Creating and using resource bundles in the tools framework

You can create and use resource bundles within the tools framework. For example, you create a resource bundle when you create a language selection list. A list selection determines the language, encoding, and cultural formatting preference of the user.

Note: All WebSphere Commerce tools must be encoded in UTF-8. All tools pages (JSP files) include the common.jsp file to set the servlet response parameters, which includes:

response.setContentType("text/html;charset=UTF-8");

Procedure

Create a properties file and save it in the following directory:
- WC_eardir/properties/com/ibm/commerce/tools/utf/properties
- workspace_dir\installedApps\ cell_name\ WC_instance_name.ear\properties\com\ibm\commerce\tools\utf\properties
Open the resources.xml file from:
- WC_installdir/xml/tools/ tools_component_name/
- workspace_dir\wc\xml\tools\tools_component_name\
and add the following line:
```
<resourceBundle name="name"
bundle="com.ibm.commerce.tools.properties.
filename_with_no_extension" />
```
Where name is the name you want to use to refer to the bundle throughout your code and filename_with_no_extension is the filename for your properties file without the.properties extension.

To use a resource string (from a resource bundle) in your code:

Retrieve your properties file using the following command:


Hashtable myResource = (Hashtable)
com.ibm.commerce.tools.util.ResourceDirectory.lookup(String
resourceName,
Locale locale)

Where resourceName is namespace.resource_name.

Use the following command to retrieve the required information from the hash table:
```
String resource = (String)myResource.get("<resource key>");
```

The following example shows retrieving a resource string to use in your JSP file:


<%@include file="../common/common.jsp" %>
<%
CommandContext commandContext =
(CommandContext)request.getAttribute(ECConstants.EC_COMMANDCONTEXT);
Locale locale = commandContext.getLocale();
Hashtable resourceBundle = (Hashtable)
ResourceDirectory.lookup("common.mccNLS", locale);
%>
.....
.....
.....
<table CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" BORDER="0" HEIGHT="100%"
WIDTH="100%">
<tr>
<td><table CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" BORDER="0"
WIDTH="100%"
HEIGHT="1%">
<tr>
<td
class="entry_space">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
<td class="entry_text"><%=
resourceBundle.get("paragraph1") %></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr>
<td
class="entry_space">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
<td class="entry_text"><%=
resourceBundle.get("paragraph2") %></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr>
<td
class="entry_space">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
<td class="entry_text"><%=
resourceBundle.get("paragraph3") %></td>
</tr>
</table>