How do I add a language? At this time, the
geronimo-messages.properties is included in the geronimo-common.jar.
The easiest thing that I have found is to copy the .properties file to
an apprpriate locale named file (geronimo-messages_de.properties (for
German) or geronimo-messages_de_CH.properties for German in
Switzerland). Re-create the geronimo-common.jar file.
I think eventually all message translations are going to go in there.
Different users are going to want different language messages served to
them from the same server assembly.
--
Thanks, Dan Becker
