Translate Microsoft .resx, .resw files

🔗What are .resx or resw files?

resx and resw files are language files used to localize Microsoft .NET applications. Their file extensions are .resx or .resw.

Resx files are used by programs developed with Microsoft’s .NET Framework. They store objects and strings for a program in an XML format. They may contain both plain text information as well as binary data, which is encoded as text within the XML tags.

Resw files are used by Microsoft Windows and Silverlight applications and contain strings that are used to localize the application for different languages and contexts. They are often used with XAML applications (such as Expression), which abstract the user interface strings to resource files.

Both files share the same structure.

WebTranslateIt can help localize Microsoft Resx and Resw files.

🔗.resx or .resw file example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<root>
  <!--
    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>
  <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, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089</value>
  </resheader>
  <resheader name="writer">
    <value>System.Resources.ResXResourceWriter, System.Windows.Forms, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089</value>
  </resheader>
  <data name="cancel" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>You are logged in as &lt;a href=&quot;{0}&quot;&gt;{1}&lt;/a&gt;.</value>
  </data>
  <data name="hello_world" xml:space="preserve">
    <value><p>Hello World!</p></value>
    <comment>This is a comment</comment>
  </data>
  <data name="language_name" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>English</value>
  </data>
  <data name="ok" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>Ok</value>
  </data>
</root>

🔗.resx plural file

We also support plural forms for .resx files, which are not officially supported by Microsoft.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<root>
  <data name="hello_world" xml:space="preserve">
    <value><p>Hello World!</p></value>
    <comment>This is a comment</comment>
  </data>
  <data name="string" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>string 1</value>
  </data>
  <data name="strings" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>string 2</value>
  </data>
  <data name="test_One" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>One</value>
  </data>
  <data name="test_Other" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>Other</value>
  </data>
  <data name="ok" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>Ok</value>
  </data>
</root>

🔗Magic Comments

This file handler support the following magic comments:

• Comments containing [MAXCHAR=xx] will set a max character limit to xx. Example: <comment>[MAXCHAR=20]</comment>
• Comments containing [LABEL=xxxx] will assign the label to xxxx. Example: <comment>[LABEL=new feature]</comment>

🔗Related File Formats

🔗Related Platforms