114078 - Java Applet part display garbled on non localized OS

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Core :: Internationalization, defect)

Description

[Yuying Long]

Build: 12-07 trunk build

This problem has been a long time, don't know if we have a bug for that.

Steps:
1. Go http://www.chinatimes.com
2. You will find there is a Java Applet part in the right hand side.

Result:
1. If you use a localized OS, for this case, on a Traditional Chinese OS, those
charaters in that part are display fine. - a screen shot will be followed.
2. On non Traditional Chinese localized OS but with traditional chinese fonts
installed, those characters inside Java Applet part are garbled, however, the
rest parts inside the web page are display fine.

Comment 1

[Yuying Long]

Attachment: screen shot for garbled java part

Comment 2

[Teruko Kobayashi]

This is expected behavior.  If you change the system locale to Traditional 
chinese in US system, this should work.

Comment 3

[Yuying Long]

OK, seems it is cause by Sun Java(that we included in our application) doesn't
handle this kind of case that well, but do we have any way to correct it?

Comment 4

[Xiaobin Lu]

Reporter:
    Try out the Internationalized version of JRE available from java.sun.com 
and let me know if you have questions.

Comment 5

[Katsuhiko Momoi]

> Reporter:
>    Try out the Internationalized version of JRE available from java.sun.com 
> and let me know if you have questions.

Why should this make any difference? The current installer uses JRE131i.exe
and the i18n.jar contains all needed converters. 

To answer ylong's question, correcting the display should be theoretically
possible but practically very difficult because the user needs to
identify the appropriate font.properties.xx file and add the Big5 font
names to the list. On Traditional Chinese Windows, the file containing
the font info is automatically selected.
I've experimented with modifying the font.properties file but it is not
working right now. There may indeed be a problem with handling Chinese
on non-Chinese platforms. 

Xiaobin, if you know one correct way to modify the following line,
please write it into this bug. Here's a sample that did not
work:

dialog.plain.1=MingLiu,CHINESEBIG5_CHARSET,NEED_CONVERTED

Should this not work on Windows which has MingLiu font installed?

Comment 6

[Yuying Long]

I went to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/jre/download-windows.html
and choose the intl version, but I still get the same result - unless I change
the system locale to T. CN, otherwise I'll see the garbled characters in Java part.
I'm using WinXP-JA, I noticed all the dialogs in this intl version of JRE
installer are displayed as Japanese, I wonder if this is a Japanese version, or
the installer will display base on the system locale? 

Comment 7

[Katsuhiko Momoi]

> I'm using WinXP-JA, I noticed all the dialogs in this intl version of JRE
> installer are displayed as Japanese, I wonder if this is a Japanese version, or
> the installer will display base on the system locale? 

It's the latter -- the installer contains more than one language and
adjusts the dialog based on the locale. 

One method that should work is copying font.properties.zh_TW file and rename it
to font.properties.ja if you're using Japanese Windows. This is because on
Japanese Windows, Java will first use fonts specified in .ja file. 
(Make sure first that you make a copy of font.properties.ja file and
 save it somewhere else.)

I looked at another Big5 string-display applet and it works OK
with the above change.

There might be something special about the applet at chinatimes.com
which causes this problem. 
ylong, one way to test this theory is to rename the file as I suggested
above and go visit another Big5 site which has a Java applet string
display and see if that works. If it does, then it could be a Java side
bug. 

Comment 8

[Xiaobin Lu]

Ok, this is the step you needs to follow if you want to display Applets in 
Chinese or whatever local.
1. Use windows 2000, change the regional settings to point to Traditional 
Chinese
2. Go to the directory where JRE installed, go to lib directory and change 
font.properties to font.properties.EN and change font.properties.zh_TW to 
font.properties.
You should be able to see Chinese on that applet.

Comment 9

[Katsuhiko Momoi]

> 1. Use windows 2000, change the regional settings to point to Traditional 
> Chinese
> 2. Go to the directory where JRE installed, go to lib directory and change 
> font.properties to font.properties.EN and change font.properties.zh_TW to 
> font.properties.
> You should be able to see Chinese on that applet.

Xiaobin, what you're saying here is exactly what teruko, ylong and I have 
said above. If you change the locale to Trad. Chinese, it works. 
You don't even need to make any change to font.properties file. Under
zh_TW locale, Java will use the font.properties.zh_TW file. In fact, 
I tried changing the locale with no file changes and it works OK.

The point I have been trying to make is that it should be possible
to display Big5 characters without changing the locale as long
as you modify the appropriate font.properties file. But apparently
there is a problem in Java which prevents this from working 
properly. (By the way, this used to work.)

It has been my opinion since JDK 1.1 that Java should change the
font architecture so that font can be changed with UI. In this day
and age of multilingual applications, Java should make this part as
easy as what we have in Mozilla.

Comment 10

[Yuying Long]

As Momoi-san pointed out, as far as I changed the locale to T. CN(don't need to
do any other changes) then I can see the chinese in applet part.

However, I still couldn't see the chinese in applet after I replaced neither
font.properties.ja nor font.properties by font.properties.zh_TW, the display
seems same as before the changes.
(I used 12-10 trunk build, java was installed by the Netscape installer included
1.3.1)




 

Comment 11

[Xiaobin Lu]

Please use this website to report Java i18N bug:
http://java.sun.com/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi

Comment 12

[Yuying Long]

A bug filed over there, please change the category if needed.

Comment 13

[Roy Yokoyama]

making [e-mail] as a owner of this bug.

Comment 14

[Frank Tang]

>This is expected behavior.  If you change the system locale to 
>Traditional  chinese in US system, this should work.
Why ? there are no reason it should behave like this. 

>
>------- Additional Comment #8 From Xiaobin Lu 2001-12-07 18:20 -------
>
>Ok, this is the step you needs to follow if you want to display Applets in
Chinese or whatever local.
>1. Use windows 2000, change the regional settings to point to >Traditional Chinese
>2. Go to the directory where JRE installed, go to lib directory and >change 
>font.properties to font.properties.EN and change font.properties.zh_TW >to
font.properties.
>You should be able to see Chinese on that applet.

How can I see both Trad Chinese in one window and and Simp Chinese Applet in
another window ?
No consumer will figure out how to do this .

Win2K come with chinese, korean , japanese font installed. Java is a Unicode
base technology. It SHOULD use those font without user change any setting.

Comment 15

[Yuying Long]

-> nsbeta1, for reading intl pages using US OS.

Comment 16

[Frank Tang]

I try IE6 on US WinXP , it also display garbage. I think the Java Applet is a
hack. so, nsbeta1-

Comment 17

[Roy Yokoyama]

*** Bug 138330 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 18

[Yuying Long]

This problem is a Traditional Chinese Applet inside a Traditional Chinese web
page on non-Traditional OS/locale.

I think we should get this fixed. Since Java is unicode base, use should not
need to switch locale in ordet to display the applet properly.  And for the web
page or other plugins display doesn't has this problem.

Comment 19

[Xiaobin Lu]

This bug is targeted to Tiger (JRE 1.5) release.

Comment 20

[Kyle Machulis [:qdot] [:kmachulis] (INACTIVE)]

The HTML <applet> element and related java functionality was removed from Gecko in Bug 1279218. Marking related bugs as invalid.