ASP.NET Core Localization with help of SharedResources

Question

Hi I have a question about the SharedResources file. It is glanced over in the tutorial here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/localization, and I\'

Answer 1

I'd like to add the setup that's working for my team as well. It's based on the same principle as yours (of course), but I believe it allows some more flexibility on your files location, as it does not force you to put resource-related files in project root.

My understanding is that IStringLocalizer has the concept of a placeholder Type, whose fullname will be converted into a relative path and used to find the actual resource file. To do this conversion, it also uses info from LocalizationOptions.ResourcesPath, if any.

Say you have:

// in ProjectRoot\Startup.cs

services.AddLocalization(opts =>
{
  opts.ResourcesPath = "Localized";
});

// in ProjectRoot\Area\Whatever\SomeClass.cs

namespace Com.Company.Project.Area.Whatever
{
  public class SomeClass
  {
    public SomeClass(IStringLocalizer localizer)
    {
      // ...
    }
  }
}

So here's what happens, step-by-step, just to give an idea:

1. SomeClass fullname: Com.Company.Project.Area.Whatever.SomeClass
2. convert that to .resx file path: Com\Company\Project\Area\Whatever\SomeClass.resx
3. prefix that with ResourcesPath content: Localized\Com\Company\Project\Area\Whatever\SomeClass.resx

That's the actual path where resource file(s) will be looked up.

So, all in all, you can place your SharedResources.cs empty class wherever you want, as long as you replicate its fullname as a path under ResourcesPath folder under project root.

In the example:

\
--Area
  --Whatever
    --SomeClass.cs
--Localized
  --Com
    --Company
      --Project
        --Area
          --Whatever
            --SomeClass.resx
            --SomeClass.fr.resx
            --SomeClass.da.resx

Under the cover, that directory tree is needed because classes generated out of resx file will take their namespace from the directory tree, and also because string localizer will not strip root namespace when prefixing placeholder type with ResourcesPath.