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Introduction

In this tutorial we'll explore using Struts 2 message resource capabilities (also called resource bundles). Message resources provide a simple way to put text in a view page that is the same through out your application, to create form field labels, and to change text to a specific language based on the user's locale (i18n).

The code provided in this tutorial may be added to the Form Validation example or you can download this tutorial's complete example from Google Code - http://code.google.com/p/struts2-examples/downloads/list as either a Ant build or Maven build project.

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If you're doing this tutorial after completing Form Validation then you can make these changes to that tutorial's example application. Or you can download the finished example application for this tutorial from Google Code - http://code.google.com/p/struts2-examples/downloads/list.

Put the text below in a file named Register.properties in the org.apache.struts.register.action package in src folder (if using the Ant version) or in the src/resources/java folder (if using the Maven version).

personBean.firstName=First name
personBean.lastName=Last name
personBean.age=Age
personBean.email=Email
thankyou=Thank you for registering %{personBean.firstName}.

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If you open register.jsp from the Form Validation tutorial you'll see this Struts 2 textfield tag:

<s:textfield name="personBean.firstName" label="First name" />

Instead of specifying the name and label attributes you can just use the key attribute.

<s:textfield key="personBean.firstName"  />

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To enable the key attribute to find the properties file, the display of the view page must be the result of executing a Struts 2 Action class. Right now if you examine index.jsp from the Form Validation tutorial the link to the register.jsp page is a standard URL.

<p><a href="register.jsp">Please register</a> for our prize drawing.</p>

We need to change the above link so that it goes through the Register.java Struts 2 Action class. Replace the above with this markup.

<s:url action="registerInput" var="registerInputLink" />
<p><a href="${registerInputLink}">Please register</a> for our prize drawing.</p>

We use the Struts 2 url tag to create a link to action registerInput. We then use that link as the value for the href attribute of the anchor tag. We must define the registerInput action in struts.xml. Add the following to struts.xml.

<action name="registerInput" class="org.apache.struts.register.action.Register" method="input" >
	<result name="input">/register.jsp</result>
</action>

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We can also use the Struts 2 text tag to display values from a properties file. In thankyou.jsp add this text tag instead of the h3 tag that is in thankyou.jsp.

<h3><s:text name="thankyou" /></h3>

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How did the value entered for the first name input field get displayed on thankyou.jsp? Look back at the value for the thankyou key in the Register.properties file.

thankyou=Thank you for registering %{personBean.firstName}.

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Place the following in a file named package.properties and save that file in package org.apache.struts (in src folder if using Ant version or in src/main/resources if using Maven version).

greeting=Welcome to The Wonderful World of Struts 2

Now any view rendered by an Action that is in the hierarchy org.apache.struts... can use a Struts 2 text tag with a name attribute value of "greeting" to display the value of the greeting property key. For example add the following markup to helloworld.jsp before the h2 tag.

<h1><s:text name="greeting" /></h1>

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Add the following to a file named global.properties (note the name doesn't have to be global).

contact=For assistance contact <a href='mailto:contact@email.com'>contact@email.com</a>

Save the global.properties file in either the src folder (if using Ant version) or the src/main/resources folder (if using the Maven version).

To inform the Struts 2 framework about the global.properties file add the follow node to struts.xml after the constant name="struts.devmode" node.

<constant name="struts.custom.i18n.resources" value="global" />

To use the contact key in a view page, add the following markup to index.jsp just before the closing body tag.

<hr />
<s:text name="contact" />

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To provide an example of Struts 2 support for i18n create a file named Register_es.properties and in that file add the following Spanish translations.

personBean.firstName=Nombre
personBean.lastName=Apellidos
personBean.age=Edad
personBean.email=Correo
thankyou=Gracias por registrarse, %{personBean.firstName}. 

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In our example application, we need to tell Struts 2 to use a locale value of es (since we're not in a Spanish locale) instead of the default locale value of our location (which is en). Add the following markup to index.jsp.

<h3>Registro español</h3>
<s:url action="registerInput" var="registerInputLinkES">
    <s:param name="request_locale">es</s:param>
</s:url>
<p><a href="${registerInputLinkES}">Por favor, regístrese</a> para nuestro sorteo</p>

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