Zeta Resource Editor

When translating the resources of a .NET application into other languages, one of the biggest and most difficult tasks is to translate string resources:

The recommended way is to create one single .RESX file for every language you want the strings to be translated to. I.e. one "Resources.resx" for neutral/English, one "Resources.de.resx" for German, one "Resources.fr.resx" for French, etc.

Since you have to duplicate the resource keys into each RESX file, you probably sometimes forget to keep the resource keys synchronal among all RESX files.

This is where the idea for this tool came up: Take all RESX files, merge their resource keys and display the resource values side by side in one editable data grid.

How to use the tool

1.) Create your resource files in Visual Studio .NET 2005 as you usually do

Add a resource file for each language you want to support and place them in the "Properties" folder of your project.

Keep the naming schema "Resources.<language>.resx", e.g. "Resources.fr-ch.resx" for Swiss with French language. The following screenshot is an example for English and German.

English and German language resources

2.) Start Zeta Resource Editor and open the resource files

Next, simply start Zeta Resource Editor and open the files you want to edit in parallel.

Opening two resource files and load them into Zeta Resource Editor

3.) Edit the resources and save them

You could either edit the cells in the grid directly by selecting and pressing F2 or, for a better overview, select a cell in the grid and then edit the details in the details view at the bottom of the window.

4.) Save and compile

Finally save the resources in Zeta Resource Editor and compile your solution inside Visual Studio .NET 2008.