Skip to Content
New release 12 available 🎉

Interface

The Babel Desktop window is laid out like a code editor: an activity bar on the left, the project in the middle, the properties of the selected target on the right and the progress of the current run at the bottom.

Babel Desktop window with a project open: the activity bar on the left, the toolbar with New project, Add Assembly and Add dependency on the left and Canvas, Grid, Properties, Activity and Run project on the right, the project canvas with BubbleBurst.exe selected, the Target properties panel of BubbleBurst.exe on the right with the Settings and XML rules tabs and the Map files and Renaming groups, the Activity panel at the bottom with the Log of a completed run, and the status barBabel Desktop window with a project open: the activity bar on the left, the toolbar with New project, Add Assembly and Add dependency on the left and Canvas, Grid, Properties, Activity and Run project on the right, the project canvas with BubbleBurst.exe selected, the Target properties panel of BubbleBurst.exe on the right with the Settings and XML rules tabs and the Map files and Renaming groups, the Activity panel at the bottom with the Log of a completed run, and the status barBabel Desktop window with a project open: the activity bar on the left, the toolbar with New project, Add Assembly and Add dependency on the left and Canvas, Grid, Properties, Activity and Run project on the right, the project canvas with BubbleBurst.exe selected, the Target properties panel of BubbleBurst.exe on the right with the Settings and XML rules tabs and the Map files and Renaming groups, the Activity panel at the bottom with the Log of a completed run, and the status bar

The main window with the properties panel and the Activity panel open

Parts of the Window

The main window has six parts. The project is in the middle, on the canvas or in the grid, and the panels around it show the settings of the selected target and the progress of a run.

PartWhat it holds
Activity barThe column of icons on the left. It opens the Project view, the Extensions view, the Stack decoder, each Licensing connection and the views added by installed extensions. At the bottom are the account menu and Settings.
ToolbarNew project, + Add Assembly and + Add dependency on the left; the Canvas / Grid switch, Properties, Activity and Run project on the right. In the grid it also has Run results.
Canvas or gridThe project as a graph or as a table. See The Project Canvas and The Project Grid.
Properties panelThe settings and XML rules of the selected target, docked on the right. See Target Settings.
Activity panelThe progress, the engine log and the problems of the current run, docked at the bottom. See Running the Project.
Status barThe engine connection, the engine version and platform, the state of the MCP server, the warning count of the last run, the job state and Show output.

To resize a panel, drag its separator. Babel Desktop remembers the sizes. Properties and Activity on the toolbar show and hide their panels.

Right-click the activity bar to choose which icons it shows, to move the icon you clicked with Move up or Move down, or to go back to the default order with Restore sidebar order. Settings is always shown.

On Windows and Linux the window has its own title bar. It holds the menu bar, a search box in the middle that opens the command palette and shows where you are, and three buttons on the right that show and hide the left, bottom and right panels. On macOS the menus are in the system menu bar.

Many menu commands also have a keyboard shortcut and an entry in the command palette, so you can reach them without the mouse.

MenuCommands
FileNew Project, Open Project…, Save, Save As…, Add Assembly…, Reveal Output; on Windows and Linux also Settings… and Exit
EditUndo, redo and the clipboard commands of text fields
ViewCommand Palette…, Project, Extensions, Stack Decoder, Canvas, Grid, Auto Layout Graph, zoom and full screen
RunRun Obfuscation, Run Obfuscated App, Cancel
HelpDocumentation, and on Windows and Linux Check for Updates… and About Babel Obfuscator

On macOS, About Babel Obfuscator, Check for Updates… and Settings… are in the application menu.

Command Palette

Press Ctrl+Shift+P (Cmd+Shift+P on macOS) to open the command palette. The commands you used last are at the top, under recently used, and each command shows its keyboard shortcut when it has one. Type to filter the list. The palette lists all application commands: project commands (Project: New, Project: Open…, Project: Open Recent…, Project: Save, Project: Save As…), assembly commands (Assembly: Add primary targets…, Assembly: Replace input and keep settings…, the dependency commands), the setup commands (Obfuscation: Setup merge into main assembly, Obfuscation: Setup public obfuscation (all assemblies), Obfuscation: Set level…), view commands (View: Canvas, View: Grid, View: Fit graph, View: Target settings, View: XML rules, View: Activity), tools (Tools: Stack decoder, Tools: Warning reference, Tools: Job warnings), Engine plugins commands, appearance commands, MCP server commands, commands added by extensions, and the About commands with the third-party notices.

Command palette open over the project canvas, with Project: Open... marked as recently used, followed by Project: Open Recent..., Tools: Stack decoder, Tools: Warning reference, Project: New, Assembly: Replace input and keep settings..., the Project Save commands and the Assembly commands, each with its keyboard shortcutCommand palette open over the project canvas, with Project: Open... marked as recently used, followed by Project: Open Recent..., Tools: Stack decoder, Tools: Warning reference, Project: New, Assembly: Replace input and keep settings..., the Project Save commands and the Assembly commands, each with its keyboard shortcutCommand palette open over the project canvas, with Project: Open... marked as recently used, followed by Project: Open Recent..., Tools: Stack decoder, Tools: Warning reference, Project: New, Assembly: Replace input and keep settings..., the Project Save commands and the Assembly commands, each with its keyboard shortcut

The command palette

Keyboard Shortcuts

macOS uses the same keys as Windows and Linux, with Cmd in place of Ctrl.

CommandWindows and LinuxmacOS
Command paletteCtrl+Shift+PCmd+Shift+P
New projectCtrl+NCmd+N
Open projectCtrl+OCmd+O
Save projectCtrl+SCmd+S
Save project asCtrl+Shift+SCmd+Shift+S
Add assemblyCtrl+Shift+ACmd+Shift+A
Run obfuscationCtrl+EnterCmd+Enter
Run obfuscated appCtrl+F5Cmd+F5
Canvas viewCtrl+Shift+CCmd+Shift+C
Grid viewCtrl+Shift+GCmd+Shift+G
Auto layout graphCtrl+Shift+LCmd+Shift+L
Project viewCtrl+Shift+ECmd+Shift+E
Extensions viewCtrl+Shift+XCmd+Shift+X
Stack decoderCtrl+Shift+DCmd+Shift+D
SettingsCtrl+,Cmd+,

On the canvas and in the grid, the menu key or Shift+F10 opens the menu of the focused node, row or column header, and Esc cancels what is in progress. The keys of the grid are listed in Selecting and Editing.

Work Recovery

Babel Desktop takes recovery snapshots of project changes you have applied but not saved. If the application or the engine stops unexpectedly, a banner on the next start offers to restore that work. Session passwords, such as signing key passwords, are never written to snapshots or project files, so you have to enter them again.

Last updated on