Application constants.... i8n help :-)

Question

Should I code constants like an IOException into a constant class? There are two approaches I would like to use but am unsure which to pick.
1) I create a common application constants class that declares for eg. an IOException message that is used by various classes. This class allows this message to be changed here for purposes of i8n.
2) I declare all constants at the start of each class in the variable declaration which allows the message to be swapped out in each class where I have this exception. This allows for a more general message but would require a longer workaround if the application is internationalized?
3) Is it common to make button, label and other GUI texts internationalised?
4) Is there such a thing as a design where all Strings are put into a class where they can be swapped out?
Any recommendations on what is acceptable by industry standards would help.

Answer 1

paulcw wrote:
Yucca wrote:
Should I code constants like an IOException into a constant class? There are two approaches I would like to use but am unsure which to pick. An IOException isn't a constant. I assume you mean the error message that you pass to an IOException constructor...? Though then I'd wonder what you're instantiaing IOExceptions.
1) I create a common application constants class that declares for eg. an IOException message that is used by various classes. This class allows this message to be changed here for purposes of i8n.
2) I declare all constants at the start of each class in the variable declaration which allows the message to be swapped out in each class where I have this exception. This allows for a more general message but would require a longer workaround if the application is internationalized?Generally you internationalize the text used in the user interface, not in the source code itself. The source code is going to have identifiers that can't be internationalized. I suppose you could try to internationalize the error messages that the users are never supposed to see, but I'd wonder what the point is. You're not going to ask the users to debug your programs for you.
Also, you're not going to put user-facing error messages inside an IOException, if that's what you're thinking.
3) Is it common to make button, label and other GUI texts internationalised?
Common, I don't know, but yes, the user interface is the part that you internationalize.
4) Is there such a thing as a design where all Strings are put into a class where they can be swapped out?Yes, use resource bundles.Yeah I meant the actual message. I wanted to know if I can code a common-to-more-than-one class exception message into a utility class its for an exam. I saw a similar approach used in some examples but I cant see the advantage of this as after all this is an exception and I cant see any performance improvements from this approach. The only thing that came to mind was i8n.