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Struts 2
Internationalization
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Added by cv_, last edited by Ted Husted on Sep 03, 2006 (view change)

The framework supports internationalization (i18n) in two different places: the UI tags and the action/field error messages, including the Validation messages.

## Resource Bundle Search Order

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Resource bundles are searched in the following order: ActionClass.properties BaseClass.properties (all the way to Object.properties) Interface.properties (every interface and sub-interface) ModelDriven's model (if implements ModelDriven), for the model object repeat from 1 package.properties (of the directory where class is located and every parent directory all the way to the root directory) search up the i18n message key hierarchy itself global resource properties (webwork.custom.i18n.resources) defined in webwork.properties

For more, see the LocalizedTextUtil class.

| Package hierarchy
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To clarify #5, while traversing the package hierarchy, WW will look for a file package.properties: com/ acme/ package.properties actions/ package.properties FooAction.java FooAction.properties If FooAction.properties does not exist, com/acme/action/package.properties will be searched for, if not found com/acme/package.properties, if not found com/package.properties, etc.

## Examples

There are several ways to access the message resources, including `getText`, the `text` tag, and the `i18n` tag.

### Using `getText`

To display i18n text, use a call to `getText` in the property tag, or any other tag, such as the UI tags. (The `getText` technique is especially useful for labels of UI tags.)

An error occurred: https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/struts/struts2/trunk/core/src/main/java/org/apache/struts/action2/components/Property.java. The system administrator has been notified.

### Using the `text` tag

The text tag retrieves a message from the default resource bundle.

An error occurred: https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/struts/struts2/trunk/core/src/main/java/org/apache/struts/action2/components/Text.java. The system administrator has been notified.

### Using the `I18n` tag

The i18n tag pushes an arbitrary resource bundle on to the value stack. Other tags within the scope of the i18n tag can display messages from that resource bundle.

An error occurred: https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/struts/struts2/trunk/core/src/main/java/org/apache/struts/action2/components/I18n.java. The system administrator has been notified.

| Internationalizing SiteMesh decorators is possible, but there are quirks. See SiteMesh for more.

## I18n Interceptor

Essentially, the i18n Interceptor pushes a locale into the ActionContext map upon every request. The framework components that support localization all utilize the ActionContext locale. See I18n Interceptor for details.

## Global Resources (struts.custom.i18n.resources) in `struts.properties`

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A global resource bundle could be specified through the 'webwork.custom.i18n.resources' property in webwork.properties. The locale can be siwtched by 'webwork.locale' in the webwork.properties as well.

## Comparison with Strits 1

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Struts users should be familiar with the application.properties resource bundle, where you can put all the messages in the application that are going to be translated. WebWork, though, splits the resource bundles per action or model class, and you may end up with duplicated messages in those resource bundles. A quick fix for that is to create a file called ActionSupport.properties in com/opensymphony/xwork and put it on your classpath. This will only work well if all your actions subclass ActionSupport.

## Next: Action Chaining