How do I avoid repetition in Java ResourceBundle strings?

Question

We had a lot of strings which contained the same sub-string, from sentences about checking the log or how to contact support, to branding-like strings containing the company or

Answer 1

I think this is a fundamental flaw in the way ResourceBundles are designed to function: keys that reference other keys automatically violate the DRY (don't repeat yourself) principle. The way I got around this was similar to your method: create a ReflectiveResourceBundle class that allows you to specify Resource keys in the messages using EL notation.

THE WRONG WAY:

my.name.first=Bob
my.name.last=Smith
my.name.full=Bob Smith

THE RIGHT WAY:

my.name.first=Bob
my.name.last=Smith
my.name.full=${my.name.first} ${my.name.last}

I've uploaded the code to GitHub so you or anyone else can download it. Additionally, I've added some sample code for anyone using the Stripes Framework (http://www.stripesframework.org/) to get you quickly up-and-running.

The trick to getting this to work with standard JSTL fmt taglibs was to set up an interceptor that replaced the HttpServletRequest's resource with our own. The code looks something like this:

ResourceBundle bundle = MyStaticResourceHoldingTheBundle.getBundle();
Config.set(request, Config.FMT_LOCALIZATION_CONTEXT, new LocalizationContext(bundle, locale));

Take a look at the stripes.interceptor package in the link above for more details.