Convert a Visual Studio resource file to a text file?

Question

I know there are tools to get text files to resource files for Visual Studio. But I want to get the text from my resource files to a text file so they can be translated. Or is there a better way to do this?

Answer 1

Please elaborate. What kind of resource file? There exists vast oceans of tools, but without knowing more about your needs, it's hard to help.

Edit: I understand from your other answer that you are talking about Microsoft RESX files. I'll have to agree with splattne, ResxEditor looks like a good fit. But I'm not very familiar with the .NET community or tools.

Answer 2

You could use Resx Editor, a small translation-oriented file editor.

• Target audience: translators.
• Supported file format: Microsoft RESX 2.0

Here is a link to Joannès Vermoel's (the author of the free tool) weblog entry about it.

Answer 3

Found http://www.codeplex.com/ZetaResourceEditor but still not really what I was looking for. Oh well.

Answer 4

Even though it is counter intuitive, it's a better idea to translate the exe rather than the resource file. Read why here:

http://www.apptranslator.com/misconceptions.html

Answer 5

You could use winres.exe from Microsoft, it lets you localize windows forms without having to use Visual Studio. It doesn't save the resources to a text file, but the idea is that the localization expert for each culture could use the tool to generate a localized versions of the application.

Here's a better explanation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8bxdx003(VS.80).aspx

Answer 6

You may want to have a look at Excel Resource Transfer. It is an Add-In for Microsoft Excel to import and export texts from resource files. There is a trial version. The full version costs 25,- Euro.

Answer 7

You can use Simple Resx Editor, it has some interesting features that will help you into the translation process.

Answer 8

Unless I am missing something, there is a really simple way to accomplish what you want if you are using Visual Studio:

1. Right click the resource file in the solution explorer
2. Open with...
3. Select "XML editor", then Ok
4. Scroll down and you will find your resources as XML elements, from here you can edit, copy-paste elsewhere or whatever:

<data name="TheResourceName" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>TheResourceValue</value>
</data>

Answer 9

I provide a Visual Studio add-in that extracts all resx strings from any solution and stores them in a single file for translation. A translator can then localize it using a free application on my site. The same add-in will then import the strings back into your solution. See http://www.hexadigm.com