Simplify Translation with Resx Files using ResXResourceManager in C#

ResXResourceManager is a tool for managing .resx resource files in .NET applications.

This library facilitates the localization and globalization of applications by providing an intuitive interface for handling text strings and other resources that need to be translated into multiple languages.

Installing ResXResourceManager

To start using ResXResourceManager, you can install it as a Visual Studio extension or use it as a standalone tool. To install it as a Visual Studio extension, follow these steps:

Using ResXResourceManager

Creating and managing resources

To start using ResXResourceManager, open the tool from the Tools menu in Visual Studio. Then, open a project containing .resx files. ResXResourceManager will automatically scan the project and display all available resources.

From this window, you can easily add or edit resources in different languages.

Importing and exporting resources

To facilitate collaboration with translators, ResXResourceManager allows importing and exporting resources to and from CSV files.

Example of usage in C# code

Once resources have been managed with ResXResourceManager, they can be used in C# code as follows:

Defining resources in .resx

Imagine we have a resource file Resources.resx with the following keys and values:

• Greeting : Hello, World! (in English)
• Greeting : Hola, Mundo! (in Spanish)

Using resources in code

To use these resources in your application, you can do the following:

using System;
using System.Globalization;
using System.Threading;
using System.Resources;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Set the language to Spanish
        Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new CultureInfo("es");

        // Load the resource file
        ResourceManager rm = new ResourceManager("Namespace.Resources", typeof(Program).Assembly);

        // Get the resource value
        string greeting = rm.GetString("Greeting");

        Console.WriteLine(greeting); // Output: Hola, Mundo!
    }
}

In this example, we change the user interface language to Spanish (es) and load the Greeting resource from the Resources.resx file.

Detecting unused resources

To keep the project clean and avoid including unnecessary resources, ResXResourceManager can detect resources that are not being used in the code.

1. Open ResXResourceManager.
2. Navigate to the Unused tab.
3. Review the list of unused resources.
4. Delete unnecessary resources as needed.