Question

I have a resource that a key will have a space, like

My key | Some string

In my aspx page I want to call

<%$ Resource:Resources, My Key %>

Is there some syntax that allows me to use “My Key” instead of “MyKey”?

Answer 1

No. The key for a resource setting may not contain spaces. Resource files are compiled so that the keys become variable names. This would be the equivalent of saying:

int My int;

This just is not allowed.

I take it back. Having applied some tests, this can be done and basically as you have described it. Some things that I see off the top is that in a web site, the resources file can’t be in the App_GlobalResources folder it needs to be in App_LocalResources. I named my resources file the same as my page name like: Default.aspx.resx. Resources in the App_GlobalResources folder are set at internal scope automatically.

Inside it I had 2 keys and 2 values set:

ThisKey | ThisValue
My Key | My Value

To acess them from a control in the webpage I used a hyperlink control to test it:

<asp:HyperLink ID="hlLink" runat="server" Text='<%$ Resources: ThisKey%>'></asp:HyperLink>

Which output a link with the text ThisValue. And also:

<asp:HyperLink ID="hlLink" runat="server" Text='<%$ Resources: My Key %>'></asp:HyperLink>

Which output a link with the text ‘My Value’. I did notice that if I attempted to specify the “class” parameter by using Resources: Default.aspx, My Key it bombed. It was only successful using the resources within the App_LocalResources folder and only when specified to that file name.

I’m sure this isn’t the only way to do this, but this method was successful in allowing a space in the key name for that page.