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  4. The Missing ResWFileCodeGenerator Custom Tool for Visual Studio 2012

The Missing ResWFileCodeGenerator Custom Tool for Visual Studio 2012

Christian Helle user avatar by
Christian Helle
·
Jan. 23, 13 · Interview
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I've been doing quite a lot of Windows Store Apps on Windows 8 lately. Ever since I started I always seemed to miss the ResXFileCodeGenerator custom tool. This is because in WinRT when you want to load a localized string in code then you will have to do something like this:

var resources = new ResourceLoader();
var localizedString = resources.GetString("SomeResourceName");

This of course can easily lead to a lot of errors. In my case I got a little to eager while refactoring and forgot to notice that I was also changing hard coded strings. This broke the code quite a lot. Because of this frustration I decided to implement my own custom tool since Microsoft didn't provide one

The project is open source and is available at CodePlex. Here's a preview of the description which I took directly from my CodePlex project site.

Project Description
A Visual Studio 2012 Custom Tool for generating a strongly typed helper class for accessing localized resources from a .ResW file.

Features
- C# code generator
- VB.NET code generator


Visual Studio 2012 Custom Tool (C#)


Visual Studio 2012 Custom Tool (VB)


Resource File Contents


C# Usage

private string test1, test2, test3;

private void LoadLocalizedStrings()
{
    test1 = App1.LocalizedResources.Resources.Test1;
    test2 = App1.LocalizedResources.Resources.Test2;
    test3 = App1.LocalizedResources.Resources.Test3;
}

Visual Basic Usage

Dim test1, test2, test3

Private Sub LoadLocalizedStrings()
    test1 = AppVb.LocalizedStrings.Resources.Test1
    test2 = AppVb.LocalizedStrings.Resources.Test2
    test3 = AppVb.LocalizedStrings.Resources.Test3
End Sub

Generated C# Code

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// <auto-generated>
//     This code was generated by a tool.
//     Runtime Version:4.0.30319.18010
//
//     Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if
//     the code is regenerated.
// </auto-generated>
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------

// --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// <auto-generatedInfo>
//  This code was generated by ResW File Code Generator (http://reswcodegen.codeplex.com)
//  ResW File Code Generator was written by Christian Resma Helle
//  and is under GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2)
// 
//  This code contains a helper class exposing property representations
//  of the string resources defined in the specified .ResW file
// 
//  Generated: 11/08/2012 22:41:22
// </auto-generatedInfo>
// --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
namespace App1.LocalizedResources
{
    using Windows.ApplicationModel.Resources;
    
    
    public partial class Resources
    {
        
        private static ResourceLoader resourceLoader = new ResourceLoader();
        
        /// <summary>
        /// Localized resource similar to "Test 1 value"
        /// </summary>
        public static string Test1
        {
            get
            {
                return resourceLoader.GetString("Test1");
            }
        }
        
        /// <summary>
        /// Localized resource similar to "Test 2 value"
        /// </summary>
        public static string Test2
        {
            get
            {
                return resourceLoader.GetString("Test2");
            }
        }
        
        /// <summary>
        /// Localized resource similar to "Test 3 value"
        /// </summary>
        public static string Test3
        {
            get
            {
                return resourceLoader.GetString("Test3");
            }
        }
    }
}

Generated Visual Basic Code

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
' <auto-generated>
'     This code was generated by a tool.
'     Runtime Version:4.0.30319.18010
'
'     Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if
'     the code is regenerated.
' </auto-generated>
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Option Strict Off
Option Explicit On

Imports Windows.ApplicationModel.Resources

'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'<auto-generatedInfo>
' This code was generated by ResW File Code Generator (http://reswcodegen.codeplex.com)
' ResW File Code Generator was written by Christian Resma Helle
' and is under GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2)
'
' This code contains a helper class exposing property representations
' of the string resources defined in the specified .ResW file
'
' Generated: 11/12/2012 21:30:52
'</auto-generatedInfo>
'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Namespace AppVb.LocalizedStrings
    
    Partial Public Class Resources
        
        Private Shared resourceLoader As ResourceLoader = New ResourceLoader()
        
        '''<summary>
        '''Localized resource similar to "Test 1 value"
        '''</summary>
        Public Shared ReadOnly Property Test1() As String
            Get
                Return resourceLoader.GetString("Test1")
            End Get
        End Property
        
        '''<summary>
        '''Localized resource similar to "Test 2 value"
        '''</summary>
        Public Shared ReadOnly Property Test2() As String
            Get
                Return resourceLoader.GetString("Test2")
            End Get
        End Property
        
        '''<summary>
        '''Localized resource similar to "Test 3 value"
        '''</summary>
        Public Shared ReadOnly Property Test3() As String
            Get
                Return resourceLoader.GetString("Test3")
            End Get
        End Property
    End Class
End Namespace

Visual Basic Open source Strings app VB.NET Data Types

Published at DZone with permission of Christian Helle, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

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