Load Avalonia ResourceDictionary build in an external dll

[lebhero]

I created a c# class project where i added an AvaloniaResourceDictionary called Strings.fr.axaml which contains some system strings:

<ResourceDictionary xmlns="https://github.com/avaloniaui"
                    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
                    xmlns:system="clr-namespace:System;assembly=System.Runtime"
                    >
    <system:String x:Key="Hello">Bonjour</system:String>
    <system:String x:Key="Goodbye">Au revoir</system:String>
</ResourceDictionary>

i also add the AvaloniaResource as an itemgroup:

<ItemGroup>
  <AvaloniaResource Include="Strings.fr.axaml" />
</ItemGroup>

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="Avalonia" Version="11.1.3" />
</ItemGroup>

I can now build the project which will generate a dll.

in the App.axaml.cs file i added the following function:

private void LoadLanguage(string languageDllPath)
{
    try
    {
        // Load the assembly dynamically
        var assembly = Assembly.LoadFrom(languageDllPath);
        

        var resourceNames = assembly.GetManifestResourceNames();
        foreach (var resourceName in resourceNames)
        {
            Debug.WriteLine(resourceName);
        }

        var types = assembly.GetTypes();
        string x = types[10].FullName; // this is only from testing     

        // Find the ResourceDictionary in the loaded assembly
        var resourceDictType = assembly.GetType(x);

        if (resourceDictType != null)
        {
            var resourceDictionary = (ResourceDictionary)Activator.CreateInstance(resourceDictType);
            // Add the ResourceDictionary to the application's resources
            Application.Current.Resources.MergedDictionaries.Add(resourceDictionary);
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        // Handle errors, such as if the assembly or resources can't be found
        Console.WriteLine($"Failed to load language resources: {ex.Message}");
    }
}

In ILSpy i see this:

Unfortunately i am unable to load the ResourceDictionary so that the binding in the textblock below does not work:

<TextBlock Text="{DynamicResource Goodbye}" Background="Red"/>

Can anyone please help on how to load the dll and fetch the resourcedictionary correctly?
Thanks in advance

[thevortexcloud]

I don't know how to solve this specific problem, but a possible work around is to just embed the resource dictionary itself and then load it using the avares:// URI without messing with manually loading assemblies (assuming you have a compile time reference to the other assembly).

https://docs.avaloniaui.net/docs/basics/user-interface/assets

You can then reference it from within your normal XAML.

[lebhero]

Thank you for the suggestion... but the approach i am tending to do is to make sure i can support more languages in my application without having to build and release the complete application.

[rabbitism]

Option 1: you can define a class behind ResouceDictionary, then you can just construct it in code. Example https://github.com/irihitech/Semi.Avalonia/tree/main/src/Semi.Avalonia/Locale

Option 2: use AvaloniaRuntimeXamlLoader

[MarkoShenodaa]

Try add this to your App.axmal
<Application.Resources>

<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>

</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>

</Application.Resources>