Localization of windows forms made in C#

[Anders K. Olsen]

I'm currently working on a C# project. We have some Windows forms GUI's that
we need to translate to other languages.

The translation itself is done by external people, so we need a way to send
them some files that they can translate.

I have been looking at winres.exe. It would be very fine, if we could just
send the .resx files for translation. Have anybody tried this?

How does winres.exe handle new versions of the forms? I mean, if we make a
small change to a form in a future version, how do we handle translation of
the new version of the form? Is it necessary to translate the entire form
again, or can winres.exe handle the new version, so the translator only has
to translate the changes that we have made?

Regards

Anders K. Olsen

 

[Sijin Joseph]

It will not work out, i think the .resx file stores the locations of the
controls as well. Why don't you try using a dedicated file for storing
strings and embed it as either a compiled resources file or a .resx file.

 

[Mihai N.]

It will not work out, i think the .resx file stores the locations of the

controls as well. Why don't you try using a dedicated file for storing
strings and embed it as either a compiled resources file or a .resx file.

Bad idea.
Yes, resx files do store info controls as well. But this is good.
This is why you have resx files and not .properties
Real translators use translation memory (TM) tools.
And modern translator memory tools are able to preview a form from a resx
file, so the translator has context and provides better quality.
Also, if you work with a localization company and not with
"starving students", they can also do resizing for you, changing fonts,
all kind of technical work.
They also take care of not translating a resx from scratch if you did
update only a couple of strings (and any TM tool can do this).

A technical translator is a professional. They use professional tools
and know how to handle many file formats.
You can use one of them or go with a student with MS Word / Notepad.
And you get what you pay for.