WPF GUI Editor

The WPF GUI Editor

The WPF GUI Editor is supplied as an add-on to the RC-WinTrans system to handle the translation / localization of WPF resources. As a "true" WPF GUI Editor, the layout of WPF windows is displayed and handled with the greatest degree of accuracy possible.

The WPF resources are "Window," "Page" and "User Control" as created with Visual Studio 2008, 2010 or Expression Blend. The Editor is a customized adaptation of Microsoft's Visual Tools for Applications (VSTA) designed specifically for translation/localization.

Features Overview...

RC-WinTrans carries the following property data over from the WPF GUI Editor:

–	size and position (width, height and margin values).
–	text (e.g., content, text, title and header attributes).
–	strings (e.g., "system:String" from "ResourceDictionary").

NOTE: The WPF GUI Editor allows all layout changes (including adding and deleting items) but only the data listed above is taken over by RC-WinTrans for the translated WPF window.

Data is exchanged/stored in XAML files which constitute the editing database. The source XAML data can be viewed in the Editor's "XAML" tab view located below the design window (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: The WPF GUI Editor application with the designer window in the forefront, the "XAML" view below it and the "Document Outline" tree view on the left.

Localization/Translation Features

The WPF GUI Editor covers has an extensive set of features for localizing any number of WPF windows contained in an RC-WinTrans translation project, from the most basic to the finer detail- for an overview of the most important ones see the "Features" topic.

Check Functions

·	Hotkeys: A check for doubled and missing hotkeys in WPF windows and menus is included in the general set of check functions provided by RC-WinTrans.
·	Text fit: A text fit check for WPF resources is not available.

WPF Menus

Menu texts can be edited with the WPF GUI Editor but we recommend using the Menu view in RC-WinTrans. Besides a handy menu tree view and easy item editing, the Menu view has a "Hotkey Suggestion" function and a check for doubled and missing hotkeys.

References for Third-Party and User Controls

All WPF controls that can be used with .NET 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 can be displayed with the WPF GUI Editor.

A WPF control can only be displayed if the Editor knows where to find it, i.e., the library (DLL file) in which the control has been implemented. A "References" list tells the Editor where a particular control is located and allows third-party/custom controls to be made known to the Editor by adding them to the list. Non-standard WPF controls can only be properly handled by the Editor if they have been added to to/referenced in this list.

If a reference is missing this will be indicated in the WPF GUI Editor's design window. The name of the control is reported in the "Errors" tab.

Figure 2: The "References" list in the WPF GUI Editor.

Menu Commands

The WPF GUI Editor has two menus with commands specific to localization ("WPF Editor" and "Sized Items"). The other menu items (e.g., "View" and "Window") are from the original Visual Tools for Applications.

WPF Editor Menu

Project: Open WPF Window Command

Opens a list of all the WPF windows contained in the active RC-WinTrans project. Select one to be opened in the Editor.

Save Command

Saves the target layout.

References Command

Opens the WPF Library References dialog box.

Sized Items Menu

·	Mark All Command Marks all items (or the window itself) where the size and/or the position data differs from the source data.
·	Unmark All Command Removes all markers set for resized items by the Mark All command.
·	Reset All Command Resets the size and position data of all controls (or of the window itself) to the original (source) values.
·	Reset Selected Command Resets the size and position data of the selected control (or of the window itself) to the original (source) values.
·	Select Sized Item Command Opens a list of all resized controls (and/or the WPF window itself). Select the item to be opened in the Editor.