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Asked: 2026-05-10T19:53:48+00:00

What? I have a DLGTEMPLATE loaded from a resource DLL, how can I change

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What?

I have a DLGTEMPLATE loaded from a resource DLL, how can I change the strings assigned to the controls at runtime programmatically?

I want to be able to do this before the dialog is created, such that I can tell that the strings on display came from the resource DLL, and not from calls to SetWindowText when the dialog is initialized.

Google has found examples of creating DLGTEMPLATE in code, or twiddling simple style bits but nothing on editing the strings in memory.

How?

I am doing this by hooking the Dialog/Property Sheet creation API’s. Which gives me access to the DLGTEMPLATE before the actual dialog is created and before it has a HWND.

Why?

I want to be able to do runtime localization, and localization testing. I already have this implemented for loading string (including the MFC 7.0 wrapper), menus and accelerator tables, but I am struggling to handle dialog/property sheet creation.

Code examples would be the perfect answer, ideally a class to wrap around the DLGTEMPLATE, if I work out my own solution I will post it.

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1 Answer

  1. You can’t edit the strings in memory. The DLGTEMPLATE structure is a direct file mapping of the relevent bytes of the resource dll. Thats read only.

    You are going to need to process the entire DLGTEMPLATE structure and write out a new one with the altered length strings.

    It will frankly be easier to just hook the WM_INITDIALOG and alter the strings by interacting with the controls than building a DLGTEMPLATE writer. Because there arn’t a lot of those around. Unless you have an additional requirement to actually save altered dialog resources to disk as raw .res files (or attempt to modify the .dll inplace) Id really recommend you avoid this approach.

    You say you are already doing this for accellerator tables and menu strings – if you can guarantee that the patched in strings are going to be shorter, then just make a binary copy of the DLGTEMPLATE struct, and write the non trivial scanning code necessary to find each string so you can patch the copy in place.

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