Class: java.util.ResourceBundle

  • public abstract class ResourceBundle
Resource bundles contain locale-specific objects. When your program needs a locale-specific resource, a String for example, your program can load it from the resource bundle that is appropriate for the current user's locale. In this way, you can write program code that is largely independent of the user's locale isolating most, if not all, of the locale-specific information in resource bundles.

This allows you to write programs that can:

  • be easily localized, or translated, into different languages
  • handle multiple locales at once
  • be easily modified later to support even more locales

Resource bundles belong to families whose members share a common base name, but whose names also have additional components that identify their locales. For example, the base name of a family of resource bundles might be "MyResources". The family should have a default resource bundle which simply has the same name as its family - "MyResources" - and will be used as the bundle of last resort if a specific locale is not supported. The family can then provide as many locale-specific members as needed, for example a German one named "MyResources_de".

Each resource bundle in a family contains the same items, but the items have been translated for the locale represented by that resource bundle. For example, both "MyResources" and "MyResources_de" may have a String that's used on a button for canceling operations. In "MyResources" the String may contain "Cancel" and in "MyResources_de" it may contain "Abbrechen".

If there are different resources for different countries, you can make specializations: for example, "MyResources_de_CH" contains objects for the German language (de) in Switzerland (CH). If you want to only modify some of the resources in the specialization, you can do so.

When your program needs a locale-specific object, it loads the ResourceBundle class using the getBundle method: 

 ResourceBundle myResources =
      ResourceBundle.getBundle("MyResources", currentLocale);

Resource bundles contain key/value pairs. The keys uniquely identify a locale-specific object in the bundle. Here's an example of a ListResourceBundle that contains two key/value pairs: 

 public class MyResources extends ListResourceBundle {
     protected Object[][] getContents() {
         return new Object[][] = {
         // LOCALIZE THIS
             {"OkKey", "OK"},
             {"CancelKey", "Cancel"},
         // END OF MATERIAL TO LOCALIZE
         };
     }
 }
Keys are always Strings. In this example, the keys are "OkKey" and "CancelKey". In the above example, the values are also Strings--"OK" and "Cancel"--but they don't have to be. The values can be any type of object.

You retrieve an object from resource bundle using the appropriate getter method. Because "OkKey" and "CancelKey" are both strings, you would use getString to retrieve them: 

 button1 = new Button(myResources.getString("OkKey"));
 button2 = new Button(myResources.getString("CancelKey"));
The getter methods all require the key as an argument and return the object if found. If the object is not found, the getter method throws a MissingResourceException.

Besides getString, ResourceBundle also provides a method for getting string arrays, getStringArray, as well as a generic getObject method for any other type of object. When using getObject, you'll have to cast the result to the appropriate type. For example: 

 int[] myIntegers = (int[]) myResources.getObject("intList");

The Java 2 platform provides two subclasses of ResourceBundle, ListResourceBundle and PropertyResourceBundle, that provide a fairly simple way to create resources. As you saw briefly in a previous example, ListResourceBundle manages its resource as a List of key/value pairs. PropertyResourceBundle uses a properties file to manage its resources.

If ListResourceBundle or PropertyResourceBundle do not suit your needs, you can write your own ResourceBundle subclass. Your subclasses must override two methods: handleGetObject and getKeys().

The following is a very simple example of a ResourceBundle subclass, MyResources, that manages two resources (for a larger number of resources you would probably use a Hashtable). Notice that you don't need to supply a value if a "parent-level" ResourceBundle handles the same key with the same value (as for the okKey below).

Example: 

 // default (English language, United States)
 public class MyResources extends ResourceBundle {
     public Object handleGetObject(String key) {
         if (key.equals("okKey")) return "Ok";
         if (key.equals("cancelKey")) return "Cancel";
         return null;
     }
 }

 // German language
 public class MyResources_de extends MyResources {
     public Object handleGetObject(String key) {
         // don't need okKey, since parent level handles it.
         if (key.equals("cancelKey")) return "Abbrechen";
         return null;
     }
 }
You do not have to restrict yourself to using a single family of ResourceBundles. For example, you could have a set of bundles for exception messages, ExceptionResources (ExceptionResources_fr, ExceptionResources_de, ...), and one for widgets, WidgetResource (WidgetResources_fr, WidgetResources_de, ...); breaking up the resources however you like.
See:
@see java.util.ListResourceBundle
@see java.util.PropertyResourceBundle
@see java.util.MissingResourceException
Since:
@since JDK1.1

Inheritance

Superclass tree:

Methods

  • ResourceBundletop

    public ResourceBundle()
    Sole constructor. (For invocation by subclass constructors, typically implicit.)
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  • calculateBundleNamestop

    static private Vector calculateBundleNames(String baseName, Locale locale)
    Calculate the bundles along the search path from the base bundle to the bundle specified by baseName and locale.
    Parameters:
    @param baseName the base bundle name
    @param locale the locale
    @param names the vector used to return the names of the bundles along the search path.
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  • cleanUpConstructionListtop

    static private void cleanUpConstructionList()
    Remove any entries this thread may have in the construction list. This is done as cleanup in the case where a bundle can't be constructed.
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  • findBundletop

    static private Object findBundle(ClassLoader loader, String bundleName, Locale defaultLocale, String baseName, Object parent)
    Find a bundle in the cache or load it via the loader or a property file. If the bundle isn't found, an entry is put in the constructionCache and null is returned. If null is returned, the caller must define the bundle by calling putBundleInCache. This routine also propagates NOT_FOUND values from parent to child bundles when the parent is NOT_FOUND.
    Parameters:
    @param loader the loader to use when loading a bundle
    @param bundleName the complete bundle name including locale extension
    @param defaultLocale the default locale at the time getBundle was called
    @param parent the parent of the resource bundle being loaded. null if the bundle is a root bundle
    Return:
    @return the bundle or null if the bundle could not be found in the cache or loaded.
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  • findBundleInCachetop

    static private Object findBundleInCache(ClassLoader loader, String bundleName, Locale defaultLocale)
    Find a bundle in the cache.
    Parameters:
    @param loader the class loader that is responsible for loading the bundle.
    @param bundleName the complete name of the bundle including locale extension. ex. sun.text.resources.LocaleElements_fr_BE
    @param defaultLocale the default locale at the time getBundle was called
    Return:
    @return the cached bundle. null if the bundle is not in the cache.
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  • getBundletop

    public static final ResourceBundle getBundle(String baseName)
    Gets a resource bundle using the specified base name, the default locale, and the caller's class loader. Calling this method is equivalent to calling
    getBundle(baseName, Locale.getDefault(), this.getClass().getClassLoader()),
    except that getClassLoader() is run with the security privileges of ResourceBundle. See getBundle for a complete description of the search and instantiation strategy.
    Parameters:
    @param baseName the base name of the resource bundle, a fully qualified class name
    Return:
    @return a resource bundle for the given base name and the default locale
    Exceptions:
    @exception NullPointerException if baseName is null
    @exception MissingResourceException if no resource bundle for the specified base name can be found
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  • getBundletop

    public static final ResourceBundle getBundle(String baseName, Locale locale)
    Gets a resource bundle using the specified base name and locale, and the caller's class loader. Calling this method is equivalent to calling
    getBundle(baseName, locale, this.getClass().getClassLoader()),
    except that getClassLoader() is run with the security privileges of ResourceBundle. See getBundle for a complete description of the search and instantiation strategy.
    Parameters:
    @param baseName the base name of the resource bundle, a fully qualified class name
    @param locale the locale for which a resource bundle is desired
    Return:
    @return a resource bundle for the given base name and locale
    Exceptions:
    @exception NullPointerException if baseName or locale is null
    @exception MissingResourceException if no resource bundle for the specified base name can be found
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  • getBundletop

    public static ResourceBundle getBundle(String baseName, Locale locale, ClassLoader loader)
    Gets a resource bundle using the specified base name, locale, and class loader.

    Conceptually, getBundle uses the following strategy for locating and instantiating resource bundles:

    getBundle uses the base name, the specified locale, and the default locale (obtained from Locale.getDefault) to generate a sequence of candidate bundle names. If the specified locale's language, country, and variant are all empty strings, then the base name is the only candidate bundle name. Otherwise, the following sequence is generated from the attribute values of the specified locale (language1, country1, and variant1) and of the default locale (language2, country2, and variant2):

    • baseName + "_" + language1 + "_" + country1 + "_" + variant1
    • baseName + "_" + language1 + "_" + country1
    • baseName + "_" + language1
    • baseName + "_" + language2 + "_" + country2 + "_" + variant2
    • baseName + "_" + language2 + "_" + country2
    • baseName + "_" + language2
    • baseName

    Candidate bundle names where the final component is an empty string are omitted. For example, if country1 is an empty string, the second candidate bundle name is omitted.

    getBundle then iterates over the candidate bundle names to find the first one for which it can instantiate an actual resource bundle. For each candidate bundle name, it attempts to create a resource bundle:

    • First, it attempts to load a class using the candidate bundle name. If such a class can be found and loaded using the specified class loader, is assignment compatible with ResourceBundle, is accessible from ResourceBundle, and can be instantiated, getBundle creates a new instance of this class and uses it as the result resource bundle.
    • Otherwise, getBundle attempts to locate a property resource file. It generates a path name from the candidate bundle name by replacing all "." characters with "/" and appending the string ".properties". It attempts to find a "resource" with this name using ClassLoader.getResource. (Note that a "resource" in the sense of getResource has nothing to do with the contents of a resource bundle, it is just a container of data, such as a file.) If it finds a "resource", it attempts to create a new java.util.PropertyResourceBundle instance from its contents. If successful, this instance becomes the result resource bundle.

    If no result resource bundle has been found, a MissingResourceException is thrown.

    Once a result resource bundle has been found, its parent chain is instantiated. getBundle iterates over the candidate bundle names that can be obtained by successively removing variant, country, and language (each time with the preceding "_") from the bundle name of the result resource bundle. As above, candidate bundle names where the final component is an empty string are omitted. With each of the candidate bundle names it attempts to instantiate a resource bundle, as described above. Whenever it succeeds, it calls the previously instantiated resource bundle's setParent method with the new resource bundle, unless the previously instantiated resource bundle already has a non-null parent.

    Implementations of getBundle may cache instantiated resource bundles and return the same resource bundle instance multiple times. They may also vary the sequence in which resource bundles are instantiated as long as the selection of the result resource bundle and its parent chain are compatible with the description above.

    The baseName argument should be a fully qualified class name. However, for compatibility with earlier versions, Sun's Java 2 runtime environments do not verify this, and so it is possible to access PropertyResourceBundles by specifying a path name (using "/") instead of a fully qualified class name (using ".").

    Example: The following class and property files are provided: MyResources.class, MyResources_fr_CH.properties, MyResources_fr_CH.class, MyResources_fr.properties, MyResources_en.properties, MyResources_es_ES.class. The contents of all files are valid (that is, public non-abstract subclasses of ResourceBundle for the ".class" files, syntactically correct ".properties" files). The default locale is Locale("en", "GB").

    Calling getBundle with the shown locale argument values instantiates resource bundles from the following sources:

    • Locale("fr", "CH"): result MyResources_fr_CH.class, parent MyResources_fr.properties, parent MyResources.class
    • Locale("fr", "FR"): result MyResources_fr.properties, parent MyResources.class
    • Locale("de", "DE"): result MyResources_en.properties, parent MyResources.class
    • Locale("en", "US"): result MyResources_en.properties, parent MyResources.class
    • Locale("es", "ES"): result MyResources_es_ES.class, parent MyResources.class
    The file MyResources_fr_CH.properties is never used because it is hidden by MyResources_fr_CH.class.

    Parameters:
    @param baseName the base name of the resource bundle, a fully qualified class name
    @param locale the locale for which a resource bundle is desired
    @param loader the class loader from which to load the resource bundle
    Return:
    @return a resource bundle for the given base name and locale
    Exceptions:
    @exception NullPointerException if baseName, locale, or loader is null
    @exception MissingResourceException if no resource bundle for the specified base name can be found
    Since:
    @since 1.2
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  • getBundleImpltop

    static private ResourceBundle getBundleImpl(String baseName, Locale locale, ClassLoader loader)
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  • getClassContexttop

    static native private Class[] getClassContext()
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  • getKeystop

    public abstract Enumeration<String> getKeys()
    Returns an enumeration of the keys.
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  • getLoadertop

    static private ClassLoader getLoader()
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  • getLocaletop

    public Locale getLocale()
    Returns the locale of this resource bundle. This method can be used after a call to getBundle() to determine whether the resource bundle returned really corresponds to the requested locale or is a fallback.
    Return:
    @return the locale of this resource bundle
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  • getObjecttop

    public final Object getObject(String key)
    Gets an object for the given key from this resource bundle or one of its parents. This method first tries to obtain the object from this resource bundle using handleGetObject. If not successful, and the parent resource bundle is not null, it calls the parent's getObject method. If still not successful, it throws a MissingResourceException.
    Parameters:
    @param key the key for the desired object
    Return:
    @return the object for the given key
    Exceptions:
    @exception NullPointerException if key is null
    @exception MissingResourceException if no object for the given key can be found
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  • getStringtop

    public final String getString(String key)
    Gets a string for the given key from this resource bundle or one of its parents. Calling this method is equivalent to calling
    (String) getObject(key).
    Parameters:
    @param key the key for the desired string
    Return:
    @return the string for the given key
    Exceptions:
    @exception NullPointerException if key is null
    @exception MissingResourceException if no object for the given key can be found
    @exception ClassCastException if the object found for the given key is not a string
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  • getStringArraytop

    public final String[] getStringArray(String key)
    Gets a string array for the given key from this resource bundle or one of its parents. Calling this method is equivalent to calling
    (String[]) getObject(key).
    Parameters:
    @param key the key for the desired string array
    Return:
    @return the string array for the given key
    Exceptions:
    @exception NullPointerException if key is null
    @exception MissingResourceException if no object for the given key can be found
    @exception ClassCastException if the object found for the given key is not a string array
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  • handleGetObjecttop

    abstract protected Object handleGetObject(String key)
    Gets an object for the given key from this resource bundle. Returns null if this resource bundle does not contain an object for the given key.
    Parameters:
    @param key the key for the desired object
    Return:
    @return the object for the given key, or null
    Exceptions:
    @exception NullPointerException if key is null
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  • loadBundletop

    static private Object loadBundle(ClassLoader loader, String bundleName, Locale defaultLocale)
    Load a bundle through either the specified ClassLoader or from a ".properties" file and return the loaded bundle.
    Parameters:
    @param loader the ClassLoader to use to load the bundle. If null, the system ClassLoader is used.
    @param bundleName the name of the resource to load. The name should be complete including a qualified class name followed by the locale extension. ex. sun.text.resources.LocaleElements_fr_BE
    @param defaultLocale the default locale at the time getBundle was called
    Return:
    @return the bundle or null if none could be found.
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  • propagatetop

    static private Object propagate(ClassLoader loader, Vector names, Vector bundlesFound, Locale defaultLocale, Object parent)
    propagate bundles from the root down the specified branch of the search tree.
    Parameters:
    @param loader the class loader for the bundles
    @param names the names of the bundles along search path
    @param bundlesFound the bundles corresponding to the names (some may be null)
    @param defaultLocale the default locale at the time getBundle was called
    @param parent the parent of the first bundle in the path (the root bundle)
    Return:
    @return the value of the last bundle along the path
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  • putBundleInCachetop

    static private void putBundleInCache(ClassLoader loader, String bundleName, Locale defaultLocale, Object value)
    Put a new bundle in the cache and notify waiting threads that a new bundle has been put in the cache.
    Parameters:
    @param defaultLocale the default locale at the time getBundle was called
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  • setLocaletop

    private void setLocale(String baseName, String bundleName)
    Sets the locale for this bundle. This is the locale that this bundle actually represents and does not depend on how the bundle was found by getBundle. Ex. if the user was looking for fr_FR and getBundle found en_US, the bundle's locale would be en_US, NOT fr_FR
    Parameters:
    @param baseName the bundle's base name
    @param bundleName the complete bundle name including locale extension.
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  • setParenttop

    protected void setParent(ResourceBundle parent)
    Sets the parent bundle of this bundle. The parent bundle is searched by getObject when this bundle does not contain a particular resource.
    Parameters:
    @param parent this bundle's parent bundle.
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  • throwMissingResourceExceptiontop

    static private void throwMissingResourceException(String baseName, Locale locale) throws MissingResourceException
    Throw a MissingResourceException with proper message
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Fields

  • CACHE_LOAD_FACTOR

    static final private float CACHE_LOAD_FACTOR = 1.0
    capacity of cache consumed before it should grow

  • INITIAL_CACHE_SIZE

    static final private int INITIAL_CACHE_SIZE = 25
    initial size of the bundle cache

  • MAX_BUNDLES_SEARCHED

    static final private int MAX_BUNDLES_SEARCHED = 3
    Maximum length of one branch of the resource search path tree. Used in getBundle.

  • NOT_FOUND

    static final private Object NOT_FOUND
    constant indicating that no resource bundle was found

  • cacheKey

    static final private ResourceBundle.ResourceCacheKey cacheKey
    Static key used for resource lookups. Concurrent access to this object is controlled by synchronizing cacheList, not cacheKey. A static object is used to do cache lookups for performance reasons - the assumption being that synchronization has a lower overhead than object allocation and subsequent garbage collection.

  • cacheList

    static private sun.misc.SoftCache cacheList
    The cache is a map from cache keys (with bundle base name, locale, and class loader) to either a resource bundle (if one has been found) or NOT_FOUND (if no bundle has been found). The cache is a SoftCache, allowing bundles to be removed from the cache if they are no longer needed. This will also allow the cache keys to be reclaimed along with the ClassLoaders they reference. This variable would be better named "cache", but we keep the old name for compatibility with some workarounds for bug 4212439.

  • locale

    private Locale locale
    The locale for this bundle.

  • parent

    protected ResourceBundle parent
    The parent bundle of this bundle. The parent bundle is searched by getObject when this bundle does not contain a particular resource.

  • referenceQueue

    static private ReferenceQueue referenceQueue
    Queue for reference objects referring to class loaders.

  • underConstruction

    static final private Hashtable underConstruction
    This Hashtable is used to keep multiple threads from loading the same bundle concurrently. The table entries are (cacheKey, thread) where cacheKey is the key for the bundle that is under construction and thread is the thread that is constructing the bundle. This list is manipulated in findBundle and putBundleInCache. Synchronization of this object is done through cacheList, not on this object.