Modifying Dialogs for Each Language

When you add support for a language to your project, InstallShield provides a version of each standard dialog translated into the newly added language. You can edit these dialogs, as well as custom or imported dialogs, for each supported language in the Dialog Editor.

To view these dialogs:

1.

In the View List under User Interface, click Dialogs.

2.

In the Dialogs explorer, expand the All Dialogs item.

3.

Double-click the name of a dialog to see an item for each supported language.

4.

To modify a dialog’s layout, select the language version.

The rule to remember is that all controls have the same properties, string entries, and behavior for each language. When you add a control to the English (United States) copy of a dialog, you are adding the same control to the German version. Setting the Sunken property of a bitmap to True makes that property True for each language-specific version.

Resizing Elements

The exceptions to the above rule are the Height and Width properties of a control. These properties are specific to each language’s version. Because string lengths can vary widely from one language to another, when you resize a control, you are not affecting the control’s size for any other language.

For example, you may need to enlarge a push button to accommodate a longer string after it is translated into German. The push button remains the same size for every version of the dialog since it was created. When you resize the control in the German layout, it is resized only for that language.

Modifying Strings

The strings in each dialog come from that language’s string entries. When you select a string for a control that accepts localizable text, although the string identifier is the same for each language-specific version, the string value that is displayed comes from the current language’s string entries. If you edit the value in the control’s property sheet, you are actually editing that string identifier’s value for that language.

Modifying File Resources

Several controls, such as bitmaps and check boxes, accept a file that will be streamed into the setup package. Because the file resources can be different depending on the language, when you edit the File Name value, you will be supplying a file only for that particular language.

The file name can differ for each language because every File Name property uses a string entry. Thus, the file name is originally the same for every language. When you edit strings in the String Editor view or edit the dialog layout for a specific language, you can enter a new file name only for that language.

Right-to-Left-Language Dialogs

Basic MSI and Merge Module projects include support for languages that are written and read from right to left. For more information, see Dialog Support for Right-to-Left Languages.