Underlining letters in Windows menus is done by adding a “&” character before the letter to be underlined in the menu label definition. This is done at the development level and cannot be changed unless the application provide a way to dynamically change the menu label. This is not the case in DxO software.
In older Windows programs this could be done by altering the program resources by using a resource editor. With Microsoft .Net programs (Photolab uses this technology), you can’t modify the application resources. Any alteration of the program resources or code modules will prevent the whole app from loading. In Photolab, these resources are hard-coded in the various DLLs that you’ll find in the C:\Program Files\DxO\DxO PhotoLab 7\xx folder, xx being de, fr or ja. For English, it’s hard-coded elsewhere (bad practice). This means that English is the default language of Photolab.
This discussion leads us again back to the UI topic. In most Windows apps, underlined characters are used to ease access to menu commands. They are available in Lightroom. In Photoshop they appear or disappear by depressing the Alt key (which acts as a toggle in that case). In DxO software, the use of underlined characters is not consistent :
- In Photolab and Filmpack, they don’t even exist. How could this be forgotten ?
- In PureRAW, they are used only in the main menu, not in sub menus.
- In ViewPoint, they are used in the main menu and in the sub menus.
Lack of consistency again.
As for scripting in general, don’t hold your breath. Given the lack of development resources at DxO, we’ll not see a Photolab SDK before long, if ever. Ditto for a keyboard shortcut editor.