Setting up the Visual Studio Project

To start setting up your custom display filter project, you need to generate a plug-in that can compile and that implements an empty display filter which can be seen and selected in Trados Studio. For the moment, it will not contain any application logic, that is it will not actually perform a real task

How to create the Visual Studio Project

Assuming that you already installed the Trados Studio SDK, open Microsoft Visual Studio 2022. You will see the following options when you create a new project:

With the above templates you can set up the skeleton of an Trados Studio plug-in project.

Create a new project from Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 using the Trados Studio (2021) project template. Give the plugin a name, for example, AdvancedDisplayFilter.Example.

Creating the Visual Studio project using the Trados Studio (2021) template automates the initial setup phase for your development project. It will automatically include all of the standard references to the studio assemblies that you might require for building your project, along with the plugin manifest and resource files. It will also setup the output path of your build environment to the correct location in your systems roaming directory.

Your project should look like this after creating the project using the Trados Studio (2021) template:

Important

The The Sdl.Core.Globalization assembly is not automatically added to the project with the Trados Studio (2021) template. This assembly will be required for this project, as we will be making reference to some of the ISegmentPair enumerators.

To add this assembly, from the Solution Explorer, right-click on the References node and click Add Reference from the context menu. Then, navigate to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Trados\Trados Studio\Studio18 and select the Sdl.Core.Globalization.dll file.

How to sign the solution

To sign your development solution from the project properties area.

  1. In Microsoft Visual Studio 2022, go to Project > AdvancedDisplayFilter.Example Properties.
  2. Go to the Signing tab
  3. To sign the assembly of the project, select the Sign the assembly checkbox and then the New… option from the Choose a strong name key file combo box.
  4. In the Create Strong Name Key dialog, provide a name, click OK and save the project.

Once you have saved the project properties, you will notice that a new file has been added to your project with the .snk extension. This file holds the Strong Name Key details that you provided.

Note

There are a few reasons why we sign the project, one of the most obvious is that it provides a level of authenticity with the assembly, ensuring that the origins of the assembly are in fact from that author; in turn, it prevents tampering with the assembly. It is also required if you want to include your assembly in the Global Assembly Cache (GAC).