Embedded resources example

November 15, 2009

This is a small example showing the discover and reading of all embedded resources in your assembly.

On a slight but vaguely related tangent - one of the better guides on localization can be found here.

	static void Main(string[] args)
	{
	ResourceExample example = new ResourceExample();
	example.Show();
	Console.WriteLine("------------");

	// Case sensitive
	string output = example.GetStringFromResource("Mynamespace.Folder1.Folder2.Example.txt");
	Console.WriteLine(output);
	Console.ReadLine();
	}

	public class ResourceExample
	{
	/// <summary>
	/// Prints the full namespace path of each resource in the assembly.
	/// </summary>
	public void Show()
	{
	foreach (string name in this.GetType().Assembly.GetManifestResourceNames())
	{
	Console.WriteLine(name);
	}
	}

	/// <summary>
	/// Reads an embedded resource as a text file, from the given path.
	/// </summary>
	/// <param name="path">The full namespace path to the embedded resource.</param>
	/// <returns>The string contents of the file.</returns>
	public string GetStringFromResource(string path)
	{
	if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(path))
	throw new ArgumentNullException("path", "The path is null or empty");

	Stream stream = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream(path);
	if (stream == null)
	throw new InvalidOperationException(string.Format("Unable to find '{0}' as an embedded resource", path));

	string result = "";
	using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream))
	{
	result = reader.ReadToEnd();
	}

	return result;
	}
	}

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I'm Chris Small, a software engineer working in London. This is my tech blog. Find out more about me via Github, Stackoverflow, Resume