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
Related
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.
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'm making such a tabbed "Product Version Control", using an UserControl which encloses fields, checkboxes, text areas, grids, and so on. At runtime, when I add a new tab (like we have on browsers), I instantiate a new UserControl (with all components inside). The issue is: I can get all internal component values and fill an object to persist, but not the other way. I can take all values from Object and set them to EditValue (or Text/Value properties) properties of internal components, but they are not showing up to the user.
Consider:
All my internal components have public set/get methods like shown below
public class TabVersion : UserControl
{
...
public DevExpress.XtraEditors.SpinEdit seRevision
{
get
{
return _seRevision;
}
set
{
_seRevision = value;
}
}
...
}
Inside TabVersion class, I have a "fill" method which receives an "Version" object and set all internal components "EditValue" properties like shown below:
public class TabVersion : UserControl
{
...
public void FillTab(Sheet sheet)
{
...
this.seRevision.EditValue = sheet.NumRevision;
...
}
...
}
At runtime, all EditValue component properties are filled but not showing to the user. Do I have to set "Enabled" or "Visible" properties for each component inside my usercontrol?
Any Ideas?
Thank you in advance.
Well... After googling everywhere with no goal, I wrote a "Fill" method that fills all DevExpress controls inside my user control, and called it inside the "Shown" event at the parent form. I think that's a bug from DevExpress, because all Windows default components works all right when I give them their respective values. That's it.
I'm creating a custom control that I want to be available from Visual Studio's toolbox. The class looks like:
[ToolboxData("<{0}:CustomPanel runat=server></{0}:CustomPanel>")]
public class CustomPanel : Panel
{
}
So far, so good. The control is inheriting from a Panel and once added to the toolbox can be easily dragged and dropped on the aspx page. What I want to do now is add new controls to this panel such as labels and some basic HTML tags. I tried the following without success:
[ToolboxData("<{0}:CustomPanel runat=server></{0}:CustomPanel>")]
public class CustomPanel : Panel
{
protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)
{
Label name = new Label();
name.Text = "Hello jdecuyer!";
this.Controls.Add(name);
base.OnInit(e);
}
}
Any ideas?
To make this considerably easier. I would suggest:
1.) Create a UserControl then from the designer
2.) Add your custom panel class to that usercontrol
3.) Add your labels/links however you see fit.
4.) Add that UserControl to your Page
Ramhound is correct though, it seems you are not giving the label a location, though it should be slated to the top left automatically. And you are adding it to this as opposed to your panel.
Sorry I don't have much exp with asp. Hope this was somewhat helpful.