Chapter 9 Localizing Communications Express

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Sun Java System Communications Express 6 2005Q1 Customization Guide

Chapter 9
Localizing Communications Express

Communications Express Localization

Communications Express allows you to localize Calendar, Address Book and Options as per your requirements.

Localizing Calendar and Options

Localizing for languages that use characters outside the ASCII range

Localizing Mail

Localizing Address Book

Localizing Calendar and Options

To localize text, you need to change the i18n.properties file that is located in <domain-dir>/domain/<locale> directory. If the deployment is configured to work with multiple domains and multiple locales, then a directory by that domain name is created under <domain-dir>/domain

For example, if there is a domain called example.com, perform the following steps.

Create <domain-dir>/domain/example.com

Copy <domain-dir>/domain/<locale>/i18n.properties to <domain-dir>/domain/example.com./locale directory.

Create directories for each supported locale (en_US, ja, de_FR etc) under that domain, copy i18n.properties to the domain, and change it accordingly

Localizing Date/Time Formats for Calendar

The localization of the Date/Time formats for Calendar should be performed by constructing locale-specific patterns for certain symbols, delimitters and hard-coded strings that are enclosed in single quotes. These symbols are converted into locale specific strings by Communications Express

Table 9-1 contains the information on localizing Date/Time Formats for Calendar

.

Table 9-1  Localizing Date/Time Formats for Calendar

Symbol

Meaning

Presentation

Example

y

year

Number

1996

M

month in year

Text&Number

July & 07

d

day in month

Number

10

h

hour in am/pm (1-12)

Number

12

H

hour in day (0-23)

Number

0

m

minute in hour

Number

30

s

second in minute

Number

55

S

millisecond

Number

978

E

day in week

Text

Tuesday

D

day in year

Number

189

F

day of week in month

Number

2 (2nd Wed in July)

w

week in year

Number

27

W

week in month

Number

2

a

am/pm marker

Text

PM

z

time zone

Text

Pacific Standard Time

‘

escape for text

Delimiter

(none)

‘

single quote

Literal

.

Characters that are in the above table are treated as quoted text. These characters appear in the formatted text even if they are not enclosed within single quotes.

The number of symbol letters you specify also determines the format. For example, if the "zz" pattern results in "PDT," then the "zzzz" pattern generates "Pacific Daylight Time." Table 9-2 summarizes these rules.

Table 9-2  Localization Rules

Presentation

Number of Symbols

Result

Text

1-3

‘abbreviated form, if one exists

Text

>=4

full form

Number

minimum number of digits is required

shorter number are padded with zeros(for year, if the count of ‘y’ is 2, then the year is truncated to 2 digits)

Text & Number

1-2

text form

Text & Number

3

number form

Localizing for languages that use characters outside the ASCII range

You may want to use the ‘native2ascii’ utility provided by JDK to convert non-ascii characters into escaped unicode values. This utility is available at <jdk-install-dir>/bin

To use the ‘native2ascii’ utility, enter non-ascii characters for the corresponding values in the properties file and save it.

Use the command, native2ascii -encloding <native_encoding> <src_filename> <target_filename>

where,

native_encoding represents the encoding used to create the source file, src_filename represents the source file and target_filename represents the i18n.properties file.

Localizing Mail

Communications Express allows you to localize any feature of Mail. Different pages can be created for different languages. When you create language-specific static pages, you need to group them in subdirectories under the main document directory. The code automatically detects the client’s language preference and fetches the pages from the appropriate subdirectory.

When you change common sections for static pages, you must make the changes in multiple locale (languages) directories, if modifications are desired across languages (for example, if changes are required to modify JavaScript behavior). Conversely, you can also make language-specific modifications selectively throughout the application.

Specific Locales

Table 9-3 lists the specific locales and their abbreviations that are supported by Communications Express services. The default language is English.

Table 9-3  Communications Express Specific Locales

Locale

Abbreviation

English

en

Japanese

ja

Spanish

es

French

fr

German

de

Russian

ru

Arabic

ar

Code Example 9-1 shows the changes to be made to the ru/i18n.js file for modifying the charset in the i18n.resource file.

Code Example 9-1  Modifying the charset in the i18n Resource File

// I18N Resource file

var i18n = new Array()

var fldr = new Array()

// DO NOT TRANSLATE AS STRINGS-JUST VALUES

i18n['fontface'] = 'PrimaSans BT,Verdana,sans-serif

i18n['fontface1'] = i18n['fontface']

i18n['fontface2'] = 'Times New Roman,Times,serif'

i18n['fontface3'] = 'Courier New,Courier,mono'

i18n['nbsp'] = ' '

Communications Express allows you to customize text that is displayed on web pages. This text is both customizable and localizable. The system also allows you to configure text on a per domain basis

To Add an Additional Locale

To add an additional locale, perform the following steps.

Edit the uwcdomainconfig.properties file. This file is available in the <uwc-deploy-dir>/WEB-INF/domain directory>

Add a keyword for the new locale that needs to be added. For example, if you need to add a new locale, “Afrikaans”

Code Example 9-2  Adding a keyword for the new locale

supportedLanguages=en;es;de;fr;ja;ko;zh-CN;zh-TW;Afrikaans

Add a localized string for the locale name in different locales. This could be done by adding a new line in i18n.properties file of each locale. For example, let us add a key in i18n.properties file for en locale.

Code Example 9-3  Adding a localized string for the locale name

uwc-common-options-preferredLanguage-Afrikaans=Afrkaans Locale

To Include Additional Dictionary for Spell Check

Get the dictionary file and the affix file for the language you want to add to your dictionary.

The dictionary file contains language-specific vocabulary and the affix file contains grammar rules for the specific language. For information on dictionary and affix files refer to the site: http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/fmg-members/geoff/ispell-dictionaries.html

Use the buildhash utility to create a platform-specific and language-specific hash file from the dictionary and affix files. This hash file is used by the Communications Express spell checker.

To run the buildhash utility, download the ispell source files available at the site: http//www.gnu.org/software/ispell/ispell.html or, use the buildhash utility in the msg_svr_base/dict/bin directory. The syntax for the buildhash utility is:

buildhash dictionary_file affix_file language_name.hash

The language_name in the language_name.hash file is the two-letter language code used by Communications Express (such as: en for English, fr for French).

To determine your language’s two-letter code, enter the command:

msg_svr_base/msg-instance/configutil | grep local.supportedlanguages

Note

The double-byte character set is not supported by Communications Express spell checker.

Copy the newly created language_name.hash file in the msg_svr_base/dict directory and restart the mshttpd service. When the mshttpd service is restarted, the Communications Express spell checker is enabled.

The following example shows how to create a German hash file (ge.hash) by using the buildhash utility.

Creating a German hash file by using the buildhash utility.

# cd /usr/Sun/server5/dict/bin

# ./buildhash german.dico german.aff ge.hash

# cp ge.hash ..

# /usr/Sun/server5/msg-budgie/start-msg http

,where the file i18n.js controls the text. The i18n.js file also can be localized to fit the language of many regions in the world

Localizing Address Book

To localize address book, the xml file that needs to be modified is the dictionary- <lang>.xml file that is located under <uwcinstalldir> /WEB-INF/ui/html/abs directory.

Customizing Address Book for a Specific Locale

You can customize the Address Book UI either for a specific locale and not under a specific domain and also for a locale under a specific domain.

Customizing the Address Book UI for a locale and not under a specific domain

Create a directory with the locale name(e.g., ja under <uwcinstall>/WEB-INF/ui/html/abs

Copy all files from <uwc-deploy>/WEB-INF/ui/html/abs to <uwc-deploy>/WEB-INF/ui/html/abs/<locale>

Make the required changes in XSL files as explained in the previous sections.

Customizing the Address Book for a locale under a specific domain

Create a directory with <domain>/<locale> (e.g., siroe.com/ja) under <uwcinstall>/WEB-INF/ui/html

Copy all files from <uwcinstall>/WEB-INF/ui/html/abs to ..../abs/<locale>

Make the required changes in .xsl files as explained in the previous sections.

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Part No:819-0116-10. Copyright 2005 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Symbol	Meaning	Presentation	Example
y	year	Number	1996
M	month in year	Text&Number	July & 07
d	day in month	Number	10
h	hour in am/pm (1-12)	Number	12
H	hour in day (0-23)	Number	0
m	minute in hour	Number	30
s	second in minute	Number	55
S	millisecond	Number	978
E	day in week	Text	Tuesday
D	day in year	Number	189
F	day of week in month	Number	2 (2nd Wed in July)
w	week in year	Number	27
W	week in month	Number	2
a	am/pm marker	Text	PM
z	time zone	Text	Pacific Standard Time
‘	escape for text	Delimiter	(none)
‘	single quote	Literal	.

Presentation	Number of Symbols	Result
Text	1-3	‘abbreviated form, if one exists
Text	>=4	full form
Number	minimum number of digits is required	shorter number are padded with zeros(for year, if the count of ‘y’ is 2, then the year is truncated to 2 digits)
Text & Number	1-2	text form
Text & Number	3	number form

Locale	Abbreviation
English	en
Japanese	ja
Spanish	es
French	fr
German	de
Russian	ru
Arabic	ar


Note	The double-byte character set is not supported by Communications Express spell checker.