winform - Create control like Visual Studio's anchor property control

Question

I find the Visual Studio's anchor property control very user friendly.

If I don't have this control, I need to create 4 check-boxes (or a CheckedlistBox): Top, Bottom, Left, Right.

So this anchor will make the GUI of the software looks neat. How can I create the control like this Visual Studio's anchor property control?

Answer 1

The AnchorStyles enumeration type has an attribute that determines how this value type configured in the winforms designer.

[Editor("System.Windows.Forms.Design.AnchorEditor, System.Design, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", typeof(UITypeEditor))]

So in ordner to do that with your own type, you need to build your type specific UITypeEditor class and tag your type with the Editor attribute.

Get ILSpy or any other .NET disassembler and see what the the AnchorEditor class does and how its structured.

Answer 2

Create your own using a Panel, 1 Button and 4 Checkbox, set chkTop.Appearance = System.Windows.Forms.Appearance.Button

Normal style

Checked style

Code

partial class Form2
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Required designer variable.
    /// </summary>
    private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;

    /// <summary>
    /// Clean up any resources being used.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="disposing">true if managed resources should be disposed; otherwise, false.</param>
    protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
        if (disposing && (components != null))
        {
            components.Dispose();
        }
        base.Dispose(disposing);
    }

    #region Windows Form Designer generated code

    /// <summary>
    /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
    /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
    /// </summary>
    private void InitializeComponent()
    {
        this.panel1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Panel();
        this.chkTop = new System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox();
        this.button1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
        this.chkBottom = new System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox();
        this.chkRight = new System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox();
        this.chkLeft = new System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox();
        this.panel1.SuspendLayout();
        this.SuspendLayout();
        // 
        // panel1
        // 
        this.panel1.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.White;
        this.panel1.BorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle.FixedSingle;
        this.panel1.Controls.Add(this.chkLeft);
        this.panel1.Controls.Add(this.chkRight);
        this.panel1.Controls.Add(this.chkBottom);
        this.panel1.Controls.Add(this.chkTop);
        this.panel1.Controls.Add(this.button1);
        this.panel1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(43, 49);
        this.panel1.Name = "panel1";
        this.panel1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(207, 148);
        this.panel1.TabIndex = 0;
        // 
        // chkTop
        // 
        this.chkTop.Appearance = System.Windows.Forms.Appearance.Button;
        this.chkTop.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(((int)(((byte)(224)))), ((int)(((byte)(224)))), ((int)(((byte)(224)))));
        this.chkTop.FlatAppearance.CheckedBackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(((int)(((byte)(64)))), ((int)(((byte)(0)))), ((int)(((byte)(0)))));
        this.chkTop.FlatStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle.Flat;
        this.chkTop.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(95, 2);
        this.chkTop.Name = "chkTop";
        this.chkTop.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(17, 58);
        this.chkTop.TabIndex = 1;
        this.chkTop.UseVisualStyleBackColor = false;
        // 
        // button1
        // 
        this.button1.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Gray;
        this.button1.Enabled = false;
        this.button1.FlatStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle.Flat;
        this.button1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(73, 61);
        this.button1.Name = "button1";
        this.button1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(58, 23);
        this.button1.TabIndex = 0;
        this.button1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = false;
        // 
        // chkBottom
        // 
        this.chkBottom.Appearance = System.Windows.Forms.Appearance.Button;
        this.chkBottom.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(((int)(((byte)(224)))), ((int)(((byte)(224)))), ((int)(((byte)(224)))));
        this.chkBottom.FlatAppearance.CheckedBackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(((int)(((byte)(64)))), ((int)(((byte)(0)))), ((int)(((byte)(0)))));
        this.chkBottom.FlatStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle.Flat;
        this.chkBottom.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(95, 85);
        this.chkBottom.Name = "chkBottom";
        this.chkBottom.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(17, 59);
        this.chkBottom.TabIndex = 2;
        this.chkBottom.UseVisualStyleBackColor = false;
        // 
        // chkRight
        // 
        this.chkRight.Appearance = System.Windows.Forms.Appearance.Button;
        this.chkRight.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(((int)(((byte)(224)))), ((int)(((byte)(224)))), ((int)(((byte)(224)))));
        this.chkRight.FlatAppearance.CheckedBackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(((int)(((byte)(64)))), ((int)(((byte)(0)))), ((int)(((byte)(0)))));
        this.chkRight.FlatStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle.Flat;
        this.chkRight.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(132, 64);
        this.chkRight.Name = "chkRight";
        this.chkRight.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(71, 17);
        this.chkRight.TabIndex = 3;
        this.chkRight.UseVisualStyleBackColor = false;
        // 
        // chkLeft
        // 
        this.chkLeft.Appearance = System.Windows.Forms.Appearance.Button;
        this.chkLeft.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(((int)(((byte)(224)))), ((int)(((byte)(224)))), ((int)(((byte)(224)))));
        this.chkLeft.FlatAppearance.CheckedBackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(((int)(((byte)(64)))), ((int)(((byte)(0)))), ((int)(((byte)(0)))));
        this.chkLeft.FlatStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle.Flat;
        this.chkLeft.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(1, 63);
        this.chkLeft.Name = "chkLeft";
        this.chkLeft.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(71, 17);
        this.chkLeft.TabIndex = 4;
        this.chkLeft.UseVisualStyleBackColor = false;
        // 
        // Form2
        // 
        this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(6F, 13F);
        this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
        this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(284, 262);
        this.Controls.Add(this.panel1);
        this.Name = "Form2";
        this.Text = "Form2";
        this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.Form2_Load);
        this.panel1.ResumeLayout(false);
        this.ResumeLayout(false);

    }

    #endregion

    private System.Windows.Forms.Panel panel1;
    private System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox chkTop;
    private System.Windows.Forms.Button button1;
    private System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox chkLeft;
    private System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox chkRight;
    private System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox chkBottom;
}