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Oracle® Fusion Middleware Web User Interface Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework
11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.0)

Part Number B31973-10
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21 Internationalizing and Localizing Pages

This chapter describes how to configure JSF pages or an application to display text in the correct language of a user's browser.

This chapter includes the following sections:

21.1 Introduction to Internationalization and Localization of ADF Faces Pages

Internationalization is the process of designing and developing products for easy adaptation to specific local languages and cultures. Localization is the process of adapting a product for a specific local language or culture by translating text and adding locale-specific components. A successfully localized application will appear to have been developed within the local culture. JDeveloper supports easy localization of ADF Faces components using the abstract class java.util.ResourceBundle to provide locale-specific resources.

When your application will be viewed by users in more than one country, you can configure your JSF page or application to use different locales so that it displays the correct language for the language setting of a user's browser. For example, if you know your page will be viewed in Italy, you can localize your page so that when a user's browser is set to use the Italian language, text strings in the browser page will appear in Italian.

ADF Faces components may include text that is part of the component, for example the af:table component uses the resource string af_table.LABEL_FETCHING for the message text that is displayed in the browser while the table is fetching data during the initial load of data or while the table is being scrolled. JDeveloper provides automatic translation of these text resources into 28 languages. These text resources are referenced in a resource bundle. If you set the browser to use the language in Italy, any text contained within the components will automatically be displayed in Italian. For more information on skins and resource bundles, see Chapter 20, "Customizing the Appearance Using Styles and Skins".

For any text you add to a component, for example if you define the label of an af:commandButton component by setting the text attribute, you must provide a resource bundle that holds the actual text, create a version of the resource bundle for each locale, and add a <locale-config> element to define default and support locales in the application's faces-config.xml file. You must also add a <resource-bundle> element to your application's faces-config.xml file in order to make the resource bundles available to all the pages in your application. Once you have configured and registered a resource bundle, the Expression Language (EL) editor will display the key from the bundle, making it easier to reference the bundle in application pages.

To simplify the process of creating text resources for text you add to ADF components, JDeveloper supports automatic resource bundle synchronization for any translatable string in the visual editor. When you edit components directly in the visual editor or in the Property Inspector, text resources are automatically created in the base resource bundle.

Note:

Any text retrieved from the database is not translated. This document explains how to localize static text, not text that is stored in the database.

For instance, if the title of this page is My Purchase Requests, instead of having My Purchase Requests as the value for the title attribute of the af:panelPage component, the value is bound to a key in the UIResources resource bundle. The UIResources resource bundle is registered in the faces-config.xml file for the application, as shown in Example 21-1.

Example 21-1 Resource Bundle Element in JSF Configuration File

<resource-bundle>
  <var>res</var>
  <base-name>resources.UIResources</base-name>
</resource-bundle>

The resource bundle is given a variable name (in this case, res) that can then be used in EL expressions. On the page, the title attribute of the af:panelPage component is then bound to the myDemo.pageTitle key in that resource bundle, as shown in Example 21-2.

Example 21-2 Component Text Referencing Resource Bundle

<af:panelPage text="#{res['myDemo.pageTitle']}"

The UIResources resource bundle has an entry in the English language for all static text displayed on each page in the application, as well as for text for messages and global text, such as generic labels. Example 21-3 shows the keys for the myDemo page.

Example 21-3 Resource Bundle Keys for the myDemo Page Displayed in English

#myDemo Screen
myDemo.pageTitle=My Purchase Requests
myDemo.menubar.openLink=Open Requests
myDemo.menubar.pendingLink=Requests Awaiting customer
myDemo.menubar.closedLink=Closed Requests
myDemo.menubar.allRequests=All Requests
myDemo.menubar.newLink=Create New Purchase Request
myDemo.selectAnd=Select and 
myDemo.buttonbar.view=View
myDemo.buttonbar.edit=Edit

Note that text in the banner image and data retrieved from the database are not translated.

Example 21-4 shows the resource bundle version for the Italian (Italy) locale, UIResources_it. Note that there is not an entry for the selection facet's title, yet it was translated from Select to Seleziona automatically. That is because this text is part of the ADF Faces table component's selection facet.

Example 21-4 Resource Bundle Keys for the myDemo Page Displayed in Italian

#myDemo Screen
myDemo.pageTitle=Miei Ticket
myDemo.menubar.openLink=Ticket Aperti
myDemo.menubar.pendingLink=Ticket in Attesa del Cliente
myDemo.menubar.closedLink=Ticket Risolti
myDemo.menubar.allRequests=Tutti i Ticket
myDemo.menubar.newLink=Creare Nuovo Ticket
myDemo.selectAnd=Seleziona e  
myDemo.buttonbar.view=Vedere Dettagli
myDemo.buttonbar.edit=Aggiorna

21.2 Using Automatic Resource Bundle Integration in JDeveloper

By default, JDeveloper supports the automatic creation of text resources in the default resource bundle when editing ADF Faces components in the visual editor. To treat user-defined strings as static values, disable Automatically Synchronize Bundle in the Project Properties dialog, as described in Section 21.2.1, "How to Set Resource Bundle Options".

Automatic resource bundle integration can be configured to support one resource bundle per page or project, or multiple shared bundles.

You can edit translatable text strings using any one of the following methods:

21.2.1 How to Set Resource Bundle Options

After you have created a project, you can set resource bundle options in the Project Properties dialog.

To set resource bundle options for a project:

  1. In the Application Navigator, double-click the project.

  2. In the Project Properties dialog, select Resource Bundle to display the resource bundle options, as shown in Figure 21-3.

    Figure 21-3 Project Properties Resource Bundle dialog

    Project Properties Resource Bundle.
  3. If you want JDeveloper to automatically generate a default resource file, select Automatically Synchronize Bundle.

  4. Select one of the following resource bundle file options:

    • One Bundle Per Project - configured in a file named <ProjectName>.properties.

    • One Bundle Per Page - configured in a file named <PageName>.properties.

    • Multiple Shared Bundles.

  5. Select the resource bundle type from the dropdown list:

    • XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF) Bundle

    • List Resource Bundle

    • Properties Bundle

  6. Click OK.

21.2.2 What Happens When You Set Resource Bundle Options

JDeveloper generates one or more resource bundles of a particular type based on the selections that you make in the resource bundle options part of the Project Properties dialog, as illustrated in Figure 21-3. It generates a resource bundle the first time that you invoke the Select Text Resource dialog illustrated in Figure 21-2.

Assume, for example, that you select the One Bundle Per Project checkbox and the List Resource Bundle value from the Resource Bundle Type dropdown list. The first time that you invoke the Select Text Resource dialog, JDeveloper generates one resource bundle for the project. The generated resource bundle is a Java class named after the default project bundle name in the Project Properties dialog (for example, ViewControllerBundle.java).

JDeveloper generates a resource bundle as an .xlf file if you select the XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF) Bundle option and a .properties file if you select the Properties Bundle option.

By default, JDeveloper creates the generated resource bundle in the view subdirectory of the project's Application Sources directory.

21.2.3 How to Create an Entry in a JDeveloper-Generated Resource Bundle

JDeveloper generates one or more resource bundles based on the values you select in the resource bundle options part of the Project Properties dialog. It generates a resource bundle the first time that you invoke the Select Text Resource dialog from a component property in the Property Inspector.

JDeveloper writes key-value pairs to the resource bundle based on the values that you enter in the Select Text Resource dialog. It also allows you to select an existing key-value pair from a resource bundle to render a runtime display value for a component.

To create an entry in the resource bundle generated by JDeveloper:

  1. In the JSF page, select the component for which you want to write a runtime value.

    For example, select an af:inputText component.

  2. In the Property Inspector, use a property's dropdown list to select Select Text Resource to create a new entry in the resource bundle.

    The Select Text Resource entry in the dropdown list only appears for properties that support text resources. For example, the Label property of an af:inputText component.

  3. Write the value that you want to appear at runtime in the Display Value input field, as illustrated in Figure 21-2.

    JDeveloper generates a value in the Key input field.

  4. Optionally, write a description in the Description input field.

    Note:

    JDeveloper displays a matching text resource in the Matching Text Resource field if a text resource exists that matches the value you entered in the Display Value input field exists.
  5. Click Save and Select.

21.2.4 What Happens When You Create an Entry in a JDeveloper-Generated Resource Bundle

JDeveloper writes the key-value pair that you define in the Select Text Resource dialog to the resource bundle. The options that you select in the resource bundle options part of the Project Properties dialog determine what type of resource bundle JDeveloper writes the key-value pair to. For more information, see Section 21.2.2, "What Happens When You Set Resource Bundle Options".

The component property for which you define the resource bundle entry uses an EL expression to retrieve the value from the resource bundle at runtime. For example, an af:inputText component's Label property may reference an EL expression similar to the following:

#{viewcontrollerBundle.NAME}

where viewcontrollerBundle references the resource bundle and NAME is the key for the runtime value.

21.3 Manually Defining Resource Bundles and Locales

A resource bundle contains a number of named resources, where the data type of the named resources is String. A bundle may have a parent bundle. When a resource is not found in a bundle, the parent bundle is searched for the resource. Resource bundles can be either Java classes, property files, or XLIFF files. The abstract class java.util.ResourceBundle has two subclasses: java.util.PropertyResourceBundle and java.util.ListResourceBundle. A java.util.PropertyResourceBundle is stored in a property file, which is a plain-text file containing translatable text. Property files can contain values only for String objects. If you need to store other types of objects, you must use a java.util.ListResourceBundle class instead.

For more information about using XLIFF, see http://docs.oasis-open.org/xliff/xliff-core/xliff-core.html

To add support for an additional locale, replace the values for the keys with localized values and save the property file, appending a language code (mandatory) and an optional country code and variant as identifiers to the name, for example, UIResources_it.properties.

The java.util.ListResourceBundle class manages resources in a name and value array. Each java.util.ListResourceBundle class is contained within a Java class file. You can store any locale-specific object in a java.util.ListResourceBundle class. To add support for an additional locale, you create a subclass from the base class, save it to a file with a locale or language extension, translate it, and compile it into a class file.

The ResourceBundle class is flexible. If you first put your locale-specific String objects in a java.util.PropertyResourceBundle file, you can still move them to a ListResourceBundle class later. There is no impact on your code, because any call to find your key will look in both the java.util.ListResourceBundle class and the java.util.PropertyResourceBundle file.

The precedence order is class before properties. So if a key exists for the same language in both a class file and a property file, the value in the class file will be the value presented to you. Additionally, the search algorithm for determining which bundle to load is as follows:

  1. (baseclass)+(specific language)+(specific country)+(specific variant)

  2. (baseclass)+(specific language)+(specific country)

  3. (baseclass)+(specific language)

  4. (baseclass)+(default language)+(default country)+(default variant)

  5. (baseclass)+(default language)+(default country)

  6. (baseclass)+(default language)

For example, if your browser is set to the Italian (Italy) locale and the default locale of the application is US English, the application attempts to find the closest match, looking in the following order:

  1. it_IT

  2. it

  3. en_US

  4. en

  5. The base class bundle

Tip:

The getBundle method used to load the bundle looks for the default locale classes before it returns the base class bundle. If it fails to find a match, it throws a MissingResourceException error. A base class with no suffixes should always exist as a default. Otherwise, it may not find a match and the exception is thrown.

21.3.1 How to Define the Base Resource Bundle

You must create a base resource bundle that contains all the text strings that are not part of the components themselves. This bundle should be in the default language of the application. You can create a resource bundle as a property file, as an XLIFF file, or as a Java class. After a resource bundle file has been created, you can edit the file using the Edit Resource Bundles dialog.

To create a resource bundle as a property file or an XLIFF file:

  1. In JDeveloper, create a new file.

    • In the Application Navigator, right-click where you want the file to be placed and choose New from the context menu to open the New Gallery.

      Note:

      If you are creating a localized version of the base resource bundle, save the file to the same directory as the base file.
    • In the Categories tree, select General, and in the Items list, select File. Click OK.

    • In the Create File dialog, enter a name for the file using the convention <name><_lang>.properties for the using the properties file or <name><_lang>.xlf for using the XLIFF file, where the <_lang> suffix is provided for translated files, as in _de for German, and omitted for the base language.

      Note:

      If you are creating a localized version of a base resource bundle, you must append the ISO 639 lowercase language code to the name of the file. For example, the Italian version of the UIResources bundle is UIResources_it.properties. You can add the ISO 3166 uppercase country code (for example it_CH, for Switzerland) if one language is used by more than one country. You can also add an optional nonstandard variant (for example, to provide platform or region information).

      If you are creating the base resource bundle, do not append any codes.

  2. Enter the content for the file. You can enter the content manually by entering the key-value pairs. You can use the Edit Resource Bundle dialog to enter the key-value pairs, as described in Section 21.3.2, "How to Edit a Resource Bundle File".

    • If you are creating a property file, create a key and value for each string of static text for this bundle. The key is a unique identifier for the string. The value is the string of text in the language for the bundle. If you are creating a localized version of the base resource bundle, any key not found in this version will inherit the values from the base class.

      Note:

      All non-ASCII characters must be UNICODE-escaped or the encoding must be explicitly specified when compiling, for example:
      javac -encoding ISO8859_5 UIResources_it.java
      

      For example, the key and the value for the title of the myDemo page is:

      myDemo.pageTitle=My Purchase Requests
      
    • If you are creating an XLIFF file, enter the proper tags for each key-value pair. For example:

      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="windows-1252" ?>
      <xliff version="1.1" xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.1">
        <file source-language="en" original="myResources" datatype="xml">
          <body>
            <trans-unit id="NAME">
              <source>Name</source>
              <target/>
              <note>Name of employee</note>
            </trans-unit>
            <trans-unit id="HOME_ADDRESS">
              <source>Home Address</source>
              <target/>
              <note>Adress of employee</note>
            </trans-unit>
            <trans-unit id="OFFICE_ADDRESS">
              <source>Office Address</source>
              <target/>
              <note>Office building </note>
            </trans-unit>
          </body>
        </file>
      </xliff>
      
  3. After you have entered all the values, click OK.

To create a resource bundle as a Java class:

  1. In JDeveloper, create a new Java class:

    • In the Application Navigator, right-click where you want the file to be placed and choose New to open the New Gallery.

      Note:

      If you are creating a localized version of the base resource bundle, it must reside in the same directory as the base file.
    • In the Categories tree, select General, and in the Items list, select Java Class. Click OK.

    • In the Create Java Class dialog, enter a name and package for the class. The class must extend java.util.ListResourceBundle.

      Note:

      If you are creating a localized version of a base resource bundle, you must append the ISO 639 lowercase language code to the name of the class. For example, the Italian version of the UIResources bundle might be UIResources_it.java. You can add the ISO 3166 uppercase country code (for example it_CH, for Switzerland) if one language is used by more than one country. You can also add an optional nonstandard variant (for example, to provide platform or region information).

      If you are creating the base resource bundle, do not append any codes.

  2. Implement the getContents() method, which simply returns an array of key-value pairs. Create the array of keys for the bundle with the appropriate values. Or use the Edit Resource Bundles dialog to automatically generate the code, as described in Section 21.3.2, "How to Edit a Resource Bundle File". Example 21-5 shows a base resource bundle Java class.

    Note:

    Keys must be String objects. If you are creating a localized version of the base resource bundle, any key not found in this version will inherit the values from the base class.

    Example 21-5 Base Resource Bundle Java Class

    package sample;
    
    import java.util.ListResourceBundle;
    
    public class MyResources extends ListResourceBundle {
      public Object[][] getContents() {
        return contents;
    }
    static final Object[][] contents {
      {"button_Search", Search"},
      {"button_Reset", "Reset"},
      };
    }
    

21.3.2 How to Edit a Resource Bundle File

After you have created a resource bundle property file, XLIFF file, or Java class file, you can edit it using the source editor.

To edit a resource bundle after it has been created:

  1. In JDeveloper, choose Application > Edit Resource Bundles from the main menu.

  2. In the Edit Resource Bundles dialog, select the resource bundle file you want to edit from the Resource Bundle dropdown list, as shown in Figure 21-4, or click the Search icon to launch the Select Resource Bundle dialog.

    Figure 21-4 Edit Resource Bundle Dialog

    Edit Resource Bundle dialog
  3. In the Select Resource Bundle dialog, select the file type from the File type dropdown list. Navigate to the resource bundle you want to edit, as shown in Figure 21-5. Click OK.

    Figure 21-5 Select Resource Bundle Dialog

    Select Resource Bundle dialog
  4. In the Edit Resource Bundles dialog, click the Add icon to add a key-value pair, as shown in Figure 21-6. When you have finished, click OK.

    Figure 21-6 Adding Values to a Resource Bundle

    Adding Values to a Resource Bundle

21.3.3 How to Register Locales and Resource Bundles in Your Application

You must register the locales and resource bundles used in your application in the faces-config.xml file.

To register a locale for your application:

  1. Open the faces-config.xml file and click the Overview tab in the editor window. The faces-config.xml file is located in the <View_Project>/WEB-INF directory.

  2. In the editor window, select Application.

  3. In the Locale Config area, click Add to open the Property Inspector to add the code for the locale, as shown in Figure 21-7.

    Figure 21-7 Adding a Locale to faces-config.xml

    Add locale to faces-config.xml.

    After you have added the locales, the faces-config.xml file should have code similar to the following:

    <locale-config>
          <default-locale>en</default-locale>
          <supported-locale>ar</supported-locale>
          <supported-locale>ca</supported-locale>
          <supported-locale>cs</supported-locale>
          <supported-locale>da</supported-locale>
          <supported-locale>de</supported-locale>
          <supported-locale>zh_Ch</supported-locale>
     </locale-config>
    

To register the resource bundle:

  1. Open the faces-config.xml file and click the Overview tab in the editor window. The faces-config.xml file is located in the <View_Project>/WEB-INF directory.

  2. In the editor window, select Application.

  3. In the Resource Bundle section, click Add to enable editor input. Enter the fully qualified name of the base bundle that contains messages to be used by the application and a variable name that can be used to reference the bundle in an EL expression, as shown in Figure 21-8.

    Figure 21-8 Adding a Resource Bundle to faces-config.xml

    Adding resource bundle to faces-config.xml.

    After you have added the resource bundle, the faces-config.xml file should have code similar to the following:

    <resource-bundle>
          <base-name>oracle.fodemo.storefront.StoreFrontUIBundle</base-name>
          <var>res</var>
    </resource-bundle>
    

21.3.4 How to Use Resource Bundles in Your Application

With JSF 1.2 you are not required to load the base resource bundle on each page in your application with the <f:loadBundle> tag.

To use a base resource bundle on your page:

  1. Set your page encoding and response encoding to be a superset of all supported languages. If no encoding is set, the page encoding defaults to the value of the response encoding set using the contentType attribute of the page directive. Example 21-6 shows the encoding for a sample page.

    Example 21-6 Page and Response Encoding

    <?xml version='1.0' encoding='windows-1252'?>
    <jsp:root xmlns:jsp="http://java.sun.com/JSP/Page" version="2.0"
              xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
              xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
              xmlns:af="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/faces"
              xmlns:afc="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/faces/webcache">
      <jsp:output omit-xml-declaration="true" doctype-root-element="HTML"
                  doctype-system="http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"
                  doctype-public="-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"/>
      <jsp:directive.page contentType="text/html;charset=UTF-8"/>
      <f:view>
    

    Tip:

    By default JDeveloper sets the page encoding to windows-1252. To set the default to a different page encoding:
    1. From the menu, choose Tools > Preferences.

    2. In the left-hand pane, select Environment if it is not already selected.

    3. Set Encoding to the preferred default.

  2. Bind all attributes that represent strings of static text displayed on the page to the appropriate key in the resource bundle, using the variable defined in the faces-config.xml file for the <resource-bundle> element. Example 21-7 shows the code for the View button on the myDemo page.

    Example 21-7 Binding to a Resource Bundle

    <af:commandButton text="#{res['myDemo.buttonbar.view']}"
                      . . . />
    

    Tip:

    If you type the following syntax in the source editor, JDeveloper displays a dropdown list of the keys that resolve to strings in the resource bundle:

    <af:commandButton text="#{res.

    JDeveloper completes the EL expression when you select a key from the dropdown list.

  3. You can also use the adfBundle keyword to resolve resource strings from specific resource bundles as EL expressions in the JSF page.

    The usage format is #{adfBundle[ bundleID ] [ resource_Key ]}, where bundleID is the fully qualified bundle ID, such as project.EmpMsgBundle, and resource_Key is the resource key in the bundle, such as Deptno_LABEL. Example 21-8 shows how adfBundle is used to provide the button text with a resource strings from a specific resource bundle.

    Example 21-8 Binding Using adfBundle

    <af:commandButton text="#{adfBundle['project.EmpMsgBundle'] ['Deptno_LABEL']}"
    

21.3.5 What You May Need to Know About Custom Skins and Control Hints

If you use a custom skin and have created a custom resource bundle for the skin, you must also create localized versions of the resource bundle. Similarly, if your application uses control hints to set any text, you must create localized versions of the generated resource bundles for that text.

21.3.6 What You May Need to Know About Overriding a Resource Bundle in a Customizable Application

If you are developing a customizable application using the Oracle Metadata Services (MDS) framework and you create a resource bundle (an override bundle) that overrides key-value pairs from the base resource bundle, you need to configure your application's adf-config.xml file to support the overriding of the base resource bundle. An override bundle is a resource bundle that contains the key-value pairs that differ from the base resource bundle that you want to use in your customizable application. If, for example, you have a base bundle with the name oracle.demo.CustAppUIBundle, you configure an entry in your application's adf-config.xml file as shown in Example 21-9 to make it overrideable. Once it is marked as overriden, any customizations of that bundle will be stored in your application's override bundle.

Example 21-9 Entry for Override Bundle in adf-config.xml File

<adf-resourcebundle-config xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/resourcebundle/config">
  <applicationBundleName>oracle/app.../xliffBundle/FusionAppsOverrideBundle</applicationBundleName>
  <bundleList>
    <bundleId override="true">oracle.demo.CustAppUIBundle</bundleId>
  </bundleList>
</adf-resourcebundle-config>

For more information about the adf-config.xml file, see Section A.4, "Configuration in adf-config.xml." For more information about creating customizable applications using MDS, see the "Customizing Applications with MDS" chapter of the Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

21.4 Configuring Pages for an End User to Specify Locale at Runtime

You can configure an application so end users can specify the locale at runtime rather than the default behavior where the locale settings of the end user's browser determine the runtime locale. Implement this functionality if you want your application to allow end users to specify their preferred locale and save their preference.

21.4.1 How to Configure a Page for an End User to Specify Locale

Create a new page or open an existing page. Configure it so that:

  • It references a backing bean to store locale information

  • An end user can invoke a control at runtime to update the locale information in the backing bean

  • The locale attribute of the f:view tag references the backing bean

To configure a page for an end user to specify locale:

  1. Create a page with a backing bean to store locale information.

    For more information, see Section 2.4.1, "How to Create JSF JSP Pages".

  2. Provide a control (for example, a selectOneChoice component) that an end user can use to change locale.

    For example, in the Components Palette, from the Common Components panel, drag and drop a Select One Choice anywhere onto the page.

  3. Bind the control to a backing bean that stores the locale value, as illustrated in the following example.

    <af:selectOneChoice label="Select Locale"
        binding="#{backingBeanScope.backing_changeLocale.soc1}"
        id="soc1">
              <af:selectItem label="French" value="FR"
                     binding="#{backingBeanScope.backing_changeLocale.si1}"
                     id="si1"/>
        ...             
    </af:selectOneChoice>
    
  4. Bind the locale attribute of the f:view tag to the locale value in the backing bean.

    1. In the Structure window for the JSF page, right-click the f:view tag and choose Go to Properties.

    2. In the Property Inspector, use the dropdown menu next to the locale attribute to open the Expression Builder.

    3. Use the Expression Builder to bind to the locale value in the backing bean, as shown in Figure 21-9.

      Figure 21-9 Expression Builder Binding the Locale Attribute to a Backing Bean

      Expression Builder Binding Locale Attribute to Backing Bean
  5. Save the page.

21.4.2 What Happens When You Configure a Page to Specify Locale

JDeveloper generates a reference to the backing bean for the command component that you use to change the locale. Example 21-10 shows an example using the selectOneChoice component.

Example 21-10 selectOneChoice Component Referencing a Backing Bean

<af:selectOneChoice label="Select Locale"
    binding="#{backingBeanScope.backing_changeLocale.soc1}"
    id="soc1">
          <af:selectItem label="French" value="FR"
                 binding="#{backingBeanScope.backing_changeLocale.si1}"
                 id="si1"/>
          ...             
</af:selectOneChoice>

JDeveloper also generates the required methods in the backing bean for the page. Example 21-11 shows extracts for the backing bean that correspond to Example 21-10.

Example 21-11 Backing Bean Methods to Change Locale

package view.backing;
 
...
import oracle.adf.view.rich.component.rich.input.RichSelectOneChoice;
 
public class ChangeLocale {
    ...
    ...
    private RichSelectOneChoice soc1;
        ...
 
    ...
 
    ...
    public void setD2(RichDocument d2) {
        this.d2 = d2;
    }
 
    ...
 
    public void setSoc1(RichSelectOneChoice soc1) {
        this.soc1 = soc1;
    }
 
    public RichSelectOneChoice getSoc1() {
        return soc1;
    }
 
    public void setSi1(RichSelectItem si1) {
        this.si1 = si1;
    }
...
}

21.4.3 What Happens at Runtime When an End User Specifies a Locale

At runtime, an end user invokes the command component you configured to change the locale of the application. The backing bean stores the updated locale information. Pages where the locale attribute of the f:view tag reference the backing bean render using the locale specified by the end user.

The locale specified by the end user must be registered with your application. For more information about specifying a locale and associated resource bundles, see Section 21.3.3, "How to Register Locales and Resource Bundles in Your Application".

21.5 Configuring Optional ADF Faces Localization Properties

Along with providing text translation, ADF Faces also automatically provides other types of translation, such as text direction and currency codes. The application will automatically be displayed appropriately, based on the user's selected locale. However, you can also manually set the following localization settings for an application in the trinidad-config.xml file:

21.5.1 How to Configure Optional Localization Properties

You can configure optional localization properties by entering elements in the trinidad-config.xml file.

To configure optional localization properties:

  1. Open the trinidad-config.xml file. The file is located in the <View_Project>/WEB-INF directory.

  2. From the Component Palette, drag the element you wish to add to the file into the Structure window. An empty element is added to the page.

  3. Enter the desired value.

Example 21-12 shows a sample trinidad-config.xml file with all the optional localization elements set.

Example 21-12 Configuring Currency Code and Separators for Numbers and Decimal Point

<!-- Set the currency code to US dollars. -->
<currency-code>USD</currency-code>

<!-- Set the number grouping separator to period for German -->
<!-- and comma for all other languages -->
<number-grouping-separator>
 #{view.locale.language=='de' ? '.' : ','}
</number-grouping-separator>

<!-- Set the decimal separator to comma for German -->
<!-- and period for all other languages -->
<decimal-separator>
 #{view.locale.language=='de' ? ',' : '.'}
</decimal-separator>

<!-- Render the page right-to-left for Arabic -->
<!-- and left-to-right for all other languages -->
<right-to-left>
 #{view.locale.language=='ar' ? 'true' : 'false'}
</right-to-left>

<formatting-locale>
 #{request.locale}
</formatting-locale>

<!-- Set the time zone to Pacific Daylight Savings Time -->
<time-zone>PDT</time-zone>