Bi-Directional Support for Windows Forms Applications

You can use Visual Studio to create Windows-based applications that support bi-directional (right-to-left) languages such as Arabic and Hebrew. This includes standard forms, dialog boxes, MDI forms, and all the controls you can work with in these forms—that is, all the objects in the Control namespace.

Culture Support

Culture and UI culture settings determine how an application works with dates, times, currency, and other information. Support for culture and UI culture is the same for bi-directional languages as it is for any other languages. Culture-Specific Classes for Global Windows Forms and Web Forms
Culture-Specific Classes for Global Windows Forms and Web Forms
Culture-Specific Classes for Global Windows Forms and Web Forms

RightToLeft and RightToLeftLayout Properties

The base Control class, from which forms derive, includes a RightToLeft property that you can set to change the reading order of a form and its controls. If you set the form's RightToLeft property, by default controls on the form inherit this setting. However, you can also set the RightToLeft property individually on most controls. How to: Display Right-to-Left Text in Windows Forms for Globalization
How to: Display Right-to-Left Text in Windows Forms for Globalization
How to: Display Right-to-Left Text in Windows Forms for Globalization
How to: Display Right-to-Left Text in Windows Forms for Globalization

The effect of the RightToLeft property can differ from one control to another. In some controls the property only sets the reading order, as in the Button, TreeView and ToolTip controls. In other controls, the RightToLeft property changes both reading order and layout. This includes the RadioButton, ComboBox and CheckBox controls. Other controls require that the RightToLeftLayout property be applied to mirror its layout from right to left. The following table provides details on how the RightToLeft and RightToLeftLayout properties affect individual Windows Forms controls.

Control/Component	Effect of RightToLeft property	Effect of RightToLeftLayout property	Requires mirroring?
Button	Sets the RTL reading order. Reverses TextAlign, ImageAlign, and TextImageRelation	No effect	No
CheckBox	The check box is displayed on the right side of the text	No effect	No
CheckedListBox	All the check boxes are displayed on the right side of the text	No effect	No
ColorDialog	Not affected; depends on the language of the operating system	No effect	No
ComboBox	Items in combo box control are right-aligned	No effect	No
ContextMenu	Appears right-aligned with RTL reading order	No effect	No
DataGrid	Appears right-aligned with RTL reading order	No effect	No
DataGridView	Affects both RTL reading order and control layout	No effect	No
DateTimePicker	Not affected; depends on the language of the operating system	Mirrors the control	Yes
DomainUpDown	Left-aligns the up and down buttons	No effect	No
ErrorProvider	Not supported	No effect	No
FontDialog	Depends on the language of the operating system	No effect	No
Form	Sets RTL reading order, and reverses scrollbars	Mirrors the form	Yes
GroupBox	The caption is displayed right aligned. Child controls may inherit this property.	Use a TableLayoutPanel within the control for right-to-left mirroring support	No
HScrollBar	Starts with the scroll box (thumb) right-aligned	No effect	No
ImageList	Not required	No effect	No
Label	Displayed right-aligned. Reverses TextAlign and ImageAlign	No effect	No
LinkLabel	Displayed right-aligned. Reverses TextAlign and ImageAlign	No effect	No
ListBox	Items are right-aligned	No effect	No
ListView	Sets the reading order to RTL; elements stay left-aligned	Mirrors the control	Yes
MainMenu	Displayed right-aligned with RTL reading order at run time (not at design time)	No effect	No
MaskedTextBox	Displays text from right to left.	No effect	No
MonthCalendar	Not affected; depends on the language of the operating system	Mirrors the control	Yes
NotifyIcon	Not supported	Not supported	No
NumericUpDown	Up and down buttons are left-aligned	No effect	No
OpenFileDialog	Not affected; depends on the language of the operating system	No effect	No
PageSetupDialog	Not affected; depends on the language of the operating system	No effect	No
Panel	Child controls may inherit this property	Use TableLayoutPanel within the control for right to left support	Yes
PictureBox	Not supported	No effect	No
PrintDialog	Not affected; depends on the language of the operating system	No effect	No
PrintDocument	The vertical scroll bar become left-aligned and the horizontal scroll bar starts from the left	No effect	No
PrintPreviewDialog	Not supported	Not supported	No
ProgressBar	Not affect by this property	Mirrors the control	Yes
RadioButton	The radio button is displayed on the right side of the text	No effect	No
RichTextBox	Control elements that include text are displayed from right to left with RTL reading order	No effect	No
SaveFileDialog	Not affected; depends on the language of the operating system	No effect	No
SplitContainer	Panel layout is reversed; vertical scrollbar appears on the left; horizontal scrollbar starts from the right	Use a TableLayoutPanel to mirror order of child controls	No
Splitter	Not supported	No effect	No
StatusBar	Not supported; use StatusStrip instead	No effect; use StatusStrip instead	No
TabControl	Not affected by this property	Mirrors the control	Yes
TextBox	Displays text from right to left with RTL reading order	No effect	No
Timer	Not required	Not required	No
ToolBar	Not affected by this property; use ToolStrip instead	No effect; use ToolStrip instead	Yes
ToolTip	Sets the RTL reading order	No effect	No
TrackBar	The scroll or track starts from the right; when Orientation is vertical, ticks occur from the right	No effect	No
TreeView	Sets the RTL reading order only	Mirrors the control	Yes
UserControl	Vertical scrollbar appears on the left; horizontal scrollbar has thumb on the right	No direct support; use a TableLayoutPanel	No
VScrollBar	Displayed on the left side instead of right side of scrollable controls	No effect	No

Encoding

Windows Forms support Unicode, so you can include any character set when you create your bi-directional applications. However, not all Windows Forms controls support Unicode on all platforms. For more information, see Encoding and Windows Forms Globalization.

GDI+

You can use GDI+ to draw text with right-to-left reading order. The DrawString method, which is used to draw text, supports a StringFormat parameter that you can set to the DirectionRightToLeft member of the StringFormatFlags enumeration in order to reverse the point of origin for the text.

Common Dialog Boxes

System tools such as the File Open dialog box are under the control of Windows. They inherit language elements from the operating system. If you are using a version of Windows with the correct language settings, these dialog boxes will work correctly with bi-directional languages.

Similarly, message boxes go through the operating system and support bi-directional text. The captions on message box buttons are based on the current language setting. By default, message boxes do not use right-to-left reading order, but you can specify a parameter to change the reading order when the message boxes are displayed. For more information, see How to: Create Message Boxes for Bi-Directional Windows Forms.

RightToLeft, Scrollbars, and ScrollableControl

There is currently a limitation in Windows Forms that prevents all classes derived from ScrollableControl from acting properly when both RightToLeft is enabled and AutoScroll is set to Yes. For example, let's say that you place a control such as Panel—or a container class derived from Panel (such as FlowLayoutPanel or TableLayoutPanel)—on your form. If you set AutoScroll on the container to Yes and then set the Anchor property on one or more of the controls inside of the container to Right, then no scrollbar ever appears. The class derived from ScrollableControl acts as if AutoScroll were set to No.

Currently, the only workaround is to nest the ScrollableControl inside another ScrollableControl. For instance, if you need TableLayoutPanel to work in this situation, you can place it inside of a Panel control and set AutoScroll on the Panel to Yes.

Mirroring

Mirroring refers to reversing the layout of UI elements so that they flow from right to left. In a mirrored Windows Form, for example, the Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons appear left-most on the title bar, not right-most.

Setting a form or control's RightToLeft property to true reverses the reading order of elements on a form, but this setting does not reverse the layout to be right-to-left— that is, it does not cause mirroring. For example, setting this property does not move the Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons in the form's title bar to the left side of the form. Similarly, some controls, such as the TreeView control, require mirroring in order to change their display to be appropriate for Arabic or Hebrew. You can mirror these controls by settings the RightToLeftLayout property.

You can create mirrored versions of the following controls:

• ListView

• Panel

• StatusBar

• TabControl

• TabPage

• ToolBar

• TreeView

Some controls are sealed. Therefore, you cannot derive a new control from them. These include the ImageList and ProgressBar controls.

See Also

Concepts

Bidirectional Support for ASP.NET Web Applications

Other Resources

Globalizing Windows Forms