GWT: Using i18n in UiBinder and dynamically

Question

I want to ask a question related to i18n in GWT.

I have a web application which uses UIBinding, I followed online instructions and successfully made the UIBinder i18n. The property generated by the GWT compiler is put into a directory of:

src/main/java/com/google/gwt/i18n/client/LocalizableResource_en.properties
src/main/java/com/google/gwt/i18n/client/LocalizableResource_de.properties
src/main/java/com/google/gwt/i18n/client/LocalizableResource_es.properties

I can therefore in the web app switch language by specifying "&locale=de" in the query string of URL.

Here is the problem. I have some other string that cannot be fit into UiBinder. They are decided at runtime and therefore needs to be read dynamically. For example, given a file, I need to workout its file type and display the file type in the proper language and display something like:

mytextfile.txt -> "TEXT"

The word "TEXT" needs to be change depends on language. Because the I get the file from server and could be any file, I cannot statically bind the "TEXT" into any translation key.

Question 1: How can I do this in UiBinder?

I understand I can do this without using UIBinder. I can use a class that extends Constants and create getter method to read i18n property files. However, the question is that in the property files above, the string key is a MD5 string. This is generated by GWT compiler. For those properties that are not in the UiBinder, there is no equivalent MD5 with it. How can I place them in the property file?

Will my property file look something like this:

952D2C56D0485958336747BCDD98590D=Hello
Apology=Sorry

the first property is used in UIBinder and the second one is used dynamically.

QUESTION 2: Is there any chance I can avoid this hybrid way of mixing properties? Either uses separate property files or something else.

QUESTION 3 : Another question is that: The property file is currently named as above. This is because some online material says GWT will automatically pick the property file in:

com/google/gwt/i18n/client/

and the filename

LocalizableResource_xxxx.properties

Is it possible for me to put this property file in the Maven's standard resource directory and tells GWT to find there?

Many thanks.

Did you read about ConstantsWithLookup? gwtproject.org/doc/latest/… — xsee

otonglet otonglet · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-08T07:35:16

For the question 1:

I don't fully understand the question. If you know the different file types and their translations, you could put them in your localized .properties isn't it ?

For instance you would have

txt=TEXTE

in

LocalizableResource_fr.properties

Then when you change the locale you just have to use

Constants myConstants = GWT.create(MyConstants.class);    
String fileTypeProperlyTranslated = myConstants.txt();

You could also check "dictionary", and ConstantWithLookup as suggested in the comments.

For the question 3:

You have to add a package to your gwt.xml. Assuming you put your .properties in the com.company.myProject.client package then you should have this in you gwt.xml

<entry-point class="com.company.myProject.client.MyEntryPoint" />
<source path="client" />

Then put your .properties in Maven-compliant src/main/resources/com/company/myProject/client/

You can configure the GWT Maven Plugin... It looks like this in your POM.xml:

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
  <artifactId>gwt-maven-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>${gwt-maven-plugin.version}</version>
    <executions>
      <execution>
        <goals>
        <goal>i18n</goal>
        <goal>...</goal>
            ...
        </goals>
      </execution>
    </executions>

Assuming your properties files are name Messages_en.properties, Messages_es.properties, etc., in the "configuration" part add the following options. (For more options see gwt-maven-plugin doc)

   <configuration>
    <module>${gwt.module}</module>
    <hostedWebapp>${webappDirectory}</hostedWebapp>
    <i18nMessagesBundle>com.company.myProject.client.Messages</i18nMessagesBundle>
    <i18nConstantsWithLookupBundle>com.company.myProject.client.DynamicMessages</i18nConstantsWithLookupBundle>
   </configuration>
</plugin>

I added the i18nConstantsWithLookupBundle, assuming you had some DynamicMessages_en.properties, DynamicMessages_es.properties if ConstantsWithLookup satisfy your needs for question 1.

GWT: Using i18n in UiBinder and dynamically

1 Answers