In Java software projects, each file type needs to be analyzed carefully to assess whether it contains translatable text and to identify localizable components of the product. Java developers using resource bundles to isolate localizable elements, can choose to use property resource bundles or list resource bundles.

In property resource bundles, items have the format <key><separator><value>.

Here is an example of the contents of a property resource bundle file:

In the above example, the text displayed after the equal sign separator should be translated. The key can provide some reference information to translators, but it is important to run a linguistic check on the translated strings in the running application. The keys are referenced in the actual Java code, and the string is loaded into the application or applet at run-time. Comment text is marked with # or ! .

Resource bundles of the list type are more complex because where property resource bundles can only store text, list resource bundles can contain any Java object type. List resource bundles are more like C++ resource files, because they contain program code, and translatable text is enclosed in quotation marks, Comment text is marked with //.

Here is an example of a list resource bundle:

Java software applications, as a rule, are far more difficult to localize than a standard Windows application, one of the main reasons being that they have not always been designed with localization in mind. There is no accepted standard for localized GUI types in Java applications, so localizers are often forced to translate out of context in text files. This adds significantly to the linguistic testing effort. A layout manager may have been used to create the forms and panels in the English product. The JDK tool has some layout managers, and additional layout managers can be downloaded from the Sun web site. Where possible, use the same layout manager used by the original developer when resizing or adjusting the interface. If it is unclear which layout manager should be used, contact the Java developer.