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JesseKnott-2239 avatar image
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JesseKnott-2239 asked JesseKnott-2239 answered

Best way to handle help screens and popups.

Hello everyone!
I want to seriously ramp up my help and user walk through onboarding system.
I will want to use a resource table (resx) file for managing all of my help text, but here is the question, which way would be best?

1) Intigrate all of my text into one massive resx file?
I could prefix all of the help strings help_WelcomePageTitle, help_AddInventoryButtonText, etc. My concern with this method is that my resx file is already getting pretty massive, and the amount of help text I am considering would double if not tripple it.

2) I could create a second resx file?
This would let me isolate my help strings, but would also mean an extra resx file to manage and localize (not too worried about the extra file, but wanted to ensure this wouldn't create resource issues by using multiple resx files)

3) Not really an option, but willing to consider. I could create a datamodel class, call it
HelpModel.cs and use that model to generate JSON or XML files, these files could then be used to manage the strings (Either as a dynamic file per page, or monolithic file that loads all of the data at run time)

I'm definitely leaning away from the last idea, I don't think that a simple help interface would necessitate such levels of complexity.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

dotnet-xamarin
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LeonLu-MSFT avatar image
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LeonLu-MSFT answered LeonLu-MSFT commented

Hello,​

Welcome to our Microsoft Q&A platform!

Based on your description, If you have lots of strings for different controls 2) I could create a second resx file? is better. You can create different names of resx files based on Pages or functions like this screenshot. I add HelpResource.resx and HelpResource2.resx files in Resx folder. When I use it in my xaml. I can use x:Static resources:HelpResource.HelpInfo} way to use it.

103276-image.png

HelpResource.resx

103265-image.png

HelpResource2.resx

103277-image.png

Here is my code to use different resx files.

<Label Text="{x:Static resources:HelpResource.HelpInfo}"
               WidthRequest="300"
               HorizontalOptions="CenterAndExpand"
               VerticalOptions="Start"/>

        <Label Text="{x:Static resources:HelpResource2.HelpInfo}"
               WidthRequest="300"
               HorizontalOptions="CenterAndExpand"
               VerticalOptions="Start"/>


Here is running screenshot.

103287-image.png

Best Regards,

Leon Lu



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@JesseKnott-2239 May I know if you have got any chance to check my answer?

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JesseKnott-2239 answered

Sorry, I've been running around like a decapitated chicken, but yes that's definitely the perfect answer, it actually answers another question I had that I hadn't asked yet lol!
Cheers!

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