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Locale.
Your list might include objects instantiated from the following
classes:
String
Image
Color
AudioClip
You'll notice that this list doesn't contain objects representing
numbers, dates, times, or currencies. The display format of these
objects varies with Locale, but the objects themselves do
not. For example, you format a Date according to
Locale, but you use the same Date object
regardless of Locale. Instead of isolating these objects
in a ResourceBundle, you format them with special
locale-sensitive formatting classes. You'll learn how to do this in the
Dates and Times
section of the
Formatting lesson.
In general, the objects stored in a ResourceBundle are
predefined and ship with the product. These objects are not modified
while the program is running. For instance, you should store a
Menu label in a ResourceBundle because it is
locale-specific and will not change during the program session.
However, you should not isolate in a ResourceBundle a
String object the end user enters in a
TextField. Data such as this String may vary
from day to day. It is specific to the program session, not to the
Locale in which the program runs.
Usually most of the objects you need to isolate in a
ResourceBundle are String objects. However,
not all String objects are locale-specific. For example,
if a String is a protocol element used by interprocess
communication, it doesn't need to be localized, because the end users
never see it.
The decision whether to localize some String objects is
not always clear. Log files are a good example. If a log file is
written by one program and read by another, both programs are using the
log file as a buffer for communication. Suppose that end users
occasionally check the contents of this log file. Shouldn't the log
file be localized? On the other hand, if end users rarely check the log
file, the cost of translation may not be worthwhile. Your decision to
localize this log file depends on a number of factors: program design,
ease of use, cost of translation, and supportability.
ResourceBundle objects according to
the category of objects they contain. For example, you might want to
load all of the GUI labels for an order entry window into a
ResourceBundle called OrderLabelsBundle.
Using multiple ResourceBundle objects offers several
advantages:
ResourceBundle
objects, which may take too long to load into memory.
ResourceBundle only when needed.
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