JSF 2 Resource Bundle Example

When you implement a web application, it’s good idea to collect message strings in a central location. This process makes it easier to keep messages consistent and, crucially, makes it easier to localize your application for other locales.

The messages strings are collected in a file(s) in the properties format, and those files must use the extension .properties. you can declare the message bundle in two ways. The simplest way is to supply file named faces-config.xml in the WEB-INF directory of your application. Instead of using a global resource bundle declaration, you can add f:loadBundle element to each JSF page that needs access to the bundle. In either case, the messages in the bundle are accessible through a map variable that defined in the both way.

Also Read:

JSF 2 Tutorials

JSF Tutorials

Introduction to JSF

When you localize a bundle file, you need to add a locale suffix to the file name: an underscore followed by the lowercase, two-letter ISO-639 language code (you can find a listing of all two- and three-letter ISO-639 language codes at this link).

1. Managed Bean

IndexBean.java

package net.javabeat.jsf;

import java.util.Locale;

import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import javax.faces.bean.SessionScoped;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;

@ManagedBean
@SessionScoped
public class IndexBean {

	private String locale = "en";

	public String getLocale() {
		return locale;
	}

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

	public String changeLocale(String locale){
		// Change the locale attribute
		this.locale = locale;
		// Change the locale of the view
		FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getViewRoot().setLocale(new Locale(this.locale));
		return "";
	}
}

2. faces-cofig.xml

faces-config.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<faces-config xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee"
	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
	xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-facesconfig_2_2.xsd"
	version="2.2">
<application>
	<resource-bundle>
		<base-name>net.javabeat.jsf.application</base-name>
		<var>msg</var>
	</resource-bundle>
</application>
</faces-config>

3. The View

index.xhtml

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
	xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
	xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
	xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
	xmlns:c="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core">
<h:head>
	<title><h:outputText value="#{msg.title}"/></title>
</h:head>
<h:body>
	<h:form id="form">
	<f:loadBundle var="messages" basename="net.javabeat.jsf.messages"></f:loadBundle>
		<h1>
			<h:outputText value="#{msg.head}" />
		</h1>
		<h2>
			<h:outputText value="#{msg.example_name}" />
		</h2>
		<h:outputText value="#{msg.hello_message}"/>
		<br/>
		<br/>
		<h:outputText value="#{messages.inlineLoad}"/>
		<br/>
		<br/>
		<h:commandButton value="#{messages.german}" action="#{indexBean.changeLocale('de')}" rendered="#{indexBean.locale == 'en'}"/>
		<h:commandButton value="#{messages.english}" action="#{indexBean.changeLocale('en')}" rendered="#{indexBean.locale == 'de'}"/>
	</h:form>
</h:body>
</html>

4. The Properties Files

The below snapshot shows you the bundle properties files that already located at the classpath.

Review the attached zip file for viewing the messages files.

5. The Deployment Descriptor (web.xml)

web.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
	xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:web="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"
	xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
	http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"
	id="WebApp_ID" version="2.5" metadata-complete="true">
	<context-param>
		<description>State saving method: 'client' or 'server'
						(=default). See JSF Specification 2.5.2</description>
		<param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
		<param-value>client</param-value>
	</context-param>
	<context-param>
		<param-name>javax.faces.application.CONFIG_FILES</param-name>
		<param-value>/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml</param-value>
	</context-param>
	<servlet>
		<servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
		<servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
		<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
	</servlet>
	<servlet-mapping>
		<servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
		<url-pattern>/faces/*</url-pattern>
	</servlet-mapping>
	<servlet-mapping>
		<servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
		<url-pattern>*.xhtml</url-pattern>
	</servlet-mapping>
	<listener>
		<listener-class>com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener</listener-class>
	</listener>
</web-app>

6. JSF 2 Message Bundle Demo

The below snapshots will show you the complete scenario of using the message bundle properties for achieving a localization. The languages that are selected for such that demonstration are English and German.

The default locale for the application is an English, cause the browser is defaulted as English.
Once the user has clicked on the German action, the form will be submitted and the action change locale will be executed.
Once the action have been executed the FacesContext should change the locale using getViewRoot().setLocale.

The Locale have been changed.
The german properties have been loaded and used.
The ability to return back into English locale is already been exist by clicking on the English action that displayed using the german locale.