New line is not working in MessageBox in C#/WPF

Question

Short question: I have a string in my resources: "This is my test string {0}\n\nTest"

I'm trying to display this string in my Messagebox:

MessageBox.Show(String.Format(Properties.Resources.About, 
    Constants.VERSION), 
    Properties.Resources.About_Title, MessageBoxButton.OK, 
    MessageBoxImage.Information);

However I don't get new lines. The \n still show up as characters, not as new lines.

I also tried to use a workaround like mystring.Replace("\n", Environment.NewLine) but this also doesn't change anything.

What am I doing wrong?

Edit: Funny thing to mention: Replace("\n", "somethingelse") doesn't change anything.

Edit2: Shift+Enter in my Resource-File instead of \n seems to work... Strange behaviour anyway

Astromancy

Unfortunately not. It shows \r\n in plaintext – Astromancy

This is interesting ..when I use OP's string by assigning to a variable it works..But when I place it in the Resources it doesn't work. – Orella

Is your resource file is in ResX format? did you use VS resx editor to add resource string? – Csc

Environment.NewLine will give "\r\n" when run on Windows. If you are generating strings for Unix based environments, you don't want the "\r" – Buseck

when the string is read from string table '\r\n' becoming '\\r\\n' thats why shift+enter working not \r\n – Buseck

In regards to the Replace("\n", "somethingelse") doesn't change anything comment, that is because you should be looking for \\n instead of just \n. What you think is a new line reference is more than likely being escaped by the time you try to replace it. If you have a situation where you pull text from a DB and spit it out to a MessageBox then try to use MessageBox.Show(_settings.ContactInfo.Replace("\\n","\n"));. – Suffer

Answer 1

Put a place holder where you want to put new line and in the code where you use that resource string, just replace it with new line: string resource: "This is first line.{0}This is second line.{0}This is third line." You will use this resource string like this: MessageBox.Show(string.Format(MyStringResourceClass.MyStringPropertyName, Environment.NewLine));

OR

Unconventional Method But i just now got it working by coping newline from word directly (or anyother place) & pasting it inside the resource string file.

It was simple..
OR

\r\n characters will be converted to new line when you display it by using message box or assign it to text box or whenever you use it in interface.

In C# (like most C derived languages), escape characters are used to denote special characters such as return and tab, and + is used in place of & for string concatenation.

To make your code work under C# you’ve got two options... the first is to simply replace the NewLine with the return escape character \n ala:

MessageBox.Show("this is first line" + "\n" + "this is second line");

The other method, and more correct is to replace it instead with Environment.NewLine which theoretically could change depending on the system you are using (however unlikely).

MessageBox.Show("this is first line" + Environment.NewLine + "this is second line");

Buseck

That doesn't answer the question at all? OP already using \n but asking why it is output as-is rather than being shown a line-break. – Contradiction

In your case MessageBox.Show("This is my test string {0}"+"\n"+"\n"+"Test"); – Buseck

but how can I do this within my resources? I'd like to save my whole string in resources – Astromancy

I think between "Environment.NewLine" should not be quotes. – Astor

the problem is that I can't split my string. I just want to load the string from my resources with linebreaks. – Astromancy

\r\n characters will be converted to new line when you display it by using message box or assign it to text box or whenever you use it in interface. – Buseck

Environment.Newline should be outside the quotes, now you're just concatenating "Environment.NewLine" to the rest. – Baecher

Put a place holder where you want to put new line and in the code where you use that resource string, just replace it with new line: string resource: "This is first line.{0}This is second line.{0}This is third line." You will use this resource string like this: MessageBox.Show(string.Format(MyStringResourceClass.MyStringPropertyName, Environment.NewLine)); – Buseck

Answer 2

In the resource editor seperate your string content by using shift+enter. Or else, edit your ResX file in xml editor and using enter key create a new line for your resource string.

Refer this link for detail info: Carriage Return/Line in ResX file.

Csc

indeed shift+enter is the easiest way ! – Usurpation

Answer 3

Try this:

    String outputMessage = string.Format("Line 1{0}Line 2{0}Line 3", Environment.NewLine);
    MessageBox.Show(outputMessage);

A further example with another variable:

    String anotherValue = "Line 4";
    String outputMessage = string.Format("Line 1{0}Line 2{0}Line 3{0}{1}", Environment.NewLine, anotherValue);
    MessageBox.Show(outputMessage);

Quadratic

add MessageBoxButtons.YesNoCancel then it will not break lines... – Wurtz

Answer 4

Easy solution : in the resource designer : use ctrl+Enter to insert a new line in the string.

Masterstroke

Answer 5

Try this

removing the MessageBoxButtons.OK and MessageBoxImage. Information.

 MessageBox.Show(String.Format(Properties.Resources.About, 
Constants.VERSION), 
Properties.Resources.About_Title);

Memorialist