Announcing String Resource Visualizer

If, like me, you work with code that contains placeholders (generated static properties) for localized resource strings (from .resx files), a codebase that contains a lot of these can be harder to work with than feels necessary. It can take longer to read as you have to look up what the placeholder represents and it's easy to use the wrong placeholder.

This is the scenario I encountered last week.
It got me wondering.

What if there was an extension that could show the text of the placeholder too?

I looked for one but couldn't find anything. Then I wondered.

Could I make one?

After a couple of hours of experimentation, I had the bones of something working.

I posted a screenshot on Twitter to see what others thought.

I sometimes find it hard to work with code that contains a lot of resource strings, so I made an extension that shows the actual text too.
GitHub & installer coming soon.#vsix #visualstudio #DeveloperTools pic.twitter.com/PhVvKCMgM5

— Matt Lacey (@mrlacey) November 8, 2018

Based on the positive response the tweet received, I've put something more formal together.

Announcing String Resource Visualizer

It might not seem obvious but this is the VS image for ViewResources

Much like the screenshot in the tweet, it allows you to see the default text for a string resource above where it's used in your C# code.

The code is on Github and you can download the installer from the VS Marketplace. Got get it now and try it out.

There are a couple of known issues that I hope to address soon but I'm keen to hear any feedback or other suggestions for improvements.