JEP-343: jpackage Windows installer localization

[Sverre Moe]

I wonder if there is something I can contribute with to improve the
localization. Perhaps work further with the existing Localization that
exists for WiX in jpackage.

Currently English, Japanese and Chinese Simplified localization files are
provided with jpackage. Though all are English localization.

I made some changes to the jpackage localization, that I can contribute
(mentioned in Change 1). The 2 other changes mentioned below require a
little discussion before beginning to implement.

*Change 1:* Add some missing localization for Strings on the installer
information dialog for when folder already exists.
  installer.folder.exists.dialog.title = Setup
  installer.folder.exists.dialog.button.yes = Yes
  installer.folder.exists.dialog.button.no = No

These are the Dialog Strings defined strictly in jpackage template.wxs for
the JpInvalidInstallDir dialog.


The jpackage WiX template file is using the built-in WixUI_InstallDir
dialog, and it has its own localization.
https://wixtoolset.org//documentation/manual/v3/wixui/dialog_reference/wixui_installdir.html

WiX has some support for localization. Perhaps extensive enough for most:
en-us, hr-HR, lv-LV, ro-RO, uk-UA, ar-SA, es-es, hu-HU, ru-ru, zh-CN,
bg-BG, et-EE, sk-SK, zh-HK, ca-ES, it-it, nb-NO, sl-SI, zh-TW, cs-CZ,
fi-FI, ja-jp, nl-NL, sr-Latn-CS, da-DK, fr-fr, kk-KZ, pl-pl, sv-SE, de-de,
he-IL, ko-KR, pt-BR, th-TH

The culture switch must be provided to light.exe in order to use anything
other than English.
Use "-culture:nb-no" for the nb_NO localization.

The cultures switch is not provided to light.exe by jpackage, and it is
recommended by WiX.
> The -loc flag is used to specify the language file to use. It is
important to include the -cultures flag on the command line to ensure the
correct localized strings are included for extensions such as
WiXUIExtension.

I have tested this by manually running light.exe and it works fine. I got
the Norwegian localization for the installer when I specified
"-culture:nb_NO".

*Change 2:* Add --win-culture, or --win-localization option to jpackage
Provide the culture switch to light.exe as specified from the localization
option.
The second option is probably the best name. I would not even know what
culture was about before looking into WiX, but everyone knows what
localization means. The option approach would also allow users to run
multiple executions of jpackage in order to build multiple installers in
different languages.

One caveat though: We need to support the same number of localizations in
jpackage as WiX does. Otherwise if jpackage does not have its own
localization for the specified culture switch, then building the installer
will fail. It will fail for uknown localization variables on jpackage's own
Strings.
light.exe -culture:nb_NO MsiInstallerStrings_en.wxl
error The localization variable !(loc.message.install.dir.exist) is unknown.

There are many localization files in WiX, but luckily jpackage has only 4
Strings of its own. It should not be that much work to make an
MsiInstallerStrings file for each of the WiX localizations.

Using a culture that WiX has no localization for will not fail building the
installer, but just throw a warning, and fallback to English localization.
-culture:un-known MsiInstallerStrings_en.wxl

*Change 3:*
All the WiX localization Strings can be overridden in the provided -loc
MsiInstallerStrings.en.wxl file.
We could support custom localization files in resource directory. It could
allow users to provide localization which WiX does not have built-in
support for, or just with different text for the existing localization
Strings.
> Using MsiInstallerStrings_en.wxl localization (specify
application-name.wxl in resource-dir to customize)

/Sverre
--


tor. 10. okt. 2019 kl. 20:56 skrev Alexey Semenyuk <
alexey.semenyuk at oracle.com>:

> Sverre,
>
> I've captured your input in [1]. Currently Windows installers are not
> localized. We just have sources structured to support localization.
> This is a major effort to implement if multiple languages in msi
> installers generated by jpackage are required.
>
> [1] https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8232136
>
> - Alexey
>
> On 10/10/2019 1:46 PM, Sverre Moe wrote:
> > It should be possible to provide localized strings to the Windows
> installer
> > with jpackage.
> >
> > WiX supports building localized installers through the use of language
> > files that include localized strings.
> >
> https://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/howtos/ui_and_localization/make_installer_localizable.html
> >
> > There are three localization resources for Windows in jpackage.
> > Though there is only one String in those three localization files,
> > "message.install.dir.exist", all in English and there are more Strings in
> > English in the main.wxs file that are not localized.
> > MsiInstallerStrings_en.wxl
> > MsiInstallerStrings_ja.wxl
> > MsiInstallerStrings_zh_CN.wxl
> >
> > These could be customized by providing an application_en.wxl or
> > application_es.wxl, or any other language to the resource directory.
> > Perhaps also allow for further customization by providing an
> > application.wxs to the resource directory to use instead of the main.wxs.
> >
> > /Sverre
>
>