I am currently using windows forms application in visual studio. I want to change button and textbox properties programmatically and not use the the properties tab. How do i do this? Is there a way to access the code of the UI of that button/Textbox after it is changed in the properties tab?
Of course you can change that programmatically. If you have for example a button called btnStart, then you have in your form access to all properties:
btnStart.Text = "start";
Have also a look at: Change properties of programmatically created buttons
EDIT:
If you change it programmatically after the InitializeComponent(); it will override changed properties set manually in the properties tab.
Yes. And in fact it's always done in code -- Properties window (i.e. VS winforms designer) just writes some code for you. You can see that code when you delve into the InitializaComponent() method call in the form's constructor (right click InitializeComporent and select "Go to definition").
Anytime after this InitializeComponent() call, you can add code to change what you want:
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
button1.Text = "Go!";
}
Related
I need to add an output window to my windows form, similar to the output window in visual studio.
What i have done is created a list box and planning to log the details as and when they arrive. I dont know how to add the highlighted button controls (close, windows position, autohide). I am completely new to visual studio, winforms, c#. Just exploring various things to draft an application. I would be nice if anyone could suggest ideas in adding those controls.
And also please suggest if there is an alternative to list box to display the output window.
You can use SplitContainer and add Textbox or RichTextbox as output window you want. You can then append output text to the text property of Textbox ot RichTextbox. Instead of highlighted controls, you can change the size of SplitContainer at run time, or hide one of the section using menu option.
~Nilesh
Based on Sam W 's comment, Using DockPanel would create a another window inside the winform, similar to output, error window in Visual Studio IDE.
dockpanelsuite.com
This site provides amazing Docking Features http://docs.dockpanelsuite.com/ provides steps to install them.
In Form 1, set isMidiContainer = true in Form1's Properties and drag the DockPanel from toolBox(after installing and following steps in that page).
create a form2 and add the following
using WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking;
namespace Forms
{
public partial class Form2 : DockContent
{
public Form2()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
}
In Form1 add
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
Form2 f2 = new Form2();
f2.Show(dockPanel, DockState.DockBottom);
}
We can add many more forms and dock them to one parent form.
I have two Forms ( Form_Graph(Main Form), Form_Setting) and one Setting file. When I click on the Setting button, Form_Setting is opened using ShowDialog().
Form_Setting Contains three buttons OK, Cancel, Apply and setting option. Now the problem is when I change Setting and update setting file and after Click on Apply button, I'm not able to apply this setting to Form_Graph.
(Apply_OnClick saves the new setting in setting files.)
I have tried to refresh Form_Graph using:
Form_Graph obj = new Form_Graph();
Application.OpenForms["Form_Graph"].Refresh();
And also I have debugged it. All Form_Graph code is executing on both the way but hasn't applied the settings.
I know the first way never works because I created one new Form, but what about the second one?
Can anyone have a solution for this?
You don't need to create a new instance of parent in child. The best way to do this normally is to subscribe to events from the child form i.e. Form_Setting. You will need to create an event in the child form as follows:
public event EventHandler SettingsApplied;
public void NotifySettingsApplied(EventArgs e)
{
if(SettingsApplied != null)
SettingsApplied(this, e);
}
public void Apply_OnClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//trigger event here to notify main form
NotifySettingsApplied(e);
}
Then in your parent form, subscribe to this event in the constructor or any other suitable place:
public Form_Graph()
{
fs = new Form_Setting();
fs.SettingsApplied += new EventHandler(fs_SettingsApplied);
}
void fs_SettingsApplied(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//update your main graph form here
}
All i need to write code on Apply_OnClick
// Get Form_Graph object
Form_Graph objGraph = (Form_Graph)Application.OpenForms["Form_Graph"];
// Create a method in Form_Graph class which apply all setting to components
objGraph.UpdateGraph();
// Now refresh Form_Graph
objGraph.Refresh();
Based on your description and comments, you'll need to reload your form for the colors and graphics. You can do it in one of the 3 ways:
Call InitializeComponent() after you return from your settings dialog. This might be dangerous because InitializeComponent() will do other startup stuff too.
Reload your main form too after returning from settings dialog. You may or may not be able to do that based on the state of your main form.
Collect all the code that updates colors and graphics from InitializeComponent() and move it into a separate function. Call it after InitializeComponent() as well as when returning from your settings dialog.
I think the 3rd one would be the cleanest approach.
Edit
Another and generally much more clean way of doing this is through the use of Application Settings. You just go to your form designer, select your control and choose Application Settings from Properties window. Choose the property that you want to bind to a setting and then choose the corresponding setting from the dropdown. If the setting doesn't already exist, you just click the New button and the designer creates one for you.
These settings automatically get loaded and saved for you. No more manual stuff.
Edit 2
For immediate propagation of settings into control properties, you may need to change the default update event when binding your to your setting. To do that, go to your designer file and look for property binding statements:
this.TextBox1.DataBindings.Add("Text", Project1.Properties.Settings.Default.UserName, ""))
and set them to update immediately upon property change:
this.TextBox1.DataBindings.Add(new System.Windows.Forms.Binding("Text", global::Project1.Properties.Settings.Default, "UserName", true, System.Windows.Forms.DataSourceUpdateMode.OnPropertyChanged));
I'm trying to make a WindowsFormApplication in Visual Studio 2015 and need some help.
I've been trying to search for the answer on internet but can find out how to do the following:
I have two windows (solutions?). I open the second window with a button in the first one with this code:
this.Hide();
intermec prodinter = new intermec();
prodinter.ShowDialog();
My question is:
How can i "include" the second window (like "include" in PHP) instead of close the first window and then open the next one, like it does now?
A Form is just another Control. Think of it as a Container (because it holds other Controls).
A User Control can also hold more than one Control. There are ways you can display a Window inside another Window in a WinForms app, but the desired effect is not always guaranteed. So it would be best to place all of your controls (for "page 1", for example) in a User Control called "Page1", and then, when appropriate, add that User Control to the Form, and set its Dock property to Fill.
And when it's time to show a different "page", Hide(); "Page1", and Show(); "Page2".
I think you are talking about form inheritance:
Just create a form, lets call it as frmBase. And add some controls onto frmBase which you want to have on other forms as well.
Create other form, lets call it as frmDerived.
In the code behind of frmDerived, just do the following:
// derive the frmDerived form from frmBase
public partial class frmDerived : frmBase
{
public frmDerived()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
And then just check the frmDerived form design, it should include everything from frmBase.
And you may want to make the access modifier of some controls of frmBase to Public as required to access them on frmDerived.
I hope this will help you. :)
I'm currently working on a "Settings" screen for a project and want to implement a view similar to that found in Visual Studio, where there is a TreeView with a list of options and clicking on one of these options will load a UserControl in an adjacent panel in the same form. I am using a SplitContainer to group these two controls.
I thought that the Load event for the User Control would be triggered when it was displayed in the panel, but this is not the case. I also tried to trigger the Enter event but it still did not work so I tried to call a function when the form was initialized using the following method.
ViewSecurity newViewSecurity = new ViewSecurity(Globals._connectionString);
// This creates a new instance of the ViewSecurity form from within the TreeView.
And this is the code in the initializing function for the User Control
public ViewSecurity(string _cString)
{
InitializeComponent();
connectionString = _cString;
MessageBox.Show("Test");
populateData();
}
This method does not work either - the MessageBox does not show up and the function populateData() isn't called either. Any advice on how I could achieve what I am trying to do?
Thanks in advance!
I have a simple user control with a text box and label in it. I created public properties to access the text in the textbox when I use the user control in another form.
My problem is the property is returning null value when I call it in the form. Am i missing anything?
My property is as follows::
public partial class UserControl1 : UserControl
{
public UserControl1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public string rtnTxtMake
{
get
{
return txtMake.Text;
}
set
{
txtMake.Text = value;
}
}
}
and in the next forms button click event i call the property as follows
UserControl1 Usc = new UserControl1();
string Make = Usc.rtnTxtMake;
MessageBox.Show(Make)
UserControl1 Usc = new UserControl1();
string Make = Usc.rtnTxtMake;
If your user control has by default an empty textbox field, then it seems correct that the above two lines of code would return either null or String.Empty (check via String.IsNullOrEmpty), since you explicitly create a new instance of your user control.
I suppose what you really want is this:
You have inserted a user control into a form in the Designer. Let's call this user control instance ctlUser.
You have a button with a Click event handler. The last few lines of code in your question are from that handler method.
In the handler, you wouldn't create a new instance of your user control (Usc) but refer to the one that you previously inserted into your form, ctlUser. Then things should work as expected.
Your UserControl must be added to the Controls collection of a parent Form/Control before it can be properly initialized. Normally you would not write the code yourself that creates and adds the UserControl.
Instead, first build your project, then go to the Deisgner view of your main form and look at the Toolbox.
Your UserControl name (and an icon) should appear towards the top of the toolbox, and you can simply drag it to the main form. The Windows Forms designer will automatically generate the needed initialization code for you.
You should not create a new instance of your control in your button click event handler. Using the Designer approach to create your control you can simply access the existing instance of your control as follows:
public void button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// myUserControl1 has already been created and initialized by the Deisgner generated code
// Note the name 'myUserControl1' is just an example, yours may be different.
string controlText=myUserControl1.rtnTxtMake;
// Or to change the UserControl textbox value
myUserControl1.rtnTxtMake="Testing";
}
What exactly to you mean when you say that the property is returning a null value? Is it actually null, or is your MessageBox simple showing empty?
I quickly duplicated your code and it behaves exactly as expected - the MessageBox shows, but it is empty because the default value of the Text property of the TextBox control is an empty string.
Also, the way you are approaching this is a little unusual.
Firstly, the line:
UserControl1 Usc = new UserControl1();
You do not generally need to instantiate a user control like this. Instead you can drag the control from the toolbox onto the design surface of your form. This will then take care of instantiating and initialising your control for you.
I think that this is actually your problem - when you include the line of code above, you are creating a new instance of the user control, and this is is no way realted to the user control that you have dragged onto the designer.
If you go to the designer view of your form and click on the user control, you should see a properties window somehere. If you do no, then either select it from the View menu, or press F4. In the list of properties, there should be one "Name" this is the programatic name generated for your user control. You can change this here if you want, but when you refer to this control in the rest of the form, this is what you must use.
Secondly, the next two lines:
string Make = Usc.rtnTxtMake;
MessageBox.Show(Make)
You can access the property rtnTxtMake directly. Unless you later need to access the Make string in the rest of your code, then directly accessing the property would usually be considered better style.
MessageBox.Show(userControl.rtnTxtMake);