Locale-Dependent Resources

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Locale-Dependent Resources


Overview

Many resources depend on the Locale and, sometimes, the browser. For example, you might need to use a larger font for Chinese characters to have better readability. ZK provides a way to load locale and browser-dependent resources including JavaScript, CSS, and images.

Specifying Locale- and browser-dependent URL

ZK can handle this for you automatically by specifying a URL with asterisk *. This feature is supported by all components that accept a URL, e.g. the src of <script> or <?script?>. The algorithm is as follows.

Absolute or Relative Path

You can only specify an absolute path to load a locale-dependent resource at 9.x and before. Since 10.0.0 Relative path is supported.

One "*" for Locale Code

If you specify only one * in a URL, such as /my*.css, then * will be replaced with a locale code depending on the current locale that ZK detects. For example:

  • URI: /my*.css
  • User's preferences (current locale): de_DE

Then ZK looks for files in the order below one-by-one in your website until any of them is found:

  1. /my_de_DE.css
  2. /my_de.css
  3. /my.css


Two "*" for Locale and Browser Code

Such as "/my*/lang*.css", then the first "*" will be replaced with a browser code as follows:

  • ie for Internet Explorer
  • saf for Chrome, Safari
  • moz for Firefox and other browsers[1].

Moreover, the last asterisk will be replaced with a proper Locale as described in the previous rule. In summary, the last asterisk represents the Locale, while the first asterisk represents the browser type.

For example:

zul

<style src="/i18n/css-*/mycss*.css" />


The result in an HTML with Chrome:

<link ... href="/i18n/css-saf/mycss.css" ...>

All other "*" are ignored

Note

The last asterisk that represents the Locale must be placed right before the first dot ("."), or at the end if no dot at all. Furthermore, no following slash (/) is allowed, i.e., it must be part of the filename, rather than a directory. If the last asterisk doesn't fulfill this constraint, it will be eliminated (not ignored).

For example, "/my/lang.css*" is equivalent to "/my/lang.css".

In other words, you can consider it as neutral to the Locale.

Tip: We can apply this rule to specify a URI depending on the browser type, but not depending on the Locale. For example, "/my/lang*.css*" will be replaced with "/my/langie.css" if Internet Explorer is the current user's browser.


  1. In the future editions, we will use different codes for browsers other than Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.

Example

In the following example, we assume the preferred Locale is de_DE and the browser is Internet Explorer.


URI
Resources that are searched
/css/norm*.css
  1. /norm_de_DE.css
  2. /norm_de.css
  3. /norm.css


/css-*/norm*.css
  1. /css-ie/norm_de_DE.css
  2. /css-ie/norm_de.css
  3. /css-ie/norm.css


/img*/pic*/lang*.png
  1. /imgie/pic*/lang_de_DE.png
  2. /imgie/pic*/lang_de.png
  3. /imgie/pic*/lang.png


/img*/lang.gif
  1. /img/lang.gif


/img/lang*.gif*
  1. /img/langie.gif


/img*/lang*.gif*
  1. /imgie/lang*.gif


Locating Locale- and browser-dependent resources in Java

In addition to ZUML, you can also load browser- and Locale-dependent resources in Java. Here is a list of methods that you can use.

  • The encodeURL, forward, and include methods in Execution for encoding URL, forwarding to another page and including a page. In most cases, these methods are all you need.
  • The locate, forward, and include method in Servlets for locating Web resouces. You rarely need them when developing ZK applications, but useful for writing a servlet, portlet or filter.
  • The encodeURL method in Encodes for encoding URL. You rarely need them when developing ZK applications, but useful for writing a Servlet, Portlet or Filter.
  • The locate method in Locators for locating class resources.




Last Update : 2024/02/05

Copyright © Potix Corporation. This article is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License.