Question

The question’s simple: how could one use embedded resources in asp.net applications? What are the steps to include a resource in the assembly, and how to reference it? What are the gotchas that could be encountered?

Answer 1

Edit: For a version without referencing Page and ClientScript, see What is the right way to handle Embedded Resources on a Razor View?

After spending a half of a day I’ve learned these:

1. to embed a resource one needs to set it’s Build Action to Embedded Resource (in VS Solution Explorer rightclick the file -> Properties)

2. next AsssemblyInfo.vb must be modified to make this resources available for WebResource queries. Add [Assembly: System.Web.UI.WebResource("MyWebResourceProj.Test.css", "text/css")] to AssemblyInfo.vb located in MyProject folder of the project.

   • The name consists of root namespace/assembly name +’.’+filename. To be 100% sure of the name, use the following code snippet to look it up:
     Dim resNames = Assembly.LoadFile("YourDll.dll").GetManifestResourceNames()
   • Note that the assembly’s Root Namespace must be the same as the Assembly Name (this took me about 4 hours to realize. At least with .Net v4 that is the case)
   • If there are references inside the css ( <%=WebResource(“NS.image.jpg”)%> ) than pass PerformSubstitution:=true for that css’s WebResource attribute.

3. Referencing the resource can be done with Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(GetType(MyWebResourceProj.ConssumingPage), "MyWebResourceProj.Test.css")

   • Note that instead of GetType(Typename) one could use Me.GetType(), but again, that won’t work if the class is inherited, so beware!

Resources:

• Debugging ASP.NET 2.0 Web Resources: Decrypting the URL and Getting the Resource Name