CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#winformspropertygrid
isometrik
isometrik

Reputation: 419

Displaying Object Description within a PropertyGrid

I a number of objects that I would like to display within a property grid as they are selected by the user. I am aware that property descriptions can be set within each objects class, however I require that the descriptions differ between different instances of the same object.

Is there a way I can set a description for the entire object at run time that displays regardless of what property is selected within the property grid?

For example, if I had the following class

public class Person
{
    public String Name { get; set; }
    public String Age { get; set; }

    public Person(String n, int a)
    {
        this.Name = n;
        this.age = a;
    }

    public Person()
    {

    }
}

and I created a Person object in the following manner

Person Frank = new Person(Frank, 22);

and displayed that object in a property grid like so

propertyGrid1.SelectedObject = Frank;

I would like the ability to provide a description for the entire object rather than the name and age attributes of the Person class. And, because I want the description to pertain to the Frank object in particular, I would like to be able to set this description not only based on what type of object is selected, but the particular instance of that object. Is this possible?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2205

Answers (2)

Nicolas Cadilhac
Nicolas Cadilhac

Reputation: 4745

CodeNaked as the right answer. It makes sense for a PropertyGrid to only display a description for the property that is currently selected, not for the whole instance. What would be the benefit? If you really need to display a message based on the targetted instance, why not create a label on top or bottom of the grid? Its content could be based on a custom attribute of yours or on your own DescriptionProvider...

Upvotes: 0

CodeNaked
CodeNaked

Reputation: 41393

The PropertyGrid only shows descriptions for the properties, not the object. That said, you could implement ICustomTypeDescriptor on your object and override the GetProperties methods. There you could inject a custom DescriptionAttribute.

A longer tutorial on this interface can be found here and here.

Upvotes: 1

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