How to enumerate resource names

Resources can be linked into assemblies using the assembly linker or Visual Studio and sometimes they can be compiled and stored in a resource file. To find out what you've got in the latter case you need to load the file and enumerate the name-value pairs that store the resource information. This is accomplished with the ResourceReader class that enables you to operate on .resources files. Listing 1 shows a simple application that demonstrates the use of the ResourceReader and the IDictionaryEnumerator it provides.

using System;

using System.Resources;

using System.Drawing;

using System.Collections;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.Windows.Forms;

using System.Data;

namespace resourceenumerator

{

/// <summary>

/// Summary description for Form1.

/// </summary>

public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form

{

private System.Windows.Forms.Button button1;

private System.Windows.Forms.Button button2;

private System.Windows.Forms.TextBox textBox1;

/// <summary>

/// Required designer variable.

/// </summary>

private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;

public Form1()

{

// Required for Windows Form Designer support

InitializeComponent();

// TODO: Add any constructor code after InitializeComponent call

}

/// <summary>

/// Clean up any resources being used.

/// </summary>

protected override void Dispose( bool disposing )

{

if( disposing )

{

if (components != null)

{

components.Dispose();

}

base.Dispose( disposing );

}

#region Windows Form Designer generated code

/// <summary>

/// Required method for Designer support - do not modify

/// the contents of this method with the code editor.

/// </summary>

private void InitializeComponent()

{

this.button1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();

this.button2 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();

this.textBox1 = new System.Windows.Forms.TextBox();

this.SuspendLayout();

// button1

this.button1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(208, 200);

this.button1.Name = "button1";

this.button1.TabIndex = 0;

this.button1.Text = "Open";

this.button1.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.button1_Click);

// button2

this.button2.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(208, 232);

this.button2.Name = "button2";

this.button2.TabIndex = 1;

this.button2.Text = "Quit";

this.button2.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.button2_Click);

// textBox1

this.textBox1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 8);

this.textBox1.Multiline = true;

this.textBox1.Name = "textBox1";

this.textBox1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(272, 184);

this.textBox1.TabIndex = 2;

this.textBox1.Text = "";

// Form1

this.AutoScaleBaseSize = new System.Drawing.Size(5, 13);

this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(292, 266);

this.Controls.Add(this.textBox1);

this.Controls.Add(this.button2);

this.Controls.Add(this.button1);

this.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.FixedDialog;

this.Name = "Form1";

this.Text = "Form1";

this.ResumeLayout(false);

}

#endregion

/// <summary>

/// The main entry point for the application.

/// </summary>

[STAThread]

static void Main()

{

Application.Run(new Form1());

}

private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

{

OpenFileDialog dlg=new OpenFileDialog();

dlg.Filter="Resource files|*.resources";

if(dlg.ShowDialog()==DialogResult.OK)

{

ResourceReader rr=new ResourceReader(dlg.FileName);

IDictionaryEnumerator en = rr.GetEnumerator();

while(en.MoveNext())

this.textBox1.Text+=en.Key+"\r\n";

}

private void button2_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

{

Application.Exit();

}

Imports System

Imports System.Resources

Imports System.Drawing

Imports System.Collections

Imports System.ComponentModel

Imports System.Windows.Forms

Imports System.Data

Namespace resourceenumerator

'/ <summary>

'/ Summary description for Form1.

'/ </summary>

Public Class Form1

Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form

Private WithEvents button1 As System.Windows.Forms.Button

Private WithEvents button2 As System.Windows.Forms.Button

Private textBox1 As System.Windows.Forms.TextBox

'/ <summary>

'/ Required designer variable.

'/ </summary>

Private components As System.ComponentModel.Container = Nothing

Public Sub New()

' Required for Windows Form Designer support

InitializeComponent()

End Sub 'New

' TODO: Add any constructor code after InitializeComponent call

'/ <summary>

'/ Clean up any resources being used.

'/ </summary>

Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)

If disposing Then

If Not (components Is Nothing) Then

components.Dispose()

End If

MyBase.Dispose(disposing)

End Sub 'Dispose

#Region "Windows Form Designer generated code"

'/ <summary>

'/ Required method for Designer support - do not modify

'/ the contents of this method with the code editor.

'/ </summary>

Private Sub InitializeComponent()

Me.button1 = New System.Windows.Forms.Button

Me.button2 = New System.Windows.Forms.Button

Me.textBox1 = New System.Windows.Forms.TextBox

Me.SuspendLayout()

' button1

Me.button1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(208, 200)

Me.button1.Name = "button1"

Me.button1.TabIndex = 0

Me.button1.Text = "Open"

' button2

Me.button2.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(208, 232)

Me.button2.Name = "button2"

Me.button2.TabIndex = 1

Me.button2.Text = "Quit"

' textBox1

Me.textBox1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(8, 8)

Me.textBox1.Multiline = True

Me.textBox1.Name = "textBox1"

Me.textBox1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(272, 184)

Me.textBox1.TabIndex = 2

Me.textBox1.Text = ""

' Form1

Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)

Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(292, 266)

Me.Controls.Add(textBox1)

Me.Controls.Add(button2)

Me.Controls.Add(button1)

Me.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.FixedDialog

Me.Name = "Form1"

Me.Text = "Form1"

Me.ResumeLayout(False)

End Sub 'InitializeComponent

#End Region

'/ <summary>

'/ The main entry point for the application.

'/ </summary>

<STAThread()> _

Shared Sub Main()

Application.Run(New Form1)

End Sub 'Main

Private Sub button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles button1.Click

Dim dlg As New OpenFileDialog

dlg.Filter = "Resource files|*.resources"

If dlg.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then

Dim rr As New ResourceReader(dlg.FileName)

Dim en As IDictionaryEnumerator = rr.GetEnumerator()

While en.MoveNext()

Me.textBox1.Text += en.Key + ControlChars.Cr + ControlChars.Lf

End While

End If

End Sub 'button1_Click

Private Sub button2_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles button2.Click

Application.Exit()

End Sub 'button2_Click

End Class 'Form1

End Namespace 'resourceenumerator

How to enumerate the names of all resources in a .resources file