.NET Form Editor

WinForms forms are shown in a visual editor with the current translation. You can translate text in place, move and resize controls, and change fonts; the changes are stored in the translation. The editor runs in a separate process, so a failing assembly does not close Localizer.

Full and Safe modes

Choose the mode with Designer > Mode:

Full — the form is created from your assembly as the application creates it, with your custom controls. It needs the original assembly and the assemblies it references; see Reference Resolver.
Safe — the form is shown with standard Windows Forms controls. Use it for forms that cannot be loaded completely, for example because a referenced assembly is missing.

If a form cannot be opened in Full mode, the editor switches to Safe mode by itself.

Standard controls are shown with their contents, for example TreeView nodes, list and combo box items, and checked list boxes. Menus of the form are shown too.

Selection is synchronized: click a control or menu item in the editor to select its text in the Translation Editor, and select a row in the table to highlight the control, or to open the menu that contains the item.

Form Editor settings

The .NET > Form Editor page of the properties maps control types to standard controls for Safe mode, for example all types whose names end with Label to System.Windows.Forms.Label. Use Add, Edit, and Remove to change the list, and Use mapping only for unresolved types to apply it only to types that cannot be loaded. You can set this for the project or for a file or form; Reset to parent returns to the inherited settings.