Chapter 9 Localizing Communications Express

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

• Adding Locales

• 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

Localizing Date/Time Formats for Calendar contains the information on localizing Date/Time Formats for Calendar.

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.” Localizing Date/Time Formats for Calendar summarizes these rules.

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

Localizing Mail lists the specific locales and their abbreviations that are supported by Communications Express services. The default language is English.

Localizing Mail shows the changes to be made to the ru/i18n.js file for modifying the charset in the i18n.resource file.

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[\qfontface\q] = \qPrimaSans BT,Verdana,sans-serif
i18n[\qfontface1\q] = i18n[\qfontface\q]
i18n[\qfontface2\q] = \qTimes New Roman,Times,serif\q
i18n[\qfontface3\q] = \qCourier New,Courier,mono\q
i18n[\qnbsp\q] = \q \q

                  

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.

Adding Locales

To add a 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”

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.

Example 9–3 Adding a localized string for the locale name

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

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

Steps

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

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

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

Customizing the Address Book for a locale under a specific domain

Steps

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

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

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