Saturday, November 15, 2008

Change NetBeans IDE interface language

Several days ago, I downloaded and installed NetBeans 6.5 English version. It is quite a nice IDE. But don't know why the interface is Chinese and I prefer it is in English. Since it is a multilingual version, there should be a way to change it.

Unfortunately, I have checked the program options carefully, again and again, but didn't find how to change the user interface language. OK, have to go a bit search and reading.

In NetBeans FAQ, What are the NetBeans startup parameters (a.k.a command-line options), it tells

--locale language[:country[:variant]] : Use the specified locale.
and, no more. I am not sure about the language [:country[:variant]], so searched again. Finally I came across a blog to find out the approaches.

Open the properties window of NetBeans shortcut, add the following read part at the end of the target, for example:
  • "D:\Program Files\NetBeans 6.5 RC2\bin\netbeans.exe" --locale en:US.

This is for English. Replace the red part by --locale zh:CN for Chinese and --locale ja:JP for Japanese.

Moreover, I found some information on language [:country[:variant]], please go to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/util/Locale.html and http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2SE/locale/.


Chinese version: 修改NetBeans 6.5的界面语言

46 comments:

  1. Thanks a lot ! Your post is a winner, he solved a headache in less than 2 minutes ! Hourray for google !

    I hope that regionalization is going to be "in" the program later, instead of being a dumb hack...

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  2. Great post! Thanks for uncovering the solution

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  4. Great Post.
    A small typo error
    Japanese language - ja:JP

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  5. The above method sometimes results in junk characters.
    I had come across such a problem and here is the solution:
    Theres a file, inside the /etc folder of netbeans directory, called netbeans.conf.
    Inside it you will find the following line:

    netbeans_default_options="-J-Xms32m -J-Xmx128m -J-XX:PermSize=32m -J-XX:MaxPermSize=160m -J-Xverify:none -J-Dapple.laf.useScreenMenuBar=true -J-Duser.language=en -J-Duser.region=US"

    Just change
    -J-Duser.language=ja
    -J-Duser.region=JP

    and it gives the same result.

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  6. Outstanding!!!! That did the trick. Thanks for posting it.

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  7. thank you.

    I hope the netbeans guys can provide an option in the menu!!!

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  8. Thanks a lot for sparing me the headaches, my version was in Japanese and I was able to revert it back to english. Thanks !!!

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  9. thank you very much! this language thinks is quite simple but keep bugging me a lot.

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  10. thanks man... saved a couple time of research to figure how to do it :)

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  11. well I can t find properties window.

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  12. thanks man really helped

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  13. Thanks from Russia! Because when i have downloaded this program, some parts of the menu was in Russian, and some in English. It killed me. But now all in English =)

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  14. Hi,

    I found that you have to run the cmd again every time when you launch netBean after you close.

    I mean I have to run this command line:
    dirctory where netBean exists --locale en:us
    after I closed netBean.

    Mine is vericon 6.71

    Kwfine

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  15. Hi, Kwfine

    If you put the -locale en:US in the shortcut, then everytime what you need to do is double click on the shortcut. It is not necessary to run from the command line.

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  16. thanks a lot, great tip

    has anybody posted it as a request for developers???

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  17. thank you! that solved my headache.
    i think it is a dumb thing to force the interface language to your system locale and does not provide the user a way to change it easily.

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  18. Thank you people

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  19. Very handy!
    Tks!

    Rafael Nunes
    Brazil

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  20. Thanks a lot! It's very helpful for me :)

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  21. thank you so much, it has been a very very big help!!!

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  22. 2 years later and your post is still helpful!

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  23. the same problem but from pt-BR to en-US

    Very Thank you

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  24. hey why is it that my keyboard is messed up when I type something into the java file (ie. all the letters come up differently from what I type)? Thanks in advance.

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  25. Thank you, dude.

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  26. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  27. Thanks a lot!

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  28. it didn't work for netbean 7.0

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  29. It work's with NetBeans 7.0.1.
    10x a lot!

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  30. Done! Definitely it works!

    Thx a lot!

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  31. +1000!!

    critical meeting tomorrow, just told I need NetBeans, and my Japanese OS was not going to be nice to me.

    you're my hero!

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  32. Works for me, thanks so much. I'm on JDK 7.0.1. Initially I missed the part where you said to open the shortcut's property window so I thought it wasn't working. But thankfully I read it again! :) I'm on a Chinese OS.

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  33. thank you!.. ocala@----udistrital.edu.co

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  34. Nice! Thanks! I've thanked your banner too ;)

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  35. Thanks very much!!! It's works in netbeans 7.1 (spanish to english)

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  36. Thank you! Quick and it works:)

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  37. Wow!!! Incredible!!!

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  38. With Netbeans 7.2.1 on Ubuntu 12.04 (32bits) installed from .sh script downloaded from netbeans.org.
    Locate the launcher-icon configuration file at:/.local/share/applications/NetBeans IDE 7.2.1
    Edit the file proprieties and add your parameter in the command line: --locale en:US

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  39. Just to let you know that over 5 years later, this still helped me. Thanks.

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  40. It did not work for me:(

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