Deriving from ComboBox - c#

I need to derive a class from ComboBox and change its Items property. Here is my code:
public class MyComboBox2 : ComboBox
{
private MyObjectCollection MyItems;
public MyComboBox2()
{
MyItems = new MyObjectCollection(this);
}
//new public ComboBox.ObjectCollection Items
new public MyObjectCollection Items
{
get {
return MyItems;
}
}
}
public class MyObjectCollection : ComboBox.ObjectCollection
{
public MyObjectCollection(ComboBox Owner) : base(Owner)
{
}
new public int Add(Object j)
{
base.Add(j);
return 0;
}
}
As you can see, I am creating a new class MyComboBox2 derived from ComboBox. This class is supposed to have a new Items property, which would be of type MyObjectCollection rather than ComboBox.ObjectCollection. I have a comboBox called myComboBox21 on the form of type MyComboBox2. When I want to add a new object to my ComboBox, I would execute code like this: myComboBox21.Items.Add("text");
In this case, I end up executing the Add method of MyObjectCollection that I implemented myself. However, the ComboBox on the form does not end up containing value 'text'. I am attaching screenshot of debugger showing ComboBox values. MyComboBox21 contains Items Property (which does contain "text", as shown in screenshot "2.png"), and it contains base.Items (which does not contain "text" as shown in "1.png"). So, apparently, MyComboBox21 contains its own Items property (which I can insert to), and its base class's Items property, which gets displayed in the Windows Form. What can I do so that I can successfully add to comboBox with my own method? Since my ComboBox has 2 Items properties, can I specify which Items property's values should be shown in ComboBox?

Just by looking very quickly on the code:
The original Item index is declared as
virtual Object this[int index] {...}
Does the new keyword maybe be exchanged by override in your implementation in order to make the runtime pick the intended code?

Related

Sorting a listbox relative to another

I know that you can set up a ListBox to sort automatically. Is there a way to "catch" the sorting so that when the ListBox swaps the position of two items so that I can do the same reordering on another list box? I want sort one list box by by value but keep those values at the same relative index locations compared to another ListBox somewhere else.
I could write a routine to bubble sort the list so that I could make the changes myself, but it I am wondering if there is a more automated since I will likely have to do this at a few different places in the program.
Unfortunately, the Sorted property does not use the IComparable interface implementation just sorts based on the result of ToString of the items. But instead of setting the Sorted property, you can use a sorted data source (a List<>, for example).
Create a wrapper class for the items in the ListBox and implement the IComparable<T> interface on it. Populate a List<> with these ListBoxItem instances, then call the Sort method on the list. Thus you will able to dispatch the CompareTo calls.
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private class ListBoxItem<T> : IComparable<ListBoxItem<T>>
where T : IComparable<T>
{
private T item;
internal ListBoxItem(T item)
{
this.item = item;
}
// this makes possible to cast a string to a ListBoxItem<string>, for example
public static implicit operator ListBoxItem<T>(T item)
{
return new ListBoxItem<T>(item);
}
public override string ToString()
{
return item.ToString();
}
public int CompareTo(ListBoxItem<T> other)
{
return item.CompareTo(other.item); // here you can catch the comparison
}
}
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
var items = new List<ListBoxItem<string>> { "Banana", "Apple"};
items.Sort();
listBox1.DataSource = items;
}

Display specified text for listbox items

I have a list that contains custom objects. These objects have different properties, and I have ~100 of them. I want to create a list of them in a listbox, but the listbox displays only
MyNamespace.MyClass
MyNamespace.MyClass
MyNamespace.MyClass
MyNamespace.MyClass
...
Is it possible to make the listbox display a certain value for each item? Lets say my objects have an ID string value. Can I display the ID for each item without discarding my objects' other properties?
I currently fill the listbox this way:
lbox.Items.Clear();
lbox.Items.AddRange(list.ToArray());
Set the DisplayMember to the property of your class that you'd like the user to see.
lbox.Items.Clear();
lbox.Items.AddRange(list.ToArray());
lbox.DisplayMember = "ID"; // ID is a public property in MyClass
Lets say you MyClass looks like this:
public class MyClass
{
public int Id { get; set; }
}
There are two options available.
You can use DataBinding for that.
Set the DisplayMember to the propertie of your MyClass which you would like to display
lbox.DisplayMember = "Id";
Set the items using the DataSource propertie of your ListBox
lbox.DataSource = list.ToArray();
You can simple override the ToString method of your MyClass object and return the text you would like to display.
Override the ToString method of your MyClass
public class MyClass
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public override string ToString()
{
return Id.ToString();
}
}
Set the items the same way as you mentioned
lbox.Items.AddRange(list.ToArray());
More Information
MSDN: ListControl.DisplayMember Property
MSDN: Object.ToString Method
Without discarding the object you can attach the object to the tag after.
list.ToList().ForEach(item => lbox.Items.Add(new ListItem(item.ID){Tag = item});
then to retreive it :
var myitem = ((ListItem)lbox.SelectedItem).Tag as MyClass;
Try using Linq.
lbox.Items.AddRange(list.Select(x => x.ID).ToArray());
Where ID is a property with the value you want to show.
You can also override ToString() in the class.

How to make a User control property of type Collection<MyClass> editable in Form Designer?

Today at work, I stumbled upon a problem that was driving me nuts.
Basically my goal is this:
I have a UserControl1, with a field of the type Collection<Class1> and a corresponding property Collection<Class1> Prop. Like this:
public class UserControl1 : UserControl
{
private Collection<Class1> field = null;
// later changed to:
//private Collection<Class1> field = new Collection<Class1>();
[Category("Data")]
[DefaultValue(null)]
[Description("asdf")]
public Collection<Class1> prop
{
get { return field; }
set { field = value; }
}
}
// later added:
//[Serializable]
public class Class1
{
private bool booltest; public bool Booltest { get...set...}
private int inttest; public int Inttest { get...set...}
}
If you already know what I screwed up: no need to read the rest. I am going to describe what exactly I did.
Now I put the UserControl onto a random Form and change the Prop property. A generic "Collection Editor" appears, like the one used for the columns and groups in a listview control. I can enter data as expected. However, when I click OK, the data is gone.
It took me over hour to figure out that I actually have to instantiate my field: private Collection<MyClass> field = new Collection<MyClass>();. Very good, only that the designer entered superspazzing mode. Cascading nightmare error message that can be reduced to: "You must put [Serializable] before your Class1." After doing that I could actually put my UserControl1 on the Form again.
But that only works once. When opening the designer of the Form where I use the UserControl1 after editing something, it gives me an error:
Object of type 'userctltest.Class1[]' cannot be converted to type 'userctltest.Class1[]'.
Well. The Error List says:
Warning: ResX file Object of type 'userctltest.Class1[]' cannot be converted to type 'userctltest.Class1[]'. Line 134, position 5. cannot be parsed.
The designer tries to fetch the Property's data from the resx file. Removing the resx file "solves" that exactly once.
The Form can now be displayed again, with my UserControl1. The Collection property is editable, and it is being saved. It actually works. Once. Whenever I change something and then try to open the Form's designer again, the above error occurs again. I can delete the resx file, but that will of course also delete my data.
Relevant resources that helped me so far (among a ton of not so helpful search results):
http://www.codeproject.com/Answers/190675/Usercontrol-with-custom-class-property#answer1
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/propertyeditor.aspx
http://www.csharpfriends.com/Articles/getArticle.aspx?articleID=94
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.runtime.serialization.iserializable.aspx
(I also tried implementing ISerializable and overriding GetObjectData with
{ info.AddValue("testbool", testbool); info.AddValue("testint", testint); }
didn't help either (I also tried the property names instead of the field names))
Sorry for writing this like a bad horror novel btw.
What you want is a design time support with CodeDom serialization. You do not need SerializableAttribute or ISerializable, those are for binary serialization.
Since you want to serialize the collection, you must tell the designer to serialize it as such. That is done with the DesignerSerializationVisibiliby attribute - value of Content tells the designer to serialize property contents rather than property itself. Contents of the property should of course be CodeDom serializable, which simple classes with simple properties are by default.
So if you change your UserControl1 class like this:
public class UserControl1 : UserControl
{
private Collection<Class1> field = new Collection<Class1>();
[Category("Data")]
[Description("asdf")]
[DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Content)]
public Collection<Class1> prop
{
get { return field; }
}
}
... it should do the trick. Oh and collection properties are usually not writeable, although that is not mandatory. But serializer expects the collection property to be initialized, that is why you had to add initialization for the field.
Another note, if you do not want that your property is marked with bold in the property editor, you can specify a more complex "default value" through a special method ShouldSerializePropertyName, which can even be private. Like so:
private bool ShouldSerializeprop()
{
return (field.Count > 0);
}
Now your property will only be bold when it is not empty. But I digress, this was not a question :)
The perfect exemple is this:
public partial class SCon : UserControl
{
public SCon()
{
InitializeComponent();
if (Persoanas == null)
{
Persoanas = new List<Persoana>();
}
}
[DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Content)]
public List<Persoan> Persoanas { get; set; }
}
[Serializable]
public class Persoan
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public String Name { get; set; }
}
Just change Collection<> to List<>

Using custom objects for (CheckedListBox).Items.Add()

When I add an item to the CheckedListBox list box I also want to store a reference to another object. I tried adding a new instance of this object to the CheckedListBox.
public class CheckedListBoxExtention : CheckedListBox
{
private ReferenceItem _referenceItem;
public ReferenceItem storedItem
{
get { return _referenceItem; }
set { _referenceItem = value; }
}
public CheckedListBoxExtention(ReferenceItem storedItem)
{
_referenceItem = storedItem;
}
}
This works in that later when I foreach though the items in CheckedListBox I have a reference to the _referenceItem object. However, when I add items like this, CheckedListBox shows up as blank (the list in the GUI itself). So I am trying to find a way to override the item text or something like that.
This is the code I used to fix the problem
class ReferenceItemWrapper
{
private ReferenceItem _item;
public ReferenceItemWrapper(ReferenceItem item)
{
_item = item;
}
public ReferenceItem getItem
{get {return _item;}}
public override string ToString()
{
return _item.ToString();
}
}
I am a bit new to wrappers. Why exactly did it work after it was wrapped when it did not work when I added the ReferenceItem directly to the CheckedListBox?
The CheckedListBox uses the ToString method of the objects in the list to populate the captions in the box. Rather than extend the CheckedListBox, just create a wrapper class that lets you store both your reference and a caption, and implements a ToString method which returns your caption. Just create one of your wrapper objects, stick the text in it, stick your reference in it, then add the wrapper object to the list box.

Property setter not getting called with CollectionEditor

I have a custom control that has an Items property. I Have applied an EditorAttribute with a UITypeEditor of type CollectionEditor.
Collection Type:
[Serializable]
[Editor(typeof(CollectionEditor), typeof(UITypeEditor))]
public class ListItemsCollection : CollectionBase
{
// methods
}
Property Declaration In The Control:
private new ListItemsCollection _Items;
[Editor(typeof(CollectionEditor), typeof(UITypeEditor))]
public new ListItemsCollection Items
{
get
{
return _Items;
}
set
{
_Items = value;
// do other UI changes
}
}
Problem:
When I drop this control to the designer surface, I am able to add items to the Items property using the PropertyGrid. But, the when I click the Ok button of the CollectionEditor the setter of the Items property is not getting called.
AFAIK when a value is returned from the EditValue method of a UITypeEditor class the setter block of the property is supposed to be called.
This is driving me insane. I even tried adding Event's to the ListItemsCollection, so that when Items are added, I can whatever I want with the control's ui.
This is not supposed to be hard. What am I doing wrong?
I try to reprodeuce your situation: using following code, I get a message box showing whenever I edit the list from VS property window. Beware that you have to create the list by yourself. If you don't create it, VS create a temp list which you can edit from property window, but does not set your property to this list (so your setter will never be called)
public UserControl1()
{
InitializeComponent();
list = new BindingList<ListViewItem>();
list.ListChanged += new ListChangedEventHandler(list_ListChanged);
}
void list_ListChanged(object sender, ListChangedEventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show(e.ListChangedType.ToString());
}
private BindingList<ListViewItem> list;
public BindingList<ListViewItem> List1
{
get { return list; }
}
Collection properties should be read-only. It's the collection that is retrieved through the getter, and adjusted. The setter never enters into it, because that would mean setting a new collection.

Categories

Resources