Question

I have a WPF application in C# that may need to be localized in the future. I want to support XAML/BAML localization and conventional resx localization. (The former is useful for most of the code, but some localized content comes from the view model, where it is more straightforward to use resx files.)

I have read the relevant parts of the WPF Localization Guidance. I have set the UICulture property in the msbuild file. I have added the following line to AssemblyInfo.cs:

[assembly: NeutralResourcesLanguage("en", UltimateResourceFallbackLocation.Satellite)]

I understand that I need to copy Resources.resx as Resources.en.resx so that my localized resources get written to the satellite assembly.

I have set the build target on Resources.resx to None and on Resources.en.resx to EmbeddedResource. The custom tool on Resources.resx is PublicResXFileCodeGenerator to generate the strongly typed resources class. I know that the generator only works on a file that doesn’t have a culture-specific suffix.

At the moment I must manually keep Resources.resx and Resources.en.resx synchronized. They must be identical. (Rick Stahl explains that here.)

I have tried to modify my C# project file to copy the file automatically. However, I can’t get this to work. I’m no msbuild expert! I added the following build target:

<Target Name="BeforeResGen">
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(CopyAsLocalizedResources)" DestinationFiles="$(IntermediateOutputPath)Resources.$(UICulture).resx">
        <Output ItemName="EmbeddedResource" TaskParameter="DestinationFiles"/>
    </Copy>
</Target>

I changed the Build Action for Resources.resx from None to CopyAsLocalizedResources.

I see my Resources.en.resx file being copied to the intermediate directory during build, but my resources aren’t found at runtime, and I get an exception. Presumaby they are never being compiled into the satellite assembly.

Can anyone help me achieve this using a modification to the project file?

Answer 1

Eureka!

  <Target Name="CreateLocalizedResources" BeforeTargets="AssignTargetPaths">
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(CopyAsLocalizedResources)" DestinationFiles="$(IntermediateOutputPath)Resources.$(UICulture).resx" SkipUnchangedFiles="true" UseHardlinksIfPossible="true">
      <Output TaskParameter="DestinationFiles" ItemName="GeneratedLocalizedResources" />
    </Copy>
    <ItemGroup>
      <EmbeddedResource Include="@(GeneratedLocalizedResources)">
        <ManifestResourceName>$(RootNamespace).Properties.Resources.$(UICulture)</ManifestResourceName>
      </EmbeddedResource>
    </ItemGroup>
    <Message Text="Generated resources are: @(GeneratedLocalizedResources)" Importance="high" />
  </Target>

I set the Build Action on my Resources.resx file to CopyAsLocalizedResources, and the custom build target handles tricking the build into making the proper satellite assembly.