'Get a translated string reference
@param tag: the tag to wrap the string reference
@param key: the key for the string'

def getstr(self, tag, key, default=None):

    empty = False
    ref = ('%s:%s' % (self.ref, key))
    translations = self._strings
    if (ref in translations):
        string = translations[ref]
    elif (default is not None):
        return default
    else:
        ref = None
        string = ''
    widget = TAG[str(tag)]
    if (self.translate and ref):
        return widget(_ref=("jr:itext('%s')" % ref))
    else:
        return widget(string)
