<i18n dev> localization of a java application

[THIRY, Jean-Luc]

Hi,

I am a new subscriber to the i18n-dev list.
Currently I have to organize the localization of a big java application that has been developed for 15 years using 2 types of java resources to manage localization :

-          .properties files used with resource bundles for common tags in forms, messages and java enums

-          data collected in SQL tables for dynamic enums

As the application is big (property files with more than a 1700 entries) and a big number of enums (over 500), I have to find tools to automate the localization process knowing that the application has numerous new features added each year, features that we need to keep localized as we deliver new versions of the application. Theses resources are located in different jar's in the project which makes the data retrieval of all the .properties tedious.

The process I have in mind has to detect new entries in the property files or in the database, extract these new labels in files so that I can transmit the information to a localization provider which in return can send me back the files with the labels localized.

I have been looking for information on standards and I found XLIFF 1.0 and 2.0 interesting to manage the exchange process with the localization provider and I found java APIs to translate a .properties in a XLIFF file.
The trouble is I have many things to code to have a full process operating so I have been looking also for other solutions.

I found GNU getText well designed to manage localization of Linux projects.

I would be interested in having more information on how to manage this knowing that you have exactly the same problem when you manage Localization of projects such as JDK or JRE. So how do you do this ?

Thank's in advance,

Cheers,
Jean-Luc