Internationalization: java properties vs. document()

[Dylan Parker <dylan at mindstech dot com>]

Hello, all.

Slightly off-topic.. but definitely related to XSL still!

Currently am trying to come up with a robust internationalization approach for
my company that will utilize the JSP+XML+XSL=>HTML workflow.

Where we put the content is currently under question.. do we place it all in
Java properties files and filter it through the JSP into XML+XSL into HTML? Or
do we use XSL's document() to get it at the end of the process.

The document() command is much easier since you don't have to create this
potentially ugly XML structure to pass a large amount of localized content
through.

The only problem with going the document() route is there doesn't seem to be any
straightforward way to do replacements within sentences... Example we might want
to put the current user's first name within a sentence... but it will be in
different places depending on the language... what to do?

Our current method of thinking involves having a large config file that contains
all the content and references to localized images etc for one language... and
to get a new language we pass the whole path structure to a translator who
re-writes all of the text and sends it back... when we receive it we would
somehow 'process' the file structure putting all of the files in the specified
spaces.. some of the content would go into properties files... other into XML
accessible by the XSL.

What a chore.

Is there some web-based solution for this? A software product to handler
internationalization content issues?

Are we complete maroons to be taking this approach? I find very little (read:
none) on internationalization approaches that utilize JSP, XML, XSL etc.

Any help appreciated.

Dylan Parker



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