I want to extend a GroupBox by adding a button on the caption. If I do this
public partial class MyInheritedGroupBox : GroupBox
{
public MyInheritedGroupBox()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
Works at runtime, but the control itself can't be edited anymore in the designer. Double clicking on the control now shows this
Is there some magic attributes so it shows up in the designer?
I'm trying to avoid inheriting from UserControl because it then introduces other complexities like this
Not sure what you want, there are 2 things that could be possible.
1, After dropping your control on a form you are not able to edit it using the designer and the object inspector. If that is the case you can solve it like this :
[Designer(typeof(ControlDesigner))] //without this you cannot change properties in the designer
public partial class MyInheritedGroupBox : GroupBox
{
public MyInheritedGroupBox()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
2, You want to build your control visually by double clicking on the class in the solution explorer.
If that is the case than you are out of luck.
You will need to create a UserControl for that.
Related
I have a form with a splitcontainer. One of the panels in the splitcontainer then loads a user control. This user control contains a combobox with the following properties changed from default:
DrowdownStyle=DrowDownList
FlatSyle=flat
Anchor=top,left,right
When the form and user control load, the combobox looks as expected:
However, if I resize the splitcontrol, it starts looking weird. If I increase the size of the panel that holds the control, this happens:
If i decrease the size of the splitter, it looks less weird, but still not how it is supposed to:
In either case, the combobox starts looking normal once I mouse over it.
Here is my code:
Main Form:
//Main form. Has a split container created from the toolbox
public partial class SampleForm:Form
{
public SampleForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
SampleControl cntrl = new SampleControl();
splitContainer1.Panel1.Controls.Add(cntrl);
splitContainer1.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle;
cntrl.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
}
}
User Control:
//User control. Has a combobox created from toolbox. Options as described above
public partial class SampleControl : UserControl
{
public SampleControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
How can I fix this problem?
May be try to set dock to None . Also try to fix the margin for control
I know this is old, but was having the same problem and just in case someone finds themselves in the same predicament, answer below. Basically, create a new Class:
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Public Class MyComboBox
Inherits ComboBox
Protected Overrides Sub OnResize(e As EventArgs)
Me.Refresh()
End Sub
End Class
You can either drag this from your toolbox or add it in code. It will then auto redraw itself on resize of any parent controls.
Winforms is a bit like a sibling - flawed and deeply annoying sometimes - but you just gotta love it.
This might be kind of beginner question but I searched and didn't find any clear answer!
The main question is: How to inherit properties of a control (specially FlatStyle) from a base form which doesn't have that control in C#?
Details: I have Form1 inherited from baseForm. baseForm has a Panel and a Label control but no Button. In Form1 I added a button named Button1. How can I change the style of that Button through the baseFrom?
I don't want to create a custom control or redesign the button using rectangles or similar ways, but only change that property for all buttons in my application.
UPDATE: I want all of the buttons to be affected, whether they already exist or just added. Not matter in which -if any- container they are.
In baseForm, you could hook the ControlAdded event on the Panel where the Button is to be added, and style appropiately via code. This will work for every form inherited from baseForm.
For example (in baseForm)
public partial class BaseForm : Form
{
public BaseForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
// "myPanel" is the panel where the button will be added in inherited forms
myPanel.ControlAdded += myPanel_ControlAdded;
}
private void myPanel_ControlAdded(object sender, ControlEventArgs e)
{
var button = e.Control as Button;
if (button != null)
{
button.FlatStyle = FlatStyle.Flat;
button.ForeColor = Color.Red;
}
}
}
Just made a really quick test... it works even in design mode:
As an alternative, if you are going to use heavily styled buttons everywhere in your application, you may consider creating a custom control inheriting from Button, and assign the properties there, like:
public class FlatButton : System.Windows.Forms.Button
{
public FlatButton()
{
FlatStyle = FlatStyle.Flat;
}
}
After building, you will find it in the Toolbox (under "[Your Project's] components" tab), or you can cram it on your own control library (in a different solution) and add it permanently to the Toolbox in Visual Studio.
You would need to make use of Reflection
You can use a LINQ query to do this. This will query everything on the form that is type Button
var c = from controls in this.Controls.OfType<Button>()
select controls;
foreach(var control in c)
control.FlatStyle = FlatStyle.Flat;
I'll try to explain what I'm after. I don't know the technical term for it, so here goes:
Example 1:
If I place a ListView on a Form and add some columns I am able, in Design-Time, to click-and-drag the columns to resize them.
Example 2:
Now, I place a ListView in a UserControl and name it "MyCustomListView" (and perhaps add some method to enhance it somehow).
If I now place the "MyCustomListView" on a Form I am unable to click-and-drag the column headers to resize them in Design-Time.
Is there any way to easily make that happen? Some form of "pass the click-and-drag event to the underlying control and let that control do its magic". Im not really looking to recode, just pass on the mouseclick (or whatever it is) and let the, in this case, ListView react as it did in the first example above.
The Windows Forms designer has dedicated designer classes for most controls. The designer for a ListView is System.Windows.Forms.Design.ListViewDesigner, an internal class in the System.Design.dll assembly. This class gives you the ability to drag the column headers.
A UserControl uses the System.Windows.Forms.Design.ControlDesigner designer class. It doesn't do anything special, just puts a rectangle around the control with drag handles. You can see where this is heading: after you put your user control on a form, it is ControlDesigner that is used to design the class, ListViewDesigner is not in the picture. You thus lose the ability to drag the column headers. Also note that ControlDesigner doesn't give access to the controls inside the UC.
That's fixable however by creating your own designer. Start with Projects + Add Reference, select System.Design. You'll need to add a public property to the UC to expose the list view and apply the [DesignerSerializationVisibility] attribute to allow changed properties to be saved. And apply the [Designer] attribute to the UC class to replace the default designer. It all should resemble this (using the default names and a ListView that displays "employees"):
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Windows.Forms.Design; // Note: add reference required: System.Design.dll
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1 {
[Designer(typeof(MyDesigner))] // Note: custom designer
public partial class UserControl1 : UserControl {
public UserControl1() {
InitializeComponent();
}
// Note: property added
[DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Content)]
public ListView Employees { get { return listView1; } }
}
// Note: custom designer class added
class MyDesigner : ControlDesigner {
public override void Initialize(IComponent comp) {
base.Initialize(comp);
var uc = (UserControl1)comp;
EnableDesignMode(uc.Employees, "Employees");
}
}
}
The list view in the user control can now be clicked and designed as normal.
I want to create a control in winforms with same behavior as the container controls.
I mean: in design mode, when I drop controls in it, it will group then, just like a groupbox.
This control I'm creating contains some other controls AND a GroupBox.
All I need is: when a control is droped in design mode over my custom control, I'll just put it inside the nested GroupBox.
But I can't figure out how make my control respond to that kind of action in design mode.
Maybe this is what you need, I found it at CodeProject a time ago:
Designing Nested Controls:
This article demonstrates how to allow a Control, which is a child of
another Control to accept having controls dropped onto it at design
time. It is not a large article, there is not much by way of code, and
this may not be either the 'official' or best way to do this. It does,
however, work, and is stable as far as I have been able to test it.
You need to add a Designer attribute to your control, and use a type that derives from or is the ParentControlDesigner Class (needs a reference to the System.Design.dll assembly), like this:
[Designer(typeof(MyCustomControlDesigner1))]
public partial class CustomControl1 : Control
{
public CustomControl1()
{
MyBox = new GroupBox();
InitializeComponent();
MyBox.Text = "hello world";
Controls.Add(MyBox);
}
public GroupBox MyBox { get; private set; }
}
public class MyCustomControlDesigner1 : ParentControlDesigner
{
// When a control is parented, tell the parent is the GroupBox, not the control itself
protected override Control GetParentForComponent(IComponent component)
{
CustomControl1 cc = (CustomControl1)Control;
return cc.MyBox;
}
}
I want to create my own component which consists two other panels. One of them has fixed contents (such as control buttons, etc.) and the other is standard panel, where I can add other components in designer (VS2008).
I know that I have to create UserControl, where I can place my two panels. Then I want to insert my component into the form. But I don't know how to create behavior where I can add other components (such as buttons, labels, etc.) only into second panel in my component.
Could anyone help me with creating this component?
Thank you.
Adam.
Here is an example (snippet of working code):
[Designer(typeof(NavigationalUserControl.Designer))]
public partial class NavigationalUserControl : UserControl
{
class Designer : ControlDesigner
{
public override void Initialize(IComponent component)
{
base.Initialize(component);
var nc = component as NavigationalUserControl;
EnableDesignMode(nc.panel2, "ContainerPanel");
EnableDesignMode(nc.bottomPanel, "BottomPanel");
}
}
// rest of normal class
}
I have found the correct solution (I hope). I have added into my UserControl a property which returns the content panel with this specific Attribute:
[DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Content)]
public Panel PanelContent
{
get { return this.panel2; }
}
Thanks for your help leppie