RESX (.resx) file format is an XML-based format used by the .NET framework to store resources for different data types, such as strings, images, and other objects. It's commonly used for internationalization (i18n) and localization (l10n) of applications developed with .NET technologies.
File format example
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<root>
<data name="WelcomeMessage" xml:space="preserve">
<value>¡Bienvenido a nuestra aplicación!</value>
<comment>Este es el mensaje de bienvenida mostrado en la pantalla principal.</comment>
</data>
<data name="ExitMessage" xml:space="preserve">
<value>¿Está seguro de que quiere salir?</value>
<comment>Mensaje que pregunta si el usuario desea salir de la aplicación.</comment>
</data>
<data name="SubmitButton" xml:space="preserve">
<value>Enviar</value>
<comment>Texto en el botón de enviar.</comment>
</data>
</root>
Pluralization and variables
RESX files don't have built-in support for pluralization or variables.
To handle pluralization, you can create multiple keys for different plural forms.
For example, you can create keys like FoundFile, FoundFiles, and FoundFilesPlural to handle different plural forms.
Upload and download translation files
Use the SimpleLocalize CLI to upload and download translations in the RESX format.
Use resx value as the format argument, provide the path to the translation file and the language key for upload.
Upload source translations in RESX format
simplelocalize upload --apiKey <PROJECT_API_KEY> \
--format resx \
--languageKey en \
--path ./Strings.resx
Learn more about uploading translations with CLI.
Download translations in RESX format
simplelocalize download --apiKey <PROJECT_API_KEY> \
--format resx \
--path ./Strings.{lang}.resx
Learn more about downloading translations with CLI.
Culture-neutral RESX file
Visual Studio expects a culture-neutral Strings.resx next to the localized Strings.<culture>.resx files: the
neutral file is the one its single-file generator turns into the strongly-typed Strings.Designer.cs accessor
class. By default, the CLI names every downloaded file after its SimpleLocalize language key, so the source language
would come out as Strings.en.resx.
To download the source language as Strings.resx, move the culture suffix together with its leading dot into
the language mapping and leave the source language with an
empty placeholder:
# simplelocalize.yml
apiKey: <PROJECT_API_KEY>
downloadFormat: resx
downloadPath: ./Resources/Strings{lang}.resx
uploadFormat: resx
uploadPath: ./Resources/Strings{lang}.resx
mappings:
lang:
- languageKey: "en"
placeholder: "" # Strings.resx (culture-neutral)
- languageKey: "pl-PL"
placeholder: ".pl-PL" # Strings.pl-PL.resx
- languageKey: "de-DE"
placeholder: ".de-DE" # Strings.de-DE.resx
simplelocalize download
produces
./Resources/Strings.resx
./Resources/Strings.da-DK.resx
./Resources/Strings.de-DE.resx
The mapping is applied in reverse on upload, so simplelocalize upload with the same configuration sends
Strings.resx as en and Strings.pl-PL.resx as pl-PL without any --languageKey argument.