Support and Documentation

Localizing a published website with Brightspot is similar to that for other Java-based web applications. In Brightspot's MVVM paradigm, you need to—

The steps in this section demonstrate localizing the following short form into French.

Step 1: Make a localization resource file

A localization resource file contains the key-value pairs for localized strings. As a best practice, place all your localization files in a single directory. The directory must be under /src/main/resources/.

For information about creating a properties file for localization, see Backing a ResourceBundle with Properties Files. In particular, the two letters before .properties in the file name must be a language code that Java recognizes. For a list of two-letter language codes, see Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages.

Step 2: Add localization property to site

Localization is almost always done at the site level; if one page in a site appears in French, all other pages appear in French. As explained in Step 6, the view model determines in which locale to display content by reading a site's locale field. Brightspot's Site class does not include a locale field, so you need to add it using the Modification class.

package content.article;

import com.psddev.cms.db.Site;
import com.psddev.dari.db.Modification;
import java.util.Locale;

public class SiteModification extends Modification<Site> {

    SiteModification () {};

    private Locale locale;

    public Locale getLocale() {
        return locale;
    }

    public void setLocale(Locale locale) {
        this.locale = locale;
    }

}

This model adds the locale field to the Site model, making it visible on the Edit Site widget.

For additional information about extending classes such as Site, see Modifications.

Step 3: Create a signup model

Create a simple model that displays fields for first name and last name in a signup form.

package content.article;

import com.psddev.cms.db.Content;

public class Signup extends Content {

    private String firstName;

    private String lastName;

    /* Setters and getters */
}

Step 4: Create a template file

Localization typically involves displaying a locale-specific string for each static label on the GUI. Continuing the example, create a Handlebars file that has a placeholder for each label on the form.

<table>
    <tr>
        <td>{{firstNameLabel}}</td>
        <td><input type="text"/></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>{{lastNameLabel}}</td>
        <td><input type="text"/></td>
    </tr>
</table>

Step 5: Create a data file

Create a data file that has a placeholder for each label in the form.

{
  "_template": "Signup.hbs",
  "firstNameLabel": "{{words(1)}}",
  "lastNameLabel": "{{words(1)}}"
}

Step 6: Create a localized view model

The view model includes the logic for retrieving localized strings based on the requested site's locale.

package content.article;

import com.psddev.cms.db.Site;
import com.psddev.cms.view.ViewModel;
import com.psddev.cms.view.PageEntryView;
import com.psddev.cms.view.servlet.CurrentSite;
import styleguide.content.article.SignupView;
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.ResourceBundle;

public class SignupViewModel extends ViewModel<Signup> implements SignupView, PageEntryView  {

    @CurrentSite
    private Site site;

    @Override
    public String getFirstNameLabel() {
        ResourceBundle labels = getLabels();
        String firstNameLabel = labels.getString("first.name");
        return firstNameLabel;
    }

    @Override
    public String getLastNameLabel() {
        ResourceBundle labels = getLabels();
        String lastNameLabel = labels.getString("last.name");
        return lastNameLabel;
    }

    private ResourceBundle getLabels() {
        Locale locale = site.as(SiteModification.class).getLocale();
        ResourceBundle resourceBundle = ResourceBundle.getBundle("i18n.site",locale);
        return resourceBundle;
    }

}

In the previous snippet—

Running the view model displays the expected result.