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Accessing a resource file from another project C# .Net

Hi There: I have 2 projects in a solution. Project A and Project B. B has a reference to A. Thus A uses B's class and functions. B does not have any resource files as it contains all business functions only. A contains all the resource files. I need to use a resource file from An into B. I CAN NOT refer to A in B.
I deploy my main project and it has referred to B. But how can I refer to a resource file(of A project) into B project without referencing the A library in B.
Thanks in advance

Wow, I finally found it from searching online.
I Linked the resource file in Project A to Project B.
Right Click Project B and "Add-Existing Item" then Browse the resource file in Project A
(myresrc-en.resx and my myresrc-fr.resx)
Add a Link for both. Now in Project B
ResourceManager rmg=new ResourceManager("B.myresrc", Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
string str1 = rmg.GetString("resxTxt"); // resxTxt is any string in your resx file.
It worked perfectly.
Keep original resources in Project A unchanged. These were already Embedded Resource.
Enjoy!

You could add a reference to the project that contains the resource file. However, to use the resource file which is generated as an internal class by default (inaccessible in your project if it's under a different namespace), you need to change the access modifier to public. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/4274341/3666333

You could create a separate project C containing the resources that both A and B can use.

resx file access

When you create a new C# Windows Forms Application in Visual Studio 2012, It has a Properties folder containing a Resources.resx file.
How do I access this file?
I have tried:
ResourceManager rm=new ResourceManager("Resources.resx",typeof(MyClass).Assembly);
string s=rm.GetString("MyString");
But I get System.Resources.MissingManifestResourceException because for some reason it appends .resources to the filename so it's looking for Resources.resx.resources.
I then appended .resources to the filename to see if it might actually work. It didn't, same exception, why?
I also tried using the ResxResourceReader class but it looks for a resx file in a directory, and this specific resx file I'm trying to access is not stored in a directory, it's compiled in to my assemblies so that doesn't seem to be helping either.
I thought it'd be really simple, maybe it is and I'm just overlooking something?
If it's not simple, I might as well create a C# class and hard-code my strings (only type of resource I need right now).
And another question: If the resx file is compiled in to your exe, does that mean you can't change it's values during runtime?

It is plain simple (usually).
Use the Properties class!
Properties.Resources.MyString
The Properties folder you see in your Solution Explorer is not just a fancy folder ;p Visual Studio generates a class to access all your resources with ease.

How to use shared resource file between projects in one solution?

I have a problem with resource files.
I have a solution with two projects. The first project contains ImageResource.resx file with the images that I use. Every Form in this project can access this file from the designer. But I can see in the designer ImageResource.resx file to use it from second project (Reference to second project is present).
I have added the ImageResource.resx file as a link to my second project. And I saw it in the designer! But when I use an image from this resource in the second project Visual Studio modified my original file (It sets the namespaces, and other..) and my solution breaks. Also Visual Studio tells me that ImageResource.resx is present in two dll's first_project.dll and second_project.dll
Can anybody help me with How to correctly use shared resources between projects?

The correct way to share resources is to create a global shared project. Create a new Project with the name Resources:
Next we must add some resources (such as icons) to the project. Do this as usual. Go to the projects setting, select tab Resources and Add Existing File… to the project. We can see that the icon is added to the project and was copied to the local folder:
Next step consists of adding this icon to the other project(s). Note the important difference, you need to add this icon as a link!
Adding as a link avoids the resource duplication. Create a new Project within the same solution and name it e.g. Main. Create some folder in this new project, naming it Resources (the logical name for our purpose). Then right click on this folder, select Add Existing Item… and choose the image file from the shared project folder. Make sure to use Add As Link here! If done correctly the icon of the newly added file will look slightly different (see below):
Added resource's icon must look like this
Now we must set the Build Action for this file to None. For this select the file and go to the Properties Window. There choose None for Build Action. We need to do this to avoid embedding this icon into the assembly:
Finally we need to add the linked files to the Resources of the corresponding project. Open the project Properties for the project where we just added the files. Choose the Resource tab and drag the linked file there:
These are the five simple steps you must perform to share icons between projects. You might ask "What are the benefits of this?" The benefits are:
We store resources in one place, and
It is easy to replace an icon with a new one.

This didn't work for me and I found another (VS2015+) approach.
See https://stackoverflow.com/a/45471284/4151626
In short, the shared project is directly included into the peripheral project. Thus, even though the IDE does not support <Resource> elements in the shared project. <Resource> elements can be added to the shared project, via a text editor. They are then incorporated into the peripheral project during the build.
(Apologies for the hyper-link. I would just repost the answer for clarity, but the stackoverflow editors crack down on this, deleting duplicate answers to save you from ???.)

Can you use a symbolic link to share the file into multiple folders?
windows:
mklink linked_location\ImageResource.resx original_location\ImageResource.resx
C:\Users\preet>mklink
Creates a symbolic link.
MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target
/D Creates a directory symbolic link. Default is a file
symbolic link.
/H Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link.
/J Creates a Directory Junction.
Link specifies the new symbolic link name.
Target specifies the path (relative or absolute) that the new link
refers to.

If a resource file is really shared between projects, you should put it in a shared project.
Solution 'Sample'
Project Sample.Data
Project Sample.Business
Project Sample.UI
Project Sample.Resource //shared resources are put in a shared project

You can't see the resource if it is not public, and it is default set to "Friend". You can set the "Access Modifier" in the Visual Designer (upper right-hand corner).

Form resources usage for programmatic strings?

Had a basic WinForm question: By default a resx file is created for every form or user control (along with the designer.cs). This resx works fine for all the controls and the text added to the controls via the UI.
I was wondering if I could use the same resx to add strings which have to be used programmatically and based on conditions, attached to the controls? Will the resx get overridden in any case and this custom strings be removed?
What is the best practice to follow in this case?

There's a strange problem with the string resources in the Resources.resx file. There's no obvious way that I ever discovered how to create a new resource table for another language with the IDE. It can be done by hand though. Follow these steps:
Project + Properties, Resource tab,
add the strings you want to use in
your program
Start Windows Explorer and navigate
to your project's Properties folder
Copy and paste the Resources.resx
file
Rename it to the culture you want to
use. For example:
Resources.fr-FR.resx
Back to VS, click the Show All Files
icon in the Solution Explorer window
Expand the Properties node, the new
resource file should be visible
Right-click it and select "Include
in project"
Select it, in the Properties window
set Custom Tool =
"ResXFileCodeGenerator"
Verify that Build Action is set to
"Embedded Resource"
Build your program. You should get a new folder in your project's bin\Debug directory with the satellite assembly, named projectname.resources.dll. This satellite assembly contains both the localized strings and any localized resource from the forms. Test that it works with code like this:
public Form1() {
System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture =
System.Globalization.CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("fr-FR");
InitializeComponent();
textBox1.Text = Properties.Resources.String1;
}

The auto-generated ones get overwritten (I'm using 2005), so no I would not use the same file. I would suggest creating a separate area in your project for .resx files like this. Usually I create one .resx per form, matching the name, of course.
Edit: Here is a more detailed answer I gave recently to organize the file/folder structure when localizing your app with .resx files.

Or you can try this:
Add this code in main();
using System.Resources;
ResXResourceWriter rw = new ResXResourceWriter("Resources.de-DE.resx");
rw.AddResource("String1", "de");
rw.Close();
...
repeat for more files
Go to the bin directory and move the XML (resx) file(s) to perhaps the property folder.
Go to Step 5-9 above in nobugz post.

Include and Reference Resource File from C# class

I have an image that is used in some PDF files that my C# application generates. I know how to reference the image file when it is located in my workspace, but when I compile the program, I don't see the image anywhere in the compiled directory.
Can someone tell me what happened to that file, or do I have to manually package the file along with my program when I send the program to the users? I added the image to the workspace by drag-drop to the resource directory of one of my namespaces.

Check the file's properties in Visual Studio. Have you set the CopyToOutputDirectory property to something besides Do not copy?

Hmm... I'm not sure about the whole drag-drop business, but if it's all working the resource will have been embedded into your assembly.
I suggest you have a look with Reflector - you can see the resources embedded within assemblies using that.
Have a look at the build properties for the item in Solution Explorer - in particular, if the build action is Embedded Resource then it will indeed be built into the assembly.