Internationalising a Share Customisation

#SummitNow
Internationalising a Share
Customisation
November 2013, Barcelona & Boston
David Webster / Alfresco Engineer

#SummitNow#SummitNow
Terminology:
Internationalisation or i18n
The engineering process to enable a piece
of software to be customised to a user’s
region.

Terminology:
Localisation or L10n
The process of taking internationalised
software and doing the customisation.

Terminology:
Locale
1. The user’s language and region
2. The identifier for the user’s language and
region, e.g. en_GB

Now in 11 Languages:
German: de
English (US): en
Spanish: es
French: fr
Italian: it
Japanese: ja
Dutch: nl
Russian: ru
Chinese (simplified):
zh_CN
Norwegian: nb_no
Brazilian
Portuguese: pt_BR

Internationalising Share

$ cat slingshot.properties

$ ls slingshot*.properties
slingshot.properties
slingshot_de.properties
slingshot_es.properties
slingshot_fr.properties
slingshot_it.properties
slingshot_ja.properties
slingshot_nb_NO.properties
slingshot_nl.properties
slingshot_pt_BR.properties
slingshot_ru.properties
slingshot_zh_CN.properties

Using messages in your code

Else: Anywhere in JavaScript:
Alfresco.util.message(key, scope, var1…varN)

Setting messages in ftl
(Alfresco.component)
setMessages(${messages});

Setting messages in ftl
Alfresco.util.addMessages(${messages}, scope);

If: JavaScript extends
Alfresco.component.Base
this.msg(key, var1…varN)

If: AMD style widget in Share
4.2
i18nRequirements: [{i18nFile: “./i18n/name.properties”}],
[…]
this.message(key, var1…varN)

if AMD style widget:
• i18nRequirements: [{i18nFile: path}]
• this.messages(key, var1…varN)
else if Alfresco.component.Base
• .setMessages(${messages})
• this.msg(key, var1…varN)
else
• Alfresco.util.addMessages(${messages},
scope)
• Alfresco.util.message(key, scope, var1…varN)

In FreeMarker templates:
${msg(key, var1…varN)}

In JavaScript backed
webscripts:
msg.get(key, var1…varN)

File Encoding

Use ascii in *.properties files:
• 月 === u6708
• ê === u00ea
• ß === u00df

Convert using native2ascii:
• native2ascii -encoding UTF8
file.utf8.properties file.acsii.properties
• native2ascii -reverse -encoding UTF8
file.ascii.properties file.utf8.properties

Best Practices

1. Don’t concatenate messages
BAD:
//search.results.start=There are
//search.results.end=search results
var msg = this.msg(“search.results.start”)
+ “ ” + results.length + “ ”
+ this.msg(“search.results.end”);

Good:
//search.results =There are {0} search
results
var msg = this.msg(“search.results”,
results.length);

//search.results.none=There are no search
results
//search.results.singular=There is one search
result
//search.results.plural=There are {0} search
results
if (results) {
msg = this.msg(“search.results.” +
(results.length === 1) ? “singular” :
“plural”, results.length);
} else {
msg= this.msg(“search.results.none”);

EN:
search.results.found=Showing {0} of {1} results for "{2}" within {3}…
DE:
search.results.found={0} von {1} Ergebnissen fu00fcr ''{2}'' in {3}
werden angezeigt...
JA:
search.results.found={3}''{2}''u3067u898bu3064u304bu3063u305f
u7d50u679cu306e{0} / {1}u4ef6u3092u8868u793au3059u308b...
Or (UTF8)
search.results.found={3}''{2}''で見つかった結果の{0} / {1}件を表示する...

2. Separate Contexts

3. Be careful with single quotes
• Double the apostrophe (’’) when you see bracket(s) ({})
in the same message.
• Do not double the apostrophe( ’) if there is no bracket
({}) in the same message.
• Do not double the apostrophe( ’) if you see an
apostrophe in the original English contents since it
should have been confirmed to be displayed properly.
http://blogs.sun.com/byuan/entry/best_practices_of_handling_apostrophes

4. Avoid localised commas
## Dates
days.initial=S,M,T,W,T,F,S
days.short=Su,Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr,Sa
days.medium=Sun,Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri,Sat
days.long=Sunday,Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday,
Saturday
months.short=Jan,Feb,Mar,Apr,May,Jun,Jul,Aug,Sep,Oct,Nov,Dec
months.long=January,February,March,April,May,June,July,August,
September,October,November,December

4. Avoid localised commas
• u3001 === 、
• u3001 !== ,

5. Use OOTB date formats

http://xkcd.com/1179/

6. Format dates client side

7. Allow for growth

8. No config in *.properties
10. Don’t forget number formats
9. Internationalise everything

Best practices:
1. Don’t concatenate
2. Separate contexts
3. Be careful with
single quotes
4. Avoid localised
commas
5. Use OOTB date
formats
6. Format dates client
side
7. Allow for growth
8. No config in
*.properties
9. Internationalise
everything
10. Don’t forget number
formats

Localisation Community
http://crowdin.net/project/alfresco
http://addons.alfresco.com/

Questions?
• david.webster@alfresco.com
• @davidcognite

Internationalising a Share Customisation

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