Develop Reference

How to use the content of a string variable to access an inner resource of a Resources.resx in C#?

In Resources.resx, when accessing a resource in C# visual studio, you do it by : "Properties.Resources." and then a list of resources is avaulable for selection.
I am trying to access resources without knowing the resource name in advanced, its name is revealed on run time only from a content of some string.
Is there any direct way to access the Resources.resx resources names or it can only be done by collecting all resources to a dictionary or some thing like that?

Yes, you can load the resource string manually using code similar to the below:
Assembly resourceAssembly = Assembly.Load("<AppName>.Resources");
ResourceManager resourceManager = new ResourceManager("<AppName>.Resources.<ResourceName>", resourceAssembly);
string resource = resourceManager.GetString("<ResourceName>", culture));

How to reference DataGridViewColumn.HeaderText manually in resources files?

For transaction purposes, I created resources files which replace text property of my winforms components.
However, it seems i can't correctly reference my DataGridViewColumn.HeaderText property manually in the resources file; but I can change the HeaderText property of it in the code, but not in the resource file (it works for other components...)
I've also tried :
DataGridViewColumn.HeaderText = "test1";
DataGridViewColumn.HeaderCell.Value = "test2";
DataGridView.Columns[1].HeaderText = "test3";
The code works when calling it but not when I put it in the resources file.

If you are using satellite assemblies for keeping localized text then you can do something like this :
//namespacaes to be imported at the top of your code file
using System.Resources;
using System.Reflection;
//source code for your method
ResourceManager resourceManager = new ResourceManager("TestSatelliteAssembly.Resources.LocalizedResources",Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
DataGridViewColumn.HeaderText = resourceManager.GetString("lblUserNameText");
lblUserNameText is the key for the text you are trying to localize. TestSatelliteAssembly is the name of your satellite assembly.
You can read more about satellite assemblies in my blog here.

ResourceLoader in shared assembly

Class Library A
Strings
en-US
Resources.resw
zh-CN
Resources.resw
Application
Views
ViewA.xaml
So I have a View, ViewA that I need to manually load localized strings from. However, whenever I do this, I receive an empty string.
I have tried:
var loader = ResourceLoader.GetForCurrentView();
var myLocalizedText = loader.GetString("Foo");
and
var loader = new ResourceLoader();
var myLocalizedText = loader.GetString("Foo");
The variable myLocalizedText is always an empty string.

I tried to reproduce your issue, however I just got ResourceMap Not Found. exception when using ResourceLoader.GetForCurrentView() or new ResourceLoader().
If we want to construct a resource loader for resources from a library package, we need use ResourceLoader.GetForCurrentView(String) method or ResourceLoader.ResourceLoader(String) constructor. Here the String is the resource identifier of the ResourceMap that the new resource loader uses for unqualified resource references.
Components or library files are typically added into a subfolder of the package they are included in during the build process, similar to their string resources. Their resource identifier usually takes the following form:
ClassLibraryOrAssemblyName/ResourceFileName/StringName
So for your case, we can use following code to load localized strings:
var loader = ResourceLoader.GetForCurrentView("ClassLibraryA/Resources");
var myLocalizedText = loader.GetString("Foo");
For more information, please see: Loading strings from libraries or controls and scenario 6 in Application resources and localization sample.
Besides, please note that for a UWP app, it's better to use GetForCurrentView(String) method:
[ResourceLoader(String) may be altered or unavailable for releases after Windows 8.1. Instead, use GetForCurrentView(String).]
Also if you want to add Chinese language, you'd better use zh-Hans instead of zh-CN:
Include script when there is no suppress script value defined for the language. See the IANA subtag registry for language tag details. For example, use zh-Hant, zh-Hant-TW, or zh-Hans, and not zh-CN or zh-TW.
For more information see: Qualify resources with their language.

Why doesn't my ScriptReference find the Embedded Resource?

I have an AJAX control project that has a .js file which is configured as an embedded resource.
My main web application references this project, and when I try to load up the control I get this error:
Assembly does not contain a Web resource with name 'MyFile.js'.
Here is my implementation of getScriptReferences:
public IEnumerable GetScriptReferences()
{
// create reference to the JS
ScriptReference jsReference = new ScriptReference();
jsReference.Assembly = "MyNamespace";
jsReference.Name = "MyNamespace.MyFile.js";
return new ScriptReference[] { jsReference };
}
I'm not quite sure what I'm missing. I've tried changing the Name parameter to be just the file name, the namespace and file name, the namespace, assembly, and file name...and I"m not having any luck. Any suggestions are appreciated.

You have to define the web resource in code on the assembly that contains your embedded resource. Typically you would do this in an AssemblyInfo.vb or .cs file.
[assembly: System.Web.UI.WebResource(
"MyNamespace.MyFile.js",
"text/javascript", PerformSubstitution = true)]
See this article if you need some more help.

Did you make sure to add an entry for the Javascript file into your AssemblyInfo.cs? Something like:
[assembly: WebResource("MyNamespace.MyFile.js", "text/javascript")]
Otherwise, the assembly won't allow access to the resource.

How to use ResourceManager in a "website" mode?

I am trying here to do a manual translation for the application I am working with. (There is already a working LocalizationModule but it's working dodgy, so I can't use <asp:Localize /> tags.
Normally with ResourceManager you are supposed to be using it as Namespace.Folder.Resourcename (in an application). Currently I am translating an existing asp.net "website" (not web application so no namespace here....).
The resources are located into a folder name "Locales/resources" which contains "fr-ca.resx" and "en-us.resx".
So I used a code with something like this :
public static string T(string search)
{
System.Resources.ResourceManager resMan = new System.Resources.ResourceManager( "Locales", System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly(), null );
var text = resMan.GetString(search, System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture);
if (text == null)
return "null";
else if (text == string.Empty)
return "empty";
else
return text;
}
and inside the page I have something like this <%= Locale.T("T_HOME") %>
When I refresh I have this :
Could not find any resources
appropriate for the specified culture
or the neutral culture. Make sure
"Locales.resources" was correctly
embedded or linked into assembly
"App_Code.9yopn1f7" at compile time,
or that all the satellite assemblies
required are loadable and fully
signed. Description: An unhandled
exception occurred during the
execution of the current web request.
Please review the stack trace for more
information about the error and where
it originated in the code.
Exception Details:
System.Resources.MissingManifestResourceException:
Could not find any resources
appropriate for the specified culture
or the neutral culture. Make sure
"Locales.resources" was correctly
embedded or linked into assembly
"App_Code.9yopn1f7" at compile time,
or that all the satellite assemblies
required are loadable and fully
signed.
Source Error:
Line 14:
System.Resources.ResourceManager
resMan = new
System.Resources.ResourceManager(
"Locales",
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly(),
null ); Line 15: Line 16: var
text = resMan.GetString(search,
System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture);
Line 17: Line 18: if (text == null)
Source File:
c:\inetpub\vhosts\galerieocarre.com\subdomains\dev\httpdocs\App_Code\Locale.cs
Line: 16
I even tried to load the resource with Locales.fr-ca or only fr-ca nothing quite work here.

Marvin Smit's solution is great if you do not have access to the HTTPContext
const string ASSEMBLY_NAME = "App_GlobalResources";
const string RESOURCE_NAME = "Resources.MetaTagResource";
const string RESOURCE_MANAGER = "ResourceManager";
Assembly assembly = Assembly.Load(ASSEMBLY_NAME);
Type type = assembly.GetType(RESOURCE_NAME);
PropertyInfo propertyInfo = type.GetProperty(RESOURCE_MANAGER);
ResourceManager resourceManager = propertyInfo.GetValue(null, new object[] { }) as ResourceManager;
resourceManager.GetResourceSet(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, true, true);
But if you have access to the HTTPContext just use HttpContext.GetGlobalResourceObject
string title = HttpContext.GetGlobalResourceObject("MetaTagResource", "Title").ToString();
string keywords = HttpContext.GetGlobalResourceObject("MetaTagResource", "keywords").ToString();
string description = HttpContext.GetGlobalResourceObject("MetaTagResource", "Description").ToString();

Maybe you are just looking for The System.Web.Page's base GetLocalResourceObject(),?
see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms153597.aspx

When using resources in ASP.Net, you will see a specialized compiler being used (custom Tool property) on the .resx files (ResXCodeGen)
Bottom line of this is that your resources are compiled into a class. The name of this class is the name you should use when you want to address the resources in there.
The name of the class is generated as follows:
{project namespace}{folder structure}{filename}.resx (.resx is NOT part of the generated name)
Since you mentioned your resx file is located in a directory name "Locales/resources", the name you would have to use is (assuming the resx file is called 'locales.resx')
"locales.resources.locales"
The addition of the language and locale, like the "uk-en" is added by the resource manager, loading the appropriate assembly based on the Culture that is specified when creating an instance of the ResourceManager. If none is given, the Thread.CurrentCulture is used. You should not use the language/locale extensions yourself, leave it to the resource manager to deal with that.
If you are not sure how the resources class will end up, you can always look at the MSIL or use reflector to determine the name of the resource class in the actual deployed assembly.
;-- Added after comments where placed -------
I also looked at some other code i had arround;
Have you tried the Reflection on App_GlobalResources approach?
1: You load the "App_GlobalResources" library while in the context of the website (in a HttpHandler, Aspx, Ascx, etc). =>
Assembly.Load("App_GlobalResources");
2: Walk through the available types in there and grab the "ResourceManager" property from each type.=>
PropertyInfo pi = type.GetProperty("ResourceManager");
resManager = pi.GetValue(null, new object[] { }) as ResourceManager;
3: If it had one, get the ResourceSet you want => resManager.GetResourceSet(englishCulture, true, true);
Hope this helps.

this is not c# but you can easily convert it into it
I have in the app_localResources directory with 2 files
myPage.aspx.resx
myPage.aspx.fr-ca.resx
and I use it like this in my .aspx page
<asp:Label ID="lAddress1" runat="server" Text="<%$ Resources: lAddress1 %>"></asp:Label>
this is how I manage it on mine
'using LCID from
Public Enum elang
En = &H1009 'en-CA http://www.microsoft.com/resources/msdn/goglobal/default.mspx?submitted=1009&OS=Windows%202003%20%20Service%20Pack%201
Fr = &HC0C 'fr-CA http://www.microsoft.com/resources/msdn/goglobal/default.mspx?submitted=0C0C&OS=Windows%202003%20%20Service%20Pack%201
End Enum
'strongly typed value in session
Private _lang As elang = elang.En
Public Property lang() As elang
Get
Return _lang
End Get
Set(ByVal value As elang)
_lang = value
End Set
End Property
and in every page I got
Protected Overrides Sub InitializeCulture()
If Not Me.IsPostBack Then
Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = New Globalization.CultureInfo(Sess.lang)
Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = Globalization.CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture(Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture.Name)
End If
MyBase.InitializeCulture()
End Sub
when I want to use the resourcemanager I create a global resources file at the root level the I use it like this
Dim rm = New System.Resources.ResourceManager("Resources.MyPage", Reflection.Assembly.Load("App_GlobalResources"))

Edit
In case of a Web Site project, read this walkthrough of Microsoft.
I'm afraid you can't use the ResourceMagager in a Website project, because it requires a namespace / assembly where the resources are located.