String Format descriptive text

Question

Is it possible to add some descriptive text to a string format specifier?

Example:

  string.Format ("{0:ForeName} is not at home", person.ForeName); 

In the example ForeName is added as description.

The above syntax is obviously incorrect, but just to show the idea.

The reason I am asking, is because in my case the strings are in a resource file, so in the resource file you currently only see

   {0} is not at home

in some cases it is hard to grasp what the context of {0} is.

EDIT:

In c# 6 string interpolation with the $ operator has been introduced, so string.Format is not needed anymore:

$"{person.ForeName} is not at home";

Answer 1

We usually put comments into our resources file e.g. {0} = Forename.

Then anybody who might be translating the string knows what {0} represents and can translate accordingly.

Also if you use ReSharper, you can enter the comment at the same time when you are adding your string to resources.

Answer 2

Phil Haack and Peli have written a couple of interesting blog posts about alternatives to the default string.format function. They might interest you.

Basically they allow you to use object properties inside the format string like this:

string s = NamedFormat("Hello {FullName} ({EmailAdrress})!", person);

You can the related blog posts here:

• http://blog.dotnetwiki.org/2009/01/16/NamedFormatsPexTestimonium.aspx
• http://haacked.com/archive/2009/01/14/named-formats-redux.aspx/
• http://haacked.com/archive/2009/01/04/fun-with-named-formats-string-parsing-and-edge-cases.aspx/

Perhaps one of the solutions covered in those blog posts would suit your needs.