ICU's MessageFormat class can be used to format messages in a locale-independent manner to localize the user interface (UI) strings.
/* The strings below can be isolated into a resource bundle * and retrieved dynamically */ #define LANGUAGE_NAMES "{0}<{1}languages {2}>\n" #define LANG_ATTRIB "{0}<language id=\"{1}\" >{2}</language>\n" #define MONTH_NAMES "{0}<monthNames>\n" #define END_MONTH_NAMES "{0}</monthNames>\n" #define MONTH "{0}<month id=\"{1}\">{2}</month>\n" #define MONTH_ABBR "{0}<monthAbbr>\n" #define END_MONTH_ABBR "{0}</monthAbbr>\n" UnicodeString CXMLGenerator::formatString(UnicodeString& str,UnicodeString& argument){ Formattable args[] ={ argument}; UnicodeString result; MessageFormat format(str,mError); FieldPosition fpos=0; format.format(args,1, result,fpos,mError); if(U_FAILURE(mError)) { return UnicodeString("Illegal argument"); } return result; } void CXMLGenerator::writeLanguage(UnicodeString& xmlString){ UnicodeString *itemTags, *items; char* key="Languages"; int32_t numItems; if(U_FAILURE(mError)) { return; } mRBundle.getTaggedArray(key,itemTags, items, numItems, mError); if(mError!=U_USING_DEFAULT_ERROR && U_SUCCESS(mError) && mError!=U_ERROR_INFO_START){ Formattable args[]={indentOffset,"",""}; xmlString= formatString(UnicodeString(LANGUAGE_NAMES),args,3); indentOffset.append("\t"); for(int32_t i=0;i<numItems;i++){ args[0] = indentOffset; args[1] =itemTags[i] ; args[2] = items[i] ; xmlString.append(formatString(UnicodeString(LANG_ATTRIB),args,3)); } chopIndent(); args[0]=indentOffset; args[1] =(UnicodeString(XML_END_SLASH)); args[2] = ""; xmlString.append(formatString(UnicodeString(LANGUAGE_NAMES),args,3)); return; } mError=U_ZERO_ERROR; xmlString.remove(); } void CXMLGenerator::writeMonthNames(UnicodeString& xmlString){ int32_t lNum; const UnicodeString* longMonths= mRBundle.getStringArray("MonthNames",lNum,mError); if(mError!=U_USING_DEFAULT_ERROR && mError!=U_ERROR_INFO_START && mError != U_MISSING_RESOURCE_ERROR){ xmlString.append(formatString(UnicodeString(MONTH_NAMES),indentOffset)); indentOffset.append("\t"); for(int i=0;i<lNum;i++){ char c; itoa(i+1,&c,10); Formattable args[]={indentOffset,UnicodeString(&c),longMonths[i]}; xmlString.append(formatString(UnicodeString(MONTH),args,3)); } chopIndent(); xmlString.append(formatString(UnicodeString(END_MONTH_NAMES),indentOffset)); mError=U_ZERO_ERROR; return; } xmlString.remove(); mError= U_ZERO_ERROR; }
void msgSample1(){ UChar *result, *tzID, *str; UChar pattern[100]; int32_t resultLengthOut, resultlength; UCalendar *cal; UDate d1; UErrorCode status = U_ZERO_ERROR; str=(UChar*)malloc(sizeof(UChar) * (strlen("disturbance in force") +1)); u_uastrcpy(str, "disturbance in force"); tzID=(UChar*)malloc(sizeof(UChar) * 4); u_uastrcpy(tzID, "PST"); cal=ucal_open(tzID, u_strlen(tzID), "en_US", UCAL_TRADITIONAL, &status); ucal_setDateTime(cal, 1999, UCAL_MARCH, 18, 0, 0, 0, &status); d1=ucal_getMillis(cal, &status); u_uastrcpy(pattern, "On {0, date, long}, there was a {1} on planet {2,number,integer}"); resultlength=0; resultLengthOut=u_formatMessage( "en_US", pattern, u_strlen(pattern), NULL, resultlength, &status, d1, str, 7); if(status==U_BUFFER_OVERFLOW_ERROR){ status=U_ZERO_ERROR; resultlength=resultLengthOut+1; result=(UChar*)realloc(result, sizeof(UChar) * resultlength); u_formatMessage( "en_US", pattern, u_strlen(pattern), result, resultlength, &status, d1, str, 7); } printf("%s\n",austrdup(result) ); //austrdup( a function used to convert UChar* to char*) free(tzID); free(str); free(result); } char *austrdup(const UChar* unichars) { int length; char *newString; length = u_strlen ( unichars ); newString = (char*)malloc ( sizeof( char ) * 4 * ( length + 1 ) ); if ( newString == NULL ) return NULL; u_austrcpy ( newString, unichars ); return newString; } This is a more practical sample which retrieves data from a resource bundle and feeds the data to u_formatMessage to produce a formatted string void msgSample3(){ char* key="Languages"; int32_t numItems; /* This constant string can also be in the resouce bundle and retrieved at the time * of formatting * eg: * UResouceBundle* myResB = ures_open("myResources",currentLocale,&err); * UChar* Lang_Attrib = ures_getString(myResb,"LANG_ATTRIB",&err); */ UChar* LANG_ATTRIB =(UChar*) "{0}<language id=\"{1}\" >{2}</language>\n"; UChar *result; UResourceBundle* pResB,*pDeltaResB=NULL; UErrorCode err=U_ZERO_ERROR; UChar* indentOffset = (UChar*)"\t\t\t"; pResB = ures_open("","en",&err); if(U_FAILURE(err)) { return; } ures_getByKey(pResB, key, pDeltaResB, &err); if(U_SUCCESS(err)) { const UChar *value = 0; const char *key = 0; int32_t len = 0; int16_t indexR = -1; int32_t resultLength=0,resultLengthOut=0; numItems = ures_getSize(pDeltaResB); for(;numItems-->0;){ key= ures_getKey(pDeltaResB); value = ures_get(pDeltaResB,key,&err); resultLength=0; resultLengthOut=u_formatMessage( "en_US", LANG_ATTRIB, u_strlen(LANG_ATTRIB), NULL, resultLength, &err, indentOffset, value, key); if(err==U_BUFFER_OVERFLOW_ERROR){ err=U_ZERO_ERROR; resultLength=resultLengthOut+1; result=(UChar*)realloc(result, sizeof(UChar) * resultLength); u_formatMessage("en_US",LANG_ATTRIB,u_strlen(LANG_ATTRIB), result,resultLength,&err,indentOffset, value,key); printf("%s\n", austrdup(result) ); } } return; } err=U_ZERO_ERROR; }
import com.ibm.icu.text.*; import java.util.Date; import java.text.FieldPosition; public class TestMessageFormat{ public void runTest() { String format = "At {1,time,::jmm} on {1,date,::dMMMM}, there was {2} on planet {3,number,integer}."; MessageFormat mf = new MessageFormat(format); Object objectsToFormat[] = { new Date(System.currentTimeMillis()), new Date(System.currentTimeMillis()), "a Disturbance in the Force", new Integer(5)}; FieldPosition fp = new FieldPosition(1); StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer(); try{ sb = mf.format(objectsToFormat, sb, fp); System.out.println(sb.toString()); }catch(IllegalArgumentException e){ System.out.println("Exception during formating of type :" +e); } } public static void main(String args[]){ try{ new TestMessageFormat().runTest(); }catch(Exception e){ System.out.println("Exception of type: "+e); } } }
Important: The following documentation is outdated. ChoiceFormat is probably not what you need. Please use MessageFormat with plural arguments for proper plural selection, and select arguments for simple selection among a fixed set of choices!
ICU's ChoiceFormat class provides more flexibility than the printf() and scanf() style functions for formatting UI strings. This interface can be useful if you would like a message to change according to the number of items you are displaying. Note: Some Asian languages do not have plural words or phrases.
void msgSample1(){ UChar *result, *tzID, *str; UChar pattern[100]; int32_t resultLengthOut, resultlength; UCalendar *cal; UDate d1; UErrorCode status = U_ZERO_ERROR; str=(UChar*)malloc(sizeof(UChar) * (strlen("disturbance in force") +1)); u_uastrcpy(str, "disturbance in force"); tzID=(UChar*)malloc(sizeof(UChar) * 4); u_uastrcpy(tzID, "PST"); cal=ucal_open(tzID, u_strlen(tzID), "en_US", UCAL_TRADITIONAL, &status); ucal_setDateTime(cal, 1999, UCAL_MARCH, 18, 0, 0, 0, &status); d1=ucal_getMillis(cal, &status); u_uastrcpy(pattern, "On {0, date, long}, there was a {1} on planet {2,number,integer}"); resultlength=0; resultLengthOut=u_formatMessage( "en_US", pattern, u_strlen(pattern), NULL, resultlength, &status, d1, str, 7); if(status==U_BUFFER_OVERFLOW_ERROR){ status=U_ZERO_ERROR; resultlength=resultLengthOut+1; result=(UChar*)realloc(result, sizeof(UChar) * resultlength); u_formatMessage( "en_US", pattern, u_strlen(pattern), result, resultlength, &status, d1, str, 7); } printf("%s\n",austrdup(result) ); //austrdup( a function used to convert UChar* to char*) free(tzID); free(str); double filelimits[] = {0,1,2}; UErrorCode err; UnicodeString filepart[] = {"are no files","is one file","are {2} files"}; ChoiceFormat fileform(filelimits, filepart,err); Format testFormats[] = {fileform, null, NumberFormat.getInstance()}; MessageFormat pattform("There {0} on {1}",err); pattform.setFormats(testFormats); Formattable testArgs[] = {null, "ADisk", null}; for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i) { testArgs[0] = i; testArgs[2] = testArgs[0]; FieldPosition fpos=0; format.format(args,1, result,fpos,mError); UnicodeString result = pattform.format(testArgs); }
void msgSample2(){ UChar* str; UErrorCode status = U_ZERO_ERROR; UChar *result; UChar pattern[100]; int32_t resultlength,resultLengthOut, i; double testArgs[3]= { 100.0, 1.0, 0.0}; str=(UChar*)malloc(sizeof(UChar) * 10); u_uastrcpy(str, "MyDisk"); u_uastrcpy(pattern, "The disk {1} contains {0,choice,0#no files|1#one file|1<{0,number,integer} files}"); for(i=0; i<3; i++){ resultlength=0; resultLengthOut=u_formatMessage( "en_US", pattern, u_strlen(pattern), NULL, resultlength, &status, testArgs[i], str); if(status==U_BUFFER_OVERFLOW_ERROR){ status=U_ZERO_ERROR; resultlength=resultLengthOut+1; result=(UChar*)malloc(sizeof(UChar) * resultlength); u_formatMessage( "en_US", pattern, u_strlen(pattern), result, resultlength, &status, testArgs[i], str); } } printf("%s\n", austrdup(result) ); //austrdup( a function used to convert UChar* to char*) free(result); }
import java.text.ChoiceFormat; import com.ibm.icu.text.*; import java.text.Format; public class TestChoiceFormat{ public void run(){ double[] filelimits = {0,1,2}; String[] filepart = {"are no files","is one file","are {2} files"}; ChoiceFormat fileform = new ChoiceFormat(filelimits,filepart); Format[] testFormats = {fileform,null,NumberFormat.getInstance()}; MessageFormat pattform = new MessageFormat("There {0} on {1}"); Object[] testArgs = {null,"ADisk",null}; for(int i=0;i<4;++i) { testArgs[0] = new Integer(i); testArgs[2] = testArgs[0]; System.out.println(pattform.format(testArgs)); } } public static void main(String args[]){ new TestChoiceFormat().run(); } }