Why is the addition of a control in form designer restricted?

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Notre Poubelle - 15 Sep 2006 22:36 GMT

Hello,

When you set a Windows Form's Localizable property to true and set the
Language property to something other than "(Default)", you can define a
localized version of the form. The designer supports WYSIWYG control sizing
and placement, and changing of control text related properties.

One restriction the designer imposes is when you have the form language set
to something other than "(Default)", then you cannot drag a control from the
toolbox onto the design surface. (The user is presented with a dialog saying
this is not supported). I am interested in understanding the reason why this
restriction exists. Note that the user can remove a control or move the
control around (even if the control's parent changes), regardless of the
value of the form's Language property.

Thanks,
Notre
PS If there any other restrictions in design mode vs. localization mode you
can point out, that would also be appreciated.

Reply to this Message

Linda Liu [MSFT] - 18 Sep 2006 10:45 GMT

Hi Notre,

This is a quick note to let you know that I am researching on this issue
and will get it back to you ASAP.

I appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu
Microsoft Online Community Support

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Linda Liu [MSFT] - 19 Sep 2006 13:11 GMT

Hi Notre,

When we set the Localizable property of a form to true, this form will be
localized and the localization information will be written in the .resx
files. All the localization information is written in <formname>.resx file,
which represents the neutral culture. The culture-specific information that
is different from that of the neutral culture is written in
<formname>.<regionname>.resx file, e.g Form1.en-US.resx.

When you open a form in the designer and select a language other than
"(Default)" for the Language property in the Properties window, it's ready
for you to edit the form in a localization mode for the specific culture.
Any change (e.g chaning the Text property of a button) different from the
value in the neutral culture will be saved in the specified .resx file. If
you drag a control from toolbar onto the form, this operation is not
allowed because the corresponding localization information should be saved
in the neutral culture .resx file. So to add a control onto the form, you
must select "(Default)" for the Language propery in the Properties window.

Hope this helps.
If you have anything unclear, please feel free to let me know.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu
Microsoft Online Community Support

Reply to this Message

Notre Poubelle - 19 Sep 2006 17:05 GMT

Hi Linda,

Okay, I think I understand this. Because only the 'delta' or changes of
form control properties are stored in localized versions of the form, the
master set of properties need to be defined in the default .resx file. Since
adding a control adds a set of properties, VS wants to ensure there are
fallback property values for all languages defined, and that ultimate
fallback is the default language. So, rather than allow the user to add a
control to a language other than default, the user is restricted from adding
the control until they switch to the default language.

As an alternative, the designer could have allowed control additions in
languages other than the default (e.g. FR-fr) and then took whatever control
properties set in the localized version of the form (e.g. FR-fr) and copied
them to the (default) language. In this way, language fallback would be
ensured for all localized versions of the form.

Does this sound right to you?

Thanks,
Notre

Reply to this Message

Linda Liu [MSFT] - 20 Sep 2006 06:52 GMT

Hi Notre,

Your thought sounds good. But I am afraid this is not supported in VS2005
currently. If you think it is necessary, you could go to our MSDN Product
Feedback Center to put forward a suggestion. The following is the link to
the website.

http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=210

Thank you for your support to Microsoft!

Sincerely,
Linda Liu
Microsoft Online Community Support

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Why is the addition of a control in form designer restricted?

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