📖 LocalizationManager 📖

The LocalizationManager was originally created to handle resources and languages in WPF applications in a clean and MVVM-friendly way.

This README will guide you step by step through the setup and usage of the library 🚀

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📦 Installation

Open your project terminal and run:

dotnet add package Cacx.LocalizationManager --version latest

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💻 Usage Guide

✅ Step 1 – XAML Setup

Go to your Window.xaml and declare the required namespaces:

xmlns:designLoc="clr-namespace:Cacx.LocalizationManager.Core;assembly=Cacx.LocalizationManager"
xmlns:mvvm="clr-namespace:SampleProject.MVVM"

⚠️ The mvvm namespace depends on your project structure.
You should use MVVM for this library to work optimally.

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🧩 DataContext Setup

Add a design-time DataContext so the designer can show preview values:

<d:Window.DataContext>
    <designLoc:DesignTimeWindowContext/>
</d:Window.DataContext>

Then set the runtime DataContext (optional if done in code):

<Window.DataContext>
    <mvvm:MainWindowMVVM/>
</Window.DataContext>

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🧠 Step 2 – MVVM Setup

Inside your ViewModel, add and initialize the LocalizationProvider:

public LocalizationProvider Loc { get; }

public MainWindowMVVM()
{
    // We will explain the constructor parameters in the next step
    Loc = new LocalizationProvider(
        resourceName: "SampleProject.Resources.MainWindow.MainWindow",
        cultureInfo: null
    );
}

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📂 Step 3 – Resource Folder Structure

This tutorial assumes the following structure:

MyApp (Project)
 └─ Resources
     ├─ Login
     │   ├─ Login.resx
     │   └─ Login.de-DE.resx
     └─ CreateAccount
         ├─ CreateAccount.resx
         └─ CreateAccount.de-DE.resx

🧠 Important concept:
Each subfolder represents a context (usually a Window or View).

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📌 Resource Name Convention

new LocalizationProvider(
    resourceName: "SampleProject.Resources.Login.Login",
    cultureInfo: null
);

Grammar:

{ProjectName}.{ResourcesFolder}.{ContextFolder}.{BaseResxName}

• cultureInfo
  • null → system default language 🌍
  • or a specific CultureInfo (e.g. de-DE)

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🔗 Step 4 – XAML Binding

You can now bind localized strings in XAML:

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Loc[WelcomeMessage]}" />

⚠️ Important
XAML bindings only support strings.

If you need:

• Streams
• Images
• Other objects

➡️ You must retrieve them via code.

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📝 Step 5 – Creating the RESX Files

Example: Login Context

1. Go to MyApp → Resources
2. Create a folder called Login
3. Create:
   • Login.resx (base file)
   • Login.de-DE.resx (German)

Add the same keys to all files and translate their values 🌐

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🎉 Setup Complete!

Your localization system is now fully working 🚀

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✨ Additional Features

The LocalizationProvider offers several useful methods:

void UpdateContext(string resourceName);

🔄 Changes the active context (resource file)

void UpdateCulture(CultureInfo culture);

🌍 Switches the language (same context)

CultureInfo GetCulture();

📌 Returns the current culture

Stream GetStream(string key);

📂 Retrieves a stream from the resource file

object GetObject(string key);

📦 Retrieves an object from the resource file

⚠️ Objects cannot be added via the RESX GUI.
They must be added via code using ResourceWriter.
A helper method for this will be added in a future release.

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