C# 4 and .NET 4

594 ❘ ChaPTer 22 lOcAlizAtiOn
FneT resources with WPf
You can add .NET resources to a WPF application similar to the way you do with other applications.
Define the resources named Button1Text and Button1Message in the file Resources.resx. By default this
resource file has an Internal access modifier to create the Resources class. To use it from within XAML,
you need to change this to Public within the Managed Resources Editor.
To use the generated resource class, you need to change the XAML code. Add an XML namespace
alias to reference the .NET namespace Wrox.ProCSharp.Localization.Properties as shown. Here, the
alias is set to the value props. From XAML elements, properties of this class can be used with the
x:Static markup extension. The Content property of the Button is set to the Button1Text property of
the Resources class.
code snippet WPFApplicationUsingResources/MainWindow.xaml
To use the .NET resource from code-behind, you can just access the Button1Message property directly in
the same way you did with Windows Forms applications:
private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show(Properties.Resources.Button1Message);
}
Now the resources can be localized in the same way as you’ve done before.
The advantages of using .NET resources for localization of WPF applications are:
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.NET resources can be easily managed.
x:Static bindings are checked by the compiler.
Of course, there are also disadvantages:
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You need to add the x:Static bindings to the XAML file, and there’s no designer support for this.
Binding is done to the generated resource classes that use the ResourceManager. You
would need to do some additional plumbing to support other resource managers, such as the
DatabaseResourceManager, which is discussed later in this chapter.
There’s no type-converter support that can be used with other XAML elements.
Xaml resource dictionaries
Instead of using .NET resources for localization of WPF applications, you can work directly with XAML to
create localized content. This has its own advantages and disadvantages. The steps for a localization process
can be described by these actions:
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Create a satellite assembly from the main content.
Use resource dictionaries for localizable content.
Add x:Uid attributes to elements that should be localized.
Extract localization content from an assembly.
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