- #What language are mozilla firefox extensions written in how to
- #What language are mozilla firefox extensions written in skin
- #What language are mozilla firefox extensions written in software
- #What language are mozilla firefox extensions written in code
In addition, the package might include several different applications each accessible via different chrome URLs. A particular package might provide one or more skins and locales, but a user can replace them with their own.
#What language are mozilla firefox extensions written in skin
These three sets are the content, the skin and the locale. Each part is stored in a different directory. There are usually three different parts to a chrome package, although they are all optional.
#What language are mozilla firefox extensions written in code
Mozilla maintains extension code as a package in the chrome registry. Sadly, at this time our extension does not have a Catalan-language directory, which means a Catalan-speaking user’s system would default to the Spanish (if it existed) or to the available English strings. So now, if someone were to be using the Home Page Scheduler extension in Firefox on a Catalan system, the ca/hpsched.dtd file would be used instead of the en-US file. The following XUL code declares three buttons with labels defined in the DTD file for the system’s language. The ampersand (&) tells the parser that a tag name is to follow and the semicolon ( ) ends the tag. To dereference an Entity in a source file, simply escape include the tag name like &TagName.
#What language are mozilla firefox extensions written in how to
Now that you are convinced of the importance of allowing easy localization of your extension, it is time to see how to reference an entity from source files. Referencing an Entity in Your Application So by keeping the code and textual data separate, you can make the extension better for everyone. In general, it is a good idea to have someone who knows a particular language perform the translation. You may note that the translation in this example was conducted using machine translation from. As an extension programmer, you can focus on writing an awesome application and others can translate it to work in Catalan, Dutch, Japanese, and numerous other languages that you do not know. The XML parser will replace all occurrences of the tag with the associated string value.īy keeping the textual elements defined as constants within the DTD file, it is easy for translators to convert the application to support various languages without modifying code. The tag starts with !ENTITY followed by two parameters, the name of the tag and the string value associated with that tag. The XML syntax for declaring an entity is simple, but different than might be expected. In XML, a constant is known as an Entity.
#What language are mozilla firefox extensions written in software
In general, building translatable software is as easy as placing all textual data in a resource file as string constants and then referencing those constants from within the source code. Many applications are built such that translating the interface into a different language is as simple as possible. To be a professional extension developer, it is essential to store textual elements, called entities, in a language file. In fact, nothing stands out more to a user then to have some parts of a program use a language different from his or her system settings. While it seems natural to place ordinary strings in these source files, it will make it harder for people who use different languages. These source files contain references to textual data such as labels and buttons. Preparing your extension for localization is important because users prefer to use applications in their own language and culture.Īn extension is constructed of one or more source files, which are either interface files (XUL) or script files (JS).