Nesting formatter instances for localized substrings

Identify strings that need to be localized.

The ability to substitute variable substrings into the strings retrieved from message catalogs adds a level of flexibility to the localizable-text package, but this capability is of limited use unless the variable value can be localized. You can localize this value by nesting LocalizableTextFormatter instances.

1. In the message catalog, add entries that correspond to potential values for the variable substring.

2. In application code, create a LocalizableTextFormatter instance for the variable substring, setting required localization values.

3. Create a LocalizableTextFormatter instance for the primary string, passing in an array that contains the formatter instance for the variable substring.

Example

The following line from an English message catalog shows a string entry with two substitutions and entries to support the localizable variable at index 0 (the second variable in the string, the account number, does not need to be localized):

successfulTransaction = The {0} operation on account {1} was successful.
depositOpString = deposit withdrawOpString = withdrawal

public void updateAccount(String transactionType) {
   ...
   // Successful deposit    LocalizableTextFormatter opLTF = 
      new LocalizableTextFormatter("BankingResources",
                                   "depositOpString", 
                "BankingSample");
   Object[] args = {opLTF, new String(this.accountNumber)}; 
   ...
   LocalizableTextFormatter successLTF =
      new LocalizableTextFormatter ("BankingResources",
                                    "successfulTransaction",
                                    "BankingSample",
                                    args );
   ...
   successLTF.format(this.applicationLocale);
   ...
}

Related concepts
Internationalization

Related tasks
Composing complex strings

Related reference
Internationalization: Resources for learning