Brightspot CMS Developer Guide

Localizing published websites


Localizing a published website with Brightspot is similar to that for other Java-based web applications. In Brightspot’s MVVM paradigm, you need to—

  • Define resource files that contain key-value lookups for the localized labels.
  • Place the lookup and output mechanisms in the view model.
  • Insert label placeholders in the Styleguide files.

The steps in this section demonstrate localizing the following short form into French.

Localization example.svg


Step 1: Make a localization resource file

A localization resource file contains the key-value pairs for localized strings. As a best practice, place all your localization files in a single directory. The directory must be under /src/main/resources/.

  1. Under /src/main/resources/i18n/, create a default resource file site.properties and enter the following text:
    first.name = First name
    last.name = Last name
  2. In the same directory, create a resource file site_fr.properties and enter the following text:
    first.name = Prénom
    last.name = Nom de famille
  3. Depending on your development or run-time environment, you may need to escape non-ASCII characters in the properties files. For example, in the previous file, Prénom is changed to Pr\u00e9nom using Java’s native2ascii utility.

For information about creating a properties file for localization, see Backing a ResourceBundle with Properties Files. In particular, the two letters before .properties in the file name must be a language code that Java recognizes. For a list of two-letter language codes, see List of ISO 639-1 codes.

Step 2: Add localization property to site

Localization is almost always done at the site level; if one page in a site appears in French, all other pages appear in French. As explained in Step 6 below, the view model determines in which locale to display content by reading a site’s locale field. Brightspot’s Site class does not include a locale field, so you need to add it using the Modification class.

  1. Under /src/main/java/content/article/, create a file SiteModification.java and enter the following text:
    import com.psddev.cms.db.Site;
    import com.psddev.dari.db.Modification;
    
    public class SiteModification extends Modification<Site> {
    
        SiteModification () {};
    
        private Locale locale;
    
        public Locale getLocale() {
            return locale;
        }
    
        public void setLocale(Locale locale) {
            this.locale = locale;
        }
    
    }

This model adds the locale field to the Site model, making it visible on the Edit Site widget.

Adding locale field to form.svg
Adding the Locale field to a form


For additional information about extending classes such as Site, see Modifications.

Step 3: Create a signup model

Create a simple model that displays fields for first name and last name in a signup form.

  1. Under /src/main/java/content/article/, create a file Signup.java and enter the following text:
    import com.psddev.cms.db.Content;
    
    public class Signup extends Content {
    
        private String firstName;
    
        private String lastName;
    
        /* Setters and getters */
    }

Step 4: Create a template

Localization typically involves displaying a locale-specific string for each static label on the GUI. Continuing the example, create a Handlebars file that has a placeholder for each label on the form.

  1. Under /styleguide/content/article/, create a file Signup.hbs and enter the following text:
    <table>
        <tr>
            <td>{{firstNameLabel}}</td>
            <td><input type="text"/></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>{{lastNameLabel}}</td>
            <td><input type="text"/></td>
        </tr>
    </table>

Step 5: Create a data file

Create a data file that has a placeholder for each label in the form.

  1. Under /styleguide/content/article/, create a file Signup.json and enter the following text:
    {
      "_template": "Signup.hbs",
      "firstNameLabel": "{{words(1)}}",
      "lastNameLabel": "{{words(1)}}"
    }

Step 6: Create a localized view model

The view model includes the logic for retrieving localized strings based on the requested site’s locale.

  1. Under /src/main/java/content/article/, create a file SignupViewModel.java and enter the following text:
    import com.psddev.cms.db.Site;
    import com.psddev.cms.view.ViewModel;
    import com.psddev.cms.view.PageEntryView;
    import com.psddev.cms.view.servlet.CurrentSite;
    import styleguide.content.article.SignupView;
    
    public class SignupViewModel extends ViewModel<Signup> implements SignupView, PageEntryView  {
    
        @CurrentSite 
        private Site site;
    
        @Override
        public String getFirstNameLabel() { 
            ResourceBundle labels = getLabels();
            String firstNameLabel = labels.getString("first.name");
            return firstNameLabel;
        }
    
        @Override
        public String getLastNameLabel() { 
            ResourceBundle labels = getLabels();
            String lastNameLabel = labels.getString("last.name");
            return lastNameLabel;
        }
    
        private ResourceBundle getLabels() { 
            Locale locale = site.as(SiteModification.class).getLocale();
            ResourceBundle resourceBundle = ResourceBundle.getBundle("i18n.site",locale);
            return resourceBundle;
        }
    
    }
    
    • Retrieves the requested site into a Site variable. The annotation @CurrentSitereturns null for Brightspot's global site. Therefore, when creating localized sites, ensure editors publish to a site other than global.
    • Returns the localized string for first.name.
    • Returns the localized string for last.name.
    • Returns the resource bundle that contains the localized strings.


Running the view model displays the expected result.

View model showing localization.svg
View model showing localization

See also:

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