Force logical name for generated resources

[DasSkelett]

Problem

I'm trying out JetBrain's .NET IDE, "Idea" (thanks free student license ;) )
I couldn't run CKAN built with it, it always threw MissingManifestResourceException exceptions.

Cause

When Rider builds the GUI, it uses a different naming scheme for generated .resources file (.resources files are generated from .resx files before bundling them in the final assembly). To be exact, it appears that it uses AssemblyName.ResourceFileNameBase instead of FullNamespace.ResourceFileNameBase > CKAN.Resources*.resources instead of CKAN.Properties.Resources*.resources.
But not for all .resx/.resources files, only for those in the CKAN-GUI/Properties/ directory, so CKAN-GUI/Properties/Resources*.resx.

However, this only affects runtime, not compile time.
When the first resource (ksp.png) should be loaded, Resources.ResourceManager is accessed, which tries to find the embedded resource.

CKAN/GUI/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs

Lines 37 to 46 in cbcd3ac

	[global::System.ComponentModel.EditorBrowsableAttribute(global::System.ComponentModel.EditorBrowsableState.Advanced)]
	internal static global::System.Resources.ResourceManager ResourceManager {
	get {
	if (object.ReferenceEquals(resourceMan, null))
	{
	resourceMan = new SingleAssemblyResourceManager("CKAN.Properties.Resources", typeof(Resources).Assembly);
	}
	return resourceMan;
	}
	}

It can't find it because of the wrong name, but doesn't care and returns a valid ResourceManager object.
mscorlib tries to find ksp.png with the returned ResourceManager, but can't find it either, because there's nothing "in" it.

An exception similar to this one will be thrown:

System.Resources.MissingManifestResourceException: Could not find any resources appropriate for the specified culture or the neutral culture.  Make sure "CKAN.Properties.Resources.resources" was correctly embedded or linked into assembly "CKAN-GUI" at compile time, or that all the satellite assemblies required are loadable and fully signed.
  at System.Resources.ManifestBasedResourceGroveler.HandleResourceStreamMissing (System.String fileName) [0x000bf] in <285579f54af44a2ca048dad6be20e190>:0
  [...]
  at CKAN.Properties.Resources.get_ksp () [0x00001] in /home/DasSkelett/git/CKAN/GUI/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs:172
  at CKAN.MainModInfo.InitializeComponent () [0x0194a] in /home/DasSkelett/git/CKAN/GUI/MainModInfo.Designer.cs:499
  at CKAN.MainModInfo..ctor () [0x0000f] in /home/DasSkelett/git/CKAN/GUI/MainModInfo.cs:29
  at at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) CKAN.MainModInfo..ctor()
  at CKAN.Main.InitializeComponent () [0x002b1] in /home/DasSkelett/git/CKAN/GUI/Main.Designer.cs:92
  at CKAN.Main..ctor (System.String[] cmdlineArgs, CKAN.KSPManager mgr, CKAN.GUIUser user, System.Boolean showConsole) [0x000a3] in /home/DasSkelett/git/CKAN/GUI/Main.cs:178
  at at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) CKAN.Main..ctor(string[],CKAN.KSPManager,CKAN.GUIUser,bool)
  at CKAN.GUI.Main_ (System.String[] args, CKAN.KSPManager manager, System.Boolean showConsole) [0x00047] in /home/DasSkelett/git/CKAN/GUI/Program.cs:36
  at CKAN.GUI.Main (System.String[] args) [0x00001] in /home/DasSkelett/git/CKAN/GUI/Program.cs:16

Solution

Thanks to https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/msbuild/2007/10/19/manifest-resource-names-changed-for-resources-files/
and especially https://stackoverflow.com/a/7090337 I found a way to force specific names for the generated resources.
They are now forced to FullNamespace.ResourceFileNameBase, as specified here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.resources.resourcemanager?view=netframework-4.8#exception

The baseName parameter in the ResourceManager(String, Assembly) constructor does not specify the name of a .resources file. The name should include the resource file's fully qualified namespace but not its file name extension. Typically, resource files that are created in Visual Studio include namespace names, but resource files that are created and compiled at the command prompt do not.

This won't change the name of the .resources files itself (see _build/out/CKAN-GUI/Debug/obj/), they are still named differently if generated by Rider. But the logical name does, and that's the one important to new SingleAssemblyResourceManager().

---

The normal build with the build script / cake still works on my system ;).
But it would be nice if someone using a different IDE (@HebaruSan with Visual Studio?) can test if it's still building fine too.

[DasSkelett]

Huh, the filter is totally Deutsch on my system.

Can you try again with the new commit? I weren't sure about this, so let's try what it does..

[HebaruSan]

No change. I'll see if I can learn anything from inspecting the assembly...

[DasSkelett]

Now that's interesting. My mono packs the dlls no problem, the manifests are the same until the very last bit, both have the CKAN.Properties.de-de.resources and CKAN.Properties.en-US.resources.
You are also using mono 6.4.0, right?

[DasSkelett]

That's the exact same versions I have :/
Can you do a rm -r _build/out/, rebuild, and look if

• CKAN.Properties.Resources.de-DE.resources
• CKAN.Properties.Resources.en-US.resources
• CKAN.Properties.Resources.resources
  are in _build/out/CKAN-GUI/Debug/obj/?

Also you already pulled the second commit, right?

[HebaruSan]

Can you do a rm -r _build/out/, rebuild, and look if

• CKAN.Properties.Resources.de-DE.resources
• CKAN.Properties.Resources.en-US.resources
• CKAN.Properties.Resources.resources
  are in _build/out/CKAN-GUI/Debug/obj/?

Yes, they're there. And somehow that fixed it:

Maybe the files weren't being overwritten properly? Maybe some old filenames were confusing it? Either way, it looks fine now.

Also you already pulled the second commit, right?

I've been testing this without a local branch, in "detached HEAD" state.

git fetch --all
git checkout DasSkelett/fix/idea-build

Kind of handy when I know I won't be adding my own commits.