CODEWITHSUNDEEP
vb.netvisual-studioinheritancevisual-inheritance
Jeff Stock
Jeff Stock

Reputation: 3856

Can I change properties of inherited controls at design time?

I am using visual inheritance and was wondering if there is a way to change the properties of inherited controls at design time, preferably in the form designer. If not, then in the designer code.

I have my control declared as Public in the base class. I can access it in the child form code, but not in the form designer. Is this just not possible?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 5391

Answers (3)

greggorob64
greggorob64

Reputation: 2557

There are limitations placed within visual studio for visual inheritance. Unfortunately, derived forms\usercontrols cannot modify controls containing collections within the base, namely DataGridViewRows, ToolStrips, ListViewColumns, etc.

Microsoft Bug Report

There are ways around this in certain situations. Create a protected property in the base class that exposes the exact properties of the control you wish to modify (DataGridView.BackgroundColor, or ListView.Columns).

Your base form should be able access this property to change the components needed. I've done this for ListView.Columns, and DataGridView.rows successfully, however ToolStrip.Items would not work.

Upvotes: 3

Jeff Stock
Jeff Stock

Reputation: 3856

It seems to work only for certain controls, but not all and I can't understand why. On my base form I have a TabControl that within it is a ComboBox, a ToolStrip, and a DataGridView. All of them are set to Public, but I can only modify the properties of the ComboBox and not the other two controls.

I have no idea why this is.

Upvotes: 2

gbianchi
gbianchi

Reputation: 2138

You need to change your control visibility. Put the control property Modifiers on public and recompile the project and then you can change properties of the inherited control.

Upvotes: -1

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