I have written code that will resize a Control and all of its controls, but there's a problem with the PropertyGrid. The user interface is a GroupBox that contains the TabControl tabContAll. In tabContAll is a TabPage that contains a PropertyGrid.
private void ResizeUI ()
{
ui.Location = new Point (this.ClientRectangle.Left, this.ClientRectangle.Top + menubar.Height);
ui.Size = new Size (this.ClientRectangle.Width, this.ClientRectangle.Height - menubar.Height);
ResizeControl (tabContAll, ui);
}
private void ResizeControl (Control control, Control parent)
{
control.Location = new Point (parent.ClientRectangle.Left, parent.ClientRectangle.Top);
control.Size = new Size (parent.ClientRectangle.Width, parent.ClientRectangle.Height);
foreach (Control child in control.Controls) {
ResizeControl (child, control);
}
}
This function is called when the form loads, and this is what it looks like compared to if I commented out the resizing in the loop so the PropertyGrid doesn't get resized:
Furthermore when it is resized, the description doesn't work. It just shows the name of the property.
I strongly recommend you to not write code for controls resizing unless you need a very very custom behaviour.
Set Control.Dock or Control.Anchor properties instead, and leave the rest to them.
For example, your case can be solved easily by setting the Dock property to DockStyle.Fill for both your TabControl and PropertyGrid (and obviously removing the custom resizing methods).
Here's a complete MSDN Walkthrough for WinForms custom controls design:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6hws6h2t.aspx
Related
In C# WinForms, if a control is docked then the margin is never used. In most cases the trick would be to place the control inside a panel with some padding. Now I'm looking for a solution without the container-panel, because my control is already a descendant of panel. So for the user it would be confusing an I would have route most of the properties from the container-panel to the inner panel.
My first try was a custom LayoutEngine but there is not much on that topic. But it kinda works. But I've some problems with the surrounding (sibling controls) they overlap the part which I made my control "bigger" (margin). In my custom layoutengine is make the control Size bigger (adding the margin) and moving the x/y accordingly
Image Custom Panel
The green control is my custom panel, which is docked bottom and has an margin of 10, the red control is a normal panel which is also docked bottom.
Now I could resize the sibling controls but I think this would make more problems? Is there any way to tell the other (sibling) controls that the size of my control has changed and that they should update their layout?
public class CustomLayoutEngine : LayoutEngine
{
public override bool Layout(object container, LayoutEventArgs layoutEventArgs)
{
bool result = base.Layout(container, layoutEventArgs);
Control parent = container as Control;
if (parent.Dock == DockStyle.Bottom && (parent.Margin.Left > 0 || parent.Margin.Right > 0))
{
Int32 newWidth = parent.Size.Width - (parent.Margin.Left + parent.Margin.Right);
Int32 newHeight = parent.Size.Height - (parent.Margin.Bottom);
parent.Size = new Size(newWidth, parent.Size.Height);
parent.Location = new Point(parent.Location.X + parent.Margin.Left, parent.Location.Y - parent.Margin.Bottom);
}
return result;
}
}
I'm trying to create a custom container as UserControl.
My Goal: I want to be able to drag controls inside the designer and handle incoming controls inside the code of my usercontrol.
Example: I place my container somewhere and then add a button. In this momemt I want my usercontrol to automatically adjust the width and position of this button. Thats the point where Im stuck.
My code:
[Designer("System.Windows.Forms.Design.ParentControlDesigner, System.Design", typeof(IDesigner))]
public partial class ContactList : UserControl
{
public ContactList()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void ContactList_ControlAdded(object sender, ControlEventArgs e)
{
e.Control.Width = 200; // Nothing happens
e.Control.Height = 100; // Nothing happens
MessageBox.Show("Test"); // Firing when adding a control
}
}
The MessageBox is working well. The set width and height is ignored.
The question is just "why?".
EDIT
I've just noticed, when placing the button and recompiling with F6 the button gets resized to 200x100. Why isnt this working when placing?
I mean... the FlowLayoutPanel handles added controls right when you place it. Thats the exact behaviour im looking for.
Using OnControlAdded
To fix your code, when you drop a control on container and you want to set some properties in OnControlAdded you should set properties using BeginInvoke, this way the size of control will change but the size handles don't update. Then to update the designer, you should notify the designer about changing size of the control, using IComponentChangeService.OnComponentChanged.
Following code executes only when you add a control to the container. After that, it respects to the size which you set for the control using size grab handles. It's suitable for initialization at design-time.
protected override void OnControlAdded(ControlEventArgs e)
{
base.OnControlAdded(e);
if (this.IsHandleCreated)
{
base.BeginInvoke(new Action(() =>
{
e.Control.Size = new Size(100, 100);
var svc = this.GetService(typeof(IComponentChangeService))
as IComponentChangeService;
if (svc != null)
svc.OnComponentChanged(e.Control,
TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(e.Control)["Size"], null, null);
}));
}
}
When I add my UserControls to a FlowLayoutPanel, they display properly. When I change the Dock or Anchor properties on the UserControls before adding them, they are still added but do not render.
According to "How to: Anchor and Dock Child Controls" this should be possible.
I can tell that the controls are added (despite not drawing) because adding enough of them causes a vertical scrollbar to appear.
Setting the "Dock" property of the UserControls to "Left" or "None" will cause them to render, but none of the other options.
Setting the "Anchor" property on the UserControls to anything but Top | Left does not render.
Setting the dock before or after adding the control makes no difference (Add, Dock vs. Dock, Add).
The FlowLayoutPanel is itself is docked (Fill), has FlowDirection set to TopDown, has WrapContents set to false, has AutoScroll set to true, and is otherwise default.
I am using .NET 3.5.
In answer to a comment, the two commented lines are the locations I tried to change the dock. The second spot definitely makes more sense, but I tried the other because it couldn't hurt.
public void CreateObjectControl( object o )
{
ObjectControl oc = new ObjectControl();
oc.MyObject = o;
//This was a spot I mentioned:
//oc.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
ObjectDictionary.Add( o, oc );
flowLayoutPanel1.Controls.Add( oc );
//This is the other spot I mentioned:
oc.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
}
try using SuspendLayout and Resumelayout function for the controls before making any amendments which need rendering for proper viewing.
You could see the code from Designer.cs for that particular control
Syntax
control.SuspendLayout();
{Your code for designer amendments}
control.resumeaLayout();
I think I may have found a workaround (read: dirty trick) ... this answer helped to point me in the right direction. Here's an excerpt from the MS article that you also linked to:
For vertical flow directions, the FlowLayoutPanel control calculates the width of an implied column from the widest child control in the column. All other controls in this column with Anchor or Dock properties are aligned or stretched to fit this implied column.
The behavior works in a similar way for horizontal flow directions. The FlowLayoutPanel control calculates the height of an implied row from the tallest child control in the row, and all docked or anchored child controls in this row are aligned or sized to fit the implied row.
This page does not specifically mention that you can't Dock/Anchor the tallest/widest control. But as this control defines the layout behaviour of the FlowLayoutPanel, and thus influences the way all other sibling controls are displayed, it is well possible that Dock and Anchor don't work properly for that 'master control'. Even though I can't find any official documentation regarding that, I believe it to be the case.
So, which options do we have? At runtime, we could add a panel control of height 0 and width of the FlowLayoutPanel client area before you add your usercontrol. You can even set that panel's visibility to false. Subscribing to some Resize/Layout events of the FlowLayoutPanel to keep that panel's size will to the trick. But this does not play nicely at design time. The events won't fire and thus you can't really design the surface the way you want it to look.
I'd prefer a solution that "just works" at design time as well. So, here's an attempt at an "invisible" control that I put together, to fix the controls resizing to zero width if no other control is present. Dropping this as first control onto the FlowLayoutPanel at design time seems to provide the desired effect, and any control subsequently placed on the FlowLayoutPanel is anchorable to the right without shrinking to zero width. The only problem is that, once this invisible control is there, it seems I can't remove it anymore via the IDE. It probably needs some special treatment using a ControlDesigner to achieve that. It can still be removed in the form's designer code though.
This control, once placed onto the FlowLayoutPanel, will listen for resize events of it's parent control, and resize itself according to the ClientSize of the parent control. Use with caution, as this may contain pitfalls that didn't occur to me during the few hours I played with this. For example, I didn't try placing controls that were wider than the FlowLayoutPanel's client area.
As a side note, what will still fail is trying to anchor to the bottom, but that wasn't part of the question ;-)
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.ComponentModel.Design;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace ControlTest
{
public sealed class InvisibleControl : Control
{
public InvisibleControl()
{
TabStop = false;
}
#region public interface
// Reduce the temptation ...
public new AnchorStyles Anchor
{
get { return base.Anchor; }
set { base.Anchor = AnchorStyles.None; }
}
public new DockStyle Dock
{
get { return base.Dock; }
set { base.Dock = DockStyle.None; }
}
// We don't ever want to move away from (0,0)
public new Point Location
{
get { return base.Location; }
set { base.Location = Point.Empty; }
}
// Horizontal or vertical orientation?
private Orientation _orientation = Orientation.Horizontal;
[DefaultValue(typeof(Orientation), "Horizontal")]
public Orientation Orientation
{
get { return _orientation; }
set
{
if (_orientation == value) return;
_orientation = value;
ChangeSize();
}
}
#endregion
#region overrides of default behaviour
// We don't want any margin around us
protected override Padding DefaultMargin => Padding.Empty;
// Clean up parent references
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (disposing)
SetParent(null);
base.Dispose(disposing);
}
// This seems to be needed for IDE support, as OnParentChanged does not seem
// to fire if the control is dropped onto a surface for the first time
protected override void OnHandleCreated(EventArgs e)
{
base.OnHandleCreated(e);
ChangeSize();
}
// Make sure we don't inadvertantly paint anything
protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e) { }
protected override void OnPaintBackground(PaintEventArgs pevent) { }
// If the parent changes, we need to:
// A) Unsubscribe from the previous parent's Resize event, if applicable
// B) Subscribe to the new parent's Resize event
// C) Resize our control according to the new parent dimensions
protected override void OnParentChanged(EventArgs e)
{
base.OnParentChanged(e);
// Perform A+B
SetParent(Parent);
// Perform C
ChangeSize();
}
// We don't really want to be resized, so deal with it
protected override void OnResize(EventArgs e)
{
base.OnResize(e);
ChangeSize();
}
#endregion
#region private stuff
// Make this a default handler signature with optional params, so that this can
// directly subscribe to the parent resize event, but also be called without parameters
private void ChangeSize(object sender = null, EventArgs e = null)
{
Rectangle client = Parent?.ClientRectangle ?? new Rectangle(0, 0, 10, 10);
Size proposedSize = _orientation == Orientation.Horizontal
? new Size(client.Width, 0)
: new Size(0, client.Height);
if (!Size.Equals(proposedSize)) Size = proposedSize;
}
// Handles reparenting
private Control boundParent;
private void SetParent(Control parent)
{
if (boundParent != null)
boundParent.Resize -= ChangeSize;
boundParent = parent;
if (boundParent != null)
boundParent.Resize += ChangeSize;
}
#endregion
}
}
I would like to resize custom control according to items it content
This dont work for me:
public CustomControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
if (ErrorLimits == false && Range == false)
{
this.Size = new Size(100, 100);
this.Invalidate();
}
else
{
this.Size = new Size(250,250);
this.Invalidate();
}
}
It changing nothing, How can I achieve it?
Thanks!
The containing form will instantiate CustomControl and then set its properties in the form's InitializeComponent function. The property values set in the form's designer are applied after the constructor to CustomControl has finished (which, if you think about it, they'd have to be).
Since you are setting your custom sizes in the control's constructor, they're probably getting overridden by the designer values immediately afterwards before the form is displayed.
A better place to set the size is the UserControl.Load event, which occurs after the designer properties have been set.
An even better option would be to properly support auto sizing.
We have a form which displays media items in tab pages of a tab control, and I'm implementing a feature which allows users to 'pop out' the tab pages into their own forms.
However, when I add the media player to a form rather than a TabPage, the background switches from the gradient fill of a tab page to the plain SystemColors.Control background of the parent form. I need to add the the media player to a control which has the same background as a TabControl, but which doesn't display a tab at the top. I tried adding the media player to the TabControl's control collection, but that just throws an exception.
How do I get a control which looks like a TabControl with no tabs? Should I keep trying to add the media player to a TabControl, or should I try to write a Panel with a custom-drawn background? If the latter, how do I make sure that works with all possible themes?
The questions seems to be about the UseVisbleBackgroundStyle. AFAIK only buttons and TabPages have this property.
The following is a very dirty hack, just to get you started:
1) derive a customControl from Panel and add "using System.Windows.Forms.VisualStyles;"
2) Add the following code
//warning: incomplete, add error checking etc
private readonly VisualStyleElement element = VisualStyleElement.Tab.Body.Normal;
public bool UseVisbleBackgroundStyle { get; set; }
protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs pe)
{
if (UseVisbleBackgroundStyle)
{
var x = new VisualStyleRenderer(element);
x.DrawBackground(pe.Graphics, this.ClientRectangle);
}
else
{
base.OnPaint(pe);
}
}
Thanks to Henk - I eventually went with:
protected override void OnPaintBackground(PaintEventArgs e)
{
if (TabRenderer.IsSupported && Application.RenderWithVisualStyles)
{
TabRenderer.DrawTabPage(pe.Graphics, this.ClientRectangle);
}
else
{
base.OnPaintBackground(pe);
ControlPaint.DrawBorder3D(pe.Graphics, this.ClientRectangle, Border3DStyle.Raised);
}
}
Try creating your own customer UserControl
This answer is modified from another answer site. It does the trick rather cleanly.
In the load event for the window containing the tab control, try:
// TabControl is the name of the tab control in this window.
TabControl.Appearance = TabAppearance.FlatButtons;
TabControl.Multiline = false;
TabControl.SizeMode = TabSizeMode.Fixed;
TabControl.ItemSize = new Size(0,1);
// The tabs are now gone. Select the panel you want to display
TabControl.SelectTab("InProgressTab");