JEP-343: jpackage Windows installer localization

Thu Oct 17 23:16:55 UTC 2019


On 10/17/2019 6:10 PM, Sverre Moe wrote:
> 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.
Correct. Translations will be provided later. Japanese and Chinese 
Simplified localization files are just stubs for now.

>
> 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 
> <http://installer.folder.exists.dialog.button.no> = No
>
> These are the Dialog Strings defined strictly in jpackage template.wxs 
> for the JpInvalidInstallDir dialog.
I'm confused. Do you mean main.wxs? There is no template.wxs file in the 
sandbox, but there is main.wxs with 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".
What type of localization you are looking for? MSI installers can be 
built with multilingual support. I.e. you can build an MSI package that 
would include English, Norwegian, German, etc. localizations and pick 
the one at installation time. But this is quite a complicated thing - 
https://www.firegiant.com/wix/tutorial/transforms/morphing-installers/.
If you need only one language in your installer, then simple 
"-culture:nb_NO" would be sufficient, of course.

>
> *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.
Adding --win-localization command line option looks reasonable. In case 
of missing .wxl file for requested localization in OpenJDK you would 
drop one in resource directory. Of course we need to fix jpackage to 
hook up .wxl files from resource directory. This functionality is 
missing at the moment.

>
> 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.
I don't think we would support any localization beyond English, Japanese 
and Chinese Simplified in OpenJDK. Who would provide translations in 
multiple languages on regular basis?

>
> 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)
This is good idea.

- Alexey

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