How to manage resources in an F# project? - f#

Question

Can I use .resx files in F# 2.0 projects?
If so, how do I go about adding, and then using these resources.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You can Add existing item a .resx file to an F# project, it should automatically get a BuildAction of EmbeddedResource and work. The VS tooling here isn't as good as the other languages yet, but MSBuild does all the heavy lifting, so it's just a matter of getting the right snippet of XML into the .fsproj file.

Answer 2

I'm using a .resx in an F# 2.0 project. Feel free to take a look at it and I hope it helps you. No great shakes but here it is for what it's worth.
http://github.com/OnorioCatenacci/ExtendedSearch
EDIT: For what it's worth, here's the relevant portion of the fsproj file
<ItemGroup>
<Compile Include="assemblyinfo.ExtendedSearch.exe.fs" />
<Compile Include="ExtendedSearch.fs" />
<EmbeddedResource Include="ExtendedSearch.resx" />
</ItemGroup>
And here's ExtendedSearch.resx:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<root>
<resheader name="resmimetype">
<value>text/microsoft-resx</value>
</resheader>
<resheader name="version">
<value>2.0</value>
</resheader>
<resheader name="reader">
<value>System.Resources.ResXResourceReader, System.Windows.Forms, ...</value>
</resheader>
<resheader name="writer">
<value>System.Resources.ResXResourceWriter, System.Windows.Forms, ...</value>
</resheader>
<!--
Microsoft ResX Schema
Version 2.0
The primary goals of this format is to allow a simple XML format
that is mostly human readable. The generation and parsing of the
various data types are done through the TypeConverter classes
associated with the data types.
Example:
... ado.net/XML headers & schema ...
<resheader name="resmimetype">text/microsoft-resx</resheader>
<resheader name="version">2.0</resheader>
<resheader name="reader">System.Resources.ResXResourceReader, System.Windows.Forms, ...</resheader>
<resheader name="writer">System.Resources.ResXResourceWriter, System.Windows.Forms, ...</resheader>
<data name="Name1"><value>this is my long string</value><comment>this is a comment</comment></data>
<data name="Color1" type="System.Drawing.Color, System.Drawing">Blue</data>
<data name="Bitmap1" mimetype="application/x-microsoft.net.object.binary.base64">
<value>[base64 mime encoded serialized .NET Framework object]</value>
</data>
<data name="Icon1" type="System.Drawing.Icon, System.Drawing" mimetype="application/x-microsoft.net.object.bytearray.base64">
<value>[base64 mime encoded string representing a byte array form of the .NET Framework object]</value>
<comment>This is a comment</comment>
</data>
There are any number of "resheader" rows that contain simple
name/value pairs.
Each data row contains a name, and value. The row also contains a
type or mimetype. Type corresponds to a .NET class that support
text/value conversion through the TypeConverter architecture.
Classes that don't support this are serialized and stored with the
mimetype set.
The mimetype is used for serialized objects, and tells the
ResXResourceReader how to depersist the object. This is currently not
extensible. For a given mimetype the value must be set accordingly:
Note - application/x-microsoft.net.object.binary.base64 is the format
that the ResXResourceWriter will generate, however the reader can
read any of the formats listed below.
mimetype: application/x-microsoft.net.object.binary.base64
value : The object must be serialized with
: System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter
: and then encoded with base64 encoding.
mimetype: application/x-microsoft.net.object.soap.base64
value : The object must be serialized with
: System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Soap.SoapFormatter
: and then encoded with base64 encoding.
mimetype: application/x-microsoft.net.object.bytearray.base64
value : The object must be serialized into a byte array
: using a System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter
: and then encoded with base64 encoding.
-->
<xsd:schema id="root" xmlns="" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:msdata="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-msdata">
<xsd:import namespace="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" />
<xsd:element name="root" msdata:IsDataSet="true">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:choice maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xsd:element name="metadata">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element name="value" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" />
</xsd:sequence>
<xsd:attribute name="name" use="required" type="xsd:string" />
<xsd:attribute name="type" type="xsd:string" />
<xsd:attribute name="mimetype" type="xsd:string" />
<xsd:attribute ref="xml:space" />
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
<xsd:element name="assembly">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:attribute name="alias" type="xsd:string" />
<xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" />
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
<xsd:element name="data">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element name="value" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" msdata:Ordinal="1" />
<xsd:element name="comment" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" msdata:Ordinal="2" />
</xsd:sequence>
<xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required" msdata:Ordinal="1" />
<xsd:attribute name="type" type="xsd:string" msdata:Ordinal="3" />
<xsd:attribute name="mimetype" type="xsd:string" msdata:Ordinal="4" />
<xsd:attribute ref="xml:space" />
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
<xsd:element name="resheader">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element name="value" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" msdata:Ordinal="1" />
</xsd:sequence>
<xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required" />
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
</xsd:choice>
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
</xsd:schema>
<data name = "AppDisplayName">
<value>Extended Search</value>
</data>
<data name="FilePathSpecLabel">
<value>Base File Path:</value>
</data>
<data name="FilePathSpecDefault">
<value>C:\</value>
</data>
<data name ="SelectDirButtonLabel">
<value>. . .</value>
</data>
<data name="FileNameSpecLabel">
<value>File Name Spec:</value>
</data>
<data name="FileNameSpecDefault">
<value>*.dll</value>
</data>
<data name="RecurseIntoSubdirsLabel">
<value>Recurse Into Subdirectories</value>
</data>
<data name ="MajorVerDefault">
<value>1</value>
</data>
<data name="MinorVerDefault">
<value>0</value>
</data>
<data name="RevisionVerDefault">
<value>0</value>
</data>
<data name="BuildVerDefault">
<value>0</value>
</data>
<data name="VersionLabel">
<value>File &Version:</value>
</data>
<data name="SearchButtonCaption">
<value>&Search</value>
</data>
<data name="CancelButtonCaption">
<value>&Cancel</value>
</data>
</root>
I hope this removes any future issues with people not being able to find this on GitHub.

Answer 3

Here is another way. Though I know it's too late for the original question, I hope it helps others.
Create a clean text file with a name=value format, one key/value pair per line. In a file named "strings.txt", write
name1=hello
name2=world
Create a resource file using ResGen.exe acting on your text file from Step 1. You can learn about ResGen at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ccec7sz1%28v=vs.80%29.aspx. ResGen will create a CLR binary file named "strings.resources". Put this resource file where your compiler can find it.
Add "--resource:strings.resources" as a compiler option. I did this from the "Other flags" textbox in the Build properties. You can find more info at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd233171.aspx
Write the following in your F# project
open System.Resources
let res = ResourceManager("strings", System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly())
res.GetString("name1") + res.GetString("name2") |> printfn "%s"

Answer 4

To add a resource to an existing F# project, per #"Onorio Catenacci" GitHub Linke above...
Create a text file and fill it with the content below then save and close it.
Rename this text file extension to .resx (XML resource file)
Update the Build Action to EmbeddedResource
The file should now open correctly in the VS resource editor allowing you to edit it's contents.
.resx file template:
<root>
<resheader name="resmimetype"><value>text/microsoft-resx</value></resheader>
<resheader name="version"><value>2.0</value></resheader>
<resheader name="reader"><value>System.Resources.ResXResourceReader, System.Windows.Forms, ...</value></resheader>
<resheader name="writer"><value>System.Resources.ResXResourceWriter, System.Windows.Forms, ...</value></resheader>
<xsd:schema id="root" xmlns="" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:msdata="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-msdata">
<xsd:import namespace="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" />
<xsd:element name="root" msdata:IsDataSet="true">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:choice maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xsd:element name="metadata">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element name="value" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" />
</xsd:sequence>
<xsd:attribute name="name" use="required" type="xsd:string" />
<xsd:attribute name="type" type="xsd:string" />
<xsd:attribute name="mimetype" type="xsd:string" />
<xsd:attribute ref="xml:space" />
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
<xsd:element name="assembly">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:attribute name="alias" type="xsd:string" />
<xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" />
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
<xsd:element name="data">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element name="value" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" msdata:Ordinal="1" />
<xsd:element name="comment" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" msdata:Ordinal="2" />
</xsd:sequence>
<xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required" msdata:Ordinal="1" />
<xsd:attribute name="type" type="xsd:string" msdata:Ordinal="3" />
<xsd:attribute name="mimetype" type="xsd:string" msdata:Ordinal="4" />
<xsd:attribute ref="xml:space" />
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
<xsd:element name="resheader">
<xsd:complexType>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element name="value" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" msdata:Ordinal="1" />
</xsd:sequence>
<xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required" />
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
</xsd:choice>
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
</xsd:schema>
</root>