I've creted a simple winforms application with only one label. On the default localization language it was set like this
label1.Visible = False
I've changed the language to German (or any other language for that matter) and set label1.Visible = True
After saving and compiling, the label's visibility changed back to False (On the properties form) and I've seen that the German resx file doesn't save the label1.Visible property
I guess that it wasn't saved in the resx file because 'Visible=True' is the default value for labels, but when I run the application on German localization it takes the value 'Visible=False' from the default localization.
It there a way to do this? because it seems like a bug and i can't find a way to overcome it.
I've tried saving this property in the German resx manually but it gets overriden whenever i compile.
A workaround is to hide the label in the default localization by setting AutoSize = False and Size = (0, 0)
Related
So for the program I'm writing I have an overview of notes the user created. This I created with TextBoxes that are generated from database values. I want the user to not be able to enter and change anything in this overview.
I tried to use tb.ReadOnly = true; but this doesn't disable the entering of the textbox.
After that I tried tb.Enabled = false; but this applies a gray out to all the text.
Is there any way to remove this gray out or just make the TextBox unchangeable without any visual difference?
Create a label with border style as FixedSingle, flat style as Flat, and set padding to 5,5,5,5.
One option is to use a NuGet package such as Guna UI to add custom controls. Using Guna, you can use the Control.DisabledState:
textBox1.DisabledState.FillColor = Color.White;
textBox1.DisabledState.ForeColor = Color.Black;
Note: changing a UI control's disabled state to make it appear enabled is in general, bad practice. This is because a user may try to use the TextBox and get frustrated because the computer will not let them use it.
Or alternatively, you could use a Label instead of a TextBox.
I'm getting into globalization and localization. I'm aware that I can set the localizable property of my form to true and that I'm able to edit the form for that specific culture. That's great. My question is am I able to, at the designer, load my resx values into their assigned winforms? My goal is to edit the size of my winform assets around the translated languages. This is, obviously, easier if I can see the translations in the designer. Attached is the code that change the text of my buttons at runtime, but my goal is have this take place during the design phase.
buttonTelescopeUp.Text = Resource.TeleUp;
buttonTelescopeDown.Text = Resource.TeleDown;
buttonTelescopeLeft.Text = Resource.TeleLeft;
buttonTelescopeRight.Text = Resource.TeleRight;
Form at runtime
Formin design
I have a problem of understanding with localization, hope you can help.
I create a winform app:
add a button
set the form Localizable property to True
set the form Language to Spanish
change the button's Text to "Vamos" and BackColor to "Green".
set the form Language to English
change the button's Text to "Go" and BackColor to "Yellow".
When I swap between Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("es"); and Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en"); the button Text DOES change from "Vamos" to “Go” but the BackColor is always set to “Yellow”.
My deduction is that Localizable = True tracks [control].Text property changes, and other changes such as [control].Location and [control].Size, but it does NOT track [control].BackColor or many other control property changes in the respective resx files.
Is this a bug? Is there a reference document to understand what IS and ISN'T being tracked? I can understand that BackColor is not something that is typically related to a language change but on that basis, size and location shouldn’t be either...so I am not clear on the rationale applied here...
Because of this limitation I am having to make certain localization changes via resx files and others manually via my on logic, feels a bit messy.
Thanks for your help.
[tested in VS 2012 and 2017 with equal behaviour]
A property is considered as localizable if it's decorated with Localizable(true) attribute. For example BackColor property is not localizable, but Text property is localizable.
When the designer generates code for your form, when you have enabled localization for the form, properties which are decorated with the Localizable(true) will be serialized to the resource file of the form. For the rest of the properties, their values will be serialized in code.
For more information and links to how to create multi-language windows forma application, take a look at:
How to make multi language app in winforms
I've recently been tasked with localizing a small piece of software that my company created. I've been able to create the resx file for the particular culture, and things are well and good. Thing is, that there are roughly 50 or so labels/buttons/etc, that need to be changed. My question is, do I need to write in the code to set the text, or is there an easier way? For instance,
lblText.text = Resources.labelText
for every single button/label. Or is there a property in the button/label that I'm missing that would set it. Thanks.
You can change the text directly with the form designer of visual studio. Just set the form's property Localizable to true and change the Language property to the one you want to translate. Then, every change you make will only be reflected in the language you selected
If you want more help, you can take a look at this walkthrough
Recently, I decided to add 4 languages to my application.
I read about how to do it and I succeed.
But there are two problems/questions I would like to ask.
First question: Is there a better way to change the text of each control instead
private System.Resources.ResourceManager rm;
System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("fr");
rm = new System.Resources.ResourceManager(typeof(MainForm));
and then for each control to write this line:
aboutToolStripMenuItem.Text = rm.GetString("aboutToolStripMenuItem.Text");
addTaskToolStripMenuItem.Text = rm.GetString("addTaskToolStripMenuItem.Text");
addTaskToolStripMenuItem1.Text = rm.GetString("addTaskToolStripMenuItem1.Text");
...
Second Question: lets say the text of label1 is "test" and in other language its "testest" then the size of the label will change, which is ok. but If I got label2 that his location is near label1, label1 might be on the top of label2. How can I move the label1 compare with label2 so no matter how long the text in label1 will be, label2's location will be relative to label1. I dont want to use calculations in the program, I want to know if there's other way like property in one of the controls.
EDIT:
after long thinking, I decided to use XML for my multilanguage. this way I can let the people translate it and upload it for me plus I can use it on runtime instead or reload the programs.
About the relative pos of controls I will use FlowLayoutPanel or TableLayoutPanel I will check further which is better.
Satellite assemblies is what you are looking for.
Q1: In VS, set your form's Localizable property to true. Then select the language property accordingly and type your translations in the designer. That way, you simply need to set the thread culture at start-up and .NET will load the correct language for you. No need to add extra code.
Q2: Again, after you selected the language in the designer, just move the controls around: Their new location/size is part of the translation and will be handled automatically by .NET.
It's not a very good idea change the GUI to a different culture while it's running, it's better to say something like you need to restart the application to see changes.
Although if you need to do it, you need to reload all the resources from the new culture (more or less the same than the InitializeComponen does), not only the text, because the location, size and so on, may be changed too. Also you need to change the thread culture in order to the errors, message and the new controls have the correct culture too (to show them in the correct language too).
You can set your application culture with:
CultureInfo appCulture = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("fr");
Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = appCulture;
Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = appCulture;
You need an specific culture to use it on formating and parsing.
In answer to your first question:
If you really want to follow that scheme maybe using Reflection or automatic code generation is an alternative for easier management. I usually write my own GetString method that takes a default english string as an argument (used if no resource can be loaded dynamically for the current language). But I am not sure if it is the best solution either...
In answer to your second question:
In Winforms use a TableLayoutPanel or FlowLayoutPanel or another layout component to relatively position the controls. It is possible to specify if the Label fits to its content (AutoSize) for example or if it shall Dock and if yes with what Alignment. There is nearly no use case that would require a tedious self management or computation.
Link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/z9w7ek2f(v=VS.100).aspx