Subfolders in App_GlobalResources (ASP.NET)

Question

Is it possible to put resource files (.resx) within subfolders inside App_GlobalResources?

For example:

/App_GlobalResources/someresources/myfile.resx

/App_GlobalResources/someresources/myfile.fr-fr.resx

/App_GlobalResources/othereresources/otherfile.resx

/App_GlobalResources/othereresources/otherfile.fr-fr.resx

Or, are all the .resx files placed directly inside App_GlobalResources?

If it is possible to use subfolders, how do you programmatically access resources within subfolders?

Answer 1

Technically, yes it is possible but there are some pitfalls. First, let me show you an example. Suppose my App_GlobalResources folder looks like so:

/App_GlobalResources
    /Test
        TestSubresource.resx
    TestResource.resx

Each resource file has a single entry called "TestString". I added each resource file using the Visual Studio menu so it created a class for me. By default, all classes added to the App_GlobalResources folder will have the same namespace of Resource. So, if I want to use the class generator and I want Test in the namespace, I need to go into the TestSubresource.Designer.cs file and manually change the namespace. Once I do that, I can do the following:

var rootResource = Resources.TestResource.TestString;
var subResource = Resources.Test.TestSubResource.TestString;

I can also reference them using GetGlobalResourceObject:

var rootResource = GetGlobalResourceObject( "TestResource", "TestString" );
var subResource1 = GetGlobalResourceObject( "TestSubresource", "TestString" );

Notice that I still use the "TestSubresource" as the means to reference the resources in that file even though it is in a subfolder. Now, one of the catches, is that all the files must be unique across all folders in App_GlobalResources or your project will throw a runtime error. If I add a resource named "TestResource.resx" to /Test, it will throw the following runtime error:

The resource file '/App_GlobalResources/TestResource.resx' cannot be used, as it conflicts with another file with the same name.).

This is true even if I change the namespace on the new resource.

So, in conclusion, yes it is possible, but you increase the odds of getting a runtime error because of two identically named resource files in different parts of the App_GlobalResources folder structure which is allowed by the file system but not by .NET.