I've been diving into C# for the first time by trying to recreate a screensaver that I made in Java comprised of a grid of panels which change color randomly. So far, I've gotten the code for the panels to work, and now I'm trying to add them to a Form to prototype the layout. I plan to determine the number of panels to be displayed at runtime (so that 16:9, 4:3, 16:10, etc. can all make the screensaver look good), but the only ways that I've found from searching the internet to add elements to a Form involve using Visual Studio's design tools. Therefore, I have a few questions:
How can I set up the layout of the Form in something akin to Java's GridLayout?
What's the code needed to add elements to a Form?
Is there a better thing for me to be using instead of a Form?
You can add panels to a form at runtime the same way the designer does - construct the Panel, and add it to the form (via this.Controls.Add(thePanel);).
The easiest way to see the appropriate code is to add a panel to the form using the designer, then open up the "YourForm.designer.cs" file. The designer just generates the required code for you - but you can see the exact code required to duplicate what the designer would create.
As for the layout, I'd recommend watching the Layout Techniques for Windows Forms Developers video. It may give you some good clues as to the various options available for layout. There is nothing exactly like Java's GridLayout, though there are some open source projects that attempt to duplicate this functionality.
You definitely are gong to need to create a form application to get this to work. In addition, every control you see in the designer, can be added programmatically.
You could have a method that cranks out new panels as needed....
Here is the code that will create a new panel:
Panel panel1 = new Panel();
Once it is declared, you can access all the properties.
To add the panel to the form you would do something like this....
myform.controls.add(panel1);
So knowing that, you can create a method that will format your panel and return or add it tor the form....
You'll want to use TableLayoutPanel or something along those lines. Then you can use the Controls property to add panels to it.
Related
I need to create a list in c# with click-able and customizable child elements.
Check attached image (red square) to get a feeling of what I would like to end up with. I tested on a control called "list view". I can add an icon and a label, it is not enough, I need more customization.
So question: Which c# control should I use? Maybe share a link if you know something useful.
Note: I don't really know or enjoy C# (I am Java guy), as IDE I use Visual Studio C#, express edition and I would love to minimize the coding part as much as possible
First, create a user control (says ContactRow.cs)
Draw what ever UI that you need on it. (Image, text, etc)
Secondly, Create a container form (says ContactList.cs)
Add a TableLayoutPanel (Or FlowLayoutPanel Or equivalent) into container form.
Set AutoScroll property = true so that it scrolls.
In run time, you can new an instance of your ContactRow.cs and set all the values.
Then add it into the TableLayoutPanel using the TableLayoutPanel.Controls.Add(contactrow)
I'm working with a GUI in PowerShell and trying to make the form such that, after the form is built, the user can interact with the part of the form (+/- button) to dynamically add a group of controls to the form underneath of the existing set.
As an example, there will be a combobox (drop-down) to select a parameter and then a text field to fill in the value for the selected parameter.
What I'm looking for is a way to dynamically add that group of controls to the form when the user clicks the plus button. My current attempts have failed. I've tried pinning the controls inside of a TableLayoutPanel and a Panel object but can't seem to get the items to appear in the first place and then appear in some semblence of order. Is there a GUI object that I can pin the controls to that will just auto-dump the next row of controls below the existing or do I have to figure out the calculations off of the docked parent and offset the Y-values?
Does anyone know a PowerShell accessible Windows form control that would support this type of additions?
One of my attempts is psoted here: .NET 4 (WinForms) Dynamic Form Control Creation in Powershell
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Maybe you could use FlowLayoutPanel. Here is the sample script for using FlowLayoutPanel in Powershell
It's not Winforms, but there is a new module up on Codeplex called ShowUI, which enables you to create WPF based UI's in PowerShell. Take a look at http://showui.codeplex.com. There is some examples up there on using Grid controls and automatic layouts, that I think could meet your needs if you are willing to jump into WPF.
Got the answer from a Microsoft PowerShell forum Moderator:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ITCG/thread/b2c8abeb-3ae6-4936-9bef-a50a79fdff45/
it's the datagridview object that needs to be used.
Can't you simply build your form (for example with Sapiens free editor tool) with all the controls invisible, and then according to the user choice make them visible ?
I have a section of a form where the controls (text boxs, labels etc) need to be built at run time depending on options a user has selected. There will probably be about 7 - 10 different layouts in all.
What's the best way to go about creating and maintaining them?
Cheers
Luke
It would be helpful to know more about the specifics of your situation (what kind of options are we talking about?)
But off the top of my head, I'd guess you probably want to create a set of Panels which would contain the appropriate controls then hide or show them depending on the options.
I have actually had to do just this. I did it with a set of panels (as #David suggests) and also a TreeView. Using the tree view, I customized the visuals to make them mimic an options menu in Microsoft Office, and then I show the appropriate panel based on the user's selection of nodes. If you'd like to see code samples let me know.
All WinForms controls has corresponding classes (Button, Link, EditBox etc.) You can create any controls you want and attach them to form.
Inside the form Init you can add new controls into Controls collection.
public void Init()
{
this.Controls.Add(new TextBox());
}
Some more details in MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0h5y8567.aspx
I'm trying to create an options menu in a C# forms project, and I'm curious if there's a less ugly way to do this. I have a ListBox that has the different categories of options, and when you select a category, the options for that category appear in a panel on the right. Basically, something identical to the options menu in Visual Studio itself.
Obviously, different controls have to use the same real estate here, as every category has different options which need to be displayed in the same area of my form. So when you select a category, the controls for every other category must become hidden.
I'm currently using a different Panel object for each category (13 currently), but designing each panel is a headache because i need to drag the other 12 panels out of the way each time I need to alter one. Is there a better way to do this? I'm open to any suggestions, whether its a complete change in the implementation, or even just a Visual Studio tip for working with 1 of 13 panels that all overlap.
If all else fails I could use a TabControl rendered horizontally, but I don't like how that looks.
Thanks in advance.
I can think of three alternate approaches:
(Ok) Use a tab control that doesn't display the headers for the user.
(Better) Create user controls for each option page, so you have different designer files for each.
(Better yet?) Dynamically generate the UI based on some descriptive information, so there are no designer files to deal with at all.
Take a look at the UserControl class. You can design on it with the Forms Designer, than programatically place it to the right of your ListBox when items are selected. Create a different UserControl for each category of options that you have.
First you should know when you are in Design Mode that there is a drop down menu from the Properties Windows (View->Prpoerties Menu), that allows you to select a control. So you don't need to move other controls out of the way encesarily.
Second, I would make the options panel for each category it's own user or custom control. This way you can edit the panel itself seperately. Then you have the option of showing/hiding that custom control when it's category is selected, or even dynamically creating the control.
I have inherited a control from Panel-Class.
I have added some events to this control. I gave move - ability to this control
and so on ..
I have two display screens. I have a main program where the inherited
panel is displaying an image on a small area. I want to show this panel
fullscreen on a second.
I created a new form and use the same control... But i can not move both screens
together. What should I do ?
If you want to be able to manipulate both forms at the same time, show the second form with Show() instead of ShowDialog(). You can certainly pass the original panel to the second form and add it to the form's Controls collection. I am not sure if this is the best way to do it (sharing one control across two forms), but I don't know your requirements either.
I wouldn't use a second form, but a second 'mode' (fullscreen vs. not) on your existing form.
You can have 2 panel controls, or just one and resize.
I think this kind of behaviour calls for a model-view pattern. If that's implemented, the rest should fall into place.
The problem is that you only have one instance of your inherited panel. You actually have to make another "copy" of it, a new instance, before you can add it to the other form.
Mypanel mypanel1 = new Mypanel();
Mypanel mypanel1copy = new Mypanel();
You can either edit these instances to contain the same data all the time through the run, or use something like "Deep Copy":
How do you do a deep copy of an object in .NET (C# specifically)?
Keep in mind, that any changes to mypanel1 should be done to mypanel1copy, too.