Localizing Wisej.NET UI in the Visual Studio Designer

Localization in Wisej.NETModule 2The lesson guide, the walkthrough video, the knowledge check and the hands-on lab this sample was built from are on learnwisej.com — free, with an AI tutor in every lesson.

Open the course

The GlobalDesk customer editor exactly as the walkthrough shows it: the blue application bar, the host strip carrying Application.CurrentCulture and the Recreate editor button, the Customer details group with the customer code, name and city rows, the notes box and the Cancel / Save changes pair. CustomerEditor is a designer-localized UserControl: its captions, sizes and positions live in CustomerEditor.resx, with nine German overrides in CustomerEditor.de.resx.

Module 2 is the editor, so the session opens on it. The Module 1 dashboard returns in Module 4, with this editor embedded in it beside the language picker.

The source of this sample

iceteagroup/LearnWisej-SamplesLocalization in Wisej.NET Course/Module 2

Browse this folder on GitHub

Or clone it: git clone https://github.com/iceteagroup/LearnWisej-Samples.git — then open GlobalDesk.slnx in Visual Studio and press F5.

Run it

cd "Localization in Wisej.NET Course/Module 2/GlobalDesk"
dotnet run -f net10.0 --urls http://localhost:6102

Open http://localhost:6102. In Visual Studio, open GlobalDesk.slnx and press F5.

What to try

Action	Expected result
Read the screen	Customer details, Customer code, Name, City, Notes, Cancel, Save changes. Not one of them is in the C#.
Click the culture chip (en)	It turns amber and reads de-DE. The editor does not change. Its resources were applied when it was constructed.
Read the status line	Session culture is now de-DE. The editor on screen was built for en and has not changed.
Click Recreate editor	German captions, a wider Änderungen speichern, a wider Abbrechen, and the window title changes with them.
Look at Name under German	Still Name. German inherits it, because CustomerEditor.de.resx overrides only what must differ.
Type in Notes, then recreate	The text is gone. That is the real cost of the rebuild, and the reason Module 4 does it in one step with the switch.
Search the C# for "Save changes"	Nothing. The designer file says resources.ApplyResources(this.btnSave, "btnSave").

Notes for anyone extending the editor

• ApplyResources runs inside InitializeComponent, so designer resources are applied at construction. A culture change does nothing to an existing instance.
• The host panel is what makes the rebuild three lines: clear it, dispose the old instance, construct a new one, add it back. Dispose matters — the old instance has a client counterpart.
• Add controls only with the default language selected in the designer. A control added while German is selected exists in the German resource and nowhere else.
• Colours, fonts and border styling are set in the designer's C#, not in the resource file: they have no German variant, and a copy per language is a copy to keep in step forever.
• The window title comes from the control's own $this.Text in this module, because the screen is the control and the title has to change in the same instant its captions do. Module 3 moves the shared sentences into Strings.de.resx, where a culture change reaches them without a rebuild.
• culture is pinned to en in Default.json so the demo starts from a known state. Module 4 changes it to auto.