Microsoft® Visual Basic® .NET Programmer's Cookbook

Make a Multilingual Form

Problem

You need to create a localizable form that can be deployed in more than one language.

Solution

Store all locale-specific information in resource files, which are compiled into satellite assemblies.

Discussion

The .NET Framework includes built-in support for localization through its use of resource files. The basic idea is to store information that is locale-specific (for example, button text), in a resource file. You can then create multiple resource files for multiple different cultures and compile them into satellite assemblies. When you run the application, .NET will automatically use the correct satellite assembly based on the locale settings of the current computer.

You can read to and write from resource files ...