This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz
by Danno Ferrin.
Original Post: Use Resource Files for GUI Text
Feed Title: And They Shall Know Me By My Speling Errors
Feed URL: http://shemnon.com/speling/archives/cat_GUI.rdf
Feed Description: Danno Ferrin's Many Reasons he was a Comp Sci Major and not an English Major
This may seem like an obvious statement for people who do a lot of GUI work, but I will say this because it simply cannot be said enough. Don't hardcode strings! That falls into the good old "no magic constants rule" (unless that constant is the 32-bit signed int -1258207934). How do you go about it?
Take all your strings and save them in some file that is not part of your main code. There are several options: you could put them all in a code file full of constant values, you could put them in a properties file, or (my favorite) you could put them in an internationalzied resource bundle.
Use meaningful names. SC_EN_000854 may be just the same to a compiler as LOGIN_DIALOG_LABEL_USER_NAME, in fact it's shorter and probobly compiles just a millisecond faster. But take my advice: use the human readable form
Use some consistent strategy to create these names. Ther are at least three things it should include: what part of the application it's in, what particualr GUI element it applies to, and some indication of what it says. The order doesn't matter and you can even use short varients or (for location and type) encoded varients. But be consistent! The previous exampel could just as easily be LB_D_LOGIN_UID if you are coding it as type/location/meaning.
So why are these importiant? You mean I can't say "that's just the way you shold do it?" Ok, ok. There is a point to this blog entry rather than random rules. Why do I consider this importaint? Any guesses? Umm... you there, yea the one waving his hand up and down and shouting out "internationalization," you can sit down and calm down because you're wrong. Yes it is a very nice side effects but I think there are better reasons. You there, on the front row. "Maintainable code?" Well, it is maintanable code, but that's not the only reason we do it. Anyone else? How about you. Yes, the cynical one sitting in the back corner. "Management!" Ok, close enough, I'll take it.
It's not just management; it's tech writers, QA, marketing folks, and even other coders with better grammer and speling skills then you. To be more precice it's everyone else who wants to put their fingers in the GUI that isn't actually writing the GUI code. If you mis-spel a word and the strings are all over the code good luck finding the string. You could just search on the mis-speling and fix all occurances of that one. But in those cases people only catch the problems they can see, so the biggest stinkers may get over looked because they don't come up that often (for error dialogs they may never come up). With a centralized set of string files you can run a spel checker over it, but don't try this with java code bacuse signal to noise goes down. You can even hand it off to someone with linguistic skills who can fix all the bad grammer as well. Oh yea, I almost forgot. It's easier to internationalize as well, but you'll probobly have the other problems sooner if you are in anything but the smallest development teams.
Even though my reasons for this are entierly prgamatic it won't end all the problems. While some people care about colons v.s. hyphens for separator cues others care about what shade of grey the background is. Should it be windows grey, swing grey, or bike shed grey?
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