I am creating a project using VS.NET (C#) with many forms that contain textboxes and associated labels. I have created the association through an exposed property I created for the textbox which contains the label name. The problem is that each time I add a textbox at design-time I have to add a label and then enter the label name into the property of the textbox. I would much rather do this dynamically at design-time when I create the textbox, much like the old VB textbox add. I have been scouring the net for a way to dynamically add a label whenever I add a textbox at design-time without finding any acceptable solutions. I found an answer on this site that suggested adding a user control containing a textbox and label, and though it is probably the best solution I have found, I think it restricts me more than I would like. Do I have to go through some full-blown custom designer to do this hopefully simple task?
TIA
Although I like the solution that uses UserControl better (simpler and easier to handle), but there may be some cases where not creating one more thing that will eat the resources is preferable (for example if you need a lot of such label-textbox pairs on one form).
The simplest solution I came up with is as follows (the label shows in the designer after you build the project):
public class CustomTextBox : TextBox
{
public Label AssociatedLabel { get; set; }
public CustomTextBox():base()
{
this.ParentChanged += new EventHandler(CustomTextBox_ParentChanged);
}
void CustomTextBox_ParentChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.AutoAddAssociatedLabel();
}
private void AutoAddAssociatedLabel()
{
if (this.Parent == null) return;
AssociatedLabel = new Label();
AssociatedLabel.Text = "Associated Label";
AssociatedLabel.Padding = new System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3);
Size s = TextRenderer.MeasureText(AssociatedLabel.Text, AssociatedLabel.Font);
AssociatedLabel.Location = new Point(this.Location.X - s.Width - AssociatedLabel.Padding.Right, this.Location.Y);
this.Parent.Controls.Add(AssociatedLabel);
}
}
Although it isn't a complete solution, you need to code the additional behaviour such as moving the label with the textbox, changing the location of the label when its text changes, removing the label when the textbox is removed, and so on.
Another solution would be to not use the label at all, and just draw the text beside the textbox manually.
I'm afraid not, you would have to use either UserControl or CustomControl as there is no way to add a TextBox and associated Label at the same time
Related
I want to create a textbox on a WinForms form, where the user cannot input text directly. Instead, the content of the textbox should only be "bubbles" (with a "delete" button), showing a text value.
I'm struggeling to find the correct term for this kind of control/behaviour. It should look a bit like the "Tags"-field on StackOverflow when creating a new question.
Are there any existing controls/settings that allow such behaviour? (I have DevExpress if that helps)
Sorry for the vague question, if i knew better terms for what i'm looking for, i'd probably find something...
Instead of a textbox, the container for your bubbles should most likely be a Panel.
You can style it as needed, set the border, background color, etc.
If you don't want to manually position the "bubbles" inside it, use a FlowLayoutPanel. It will automatically put it's children controls in a flow.
Check out the properties of the control to specify how you want controls to be laid out.
The individual bubbles can also be Panels or other container controlls, so that you can add a label and a button (or image to serve as a button) to each.
You might even extend the panel class to automatically add a label and a delete button to each.
something like this (please note this is more like pseudo code. I wrote it up of the top of my head here, some adjustment may be needed)
Public Bubble : Panel {
Public Bubble(string text) {
Label title = new Label { Text = text };
Controls.Add(title);
Button delete = new Button { Text = "Delete" };
Controls.Add(delete);
//also hook up events here, ie delete.click+= whatever
}
}
You can further extend the custom class for your specific needs.
Set styles on the button and label as needed to achive the look you want.
Don't forget to hook up events such as mouse over, button click, etc.
Then just fill the FlowLayoutPanel with these custom controls and you should be good to go
Let's say that I have a panel with like... 3 controls in it. I may end up adding more controls to it or changing the positioning within that panel. When the program starts, I will programmatically HIDE the control. Eventually, the user can click a button that will create a duplicate of the original panel to populate an area on the form. The button should have the option for another click eventually, meaning that multiple instances of these can come about to populate this area. Remember that these controls may have text labels within them that can be individually set or altered later on, programmatically. I am assuming that to do this program, I need to make a List of controls, maybe a List of panels? I'm not exactly sure how to do this considering the fact that I need multiple controls duplicated multiple times.
Is there a nice, simple way to do this? I really don't want to do the duplication with any kind of 3rd-party package.
You will have to do it in code and therefore it'll be as nice as you can code ;-)
Seriously the course most often taken is to
create a UserControl which is a class related to a form, with the layout you want..
..and add more and more instances of it..
..often to a FlowLayoutPanel, often with AutoScroll
This is pretty nice and simple imo.
Here is a short walk-though..:
first we start, as usual, by picking a nice name for the UserObject class, maybe 'DataPanel' or 'BookItem'..
Next we create it: Go to the project explorer and right-click, choosing Add-New UserControl and give it the class name you chose. I'll use 'BookItem'.
Now you can see the Designer showing you a small empty control.
Look closer: You can also see that in the project explorer ther is now not only the new 'BookItem.cs' file but also the complementary 'BookItem.Designer.cs' and even a 'BookItem.resx' file; so this works very much like creating a new Form..
Let's add a few controls from the toolbox, I chose to add a PictureBox, four Labels and a NumericUpDown.
Have a look at the BookItem.Designer.cs file: Here you can see the very things you see in a Form.Desginer.cs file: All settings and all declarations for all controls you add to the layout. Note especially the declarations (at the bottom of the file): Just like for a Form, all controls by default are declared as private!
We can now work on the layout and script the controls. We also can add functions and properties to the UC, just like a Form.
Please note: Anything you need to access from outside, read from your form or its methods must be public! So if you want to access the NUpDown, let call it 'nud_quantity' you have a choice
You can change its declaration in the BookItem.Designer.cs from private to public or in the Designer by changing the Modifiers property
Or you can write a public function in the UC to get/set its value
Chosing between those two ways is a matter of taste; if other developers will work with the UC class, it will probably be better to put close control over what you expose by writing access methods.
After you have compiled the project you can see the new UC in the Toolbox.
You can now either add it from the Toolbox or
you can add it in code like any control you create dynamically.
Let's look at an example:
Imagine a simple order system in a bookstore: The customer has done a search on the books in our store and is presented with a list of books in a DataGridView 'dgv_bookList', readonly, multiselect. To the right there is a FlowLayoutPanel 'flp_cart' represeting a shopping cart. And we have a command button 'cb_addItems' to add selected books to the cart.
The Button might be scripted like this:
private void cb_addItems_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (dgv_bookList.SelectedRows.Count <= 0) return;
foreach (DataGridViewRow row in dgv_bookList.SelectedRows)
{
BookItem book = new BookItem (row);
book.label1.Text = "#00" + book.label1.Text;
book.Name = book.label1.Text;
flp_cart.Controls.Add(book);
}
}
This will add one BookItem for each selected row in the DGV.
A few things to note on the above code:
I pass a DataGridViewRow into the constructor of the UC so it can directly set its labels! This means that, in addition to the parameterless contructor the desginer has built for us, we need to write a second contructor, maybe like this:
public bookItem()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public bookItem(DataGridViewRow bookData)
{
InitializeComponent();
label1.Text = bookData.Cells[0].FormattedValue.ToString();
label2.Text = bookData.Cells[1].FormattedValue.ToString();
label3.Text = bookData.Cells[2].FormattedValue.ToString();
label4.Text = bookData.Cells[3].FormattedValue.ToString();
}
Instead you could write a public setData(DataGridViewRow bookData) function.
Also note how stupid my labels are named! You can do better than that, I hope!
Also note how I access 'label1' and modify its Text from a Button in the Form; to do that I had to change its declaration in the Desginer.cs file:
private System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox pb_cover;
public System.Windows.Forms.Label label1; // <<----expose this label !
private System.Windows.Forms.Label label2;
private System.Windows.Forms.Label label3;
private System.Windows.Forms.Label label4;
private System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown numericUpDown1;
Often preferrable: An access function, maybe like this:
public int quantity() { return (int) numericUpDown1.Value; }
Or, of course a Property:
public int quantity { get { return (int)numericUpDown1.Value; } }
Also note, that I set the Name of the BookData item to some variant of the 1st data item, my book id. This might as well, or better, happen in the constructor; and there should be a check to prevent adding the same item twice..
All in all one can say, that using UserControls is very much like working with Forms, including all the usual ways or tricks for inter-form communication: keep references, expose members, create properties and functions..
One final Note: Like with forms or subclassed controls there is one catch: By placing them in the designer, you assign the designer the responsiblity to display your UC during design time.
This is normally just fine; however it is also possible to introduce subtle mistakes which make it impossible for the designer to display the control. You need to correct these problems before the designer will be able to show a control or any form that contains it. Let have a look at a simple example of such a problem:
Let's script the Paint event of the PictureBox 'pb_cover' in the UC:
public Brush myBrush = null;
private void pb_cover_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
if (pb_cover.Image == null)
{
Size s = pb_cover.ClientSize;
e.Graphics.FillRectangle(myBrush, 0, 0, s.Width, s.Height);
e.Graphics.DrawLine(Pens.Red, 0, 0, s.Width, s.Height);
e.Graphics.DrawLine(Pens.Red, s.Height, 0, 0, s.Width);
}
}
And let's modify the code in the Add button:
BookItem book = new BookItem (row);
book.label1.Text = "#00" + book.label1.Text;
book.myBrush = Brushes.OliveDrab;
flp_cart.Controls.Add(book);
Now, if you run the program all will be fine. Even if you try to look at the UC in the designer there may or may not be problems. But once you try to open a Form on which the UC was placed, the Desginer will crash and tell you that it can't work, since the Brush is null. Here the remedy is simple: add a default value to the Brush declaration and all is well. Other situations may need a little more thinking..
I don't even run into the problem btw, since I have not placed an instance of BookItem on the Form; they are only created in the Add Button..
I hope that gets you started!
hi all and sorry for the confusing title... can't find the right words yet.
just out of curiosity, I am playing with c# user control, I created a control that is built from a panel, a textbox that is being used as a filter, and some labels / buttons/ etc... that are being filtered.
when ever you change the text of the textbox, all the controls on the panel are visible / invisible depending if their Text property contains the Text of the textbox. very simple.
but I want this user control to be such that the user that uses it can drop more labels or controls to it and they will behave the same, I can't figure out how to do that..
when I am editing the control (adding controls to it), it works as expected and the new controls behave as the old ones without code modifications, but only when I am editing the user control and not when using it.
when I am dragging the user control to a form, I can not add controls to it... when I try to add a label to the control - it is just added to the form and not to the control and therefore the text box is not influencing the added label. what should I do if I want to be able to add the control to a form and then add some controls to the control?
I will be happy for some pointers.
here is the relevant code:
private void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
foreach (Control c in panel1.Controls)
{
if (c.Text.Contains(textBox1.Text))
{
c.Visible = true;
}
else
{
c.Visible = false;
}
}
}
edit - pictures added.
as you can see - i typed 1 in the filter text box and all the controls except button1 are now invisible - and of course the bad behaving label.
Thanks,
Jim.
This problem can be solved easily by following the guidelines in
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/813450 which decribes step by step How to make a UserControl object acts as a control container design-time by using Visual C#
In order to modify the user control as a design time control container
add the following code to the Declarations section:
using System.ComponentModel.Design;
Apply the System.ComponentModel.DesignerAttribute attribute to the control as follows:
[Designer("System.Windows.Forms.Design.ParentControlDesigner, System.Design", typeof(IDesigner))]
public class UserControl1 : System.Windows.Forms.UserControl
{
...
}
Then build the solution.
the control will appear as usual in the Toolbox and can be added to forms. Additional controls such as buttone , text boxes etc.. can be added to the control as required.
You describe one of the reasons why I almost never use UserControls. Anything that isn't done to the original UC must be done in code..
You can instead make it a class that is not a UserControl, ie make it a simple subclass of Panel (or FlowLayoutPanel as I do here merely for convenience, while dropping stuff on it during my tests).
class FilterPanel : FlowLayoutPanel
{
TextBox tb_filterBox { get; set; }
Label st_filterLabel { get; set; }
public FilterPanel()
{
st_filterLabel = new Label();
st_filterLabel.Text = "Filter:";
this.Controls.Add(st_filterLabel);
tb_filterBox = new TextBox();
this.Controls.Add(tb_filterBox);
// st_filterLabel.Location = new Point(10, 10); // not needed for a FLP
// tb_filterBox.Location = new Point(100, 10); // use it for a Panel!
tb_filterBox.TextChanged += tb_filterBox_TextChanged;
}
void tb_filterBox_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
foreach(Control ctl in this.Controls)
{
if (ctl != tb_filterBox && ctl != st_filterLabel)
ctl.Visible = ctl.Text.Contains(tb_filterBox.Text);
}
}
}
Now after placing it on a form (or whatever) you (or whoever) can drop Controls onto it in the designer and they'll be part of its Controls collection, just like you want it and will behave as expected..
Two notes on subclassing Controls:
If you break one during developement, the Form(s) using it will be broken, too, until you fix the problem. So take a little extra care!
For the Designer to display the Control it always needs to have one parameterless constructor, like the one above. Even if you prefer to have the ability to hand in parameters, one parameterless constructor must still be there or the designer will get into trouble!
What is the best way to create and read multiple textboxes in a windows form? In my application, I have a windows form where customer can enter multiple addresses, email addresses
Right now I have a form like this,
TextBoxAddress1 TextBoxEmail1
TextBoxAddress2 TextBoxEmail2
.....
.....
.....
TextBoxAddressN TextBoxEmailN
For this I dragged and dropped multiple controls on a form and named each one of them.
If I use this method I had to write lengthy code to see if first row (TextBoxAddress1 TextBoxEmail1) is filled for validation and even for reading I had to write many lines of code.
Is there a better to way achieve this?
You can use the following code to add a TextBox dynamically to your form:
private int m_CurrTexboxYPos = 10;
private List<TextBox> m_TextBoxList = new List<TextBox>();
private void CreateCheckBox()
{
m_CurrTexboxYPos += 25;
TextBox textbox = new TextBox();
textbox.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(0, m_CurrTexboxYPos);
textbox.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(100,20);
Controls.Add(textbox);
m_TextBoxList.Add(textbox);
}
I would have a listbox/listview with your emails and Add/Edit/Delete buttons which show a popup form - the logic for validating emails, etc. would then be in the one place and your list can grow without you ever needing to add controls to the form.
You could dynamically create textboxes - but you end up writing code to make sure they layout nicely on the form, etc. - having some type of list is easier IMO and also lends itself to binding (e.g. to an email object)
Dynamically adding controls is pretty simple, provided you can use DockStyle and an exclusive container for them (e.g. a Panel). If you can't use DockStyle, then you need to write logic to determine Location and Size (which isn't fun).
On a simple form, I have two buttons and a panel, Button1 adds a new TextBox to Panel1, Button2 iterates through the controls in Panel1 and then checks that they are the correct type or throws an exception. This is where you you would put validation or reading logic. Panel1 needs to have AutoScroll = true; otherwise you will run controls off of the viewable screen.
This concept can be switched for anything that inherits from UserControl (all .Net native controls or your own custom controls).
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
TextBox NewEmailBox = new TextBox();
NewEmailBox.Name = "NewEmailBox" + this.panel1.Controls.Count;
NewEmailBox.Dock = DockStyle.Top;
this.panel1.Controls.Add(NewEmailBox);
}
private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
foreach (Control item in this.panel1.Controls)
{
if (item is TextBox)
{
//Do your reading/validating here.
}
else
{
throw new InvalidCastException(string.Format("{0} was in Panel1 and is of type {1} not TextBox!", item.Name, item.GetType()));
}
}
}
Write a user control for each of the groupings you need. at least one One for address, one for email etc. then all of your validation, calls to your database access is contained in a single location
That is just good design. this way if you have multiple tabs for things like Home Information, Work Information, Emergency Contact Information, you can just place them on the form. This is pretty common for a user profile.
Then a listview for each grouping on a user profile page or whatever, that has edit/delete/add then popup a dialog with the appropriate user control in it.
Most simply, ListBox adove TextBox with Button.
Also you can use DataGridView, BuiltIn functionality for Add\Edit\Delete.
Here using DataGridView (ShowHeader set to false, EditMode to On Enter, with one Column with AutoSizeMode in Fill property)
The less of repeatable code you have, the better programmer you are.
Whenever you see a pattern (something what is repeatable), you could and you should try to optimize it. Unless it's something too small to worry.
In your case, determine first what is the basic of repeatable thing. Do you always have to enter address and email address? Then combine them into a control, which can carry out validation. Do you have to use this control often (or repeat N times)? Then maybe it make sense to switch to a list instead (ListBox, ListView or DataGridView).
Are you too lazy to bother configuring things? Then just optimize something what is obviously going to repeat: put validation into common method and call it from each TextBox event. Or make own TextBox with method build-in. Or do validation at once in the Ok button event by using loop.. or not by using loop.
To find best method you have to first decide best for who. Because customer want something shiny,easy to use, animated, with cats and boobs.. ok, without cats and boobs. The point is: how much work are you willing to put to have it best for the customer.
If I would have to enter table data (or data which form table), I'd go with DataGridView so it would looks like this.. or better:
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);