I've decided to reimplement the datetime picker, as a standard datetime picker isn't nullable. The user wants to start with a blank field and type (not select) the date.
I've created a user control to do just that, but if the user control is near the edge of the form, it will be cut off on the form boundry. The standard datetime picker doesn't suffer from this problem.
Here is a picture showing the problem. My user control is on the left, the standard datetimepicker is on the right:
alt text http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/9104/datetimepickervu6.jpg
As you can see, the standard control will display over the form AND application boundry. How do I get the month picker in my control to do the same thing?
Thanks!
The ToolStripDropDown control has this functionallity so by inheriting from it we can make a simple PopupWindow.
/// <summary>
/// A simple popup window that can host any System.Windows.Forms.Control
/// </summary>
public class PopupWindow : System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown
{
private System.Windows.Forms.Control _content;
private System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripControlHost _host;
public PopupWindow(System.Windows.Forms.Control content)
{
//Basic setup...
this.AutoSize = false;
this.DoubleBuffered = true;
this.ResizeRedraw = true;
this._content = content;
this._host = new System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripControlHost(content);
//Positioning and Sizing
this.MinimumSize = content.MinimumSize;
this.MaximumSize = content.Size;
this.Size = content.Size;
content.Location = Point.Empty;
//Add the host to the list
this.Items.Add(this._host);
}
}
Usage:
PopupWindow popup = new PopupWindow(MyControlToHost);
popup.Show(new Point(100,100));
...
popup.Close();
The screenshots looks like a Windows Forms applications, so my answer is for winforms.
I guess the best solution would be to create a customcontrol that itself uses the datetime picker that already has the behavior.
Show a empty textbox until it gets clicked, then display the datetimepicker.
That would save you a bunch of code..
I ran into this when trying to implement a custom control and discovered that it's a remarkably hard problem. There's no built-in functionality within the Windows.Forms model to support controls whose display area extends outside the client area of their container.
You basically have to either use the Windows API or draw your controls inside a Form with AlwaysOnTop set. Both approaches are harder than they should be. I ended up redesigning my control so that instead of displaying its expanded contents in a dropdown it used a modal dialog. This was a pretty unsatisfying solution, but I spent a couple of weeks trying other approaches and could never get anything that worked consistently across all use cases (like disappearing when the application loses focus).
I'm not 100% sure, but a quick look at the DateTimePicker class on Reflector takes me to the SafeNativeMethods.SetWindowPos internal class.
You can override the SetBoundsCore from the base Control class or, like Tigraine stated, create a custom control based on the DateTimePicker.
Hope it helps,
Bruno Figueiredo
The reason that your control gets chopped off is because it is a child control of the form that you reside on. Any control on the form must be contained by the form, hence it gets chopped off.
I haven't done this in .Net, but had a similar problem in VB6. The solution then was to set the parent of the popup window (the calendar in your case) to be the desktop. This will allow it to extend beyond the boundaries of your form. You'll have to do some P/Invoke magic to find the hWnd of the popup, and another P/Invoke to set the parent.
Related
I am making a game using Windows Forms, and I feel that the easiest way to make different screens (Main Menu, Settings, Etc...) is using a separate form for each screen. I have looked up up many different ways to do this. Many people talk of using form2.Show(); this.Hide();, however, this creates a new popup window.
People have also suggested using this.IsMdiContainer = true; to create a new window inside of the current window, but this is also not the functionality I want.
EDIT: Another question, multiple-guis-one-window, explains slightly that this can be achieved using UserControls, but does not elaborate with any examples, or what I should do.
I want to completely replace the current form's functionality with that of a new form.
Is there a way to achieve this? If not, is there a good alternative?
As I understood, you want to keep the same form and change the data inside that form (to not get the effect that your form was closed and reopened again).
The problem is windows form does not support such thing directly (at least not in an optimal way), I would use another UI frameworks for that. However, if you want to stick though with windows forms, you may use GroupBox or Panel tools (available from windows form design tools in Visual studio). Here you can group your elements as required, and show/hide the group/panel as required.
That is one of the best available solution for windows form AFAIK.
You want to open child forms within main form then you should try this i have create it without any User Control.
I have manage one parent form and two child forms. child forms should be open within parent form.
frmMain(Parent Form)
Set frmMain Property as Following
WindowState = System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState.Maximized
I have take 3 panel in frmMain window.
pnlMenu (For Display Menu)
Set pnlMenu.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Top property
Set height of this panel as you require.
pnlMain (For Display Child Forms)
Set pnlMain.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Fill property
pnlFooter (For Footer Section)
Set pnlFooter.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Bottom; property
Set height of this panel as you require.
I have set menubar in pnlMenu(Click on that menu for display child form in pnlMain)
frmMain.cs
public void BindFormIntoMainForm(Form Main)
{
Main.TopLevel = false;
Main.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
Main.AutoScroll = true;
pnlMain.Controls.Clear();
pnlMain.Controls.Add(Main);
pnlMain.Refresh();
Main.Show();
}
private void childToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
frmChildForm1 ChildForm1 = new frmChildForm1();
BindFormIntoMainForm(ChildForm1);
}
private void childForm2ToolStripMenuItem1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
frmChildForm2 ChildForm2 = new frmChildForm2();
BindFormIntoMainForm(ChildForm2);
}
BindFormIntoMainForm method responsible for display child form in main window.
frmChildForm1 & frmChildForm2(ChildForm)
Set both form Property as Following
FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None
Now when you click on Child Form 1 Menu then display following output:
when you click on Child Form 2 Menu then display following output:
I think it can be helpful for you.
Currently I have a C# program with a windows form and then a user control template put onto the form. The user control template is really just used as a placeholder. I have a series of other controls which inherit from this user control template.
Each of those controls have navigation buttons like 'Continue' and 'Back' on them and each control knows which control needs to be loaded next. However what I need to figure out is an easier way to have variables that are global to these controls.
The only workaround I have is that I pass the form to each control when they are loaded and use variables inside of the form to read and write to. What would be the proper way to have each of these user control screens be built off of a base control which contained objects all of the controls could get to?
Sorry for the rambling nature of the post but I've been thinking about this problem all morning.
Here is some of the code:
Most of what I have written was based on hiding and showing the user controls so that content in the controls wouldn't be lost during navigation. I won't be needing to do that as eventually it will be loading the fields of data from a database.
Code for initially loading control from form click:
conTemplate1.Controls.Clear();
conInbound Inbound = new conInbound(this);
Inbound.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
Inbound.Anchor = (AnchorStyles.Left | AnchorStyles.Top);
conTemplate1.Controls.Add(Inbound);
Code for Continue button inside of one of the controls:
if ((Parent.Controls.Count - 1) <= Parent.Controls.IndexOf(this))
{
UserControl nextControl = new conPartialClear();
nextControl.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
Parent.Controls.Add(nextControl);
this.Hide();
Parent.Controls[Parent.Controls.IndexOf(this) + 1].Show();
}
else
{
this.Hide();
Parent.Controls[Parent.Controls.IndexOf(this) + 1].Show();
}
The best-practice for communicating from a control to a parent is to use events, and for communicating from a parent to a control is to call methods.
However, if you don't want to or can't follow this practice, here's what I would recommend.
Each UserControl has a ParentForm property that returns the Form that contains the control. If you know that the UserControl will always be attached to MyParentForm, you just cast the ParentForm and then you can access all public controls, methods, etc.
Here's what I mean:
public class conTemplate
{
public MyParentForm MyParentForm
{
get
{
return (MyParentForm)this.ParentForm;
}
}
}
This way, you can easily access any public members of MyParentForm. Your conInbound class could have code such as this.MyParentForm.GlobalSettings.etc..., and could even have access to any public controls.
I'm not totally sure I understand your problem. It sounds like you want the user control to "do something" with it's parent form. If that's the case, you may want to consider adding events to the UC and then handle them on the form itself.
Basically, for your UC's "continue", you'll have an event that's fired when it's pressed. You'll want to handle that in your form. I'm not real sure about the syntax from memory, or I'd work something out for you code-wise. But I think that's the route you'll want to take. Think of your UC like any other windows form control. If you add a button to your form, you assign it it's event method. Do the same with the UC.
I found this and thought it may be helpful. Scroll down to where it talks about UC's and events.
http://www.akadia.com/services/dotnet_user_controls.html
Hope this helps.
EDIT after new info from OP.
You could declare a global variable inside the UC of type yourForm and then set that variable to the ParentForm at run-time, if I'm understanding you correctly.
So, inside your UC Class, you could do:
private parentFormInstance;
then inside the constructor of the UC, you could set it as such:
parentFormInstance = this.ParentForm; (or whatever the property name is).
This allows you at design-time to use:
parentFormInstance.DoSomething();
without the compiler yelling at you.
Just basic advice, but if you can go back and make it easier on yourself, even if it takes some additional time re-working things, it'd be worth it. It may save you time in the long run.
I'm having a difficulty in sizing my form!
I dynamically create buttons on a form and need to know if they are all fully visible or if I need to grow the form and in what direction to make all the buttons fully visible.
I don't want to use the autosize property as I need to control the layout.
So how do I tell if a dynamically created controls bounds are within that of the form?
thanks
This a .Net 4 classic forms app.
When you add the button to the controls collection, to see if it is visible check the contains on the forms bounds - Form.Bounds.Contains(button.Bounds));. If that returns false then you need grow your form. Here is some basic code to do the form growing, it will not necessarily produce the prettiest output and is not necessarily the best way, just written to give you a quick idea of how it could be accomplished.
// Add the control
form.Controls.Add(button);
var formBounds = form.Bounds;
var controlBounds = button.Bounds;
if (!formBounds.Contains(controlBounds))
{
formBounds.Left = Math.Min(controlBounds.Left, formBounds.Left);
formBounds.Right = Math.Max(controlBounds.Right, formBounds.Right);
// Do similar for top and bottom this will ensure your button is visible
form.Bounds = formBounds;
}
Can you add the button, can't you compare the Width of the container vs the Left + Width properties of the newly added button?
I am making a user control in MS Visual C#, and there is one thing that I just can't find an answer to:
How do I limit which dimensions a control can be resized in during design view?
For a clear example of what I'm asking, the built in TrackBar control can only only be made wider, not taller, and only displays the resizing squares on the left and right in design mode. Is there a way to replicate this for a user control?
I have tried setting MinimumSize and MaximumSize values in the designer for my control, but this doesn't give ideal results.
To get the full behavior you're talking about (no adorners on top/bottom or left/right) and custom functionality inside the design time environment, you'll probably have to resort to building a custom control designer for your control.
This is a huge topic, as there are a lot of things you can do. Effectively what you'd do is create a class that inherits from ControlDesigner, override whatever functionality you need, then register it on your user control with the DesignerAttribute, specifying typeof(IDesigner) for the 2nd parameter (and your custom ControlDesigner-derived type for the first).
Enhancing Design-time Support
Custom Designers
ControlDesigner class example
Custom Design-time Control Features in Visual Studio .NET
Now, in the case of TrackBar, it has its own designer that overrides the ControlDesigner.SelectionRules property. This property simply lets you return an enumeration value (it's a Flags enum, so you can OR them together) indicating how your design-time selection adorners appear (or not appear). Once you've restricted design-time resizing via a designer, it's simply up to your control itself to constrain its own size vai SetBoundsCore.
I'm fairly sure you can do this with Control.SetBoundsCore, as described here.link text
I am not sure for the resizing square but MaximunSize and MinimumSize are the right values for you.
But it's not enough to set them in the constructor of your class because everytime you drop an instance of your control from the designer to a form these values get set after the constructor.
You should:
override MinumumSize and MaximumSize, and do net set the base value from your value but your value.
private Size maxSize = new Size(100, 5);
public override Size MaximumSize
{
get { return base.MaximumSize; }
set { base.MaximumSize = maxSize; }
}
create a public method in your class:
public bool ShouldSerializeMaximumSize()
{
return false;
}
and
private void ResetMaximumSize()
{
me.MaximumSize = maxSize;
}
These methods are a convention from the Windows Forms Desinger: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/53b8022e.aspx
I'm rewriting an old application and use this as a good opportunity to try out C# and .NET development (I usually do a lot of plug-in stuff in C).
The application is basically a timer collecting data. It has a start view with a button to start the measurement. During the measurement the app has five different views depending on what information the user wants to see.
What is the best practice to switch between the views?
From start to running?
Between the running views?
Ideas:
Use one form and hide and show controls
Use one start form and then a form with a TabControl
Use six separate forms
Creating a bunch of overlaid panels is a design-time nightmare.
I would suggest using a tab control with each "view" on a separate tab, and then picking the correct tab at runtime. You can avoid showing the tab headers by putting something like this in your form's Load event:
tabControl1.Top = tabControl1.Top - tabControl1.ItemSize.Height;
tabControl1.Height = tabControl1.Height + tabControl1.ItemSize.Height;
tabControl1.Region = new Region(new RectangleF(tabPage1.Left, tabPage1.Top, tabPage1.Width, tabPage1.Height + tabControl1.ItemSize.Height));
What I do is to have a Panel where your different views will sit on the main form.
then create user controls for your different views.
Then when I want to switch between a'view' you dock it to Panel on the main form.. code looks a little like this.
i preffer this because you can then reuse your views, like if you want to open up a view in a tab you can dock your user controls inside tab pages.. or even inherit from
tabpage instead of usercontrol to make things a bit more generic
public partial class MainForm : Form
{
public enum FormViews
{
A, B
}
private MyViewA viewA; //user control with view a on it
private MyViewB viewB; //user control with view b on it
private FormViews _formView;
public FormViews FormView
{
get
{
return _formView;
}
set
{
_formView = value;
OnFormViewChanged(_formView);
}
}
protected virtual void OnFormViewChanged(FormViews view)
{
//contentPanel is just a System.Windows.Forms.Panel docked to fill the form
switch (view)
{
case FormViews.A:
if (viewA != null) viewA = new MyViewA();
//extension method, you could use a static function.
this.contentPanel.DockControl(viewA);
break;
case FormViews.B:
if (viewB != null) viewB = new MyViewB();
this.contentPanel.DockControl(viewB);
break;
}
}
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
FormView = FormViews.A; //simply change views like this
}
}
public static class PanelExtensions
{
public static void DockControl(this Panel thisControl, Control controlToDock)
{
thisControl.Controls.Clear();
thisControl.Controls.Add(controlToDock);
controlToDock.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
}
}
Tabbed forms are usually good... but only if you want the user to be able to see any view at any time... and it sounds like you might not.
Separate forms definitely works, but you need to make sure that the switch is seemless...if you make sure the new form appears the same exact size and location of the old form, it will look like it thew same for with changing controls.
The method I often use is actually to pre-setup all my controls on individual "Panel" controls and then show and hide these panels as I need them. The "Panel" control is basically a control container... you can move the panel and all controls on it move relative. And if you show or hide the panel, the controls on it do the same. They are great for situations like this.
The method I often use is actually to
pre-setup all my controls on
individual "Panel" controls and then
show and hide these panels as I need
them.
Instead of making each view a panel within a single form you could make each view a UserControl. Then create a single form and write code to create and display the correct UserControl in the Form and to switch from one to the next. This would be easier to maintain because you will have a separate class for each view instead of a single Form class with 6 panels each with their own controls -- that seems difficult and error prone to maintain.
I would also check out Composite Application Guidance for WPF or Smart Client Software Factory