How can I avoid using magic strings when using ResourceManager.GetString()?

Question

I have a resource file in a Class Library project. I'm using this resource file to hold various messages the user may end up seeing.

For example, the name of the resource is "InvalidEmailAddress" and the value in the en-US resource file is "Invalid Email Address".

When I call the ResourceManager's GetString(string) method I am doing this:

 return resourceManager.GetString("InvalidEmailAddress");

However, this seems really bad to me. What if somebody changes the name of the resource? Now my statement will return a null value.

Is there a way around this issue?

UPDATE: Localization is an important factor here. The resource manager is used in order to ensure I can change the culture and get appropriate string values.

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 17 '13 at 14:40

5

You can instead use an automatically generated class - the magic string constants will be removed from the code and replaced with strongly typed access methods. VS names this file ResourceName.Designer.cs and updates it every time resx is modified in VS.

Sample of a generated method:

   internal static string String1 {
        get {
            return ResourceManager.GetString("String1", resourceCulture);
        }

Note: while creating this file is the default behavior when you add a new resource in VS, you may have disabled it or you may have tried to use the generated resource outside the assembly. In that case, make sure to set the "Custom Tool" property or resx file to "PublicResXFileCodeGenerator" or "ResXFileCodeGenerator" (later if you use resources only inside a single assembly). (Thanks @dbaseman for comment).

edited Sep 17 '13 at 14:40

T Graham

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answered Oct 21 '12 at 00:27

Alexei Levenkov

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1

Might have to change the "Custom Tool" property to "PublicResXFileCodeGenerator". – McGarnagle Oct 21 '12 at 00:30
This would bypass the ResourceManager. Would localization still work? For example, if I set the CurrentCulture to "de-GR" then the resource manager would be smart enough to start pulling the German language equivelent strings. – Sailing Judo Oct 21 '12 at 02:30
Sigh. Evidently not. But now that I review the code it clearly takes solves the problem. Sorry for the extra hassle... its been a long day. – Sailing Judo Oct 21 '12 at 02:44

Thiago Moura · Answer 2 · 2012-10-21T00:39:45.720

2

When you create a Resource, it will be generated strongly typed in the Resources namespace.

You can access it by Resources.ClassName.InvalidEmailAddress where ClassName is the name of your Resource (resx) file.

edited Oct 21 '12 at 00:39

answered Oct 21 '12 at 00:33

Thiago Moura

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See my comment about location in Alexei's answer. – Sailing Judo Oct 21 '12 at 02:30

How can I avoid using magic strings when using ResourceManager.GetString()?

2 Answers2