Resources Manager

How do we manage our resources?

ResourceLab is a small library that contains a single class that is dedicated to managing the resources from different assemblies. This facility is achieved via a single class called ResourcesManager.

---

What is ResourcesManager?

ResourcesManager contains a static list of resources that are shared across assemblies that it manages. Users of the library can use it to add their own resource manager for their assembly or other assemblies to this list.

This class contains a static property that returns a list of resource managers, called ResourceManagers, that returns a list of resource managers by their tagged names.

Adding, editing, and removing resources

You can add, edit, and remove resources using the below functions:

• AddResourceManager(): Adds a resource manager with a manager name for easier reference

• EditResourceManager(): Edits a resource manager entry to contains a different resource manager

• RemoveResourceManager(): Removes a resource manager entry from the list

Querying resources

Other applications and libraries can get those newly-created resources and query them using the following functions:

• GetResourceManager(): Gets a resource manager from a manager name

• TryGetResourceManager(): Tries to get a resource manager from a manager name

• ResourceManagerExists(): Checks to see if a resource manager from a manager name exists

Once you get the resource manager instance, you can do whatever you want with it, referring to the documentation of the ResourceManager class.

---

Example (three libraries and one app)

In this example, we're going to use ResourceLab to make this application get resources from three libraries using a single ResourcesManager static class. The three libraries' names will be ResDemo1, ResDemo2, and ResDemo3, and the demo app name will be ResourceLab.Demo. Follow the below steps:

1

Installing the resources

Install the resources you want (.resx files) to all three libraries, such as Resources/Demonstration.resx.

2

Installing ResourceLab

Install ResourceLab to both the three libraries and the ResourceLab.Demo app.

3

Define a public function in libraries

In each library source code, define a public function, AddResource(), to use the two functions to install a resource manager to the static list of resource managers.

For example, we'll install a string resource from the first library to the list of resource managers.

StringResource.cs in ResDemo1

using ResourceLab.Management;
using System.Resources;

namespace ResDemo1
{
    public static class StringResource
    {
        public static void AddResource()
        {
            var resourceManager = new ResourceManager("ResDemo1.Resources.Demonstration", typeof(StringResource).Assembly);
            ResourcesManager.AddResourceManager("ResDemo1", resourceManager);
        }
    }
}

Then, we'll install a binary resource from the second library to the list of resource managers.

BinResource.cs in ResDemo2

using ResourceLab.Management;
using System.Resources;

namespace ResDemo2
{
    public static class BinResource
    {
        public static void AddResource()
        {
            var resourceManager = new ResourceManager("ResDemo2.Resources.Demonstration", typeof(BinResource).Assembly);
            ResourcesManager.AddResourceManager("ResDemo2", resourceManager);
        }
    }
}

Finally, we'll install a string resource that gets localized according to the current UI culture from the third library to the list of resource managers.

LocalizedResource.cs in ResDemo3

using ResourceLab.Management;
using System.Resources;

namespace ResDemo3
{
    public static class LocalizedResource
    {
        public static void AddResource()
        {
            var resourceManager = new ResourceManager("ResDemo3.Resources.Demonstration", typeof(LocalizedResource).Assembly);
            ResourcesManager.AddResourceManager("ResDemo3", resourceManager);
        }
    }
}

4

Make an application refer to the three libraries

After that, add references to the three libraries in the application project.

5

Make the application query the resources

Add the following code, assuming that Terminaux has been installed to the demo app:

TextWriterColor.Write("ResourceLab demonstration\n", ThemeColorType.Banner);

// Test 1: string resources
SeparatorWriterColor.WriteSeparator("[1 out of 3] String resources", ThemeColorType.Banner, true);
StringResource.AddResource();
var strResource = ResourcesManager.GetResourceManager("ResDemo1");
string resultString1 = strResource.GetString("StringResource") ?? "RESOURCE IS INVALID (UNEXPECTED)";
string resultString2 = strResource.GetString("StringResource2") ?? "RESOURCE IS INVALID (UNEXPECTED)";
string resultString3 = strResource.GetString("StringResource3") ?? "RESOURCE IS INVALID (EXPECTED)";
ListEntryWriterColor.WriteListEntry("StringResource", resultString1);
ListEntryWriterColor.WriteListEntry("StringResource2", resultString2);
ListEntryWriterColor.WriteListEntry("StringResource3", resultString3);

// Test 2: binary resources
SeparatorWriterColor.WriteSeparator("[2 out of 3] Binary resources", ThemeColorType.Banner, true);
BinResource.AddResource();
var binResource = ResourcesManager.GetResourceManager("ResDemo2");
var resultBin1 = binResource.GetObject("ImageLogo");
var resultBin2 = binResource.GetObject("ImageLogo2");
ListEntryWriterColor.WriteListEntry("ImageLogo", resultBin1 is byte[] resultBinByte1 ? $"{resultBinByte1.Length}" : "RESOURCE IS INVALID (UNEXPECTED)");
ListEntryWriterColor.WriteListEntry("ImageLogo2", resultBin2 is byte[] resultBinByte2 ? $"{resultBinByte2.Length}" : "RESOURCE IS INVALID (EXPECTED)");

// Test 3: localized resources
SeparatorWriterColor.WriteSeparator("[3 out of 3] Localized resources", ThemeColorType.Banner, true);
LocalizedResource.AddResource();
var locResource = ResourcesManager.GetResourceManager("ResDemo3");
var spanish = new CultureInfo("es");
string resultStringSpanish1 = locResource.GetString("StringResource", spanish) ?? "RESOURCE IS INVALID (UNEXPECTED)";
string resultStringSpanish2 = locResource.GetString("StringResource2", spanish) ?? "RESOURCE IS INVALID (UNEXPECTED)";
string resultStringSpanish3 = locResource.GetString("StringResource3", spanish) ?? "RESOURCE IS INVALID (EXPECTED)";
ListEntryWriterColor.WriteListEntry("StringResource", resultStringSpanish1);
ListEntryWriterColor.WriteListEntry("StringResource2", resultStringSpanish2);
ListEntryWriterColor.WriteListEntry("StringResource3", resultStringSpanish3);

6

Verify the output

If everything is OK, you should see the below output:

You can see the full demonstration code by clicking the below button.

See full demo code here