Adding new languages

Extend the toolkit’s generated text capabilities by adding new language files.

1. Copy this file to your plug-in.

   • non-PDF output: plugins/org.dita.base/xsl/common/strings.xml
   • PDF output: plugins/org.dita.pdf2/cfg/common/vars/strings.xml

2. In your plug-in, edit strings.xml to contain references to the language files for which you are providing custom strings.

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <!-- Provide new languages for Gaelic and Vietnamese. -->
   <langlist>
     <lang xml:lang="ga"     filename="strings-ga-ga.xml"/>
     <lang xml:lang="ga-GA"  filename="strings-ga-ga.xml"/>
     <lang xml:lang="vi"     filename="strings-vi-vn.xml"/>
     <lang xml:lang="vi-VN"  filename="strings-vi-vn.xml"/>
   </langlist>
   

3. Copy this file to your plug-in into the same directory as step 1.

   • non-PDF output: plugins/org.dita.base/xsl/common/strings-en-us.xml
   • PDF output: plugins/org.dita.pdf2/cfg/common/vars/en.xml

4. Rename the file to match the language you wish to add (for instance, strings-vi-vn.xml).

5. Without changing the @id value, replace the generated text string for each variable.

   <variables>
      <variable id="Figure">Hình</variable>
      <variable id="Table">Bảng</variable>
      <variable id="Next topic">Chủ đề tiếp theo</variable>
        [...]
      <variable id="Copyright">Bản quyền</variable>
      <variable id="a11y.and-then"/>
   </variables>
   

6. Repeat step 3 to step 5 for each language.

7. Update your plugin.xml file to extend the strings available.

   <plugin id="com.example.your-plugin">
     <feature extension="dita.xsl.strings" file="xsl/common/strings.xml"/>
   </plugin>
   

   Your custom language strings are available to your stylesheets. For example, if processing in a context where the @xml:lang value is vi-VN, the following call returns “Chủ đề tiếp theo” because it was defined as the text for the variable with @id value of Next topic in step 5.

   <xsl:call-template name="getVariable">
     <xsl:with-param name="id" select="'Next topic'"/>
   </xsl:call-template>
   

Related information

How to add or modify generated text strings