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Localizing Orbeon Forms

Introduction

This document explains how to localize Orbeon Forms (i18n/L10n).

Files to localize

Form Runner and Form Builder resources

See these 2 files:
Each file has as series of <resource> elements each with an xml:lang attribute. You need to add your own element. Say you want to localize to Italian:
<resource xml:lang="it">
You can start by copying an existing <resource> element (for example French).
Starting 2014-03-21, we are marking placeholder resources for existing languages with todo="true".
NOTE: You must not translate the <value> part of item definitions, for example:
<required>
<label>Richiesto</label>
<hint>Se è necessario immettere i dati</hint>
<item>
<label>Sì</label>
<value>true</value>
</item>
<item>
<label>No</label>
<value>false</value>
</item>
</required>
For Form Builder, starting with Orbeon Forms 4.0, you also need to update the following property in your properties-local.xml:
<property
as="xs:string"
name="oxf.fr.available-languages.orbeon.builder"
value="en fr it"/>
By default, Orbeon Forms 4.0 sets it to en fr. The updated property at least needs to include the new language or languages that you are adding, in this case, it. For more details on this, see this Stack Overflow question.

Calendar resources

Similar idea here, but this is in JavaScript, for client-side calendar support.

XBL components

Orbeon Forms XBL components are located as subdirectories here:;
  • https://github.com/orbeon/orbeon-forms/tree/master/form-runner/jvm/src/main/resources/xbl/orbeon
Each subdirectory has a .xbl file with some metadata. For example:
As of Orbeon Forms 2016.1, the following controls need help:
In there, you will notice the localization in English, French, etc. Add your own language.
To get started search for the English version in all files for both:
  • lang="en"
  • xml:lang="en"
Then add the corresponding resources for the new language.
NOTE: Makes sure also to localize dialog-select-resources.xml, which is easily missed.

Pseudo-XBL components

  • https://github.com/orbeon/orbeon-forms/blob/master/form-builder/jvm/src/main/resources/forms/orbeon/builder/xbl
These files are used by the Form Builder toolbox for built-in XForms controls.
As of Orbeon Forms 2018.2, the following files need help:
TODO: more files,

Dates and times

For formatting of dates and times, a Java class usually needs to be added. See the example for Norwegian:

How to localize

You can go about this in various ways.
  1. 1.
    Localize the files
  2. 2.
    Send them to us
    1. 1.
      with a github pull request
    2. 2.
      by sending the files to us separately
  3. 3.
    Either way, we need the CLA signed.
But you will want to see the results yourself first. Here you can either work with
If working with the source, build Orbeon Forms, localize the files, and test as you go.
If working with a binary build, you can override built-in files by creating your own files under the WAR file's WEB-INF/resources directory:
  • WEB-INF/resources/apps/fr/i18n/resources.xml
  • WEB-INF/resources/forms/orbeon/builder/form/resources.xml
  • WEB-INF/resources/ops/javascript/orbeon/xforms/control/CalendarResources.js
  • WEB-INF/resources/xbl/orbeon/*/*.xbl
  • WEB-INF/resources/forms/orbeon/builder/xbl/*/*.xbl

See also

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Building Orbeon Forms
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State handling
Last modified 6mo ago