StrataFrame Forum » Enterprise Server - V1 » Issues » TabPage selection in Winform Designer

TabPage selection in Winform Designer

RandyJean — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:53:53 GMT

Has anyone figured out a solution or workaround to not being able to select a StrataFrame.UI.Windows.Forms.TabPage in the Winforms designer. I can select it from the property sheet but it never becomes active.where I can see/edit the controls.
This is in the latest VS2022 version with the latest StrataFrame V1 assemblies and targeting x64.
Also, if I go into the StrataFrame.UI.Windows.Forms.TabControl properties and try to bring up the TabPages collection dialog I get this error:

RE: TabPage selection in Winform Designer

Edhy Rijo — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:53:53 GMT

+x[quote]

[b]Randy Jean - 3/18/2026[/b]
+x[quote]

[b]Edhy Rijo - 3/18/2026[/b]
+x[quote]

[b]Randy Jean - 3/12/2026[/b]
So I actually got the TabPage selection to work by removing <UseWinFormsOutOfProcDesigner>True</UseWinFormsOutOfProcDesigner> from my project.

However, now when I bring up the designer, my toolbar button captions are all messed up. 1 step forward, 2 steps back:

Any thoughts? I know this has something to do with localization but I'm not sure how to fix. We're not explicitly using any localization translations or anything like that.
[/quote]

Hi Randy,
I don't use that toolbar control. I use DevExpress controls.
I do remember seeing this issue years ago and it may have something to do with the SF Localization not been able to show the labels in the toolbar in designer, but when you run the application, the labels should be showing up just fine, correct?
On a side note. If you haven't, upgrade your application as follow:
Use .NET Framework 4.8.0 or 4.8.1. I use 4.8
Set Target CPU to "AnyCPU" unless you are using a 32bits assembly.
Since you are using VS2022, make sure to update SF v1 and the VISX to the most recent ones posted by Trent in this link http://forum.strataframe.net/FindPost33641.aspx.
Make sure your application is referencing all the SF assemblies version 1.7.20520.1. These are available in the setups released by Trent in step 3.
[/quote]

Hi Edhy,
Thanks for the reply.

I double checked everything and other than AnyCPU (I am targeting x64) everything lines up. I tried AnyCPU and it didn't seem to make a difference.

However, you asked "when you run the application, the labels should be showing up just fine, correct"

I could swear this was not true several months ago when I first saw this issue as I had to roll back from source control a few times. It seemed it was actually re-writing the designer code with these literal strings. However, I just tried this with a form and even touched some of the other controls to force it to re-write the designer code and it appears the buttons still looked OK at runtime. So for now I will just keep an eye on it. I know it has something to do with localization as well but I'm not sure what to do about it.

FYI this is an old app that is just currently in "maintenance mode". We do have a DevExpress subscription and love their controls but unfortunately client won't budget $ or time for any facelift work on this application. Same client we built a very large XAF application for. We may wind up re-writing the SF app into that app at some point if we ever get the time and budget to do it.
[/quote]

Hi Randy,
I understand and hopefully the toolbar will continue to show the correct labels at runtime. If it reverts, you can always overwrite the labels and forget about it. :)
I always wanted to do something with XAF, but for some reason have never had the time to create a new application with it and primarily I am working for a non-profit organization full time on this big StrataFrame application using some of the V2 Entities which are much better than the v1 business object.

I am constantly afraid that I may not be able to migrate this WinForms application to .NET 10/11 and at some point I will need to re-write the whole thing and that will be a very difficult decision since this application relies on SFv1 cool tools with the SF Security and a lot of base classes controls for the forms, all DevExpress controls and more.

RE: TabPage selection in Winform Designer

RandyJean — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:44:08 GMT

+x[quote]

[b]Edhy Rijo - 3/18/2026[/b]
+x[quote]

[b]Randy Jean - 3/12/2026[/b]
So I actually got the TabPage selection to work by removing <UseWinFormsOutOfProcDesigner>True</UseWinFormsOutOfProcDesigner> from my project.

However, now when I bring up the designer, my toolbar button captions are all messed up. 1 step forward, 2 steps back:

Any thoughts? I know this has something to do with localization but I'm not sure how to fix. We're not explicitly using any localization translations or anything like that.
[/quote]

Hi Randy,
I don't use that toolbar control. I use DevExpress controls.
I do remember seeing this issue years ago and it may have something to do with the SF Localization not been able to show the labels in the toolbar in designer, but when you run the application, the labels should be showing up just fine, correct?
On a side note. If you haven't, upgrade your application as follow:
Use .NET Framework 4.8.0 or 4.8.1. I use 4.8
Set Target CPU to "AnyCPU" unless you are using a 32bits assembly.
Since you are using VS2022, make sure to update SF v1 and the VISX to the most recent ones posted by Trent in this link http://forum.strataframe.net/FindPost33641.aspx.
Make sure your application is referencing all the SF assemblies version 1.7.20520.1. These are available in the setups released by Trent in step 3.
[/quote]

Hi Edhy,
Thanks for the reply.

I double checked everything and other than AnyCPU (I am targeting x64) everything lines up. I tried AnyCPU and it didn't seem to make a difference.

However, you asked "when you run the application, the labels should be showing up just fine, correct"

I could swear this was not true several months ago when I first saw this issue as I had to roll back from source control a few times. It seemed it was actually re-writing the designer code with these literal strings. However, I just tried this with a form and even touched some of the other controls to force it to re-write the designer code and it appears the buttons still looked OK at runtime. So for now I will just keep an eye on it. I know it has something to do with localization as well but I'm not sure what to do about it.

FYI this is an old app that is just currently in "maintenance mode". We do have a DevExpress subscription and love their controls but unfortunately client won't budget $ or time for any facelift work on this application. Same client we built a very large XAF application for. We may wind up re-writing the SF app into that app at some point if we ever get the time and budget to do it.

RE: TabPage selection in Winform Designer

Edhy Rijo — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:09:57 GMT

+x[quote]

[b]Randy Jean - 3/12/2026[/b]
So I actually got the TabPage selection to work by removing <UseWinFormsOutOfProcDesigner>True</UseWinFormsOutOfProcDesigner> from my project.

However, now when I bring up the designer, my toolbar button captions are all messed up. 1 step forward, 2 steps back:

Any thoughts? I know this has something to do with localization but I'm not sure how to fix. We're not explicitly using any localization translations or anything like that.
[/quote]

Hi Randy,
I don't use that toolbar control. I use DevExpress controls.
I do remember seeing this issue years ago and it may have something to do with the SF Localization not been able to show the labels in the toolbar in designer, but when you run the application, the labels should be showing up just fine, correct?
On a side note. If you haven't, upgrade your application as follow:

Use .NET Framework 4.8.0 or 4.8.1. I use 4.8
Set Target CPU to "AnyCPU" unless you are using a 32bits assembly.
Since you are using VS2022, make sure to update SF v1 and the VISX to the most recent ones posted by Trent in this link http://forum.strataframe.net/FindPost33641.aspx.
Make sure your application is referencing all the SF assemblies version 1.7.20520.1. These are available in the setups released by Trent in step 3.

RE: TabPage selection in Winform Designer

RandyJean — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 17:50:21 GMT

So I actually got the TabPage selection to work by removing <UseWinFormsOutOfProcDesigner>True</UseWinFormsOutOfProcDesigner> from my project.

However, now when I bring up the designer, my toolbar button captions are all messed up. 1 step forward, 2 steps back:

Any thoughts? I know this has something to do with localization but I'm not sure how to fix. We're not explicitly using any localization translations or anything like that.