Localization Guide¶

Localization Files¶

All translation files must be located below the folder openecard_i18n plus a component name. The special file Messages.properties is used to provide translated key value pairs. Completely translated files can have any other name. All files must be encoded as UTF-8.

All translation files follow the same scheme to identify their language. The language is written in the form of BCP 47 language tags. However instead of -, _ is used as a separator, which is the common practice. This implementation only supports a subset of the BCP 47 specification, meaning only language and country codes are allowed. The default language, which is English is described by C. The name of the file and its language is separated by _. The file ending is optional for arbitrary files.

The following examples illustrate the scheme.

Messages_C.properties
Messages_de.properties
Messages_de_DE.properties
anyotherfile_C
anyotherfile_C.html

The implementation tries to find the key in the requested language, then the default language and if nothing is specified at all, a special string in the form of <No translation for key <requested.key>> is returned. The most specific translation is used first as the following list shows.

openecard_i18n/gui/about_de_DE.html
openecard_i18n/gui/about_de.html
openecard_i18n/gui/about_C.html

Issues with Editors¶

The Netbeans property editor does not write UTF-8 encoded files, but instead ASCII files with Unicode escape sequences. Until a workaround is provided or the issue is fixed, please use another UTF-8 capable editor. In practice that means any editor except Netbeans.

Translator Instructions¶

The translation process is very straightforward. You simply need to

1. download the current version of the .zip-file at the end of this page
2. unzip it to some working directory
3. browse through the following sub-directories and pick an existing language file (LANG ..._C=english, ..._de=german etc.) of your choice as basis for your translation.
   • about
     • about_LANG.html
     • feedback_LANG.html
     • join_LANG.html
     • Messages_LANG.properties
   • applet - Messages_LANG.properties
   • eac - Messages_LANG.properties
   • gui - Messages_LANG.properties
   • http - Messages_LANG.properties
   • pace - Messges_LANG.properties
   • richclient - Messages_LANG.properties
4. copy each file to some _OTHERLANG
5. translate the corresponding text and expressions
6. zip the result and upload it again or mail it to info@openecard.org