The Lexicon OSID provides a means for managing and building textual strings ( DisplayTexts ) for the purposes of localizing messages, errors, or other application text that is displayed to a person. The Lexicon OSID provides an extra layer of convenience above the Locale or Dictionary OSIDs while also providing a means for variable substitution for dynamic text construction.

Texts

A Text identifies a set of textual strings that vary by language and/or format.

Idioms

Parameters

A Parameter is a substituted value. Parameter values are determined by their Syntax and supplied as arguments is retrieving the textual string in the TextSession . The order of the input arguments is constant across all Idioms in a Text although may appear in different places from one Idiom to the next.

Example (General Usage)

osid.locale.DisplayText text = TextSession.text(pangranmId, {"fox", "dog"});
print(text);

<xosid:token>=> "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."</xosid:token>        
                    

The language, script, and format are determined by the context of the TextSession.

Example (Management)

Text: {pangramId}
Idiom: {idiom1Id, Text=pangramId, language=English string="The quick brown %1 jumped over the lazy %2."}
Idiom: {idiom2Id, Text=pangramId, language=Esperanto string="La rapida bruna %1 susaltas la pigra %2."}
Idiom: {idiom3Id, Text=pangramId, language=English format="Reverse" string="The lazy %2 was jumped over by the quick brown %1."}
Parameter: {parameter1Id, Text=pangramId Syntax=STRING, inputPosition=1}
Parameter: {parameter2Id, Text=pangramId Syntax=STRING, inputPosition=2}        
                    

The means in which the Parameters are specified in an Idiom is not currently defined.

Press Cataloging

All Texts , Idioms , and Parameters may be organized into federateable OsidCatalogs called Presses .

Sub Packages

The Lexicon OSID includes a Lexicon Batch OSID for managing texts in bulk.