The Applicet Framework for Applets and Applications advanced features rely heavily on the use of .properties files, like for storing parameter info, default parameter values, parameter lists, and internationalized user messages and message patterns. Therefor it is important to understand their syntax.
The Applicet Framework adds two elements to the .properties file use, namely String arrays and message pattern variables. These are described under getI18NStringArray() and formatI18NString(). Both additions however make straightforward use of the stringName = stringValue concept of the .properties files, that is described in the rest of this document.

Every property occupies one line of the input stream. Each line is terminated by a line terminator (\n or \r or \r\n). Lines are processed until end of file is reached.

A line that contains only whitespace or whose first non-whitespace character is an ASCII # or ! is ignored (thus, # or ! indicate comment lines).

Every line other than a blank line or a comment line describes one property to be added to the table (except that if a line ends with \, then the following line, if it exists, is treated as a continuation line, as described below). The property name consists of all the characters in the line starting with the first non-whitespace character and up to, but not including, the first ASCII =, :, or whitespace character. All of the property name termination characters may be included in the property name by preceding them with a \. Any whitespace after the property name is skipped; if the first non-whitespace character after the property name is = or :, then it is ignored and any whitespace characters after it are also skipped. All remaining characters on the line become part of the associated property value string. Within the property value string, the ASCII escape sequences \t, \n, \r, \\, \", \', \ (a backslash and a space), and \uxxxx are recognized and converted to single characters. Moreover, if the last character on the line is \, then the next line is treated as a continuation of the current line; the \ and line terminator are simply discarded, and any leading whitespace characters on the continuation line are also discarded and are not part of the property value string.

As an example, each of the following four lines specifies the property name "Truth" and the associated property value "Beauty":

Truth = Beauty
Truth:Beauty
Truth			:Beauty

As another example, the following three lines specify a single property:

fruits				apple, banana, pear, \
                                cantaloupe, watermelon, \
                                kiwi, mango

The property name is "fruits" and the associated property value is:

"apple, banana, pear, cantaloupe, watermelon,kiwi, mango"

Note that a space appears before each \ so that a space will appear after each comma in the final result; the \, line terminator, and leading whitespace on the continuation line are merely discarded and are not replaced by one or more other characters.

As a third example, the line:

cheeses

specifies that the property name is "cheeses" and the associated property value is the empty string.