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Java Forum / General / December 2005Arabic text displayed as question marks
Hello all I am developing a desktop Swing application which needs to support multiple languages. The problem I face is when I am trying to display Arabic text in my application. The Menu items and Label texts that are assigned to Arabic text end up showing as ?????. I store the Arabic text in a Hashtable from where I retrieve it and then assign it to the appropriate JComponent. I think the problem occurs when I retrieve the values from the Hashtable. The value is returned as ????. >From what I've been seeing in the various groups, it seems like a problem with the encoding scheme. But how do I go about making the application know that it has to use UTF-8 encoding? Can someone please suggest a solution? Thanks! > I am developing a desktop Swing application which needs to support > multiple languages. The problem I face is when I am trying to display [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Can someone please suggest a solution? Before coming to a solution further analysis is needed. Your problem can have 2 different causes: (1) The text values (probably Strings) could be corrupted somehow, may be by using a wrong encoding. (2) The font (of menuItem, label) might not support arabic characters. To check for (2) there are some tools in the net: http://segal.org/java/Arabic/index.html http://www.myjavaserver.com/~thomasfritsch/unicode.html (scroll down to 0600) To check for (1) we would need to see some of your java source, especially how you construct your Strings and put them into the Hashtable.  Signature"Thomas:Fritsch$ops:de".replace(':','.').replace('$','@') Hi Thomas (1) This is how I put the strings into the Hashtable: Hashtable table = new Hashtable(); table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", ""); table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", ""); table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", ""); table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", ""); table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", ""); (2) http://segal.org/java/Arabic/index.html I'm able to see the Arabic script in the applet that is created above. http://www.myjavaserver.com/~thomasfritsch/unicode.html When I scroll down to 0600, I can see some of the Arabic characters while others appear as boxes. Actually I have a problem in re-opening files with Arabic text created from the IDE. When I create the file with Arabic text, it shows up fine. But on saving, closing and re-opening the file, all the characters are displayed as question marks. This happens only with files I create in the IDE. However, files I create with worpad are stored and reopen with the Arabic text properly. However, when I open these files (created with Arbic text on wordpad) with the IDE, I get weird characters such as "ÕËÞÕËÞ" and the like.... >However, files I create with worpad are stored and reopen with the >Arabic text properly. However, when I open these files (created with >Arbic text on wordpad) with the IDE, I get weird characters such as >"ÕËÞÕËÞ" and the like.... code them with \uxxxx to get the program going. You need to tell Javac which encoding you are using in your source files. See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/javacexe.html SignatureCanadian Mind Products, Roedy Green. http://mindprod.com Java custom programming, consulting and coaching. > This is how I put the strings into the Hashtable: > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "بصمث"); > table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "صنثق"); This is a rather strange approach. a) You always use the same key. Only your last value will survive. The others will be lost. b) Usually one puts such strings in a resource bundle. Not the least, because resource bundles are supposed to hold locale-specific information like GUI messages and text, so you get them out of the source code. c) Placing these characters in the source code, while apparently not knowing which encoding is in use in the IDE is a receipt for disaster. If you really feel the need to do it, you have to get each bit carefully in place. Your editor, the IDE and the compiler need all be configured so that they agree on the encoding of your source code. Which ... d) ... generates a maintenance nightmare, in case a maintainer isn't aware of all the details, and has to guess all this. Place the text in a resource bundle and try to stick with ASCII in the source code. If you still need non-ASCII characters in the code, use the \u syntax (or native2ascii). You will anyhow need to get used to it, since resource bundles need to be written with ISO Latin one only, and \u escapes - which are simple to generate via native2ascii. /Thomas SignatureThe comp.lang.java.gui FAQ: ftp://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/NEWS.ANSWERS/computer-lang/java/gui/faq http://www.uni-giessen.de/faq/archiv/computer-lang.java.gui.faq/ > (1) > > This is how I put the strings into the Hashtable: > > Hashtable table = new Hashtable(); > table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "هعثق"); Putting non-ASCII-characters directly between "..." is a risky thing. The compiler javac might use another encoding for reading your source, than you expect. Therefore I would recommend to use the \uxxxx unicode escape syntax, for example: table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "\u0630\u0631\u0632\u0633"); That makes your java-source totally independent of encodings. > table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "نثت"); > table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "مضصث"); > table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "بصمث"); > table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "صنثق"); > Signature"Thomas:Fritsch$ops:de".replace(':','.').replace('$','@') >table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "????"); >table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "???"); >table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "????"); >table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "????"); >table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "????"); for a HashMap or Hashtable the keys must be unique. SignatureCanadian Mind Products, Roedy Green. http://mindprod.com Java custom programming, consulting and coaching. >>From what I've been seeing in the various groups, it seems like a >problem with the encoding scheme. But how do I go about making the >application know that it has to use UTF-8 encoding? see http://mindprod.com/applets/fontshower.html http://mindprod.com/applets/fontshowerawt.html You need first of all to make sure the font you are using supports Arabic. SignatureCanadian Mind Products, Roedy Green. http://mindprod.com Java custom programming, consulting and coaching. Thanks everyone for your inputs!! The >table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "????"); >table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "????"); >table.add("javax.swing.JMenu-0:ar", "????"); was a copy-paste error, I copy-pasted the same line and forgot to change the keys before posting the message!! And I will take your suggestions of using \uxxxx unicode escape syntax. It seems to work fine this way!! Thanks again. >And I will take your suggestions of using \uxxxx unicode escape syntax. >It seems to work fine this way!! Unless this code will never be translated to any other language, normally you would encode your Arabic Strings using a ResourceBundle. See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/internationalisation.html http://mindprod.com/jgloss/resourcebundle.html SignatureCanadian Mind Products, Roedy Green. http://mindprod.com Java custom programming, consulting and coaching. >Unless this code will never be translated to any other language, >normally you would encode your Arabic Strings using a ResourceBundle. I am using ResourceBundle with properties files for storing the data, since I am using more than one language and might have to add more languages later on. The Hashtable method was only an initial try. Thanks for that!! >I am using ResourceBundle with properties files for storing the data, >since I am using more than one language and might have to add more >languages later on. Since the resource file itself has to be ISO-8959-1, you can either code the \uxxx chars manually, or do them with an Arabic aware editor and convert the file with nativetoascii. SignatureCanadian Mind Products, Roedy Green. http://mindprod.com Java custom programming, consulting and coaching. Where can I get the nativetoascii tool and how do I use it? I checked the http://mindprod.com/jgloss/encoding.html#NATIVETOASCII site, but am not able to figure out what to do. I think I got it. Found the native2ascii tool in Java's bin directory and ran it with -encoding Cp1256 and it seemed to give the expected output. Thanks!! Swetha >Found the native2ascii tool in Java's bin directory and ran it with >-encoding Cp1256 and it seemed to give the expected output. Great. You can do the reverse to make your property files editable . SignatureCanadian Mind Products, Roedy Green. http://mindprod.com Java custom programming, consulting and coaching. >Where can I get the nativetoascii tool and how do I use it? It comes with the JDK. See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/encoding.html SignatureCanadian Mind Products, Roedy Green. http://mindprod.com Java custom programming, consulting and coaching. Free MagazinesGet these publications absolutely FREE for up to 12 months. There are no hidden fees and no obligation. Simply choose a title, complete the application form and submit it. Read more ...
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