What I came up with was a pattern using JQuery AJAX and JSON to download the resource file to the browser. The translations are available using the same object notation available on the server eg
// -- Localisation --
var localResources;
var globalResources;
//Sample JSON for javascript resource values eg {TrackDetail:{HideHelp:"Hide Help", ShowHelp:"Show Help"}}
//Usage e.g: alert(localResources.TrackDetail.HideHelp);
//Load Localisation values into variables so that they can be available on the client
//Note that these values are loaded asynchronously, the code in the function will not run until the call has completed.
$.getJSON('Localisation.ashx?files=TrackDetail.aspx.resx&local=true', function(data) { localResources = data});
$.getJSON('Localisation.ashx?files=Errors.resx,Strings.resx', function(data) { globalResources = data});
The code on the server reads the local or global resource file and streams the contents back as a JSON formatted object. Note that I opted to roll my own JSON serialization code instead of using one of the built-in serializers.
Imports System.Web
Imports System.Web.Services
Imports System.Xml
Imports System.Resources
Imports System.Reflection
Public Class Localisation
Implements System.Web.IHttpHandler
Public Sub ProcessRequest(ByVal context As HttpContext) Implements IHttpHandler.ProcessRequest
Dim files As String = context.Request.QueryString("files")
Dim local As String = context.Request.QueryString("local")
Dim isLocal As Boolean
Dim folder As String = "App_GlobalResources"
context.Response.ContentType = "text/javascript"
'Write out file as object
context.Response.Write("{")
'Determine if local resource file
If local IsNot Nothing Then
isLocal = CBool(local)
If isLocal Then folder = "App_LocalResources"
End If
If files Is Nothing OrElse files.Length = 0 Then Throw New ArgumentException("Parameter 'files' was not provided in querystring.")
Dim flag As Boolean = False
For Each file As String In files.Split(",")
If flag Then context.Response.Write(",")
Dim className As String = file.Split(".")(0)
'Write the class (name of the without any extensions) as the object
context.Response.Write(className)
context.Response.Write(":{")
'Open the resx xml file
Dim filePath As String = context.Server.MapPath("~\" & folder & "\" & file)
Dim document As New XmlDocument()
Dim flag2 As Boolean = False
document.Load(filePath)
Dim nodes As XmlNodeList = document.SelectNodes("//data")
For Each node As XmlNode In nodes
'Write out the comma seperator
If flag2 Then context.Response.Write(",")
Dim attr As XmlAttribute = node.Attributes("name")
Dim resourceKey As String = attr.Value
context.Response.Write(resourceKey)
context.Response.Write(":""")
'Write either the local or global value
If isLocal Then
context.Response.Write(HttpContext.GetLocalResourceObject(String.Format("~/{0}", file.Replace(".resx", "")), resourceKey)) 'Has to be full path to the .aspx page
Else
context.Response.Write(HttpContext.GetGlobalResourceObject(className, resourceKey))
End If
context.Response.Write("""")
'Flag that we need a comma seperator
flag2 = True
Next
context.Response.Write("}")
flag = True
Next
'End file
context.Response.Write("}")
End Sub
Public ReadOnly Property IsReusable() As Boolean Implements IHttpHandler.IsReusable
Get
Return True
End Get
End Property
End Class
