How to read embedded resource text file

Question

How do I read an embedded resource  text file  using StreamReader and return it as a string   My current script uses a Windows form and textbox that allows the user to find and replace text in a text file that is not embedded    private void button1 Click object sender  EventArgs e        StringCollection strValuesToSearch   new StringCollection        strValuesToSearch Add  Apple        string stringToReplace      stringToReplace   textBox1 Text       StreamReader FileReader   new StreamReader   C  MyFile txt        string FileContents      FileContents   FileReader ReadToEnd        FileReader Close        foreach  string s in strValuesToSearch                if  FileContents Contains s               FileContents   FileContents Replace s  stringToReplace             StreamWriter FileWriter   new StreamWriter   MyFile txt        FileWriter Write FileContents       FileWriter Close

User · Answer

Read Embedded TXT FILE on Form Load Event.

Set the Variables Dynamically.

string f1 = "AppName.File1.Ext";
string f2 = "AppName.File2.Ext";
string f3 = "AppName.File3.Ext";

Call a Try Catch.

try 
{
     IncludeText(f1,f2,f3); 
     /// Pass the Resources Dynamically 
     /// through the call stack.
}

catch (Exception Ex)
{
     MessageBox.Show(Ex.Message);  
     /// Error for if the Stream is Null.
}

Create Void for IncludeText(), Visual Studio Does this for you. Click the Lightbulb to AutoGenerate The CodeBlock.

Put the following inside the Generated Code Block

Resource 1

var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
using (Stream stream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream(file1))
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream))
{
string result1 = reader.ReadToEnd();
richTextBox1.AppendText(result1 + Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine );
}

Resource 2

var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
using (Stream stream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream(file2))
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream))
{
string result2 = reader.ReadToEnd();
richTextBox1.AppendText(
result2 + Environment.NewLine + 
Environment.NewLine );
}

Resource 3

var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
using (Stream stream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream(file3))

using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream))
{
    string result3 = reader.ReadToEnd();
    richTextBox1.AppendText(result3);
}

If you wish to send the returned variable somewhere else, just call another function and...

using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream))
{
    string result3 = reader.ReadToEnd();
    ///richTextBox1.AppendText(result3);
    string extVar = result3;

    /// another try catch here.

   try {

   SendVariableToLocation(extVar)
   {
         //// Put Code Here.
   }

       }

  catch (Exception ex)
  {
    Messagebox.Show(ex.Message);
  }

}

What this achieved was this, a method to combine multiple txt files, and read their embedded data, inside a single rich text box. which was my desired effect with this sample of Code.

User · Answer

You can also use this simplified version of  dtb s answer   public string GetEmbeddedResource string ns  string res        using  var reader   new StreamReader Assembly GetExecutingAssembly   GetManifestResourceStream string Format   0   1    ns  res                   return reader ReadToEnd

User · Answer

I read an embedded resource text file use            lt summary gt          Converts to generic list a byte array          lt  summary gt           lt param name  content  gt byte array  embedded resource  lt  param gt           lt returns gt generic list of strings lt  returns gt      private List lt string gt  GetLines byte   content                string s   Encoding Default GetString content  0  content Length - 1           return new List lt string gt  s Split new     Environment NewLine    StringSplitOptions None            Sample   var template   GetLines Properties Resources LasTemplate    resource name       template ForEach ln   gt        Debug WriteLine ln

User · Answer

For all the people that just quickly want the text of a hardcoded file in winforms    Right-click your application in the solution explorer   Resources   Add your file  Click on it  and in the properties tab set the  FileType  to  Text   In your program just do Resources  lt name of resource gt  toString    to read the file    I would not recommend this as best practice or anything  but it works quickly and does what it needs to do

User · Answer

Some VS  NET project types don   t auto-generate a  NET   resx  file  The following steps add a Resource file to your project    Right-click the project node and select Add New Item  scroll to Resources File  In the Name box choose an appropriate name  for instance Resources and click the button Add  The resource file Resources resx is added to the project and can be seen as a node in the solution explorer  Actually  two files are created  there is also an auto-generated C  class Resources Designer cs  Don   t edit it  it is maintained by VS  The file contains a class named Resources    Now you can add a text file as a resource  for example an xml file    Double-click Resources resx  Select Add Resource   Add Existing File and scroll to the file you want to be included  Leave the default value Internal for Access Modify  An icon represents the new resource item  If selected  the property pane shows its properties  For xml files  under the property Encoding select Unicode  UTF-8      Codepage 65001 instead of the default local codepage  For other text files select the correct encoding of this file  for example codepage 1252  For text files like xml files  the class Resources has a property of type string that is named after the included file  If the file name is e g  RibbonManifest xml  then the property should have the name RibbonManifest  You find the exact name in the code file Resources Designer cs  Use the string property like any other string property  for example  string xml   Resources RibbonManifest  The general form is ResourceFileName IncludedTextFileName  Don   t use ResourceManager GetString since the get-function of the string property has done that already

User · Answer

You can use the Assembly GetManifestResourceStream Method    Add the following usings  using System IO  using System Reflection   Set property of relevant file  Parameter Build Action with value Embedded Resource Use the following code  var assembly   Assembly GetExecutingAssembly    var resourceName    MyCompany MyProduct MyFile txt    using  Stream stream   assembly GetManifestResourceStream resourceName   using  StreamReader reader   new StreamReader stream         string result   reader ReadToEnd        resourceName is the name of one of the resources embedded in assembly  For example  if you embed a text file named  MyFile txt  that is placed in the root of a project with default namespace  MyCompany MyProduct   then resourceName is  MyCompany MyProduct MyFile txt   You can get a list of all resources in an assembly using the Assembly GetManifestResourceNames Method      A no brainer astute to get the resourceName from the file name only  by pass the namespace stuff    string resourceName   assembly GetManifestResourceNames      Single str   gt  str EndsWith  YourFileName txt         A complete example   public string ReadResource string name           Determine path     var assembly   Assembly GetExecutingAssembly        string resourcePath   name         Format    Namespace   Folder   filename   Extension       if   name StartsWith nameof SignificantDrawerCompiler                  resourcePath   assembly GetManifestResourceNames                Single str   gt  str EndsWith name               using  Stream stream   assembly GetManifestResourceStream resourcePath       using  StreamReader reader   new StreamReader stream                 return reader ReadToEnd

User · Answer

After reading all the solutions posted here   This is how I solved it      How to embedded a  Text file  inside of a C  project      and read it as a resource from c  code         1  Add Text File to Project   example   myfile txt         2  Change Text File Properties          Build-action  EmbeddedResource         Logical-name  myfile txt                    note only 1 dot permitted in filename         3  from c  get the string for the entire embedded file as follows            string myfile   GetEmbeddedResourceFile  myfile txt     public static string GetEmbeddedResourceFile string filename        var a   System Reflection Assembly GetExecutingAssembly        using  var s   a GetManifestResourceStream filename       using  var r   new System IO StreamReader s                 string result   r ReadToEnd            return result            return

User · Answer

This is a class which you might find very convenient for reading embedded resource files from the current Assembly  using System IO  using System Linq  using System Text   public static class EmbeddedResourceUtils       public static string ReadFromResourceFile string endingFileName                var assembly   Assembly GetExecutingAssembly            var manifestResourceNames   assembly GetManifestResourceNames             foreach  var resourceName in manifestResourceNames                        var fileNameFromResourceName    GetFileNameFromResourceName resourceName               if   fileNameFromResourceName EndsWith endingFileName                                 continue                             using  var manifestResourceStream   assembly GetManifestResourceStream resourceName                                 if  manifestResourceStream    null                                        continue                                     using  var streamReader   new StreamReader manifestResourceStream                                         return streamReader ReadToEnd                                                       return null                    https   stackoverflow com a 32176198 3764804     private static string  GetFileNameFromResourceName string resourceName                var stringBuilder   new StringBuilder            var escapeDot   false          var haveExtension   false           for  var resourceNameIndex   resourceName Length - 1              resourceNameIndex  gt   0              resourceNameIndex--                        if  resourceName resourceNameIndex                                        escapeDot   true                  continue                             if  resourceName resourceNameIndex                                        if   escapeDot                                        if  haveExtension                                                stringBuilder Append                                continue                                             haveExtension   true                                              else                               escapeDot   false                             stringBuilder Append resourceName resourceNameIndex                       var fileName   Path GetDirectoryName stringBuilder ToString             return fileName    null   null   new string fileName Reverse   ToArray

User · Answer

I know this is old  but I just wanted to point out for NETMF   Net MicroFramework   you can easily do this   string response   Resources GetString Resources StringResources MyFileName     Since NETMF doesn t have GetManifestResourceStream

User · Answer

You can add a file as a resource using two separate methods   The C  code required to access the file is different  depending on the method used to add the file in the first place   Method 1  Add existing file  set property to Embedded Resource  Add the file to your project  then set the type to Embedded Resource   NOTE  If you add the file using this method  you can use GetManifestResourceStream to access it  see answer from  dtb      Method 2  Add file to Resources resx  Open up the Resources resx file  use the dropdown box to add the file  set Access Modifier to public   NOTE  If you add the file using this method  you can use Properties Resources to access it  see answer from  Night Walker

User · Answer

In Visual Studio you can directly embed access to a file resource via the Resources tab of the Project properties   Analytics  in this example      The resulting file can then be accessed as a byte array by   byte   jsonSecrets   GoogleAnalyticsExtractor Properties Resources client secrets reporter    Should you need it as a stream  then   from https   stackoverflow com a 4736185 432976    Stream stream   new MemoryStream jsonSecrets

User · Answer

I know it is an old thread  but this is what worked for me     add the text file to the project resources  set the access modifier to public  as showed above by Andrew Hill  read the text like this    textBox1   new TextBox    textBox1 Text   Properties Resources SomeText     The text that I added to the resources   SomeText txt

User · Answer

public class AssemblyTextFileReader       private readonly Assembly  assembly       public AssemblyTextFileReader Assembly assembly                 assembly   assembly    throw new ArgumentNullException nameof assembly               public async Task lt string gt  ReadFileAsync string fileName                var resourceName    assembly GetManifestResourceName fileName            using  var stream    assembly GetManifestResourceStream resourceName                         using  var reader   new StreamReader stream                                 return await reader ReadToEndAsync                                     public static class AssemblyExtensions       public static string GetManifestResourceName this Assembly assembly  string fileName                string name   assembly GetManifestResourceNames   SingleOrDefault n   gt  n EndsWith fileName  StringComparison InvariantCultureIgnoreCase             if  string IsNullOrEmpty name                         throw new FileNotFoundException   Embedded file   fileName   could not be found in assembly   assembly FullName      fileName                      return name

User · Answer

Basically  you use System Reflection to get a reference to the current Assembly  Then  you use GetManifestResourceStream     Example  from the page I posted   Note  need to add using System Reflection  for this to work     Assembly  assembly     StreamReader  textStreamReader      try             assembly   Assembly GetExecutingAssembly           textStreamReader   new StreamReader  assembly GetManifestResourceStream  MyNamespace MyTextFile txt             catch            MessageBox Show  Error accessing resources

User · Answer

For users that are using VB Net  Imports System IO Imports System Reflection  Dim reader As StreamReader Dim ass As Assembly   Assembly GetExecutingAssembly   Dim sFileName    MyApplicationName JavaScript js   Dim reader   New StreamReader ass GetManifestResourceStream sFileName   Dim sScriptText   reader ReadToEnd   reader Close     where MyApplicationName is namespace of my application  It is not the assembly name  This name is define in project s properties  Application tab    If you don t find correct resource name  you can use GetManifestResourceNames   function  Dim resourceName   As String   ass GetManifestResourceNames     or  Dim sName As String        ass GetManifestResourceNames            Single Function x  x EndsWith  JavaScript js      or  Dim sNameList        ass GetManifestResourceNames            Where Function x As String  x EndsWith   js

User · Answer

Something I learned just now is that your file is not allowed to have a      dot  in the filename     Templates plainEmailBodyTemplate-en txt   --  Works    Templates plainEmailBodyTemplate en txt   --  doesn t work via GetManifestResourceStream    Probably because the framework gets confused over namespaces vs filename

User · Answer

I was annoyed that you had to always include the namespace and the folder in the string  I wanted to simplify the access to the embedded resources  This is why I wrote this little class  Feel free to use and improve   Usage   using Stream stream   EmbeddedResources ExecutingResources GetStream  filename txt                 Class   public class EmbeddedResources       private static readonly Lazy lt EmbeddedResources gt   callingResources   new Lazy lt EmbeddedResources gt       gt  new EmbeddedResources Assembly GetCallingAssembly           private static readonly Lazy lt EmbeddedResources gt   entryResources   new Lazy lt EmbeddedResources gt       gt  new EmbeddedResources Assembly GetEntryAssembly           private static readonly Lazy lt EmbeddedResources gt   executingResources   new Lazy lt EmbeddedResources gt       gt  new EmbeddedResources Assembly GetExecutingAssembly           private readonly Assembly  assembly       private readonly string    resources       public EmbeddedResources Assembly assembly                 assembly   assembly           resources   assembly GetManifestResourceNames               public static EmbeddedResources CallingResources   gt   callingResources Value       public static EmbeddedResources EntryResources   gt   entryResources Value       public static EmbeddedResources ExecutingResources   gt   executingResources Value       public Stream GetStream string resName    gt   assembly GetManifestResourceStream  resources Single s   gt  s Contains resName

User · Answer

I wanted to read the embedded resource just as a byte array  without assuming any specific encoding   and I ended up using a MemoryStream which makes it very simple  using var resStream   assembly GetManifestResourceStream GetType     quot file txt quot    var ms   new MemoryStream    await resStream  CopyToAsync ms   var bytes   ms ToArray

User · Answer

When you added the file to the resources  you should select its Access Modifiers as public than you can make something like following   byte   clistAsByteArray   Properties Resources CLIST01    CLIST01 is the name of the embedded file   Actually you can go to the resources Designer cs  and see what is the name of the getter

User · Answer

The answer is quite simple  simply do this if you added the file directly from the resources resx   string textInResourceFile   fileNameSpace Properties Resources fileName    With that line of code  the text from the file is directly read from the file and put into the string variable

User · Answer

By all your powers combined I use this helper class for reading resources from any assembly and any namespace in a generic way   public class ResourceReader       public static IEnumerable lt string gt  FindEmbededResources lt TAssembly gt  Func lt string  bool gt  predicate                if  predicate    null  throw new ArgumentNullException nameof predicate             return             GetEmbededResourceNames lt TAssembly gt                     Where predicate                   Select name   gt  ReadEmbededResource typeof TAssembly   name                    Where x   gt   string IsNullOrEmpty x               public static IEnumerable lt string gt  GetEmbededResourceNames lt TAssembly gt                  var assembly   Assembly GetAssembly typeof TAssembly            return assembly GetManifestResourceNames               public static string ReadEmbededResource lt TAssembly  TNamespace gt  string name                if  string IsNullOrEmpty name   throw new ArgumentNullException nameof name            return ReadEmbededResource typeof TAssembly   typeof TNamespace   name              public static string ReadEmbededResource Type assemblyType  Type namespaceType  string name                if  assemblyType    null  throw new ArgumentNullException nameof assemblyType            if  namespaceType    null  throw new ArgumentNullException nameof namespaceType            if  string IsNullOrEmpty name   throw new ArgumentNullException nameof name             return ReadEmbededResource assemblyType     namespaceType Namespace   name                public static string ReadEmbededResource Type assemblyType  string name                if  assemblyType    null  throw new ArgumentNullException nameof assemblyType            if  string IsNullOrEmpty name   throw new ArgumentNullException nameof name             var assembly   Assembly GetAssembly assemblyType           using  var resourceStream   assembly GetManifestResourceStream name                         if  resourceStream    null  return null              using  var streamReader   new StreamReader resourceStream                                 return streamReader ReadToEnd

User · Answer

adding e g  Testfile sql Project Menu -  Properties -  Resources -  Add Existing file      string queryFromResourceFile   Properties Resources Testfile ToString

[.net] How to read embedded resource text file