wxLocale Class Reference
[Application and System configuration]

#include <wx/intl.h>


Detailed Description

wxLocale class encapsulates all language-dependent settings and is a generalization of the C locale concept.

In wxWidgets this class manages message catalogs which contain the translations of the strings used to the current language.

For a list of the supported languages, please see wxLanguage enum values. These constants may be used to specify the language in wxLocale::Init and are returned by wxLocale::GetSystemLanguage.

wxPerl Note: In wxPerl you can't use the '_' function name, so the Wx::Locale module can export the gettext and gettext_noop under any given name.

      # this imports gettext ( equivalent to Wx::GetTranslation
      # and gettext_noop ( a noop )
      # into your module
      use Wx::Locale qw(:default);

      # ....

      # use the functions
      print gettext( "Panic!" );

      button = Wx::Button-new( window, -1, gettext( "Label" ) );

If you need to translate a lot of strings, then adding gettext( ) around each one is a long task ( that is why _( ) was introduced ), so just choose a shorter name for gettext:

      use Wx::Locale 'gettext' = 't',
                     'gettext_noop' = 'gettext_noop';

      # ...

      # use the functions
      print t( "Panic!!" );

      # ...

Library:  wxBase
Category:  Application and System configuration
See also:
Internationalization, Internationalization Sample, wxXLocale

Public Member Functions

 wxLocale ()
 This is the default constructor and it does nothing to initialize the object: Init() must be used to do that.
 wxLocale (int language, int flags=wxLOCALE_LOAD_DEFAULT|wxLOCALE_CONV_ENCODING)
 See Init() for parameters description.
 wxLocale (const wxString &name, const wxString &short=wxEmptyString, const wxString &locale=wxEmptyString, bool bLoadDefault=true, bool bConvertEncoding=false)
 See Init() for parameters description.
virtual ~wxLocale ()
 The destructor, like the constructor, also has global side effects: the previously set locale is restored and so the changes described in Init() documentation are rolled back.
bool AddCatalog (const wxString &domain)
 Add a catalog for use with the current locale: it is searched for in standard places (current directory first, then the system one), but you may also prepend additional directories to the search path with AddCatalogLookupPathPrefix().
bool AddCatalog (const wxString &domain, wxLanguage msgIdLanguage, const wxString &msgIdCharset)
 Add a catalog for use with the current locale: it is searched for in standard places (current directory first, then the system one), but you may also prepend additional directories to the search path with AddCatalogLookupPathPrefix().
wxString GetCanonicalName () const
 Returns the canonical form of current locale name.
wxString GetHeaderValue (const wxString &header, const wxString &domain=wxEmptyString) const
 Returns the header value for header header.
int GetLanguage () const
 Returns the wxLanguage constant of current language.
const wxStringGetLocale () const
 Returns the locale name as passed to the constructor or Init().
const wxStringGetName () const
 Returns the current short name for the locale (as given to the constructor or the Init() function).
virtual const wxStringGetString (const wxString &origString, const wxString &domain=wxEmptyString) const
 Retrieves the translation for a string in all loaded domains unless the domain parameter is specified (and then only this catalog/domain is searched).
virtual const wxStringGetString (const wxString &origString, const wxString &origString2, size_t n, const wxString &domain=wxEmptyString) const
 Retrieves the translation for a string in all loaded domains unless the domain parameter is specified (and then only this catalog/domain is searched).
wxString GetSysName () const
 Returns current platform-specific locale name as passed to setlocale().
bool Init (int language=wxLANGUAGE_DEFAULT, int flags=wxLOCALE_LOAD_DEFAULT|wxLOCALE_CONV_ENCODING)
 Initializes the wxLocale instance.
bool Init (const wxString &name, const wxString &short=wxEmptyString, const wxString &locale=wxEmptyString, bool bLoadDefault=true, bool bConvertEncoding=false)
bool IsLoaded (const wxString &domain) const
 Check if the given catalog is loaded, and returns true if it is.
bool IsOk () const
 Returns true if the locale could be set successfully.

Static Public Member Functions

static void AddCatalogLookupPathPrefix (const wxString &prefix)
 Add a prefix to the catalog lookup path: the message catalog files will be looked up under prefix/lang/LC_MESSAGES, prefix/lang and prefix (in this order).
static void AddLanguage (const wxLanguageInfo &info)
 Adds custom, user-defined language to the database of known languages.
static const wxLanguageInfoFindLanguageInfo (const wxString &locale)
 This function may be used to find the language description structure for the given locale, specified either as a two letter ISO language code (for example, "pt"), a language code followed by the country code ("pt_BR") or a full, human readable, language description ("Portuguese-Brazil").
static const wxLanguageInfoGetLanguageInfo (int lang)
 Returns a pointer to wxLanguageInfo structure containing information about the given language or NULL if this language is unknown.
static wxString GetLanguageName (int lang)
 Returns English name of the given language or empty string if this language is unknown.
static wxFontEncoding GetSystemEncoding ()
 Tries to detect the user's default font encoding.
static wxString GetSystemEncodingName ()
 Tries to detect the name of the user's default font encoding.
static int GetSystemLanguage ()
 Tries to detect the user's default language setting.
static wxString GetInfo (wxLocaleInfo index, wxLocaleCategory cat=wxLOCALE_CAT_DEFAULT)
 Get the values of the given locale-dependent datum.
static bool IsAvailable (int lang)
 Check whether the operating system and/or C run time environment supports this locale.

List of all members.


Constructor & Destructor Documentation

wxLocale::wxLocale (  ) 

This is the default constructor and it does nothing to initialize the object: Init() must be used to do that.

wxLocale::wxLocale ( int  language,
int  flags = wxLOCALE_LOAD_DEFAULT|wxLOCALE_CONV_ENCODING 
)

See Init() for parameters description.

wxLocale::wxLocale ( const wxString name,
const wxString short = wxEmptyString,
const wxString locale = wxEmptyString,
bool  bLoadDefault = true,
bool  bConvertEncoding = false 
)

See Init() for parameters description.

The call of this function has several global side effects which you should understand: first of all, the application locale is changed - note that this will affect many of standard C library functions such as printf() or strftime(). Second, this wxLocale object becomes the new current global locale for the application and so all subsequent calls to wxGetTranslation() will try to translate the messages using the message catalogs for this locale.

virtual wxLocale::~wxLocale (  )  [virtual]

The destructor, like the constructor, also has global side effects: the previously set locale is restored and so the changes described in Init() documentation are rolled back.


Member Function Documentation

bool wxLocale::AddCatalog ( const wxString domain,
wxLanguage  msgIdLanguage,
const wxString msgIdCharset 
)

Add a catalog for use with the current locale: it is searched for in standard places (current directory first, then the system one), but you may also prepend additional directories to the search path with AddCatalogLookupPathPrefix().

All loaded catalogs will be used for message lookup by GetString() for the current locale.

This overload takes two additional arguments, msgIdLanguage and msgIdCharset.

Parameters:
domain The catalog domain to add.
msgIdLanguage Specifies the language of "msgid" strings in source code (i.e. arguments to GetString(), wxGetTranslation() and the _() macro). It is used if AddCatalog() cannot find any catalog for current language: if the language is same as source code language, then strings from source code are used instead.
msgIdCharset Lets you specify the charset used for msgids in sources in case they use 8-bit characters (e.g. German or French strings). This argument has no effect in Unicode build, because literals in sources are Unicode strings; you have to use compiler-specific method of setting the right charset when compiling with Unicode.
Returns:
true if catalog was successfully loaded, false otherwise (which might mean that the catalog is not found or that it isn't in the correct format).
bool wxLocale::AddCatalog ( const wxString domain  ) 

Add a catalog for use with the current locale: it is searched for in standard places (current directory first, then the system one), but you may also prepend additional directories to the search path with AddCatalogLookupPathPrefix().

All loaded catalogs will be used for message lookup by GetString() for the current locale.

In this overload, msgid strings are assumed to be in English and written only using 7-bit ASCII characters. If you have to deal with non-English strings or 8-bit characters in the source code, see the instructions in Writing Non-English Applications.

Returns:
true if catalog was successfully loaded, false otherwise (which might mean that the catalog is not found or that it isn't in the correct format).
static void wxLocale::AddCatalogLookupPathPrefix ( const wxString prefix  )  [static]

Add a prefix to the catalog lookup path: the message catalog files will be looked up under prefix/lang/LC_MESSAGES, prefix/lang and prefix (in this order).

This only applies to subsequent invocations of AddCatalog().

static void wxLocale::AddLanguage ( const wxLanguageInfo info  )  [static]

Adds custom, user-defined language to the database of known languages.

This database is used in conjunction with the first form of Init().

static const wxLanguageInfo* wxLocale::FindLanguageInfo ( const wxString locale  )  [static]

This function may be used to find the language description structure for the given locale, specified either as a two letter ISO language code (for example, "pt"), a language code followed by the country code ("pt_BR") or a full, human readable, language description ("Portuguese-Brazil").

Returns the information for the given language or NULL if this language is unknown. Note that even if the returned pointer is valid, the caller should not delete it.

See also:
GetLanguageInfo()
wxString wxLocale::GetCanonicalName (  )  const

Returns the canonical form of current locale name.

Canonical form is the one that is used on UNIX systems: it is a two- or five-letter string in xx or xx_YY format, where xx is ISO 639 code of language and YY is ISO 3166 code of the country. Examples are "en", "en_GB", "en_US" or "fr_FR". This form is internally used when looking up message catalogs. Compare GetSysName().

wxString wxLocale::GetHeaderValue ( const wxString header,
const wxString domain = wxEmptyString 
) const

Returns the header value for header header.

The search for header is case sensitive. If an domain is passed, this domain is searched. Else all domains will be searched until a header has been found.

The return value is the value of the header if found. Else this will be empty.

static wxString wxLocale::GetInfo ( wxLocaleInfo  index,
wxLocaleCategory  cat = wxLOCALE_CAT_DEFAULT 
) [static]

Get the values of the given locale-dependent datum.

This function returns the value of the locale-specific option specified by the given index.

Parameters:
index One of the elements of wxLocaleInfo enum.
cat The category to use with the given index or wxLOCALE_CAT_DEFAULT if the index can only apply to a single category.
Returns:
The option value or empty string if the function failed.
int wxLocale::GetLanguage (  )  const

Returns the wxLanguage constant of current language.

Note that you can call this function only if you used the form of Init() that takes wxLanguage argument.

static const wxLanguageInfo* wxLocale::GetLanguageInfo ( int  lang  )  [static]

Returns a pointer to wxLanguageInfo structure containing information about the given language or NULL if this language is unknown.

Note that even if the returned pointer is valid, the caller should not delete it.

See AddLanguage() for the wxLanguageInfo description. As with Init(), wxLANGUAGE_DEFAULT has the special meaning if passed as an argument to this function and in this case the result of GetSystemLanguage() is used.

static wxString wxLocale::GetLanguageName ( int  lang  )  [static]

Returns English name of the given language or empty string if this language is unknown.

See GetLanguageInfo() for a remark about special meaning of wxLANGUAGE_DEFAULT.

const wxString& wxLocale::GetLocale (  )  const

Returns the locale name as passed to the constructor or Init().

This is a full, human-readable name, e.g. "English" or "French".

const wxString& wxLocale::GetName (  )  const

Returns the current short name for the locale (as given to the constructor or the Init() function).

virtual const wxString& wxLocale::GetString ( const wxString origString,
const wxString origString2,
size_t  n,
const wxString domain = wxEmptyString 
) const [virtual]

Retrieves the translation for a string in all loaded domains unless the domain parameter is specified (and then only this catalog/domain is searched).

Returns original string if translation is not available (in this case an error message is generated the first time a string is not found; use wxLogNull to suppress it).

This form is used when retrieving translation of string that has different singular and plural form in English or different plural forms in some other language. It takes two extra arguments: origString parameter must contain the singular form of the string to be converted.

It is also used as the key for the search in the catalog. The origString2 parameter is the plural form (in English).

The parameter n is used to determine the plural form. If no message catalog is found origString is returned if 'n == 1', otherwise origString2.

See GNU gettext manual for additional information on plural forms handling. This method is called by the wxGetTranslation() function and _() macro.

Remarks:
Domains are searched in the last to first order, i.e. catalogs added later override those added before.
virtual const wxString& wxLocale::GetString ( const wxString origString,
const wxString domain = wxEmptyString 
) const [virtual]

Retrieves the translation for a string in all loaded domains unless the domain parameter is specified (and then only this catalog/domain is searched).

Returns original string if translation is not available (in this case an error message is generated the first time a string is not found; use wxLogNull to suppress it).

Remarks:
Domains are searched in the last to first order, i.e. catalogs added later override those added before.
wxString wxLocale::GetSysName (  )  const

Returns current platform-specific locale name as passed to setlocale().

Compare GetCanonicalName().

static wxFontEncoding wxLocale::GetSystemEncoding (  )  [static]

Tries to detect the user's default font encoding.

Returns wxFontEncoding() value or wxFONTENCODING_SYSTEM if it couldn't be determined.

static wxString wxLocale::GetSystemEncodingName (  )  [static]

Tries to detect the name of the user's default font encoding.

This string isn't particularly useful for the application as its form is platform-dependent and so you should probably use GetSystemEncoding() instead.

Returns a user-readable string value or an empty string if it couldn't be determined.

static int wxLocale::GetSystemLanguage (  )  [static]

Tries to detect the user's default language setting.

Returns the wxLanguage value or wxLANGUAGE_UNKNOWN if the language-guessing algorithm failed.

bool wxLocale::Init ( const wxString name,
const wxString short = wxEmptyString,
const wxString locale = wxEmptyString,
bool  bLoadDefault = true,
bool  bConvertEncoding = false 
)
Deprecated:
This form is deprecated, use the other one unless you know what you are doing.
Parameters:
name The name of the locale. Only used in diagnostic messages.
short The standard 2 letter locale abbreviation; it is used as the directory prefix when looking for the message catalog files.
locale The parameter for the call to setlocale(). Note that it is platform-specific.
bLoadDefault May be set to false to prevent loading of the message catalog for the given locale containing the translations of standard wxWidgets messages. This parameter would be rarely used in normal circumstances.
bConvertEncoding May be set to true to do automatic conversion of message catalogs to platform's native encoding. Note that it will do only basic conversion between well-known pair like iso8859-1 and windows-1252 or iso8859-2 and windows-1250. See Writing Non-English Applications for detailed description of this behaviour.
bool wxLocale::Init ( int  language = wxLANGUAGE_DEFAULT,
int  flags = wxLOCALE_LOAD_DEFAULT|wxLOCALE_CONV_ENCODING 
)

Initializes the wxLocale instance.

The call of this function has several global side effects which you should understand: first of all, the application locale is changed - note that this will affect many of standard C library functions such as printf() or strftime(). Second, this wxLocale object becomes the new current global locale for the application and so all subsequent calls to wxGetTranslation() will try to translate the messages using the message catalogs for this locale.

Parameters:
language wxLanguage identifier of the locale. wxLANGUAGE_DEFAULT has special meaning -- wxLocale will use system's default language (see GetSystemLanguage()).
flags Combination of the following:

  • wxLOCALE_LOAD_DEFAULT: Load the message catalog for the given locale containing the translations of standard wxWidgets messages automatically.
  • wxLOCALE_CONV_ENCODING: Automatically convert message catalogs to platform's default encoding. Note that it will do only basic conversion between well-known pair like iso8859-1 and windows-1252 or iso8859-2 and windows-1250. See Writing Non-English Applications for detailed description of this behaviour. Note that this flag is meaningless in Unicode build.
Returns:
true on success or false if the given locale couldn't be set.
static bool wxLocale::IsAvailable ( int  lang  )  [static]

Check whether the operating system and/or C run time environment supports this locale.

For example in Windows 2000 and Windows XP, support for many locales is not installed by default. Returns true if the locale is supported.

The argument lang is the wxLanguage identifier. To obtain this for a given a two letter ISO language code, use FindLanguageInfo() to obtain its wxLanguageInfo structure. See AddLanguage() for the wxLanguageInfo description.

Since:
2.7.1.
bool wxLocale::IsLoaded ( const wxString domain  )  const

Check if the given catalog is loaded, and returns true if it is.

According to GNU gettext tradition, each catalog normally corresponds to 'domain' which is more or less the application name.

See also:
AddCatalog()
bool wxLocale::IsOk (  )  const

Returns true if the locale could be set successfully.

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