What is the standard format for localised resource files on different development platforms?

Question

Hi,

When developing in .Net, the framwork provides resx files as the standard way of storing localised resources (e.g. tranlsations of UI text).

I would like to know if there is a standard format for this in other development platforms (e.g. Java, RoR, etc.) and what that format is.

Thank you!

Please limit each answer to one development technology (e.g Java/C++/PHP etc.)

Answer 1

See http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/developers-handbook/posix-nls.html

There is a standard, called POSIX, that applies to just about every other non-Windows operating system.

See http://www.php.net/manual/en/book.intl.php for the PHP-specific implementation of internationalization.

Answer 2

Java uses Properties, which are key-value pairs.

They can be serialized to the following two formats:

1. .properties

   foo=bar

2. .XML

   <entry key="foo">bar</entry>

Answer 3

Like Java, Adobe Flex also uses ResourceBundles that are serialized to .properties files

Answer 4

Large translation vendors accept the TMX file format for interchange of translation strings. Because they only have to deal with a standard xml file rather than strings embedded in controls, the amount of work these vendors have to do is reduced and so are their fees.

Answer 5

The standard way to do this on Linux is to use the gettext library, which stores its translations in .po files.

Answer 6

Cocoa applications (Mac/iPhone) are distributed as bundles (essentially: folders but with a known file-ish type). Inside a bundle, you can provide copies of strings files or other localized resources in a locale-specific subfolder. The Xcode provides IDE support for this, and the Cocoa frameworks provide many methods to conveniently fetch these resources.

See http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/BPInternational/Articles/InternatAndLocaliz.html for details.