Java API 1.3 doc for ResourceBundle says:

The resource bundle lookup searches for classes with various suffixes on the basis of (1) the desired
locale and (2) the current default locale as returned by Locale.getDefault(), and (3) the root
resource bundle (baseclass), in the following order from lower-level (more specific) to
parent-level (less specific):

baseclass + "_" + language1 + "_" + country1 + "_" + variant1
baseclass + "_" + language1 + "_" + country1 + "_" + variant1 + ".properties"
baseclass + "_" + language1 + "_" + country1
baseclass + "_" + language1 + "_" + country1 + ".properties"
baseclass + "_" + language1
baseclass + "_" + language1 + ".properties"
baseclass + "_" + language2 + "_" + country2 + "_" + variant2
baseclass + "_" + language2 + "_" + country2 + "_" + variant2 + ".properties"
baseclass + "_" + language2 + "_" + country2
baseclass + "_" + language2 + "_" + country2 + ".properties"
baseclass + "_" + language2
baseclass + "_" + language2 + ".properties"
baseclass
baseclass + ".properties"

But when I run the following test program the behavior is like this and this is what the "Java class library" book(page 1438) says too.

baseclass + "_" + language1 + "_" + country1 + "_" + variant1
baseclass + "_" + language1 + "_" + country1 + "_" + variant1 + ".properties"
baseclass + "_" + language1 + "_" + country1
baseclass + "_" + language1 + "_" + country1 + ".properties"
baseclass + "_" + language1
baseclass + "_" + language1 + ".properties"
baseclass
baseclass + ".properties"
baseclass + "_" + language2 + "_" + country2 + "_" + variant2
baseclass + "_" + language2 + "_" + country2 + "_" + variant2 + ".properties"
baseclass + "_" + language2 + "_" + country2
baseclass + "_" + language2 + "_" + country2 + ".properties"
baseclass + "_" + language2
baseclass + "_" + language2 + ".properties"


Test Program(Test.java)
-----------------------
import java.util.*;

public class Test {

   public ResourceBundle fetchResourceBundle(String language, String country){
      return(ResourceBundle.getBundle("MessagesBundle",
                                       new Locale(language, country)));

   }

   public void testCase1() {
      ResourceBundle rb = fetchResourceBundle("fr", "FR");

      System.out.println(rb.getString("greetings"));
      System.out.println(rb.getString("farewell"));
      System.out.println(rb.getString("inquiry"));
   }

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      Test test = new Test();

      test.testCase1();
   }
}

MessagesBundle.java
--------------------
import java.util.*;

public class MessagesBundle extends ResourceBundle {

   public Object handleGetObject(String key) {
      if(key.equals("greetings"))
         return "Hi";
      if(key.equals("farewell"))
         return "Goodbye";
      if(key.equals("inquiry"))
         return "How are you?";
      return null;
   }

  String [] keys = {"greetings", "farewell", "inquiry"};

  public Enumeration getKeys() {
     return new Enumeration() {
        int count;
 
        public boolean hasMoreElements() {
           return count < keys.length;
        }

        public Object nextElement() {
           if(count < keys.length) {
              return keys[count++];
           }
           throw new NoSuchElementException("Enumeration");
       }
    };
  }
}

MessagesBundle_en_US.java
-------------------------
import java.util.*;

public class MessagesBundle_en_US extends ResourceBundle {

   public Object handleGetObject(String key) {
      if(key.equals("greetings"))
         return "Hello";
      return null;
   }

   public Enumeration getKeys() {
     if(parent != null)
        return parent.getKeys();
     return null;
    
   }
}

MessagesBundle_fr_Fr.java
--------------------------
import java.util.*;

public class MessagesBundle_fr_FR extends ResourceBundle {

   public Object handleGetObject(String key) {
      if(key.equals("farewell"))
         return "Au revoir";
      return null;
   }

  public Enumeration getKeys() {
     if(parent != null)
        return parent.getKeys();
     return null;
  }
}

Run result
----------
akila@sectra > /import/java/jdk1.3.1/solsparc/bin/java Test
Hi
Au revoir
How are you?

According to the spec the expected result should be
Hello
Au revoir
How are you?

Same behavior is seen 1.4 also, but the 1.4 spec does not say anything about
lookup search order.



###@###.### 2002-01-16