Question

Is there any advantage/downfalls between using the inline write tag instead of the resource tag? Example:

<%=Resources.Site.SampleString %>

The resources tag (expression tag) as seen in any MSDN example:

<asp:Literal id="Literal1" runat="server" text="<%$ Resources:Site, SampleString %>" />

I find the first option far easier to use, and it has IntelliSense, but maybe it won’t function the same?

Answer 1

These methods will function exactly the same. The latter simply calls first one; there is a reason why strongly-typed resources access code is being generated in the background. Therefore you can use whatever method you please.

By the way, there is also another way – by using meta:resourcekey attribute. So you should be able to write:

<asp:Literal id="Literal1" runat="server"
             meta:resourcekey="SampleString" text="Default one" />

and it all should work exactly the same.

EDIT on implicit Localization.

What I forgot to mention, is that with meta:resourcekey certain conditions have to be met. The conditions are:

• Values are taken from App_LocalResources, therefore related resource file need to exist
• Related resource file name must be pagename.resx, for example: Default.aspx.resx, Default.aspx.es.resx
• The resource file must contain keys in form of resourcekey.propertyname, for example SampleString.Text, SampleString.ID (although I wouldn’t localize control ID’s)
• Because of how resources are generated, the key mentioned above must exist in invariant resource file (Default.aspx.resx), or it won’t be localized.