Using legacy resource dll's in C# - c#

I'm using a legacy, unmanaged, resource only c++ dll in a new c# app. I've managed to load resources from the dll using hardcoded resource numbers.
Is there any way to do this using the resource id's in C#?
The old C++ code is still being maintained, which means the resource ids/values may change. This may make the resource numbers in the c# code incorrect/invalid.
The best I can think of is to cut/paste the resource.h file into a c# class, then do some manual search/replace to format it into a c# class. This will have to be done after each change to the resource file. Is there a better way?

I'm guessing that you're not asking how to load those resources, but how to keep the ID numbers in synch?
If that's the case, I'd suggest having 2 header files where the resource IDs are defined. Use resource.h just like you do now for things you don't mind the Wizards modifying, but introduce a second header file (eg appresource.h) that you edit manually. That way you can ensure that the IDs in that file will never change. Then the only time you have to change your C# app is when you add new resources you want to use.

If the resource dll isn't maintained by you, I would consider writing a script/tool to do what you said, but automated (to the extent possible).

Related

Can you add a language without forcing a rebuild?

My app has been designed to be able to run on two different languages, english and czech. In order to accomplish this, I've created 2 resource files:
If an end-user would like to add another language, for example GlobalStrings.fr-FR.resx, is it possible to allow for this functionality without rebuilding the application?
If we look at the properties of these resource files:
I'm not understanding what embedded resource means. Does this mean that in order for the app to consume this file, the application must be rebuilt?
How do we create a resource file, that is open to be extended/changed by the end user, without having to rebuild the entire application
?
Regular .Net resources are compiled into assembly with particular name and loaded by matching that name. So if "end-user" is ok to translate strings in resx file and compile resources into assembly with particular name (like "MyResources.cs-cz.dll") you can do that with default .Net behavior without recompiling main code. See MSDN:Packing and Deploying resources and related links for more information.
Note that you don't need Visual Studio for it and can use csc command line compiler to embed resources on user's machine - so if your really want you can provide simple script that compiles corresponding resx locally. Note that editing XML (resx) as text is generally not possible by regular person due to required encoding of some characters - consider technical level of your "end-users" before going that route. Plain text version of source for resource may work in more cases.
Usually this is not the case - if end-user localization is requirement you would create some sort of custom resource string management by loading strings from plain text files or database that users can update locally.

Using Resources (resx) Inside a ClassLibrary, that can be changed without recompiling

I need to make a ClassLibrary, to contain different Resource Files (resx). This needs to be done, so I can reuse these resources on multiple projects.
After reading for quite a while on how to achieve this, I'm still nowhere near close to an answer.
Note that i need to achieve this in a way that I don't have to recompile the proyect if I want to change a value
Is there a simple way to achieve this that I'm missing?
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid you're trying to use RESX files for something other than what they're designed to do. RESX files are compiled into .resources files, which are then embedded into the assembly during the build. In other words, if you don't recompile, you won't see any changes that are made to the resx file reflected in the module.
The benefits of RESX files extends far beyond providing compiled cultural/language text tightly coupled to a deployed solution. They have the potential to provide a simple and flexible set of content managed outside the software development process. Some views here:
What are the benefits of resource(.resx) files?
Yes you can work with your RESX files without having to compile them. See here:
Edit ASP.NET MVC 3 resx files in deployment server without recompiling
Yes you can share RESX files between different projects and even roll your own resource manager. You can maintain alternate sets of resources, serving up alternate content depending on for example the user context. I have been involved in a project where we implemented something along these lines to great affect, in my case the solution was used to provide white labeling. Some detail to get you started here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa905797.aspx

How does one inject resources into an already built executable

I am working on a windows application that will need to be branded. The client will be selling this to other businesses, and needs a customized logo and name for each sale.
The client does not know how to use visual studio!
I think I need to write a packager app to inject custom logo and string resources into the executable. I am planning on using WPF. But since this is a critical requirement, I'd be willing to do it in winforms if that is easier.
What is the best way to do this? Any and all suggestions welcome.
It sounds like what you are after is application skinning. This doesn't mean you have to unpack the exe and inject resources. You just need to consider skinning from the start of the project and build the application to support your skinning requirements.
WPF will make skinning your app much easier. There will be several different ways to accomplish what you want.
Simplest is to leave the logo image loose and reference it with a relative path from the XAML file(s) that need to show this image.
You should look into Resource Dictionaries in WPF and how they help you group resources and support skinning. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms750613.aspx
The text will be a little different but I am not sure what you need as far as a text goes. Do you mean you need to localize the strings or do you simply need different text (all the same locale) to show for different clients?
One possible solution (perhaps not the simplest one) is to use a parent application which compiles source code for generating child application. You can do it with CSharpCodeProvider and CompilerParameters classes. Add the image as an embedded resource and retrieve it in the child application. A working demo with a source code is available at Slide Show Builder.
My best suggestion for the exact question you asked (although I suspect there is another way by reconsidering the exact requirements) would be to write a utility which uses ildasm to disassemble the assembly, then use ilasm to reassemble it and include your new resource file.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/496e4ekx%28VS.71%29.aspx
The trivial solution is to provide the bitmap along with the EXE as a separate file. Actually replacing an embedded resource in the EXE requires decompiling it with ildasm.exe and putting it back together with ilasm.exe. Ildasm.exe is only available in the Windows SDK, it can be downloaded separately. Error prone and small odds that your customer can get that right, you'll need to provide them with, say, a .bat file that does this.
Of course, whomever is interested in replacing the logo, for whatever reason, would not be slowed down by replacing either the separate image file or using the Ildasm.exe trick. There is therefore very little point in making it any more complicated then it needs to be.

How do I remove unnecessary resources from my project?

I am working with a very big project (a solution that contains 16 projects and each project contains about 100 files).
It is written in C++/C# with Visual Studio 2005.
One of the projects has around 2000 resources out of which only 400 are actually used.
How do I remove those unused resources?
I tried to accomplish the task by searching for used ones.
It worked and I was able to build the solution, but it broke at runtime.
I guess because enums are used. (IMPORTANT)
How can I make sure that it doesn't break at runtime?
EDIT:
I think one method could be to generate the resource (that is not found) on the fly at runtime (somehow).
But I have no idea about ... anything.
NOTE: It's okay if a few unnecessary resources are still there.
What I would do is write a custom tool to search your source code.
If you remove a resource ID from a header file (i.e. possibly called resource.h) and then recompile and get no warnings: then that's a good thing.
Here is how I would go about writing the app. Take as input the resource file (resource.h) you want to scrutinize. Open the header file (*.h) and parse all the resource constants (Or at least the onces you are interested in). Store those in a hash table for quick look up later.
For each code file in your project, search the text for instances of each of your resource ID's. When a resource ID is used, increment the value in the hash table otherwise leave it at zero.
At the end, dump all the resource ID's that are zero out a log file or something. Then test that indeed you can remove those specified resource ID's safely. Once you do that, then write another tool that removes the specified resource ID's given the results of your log file.
You could write such a tool in perl and it would execute in about 0.3 seconds: But would take days to debug. :)
Or you could write this in .NET, and it would execute a little slower, but would take you an hour to debug. :)
You can use third party plug-in for Visual Studio as ReSharper. This add-in will analyze your C# code and point out unused resources. But it only works with C#.
For C++ projects, check out The ResOrg from Riverblade.
"The Resource ID Organiser (ResOrg for short) is an Add-in for Visual C++ designed to help overcome one of the most annoying (and unnecessary) chores of developing/maintaining Windows applications - maintaining resource symbol ID values"
http://www.riverblade.co.uk/products/resorg/index.html
I've never had one that bad. My method in compiled programs is to use a REXX script which emulates GREP looking for references to source that I suspect is not being used, remove them from the program and see what breaks. I use the REXX script because I can pre-filter the list of files I want to search. Which allows me to do a search across folders and computers.
If your code contains dynamic loading of resources (e.g. via strings) at runtime, then there is no way to automatically determine which resources can be safely removed from the source. A dynamic loading statement could load any resource.
Your best bet is to start with your trimmed down version of the app, run it, and identify which resources are missing when you test it. Then add them back in and retest.
You may want to take a look at the tool Reflector (free), not to be confused with ReSharper (expensive). It can show you which DLLs are dependent on another. Then if you want you may be able to remove the DLL that is not being referenced by anything else. Watch out if you are using dependency injection or reflection which then could break your code without your knowledge.
Reflector:
http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/.
This add-in draws assembly dependency graphs and IL graphs:
http://reflectoraddins.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?title=Graph.
In the "Resources View" of the Solution Explorer, right-click and select "Resource Symbols". Now you get a list where you can see which resources constants are used in the .RC-file. This help you might be a bit on the way to cleanup your Resource.h (although it does not show you which resources are not used in the actual C++ code).
Maybe Find Unused Resources in a .NET Solution helps here? Basically, you'll have to check which resources are used (e.g. by comprehensive code coverage checks) and remove the unused ones.
And probably you should not be afraid by using the trail-and-error approach to cleaning up.
In the Solution Explorer, right click and on a Reference and click on the menu item Find Dependent Code.
If it can't find any dependent code then you can remove this reference from the project. (The Remove operation is also under the right-click menu.)
EDIT: For a large project, the Find Dependent Code operation will take a long time. So since you have 2000 resources and most likely value your time this probably is not a viable option....
For C++ resources, did you try right-clicking the project in "Resource View" and then deleting the ones which do not have a tick mark next to them? It is unsafe to delete unused dialog resources since they are referenced as "enum"s in code (like the following).
enum { IDD = IDD_ABOUTBOX };
..however for all the others it should be safe.

How To Store Files In An EXE

Alright, so I'm working on programming my own installer in C#, and what I'd like to do is something along the lines of put the files in the .exe, so I can do
File.Copy(file, filedir);
Or, if this isn't possible, is there another way of doing what I am attempting to do?
I wouldn't code my own installer, but if you truely want to embed files into your assembly you could use strongly typed resources. In the properties dialog of your project open up the "Resources" tab and then add your file. You'll then be able to get the file using:
ProjectNamespace.Properties.Resources.MyFile
Then you'll be able to write the embedded resource to disk using:
System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(#"C:\MyFile.bin", ProjectNamespace.Properties.Resources.MyFile);
Honestly, I would suggest you NOT create your own installer. There are many many issues with creating installers. Even the big installer makers don't make their own actual installers anymore, they just create custom MSI packages.
Use Mirosoft Installer (MSI). It's the right thing to do. Make your own custom front-end for it, but don't recreate the already very complex wheel that exists.
UPDATE: If you're just doing this for learning, then I would shy away from thinking of it as "an installer". You might be tempted to take your "research" and use it someday, and frankly, that's how we end up with so many problems when new versions of Windows come out. People create their own wheels with assumptions that aren't valid.
What you're really trying to do is called "packaging", and you really have to become intimately familiar with the Executable PE format, because you're talking about changing the structure of the PE image on disk.
You can simulate it, to a point, with putting files in resources, but that's not really what installers, or self-extractors do.
Here's a link to Self-Extractor tutorial, but it's not in C#.
I don't know enough about the .NET PE requirements to know if you can do this in with a managed code executable or not.
UPDATE2: This is probably more of what you're looking for, it embeds files in the resource, but as I said, it's not really the way professional installers or self-extractors do it. I think there are various limitations on what you can embed as resources. But here's the like to a Self-Extractor Demo written in C#.
I'm guessing here, but if you are trying to store resources in your application before compilation, you can in the Project Explorer, right click a file you would like to add, chose properties and change the type to Embedded Resource.
You can then access the embedded resources later by using the instructions from this KB:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319292
in case you simply want to store multiple files in a single file storage (and extract files from there, interact etc.) you might also want to check out NFileStorage, a .net file storage. written in 100% .NET C# with all sources included. It also comes with a command line interpreter that allows interaction from the command line.

Categories

Resources