I have created a custom WinForms hosting environment. Which has a toolbox and a PropertyGrid.
The controls displayed in the Toolbox are inherited from existing WinForm controls.
DropDownList Source:
public interface IPropertyFilter : ICustomTypeDescriptor
{
PropertyDescriptorCollection FilterProperties(PropertyDescriptorCollection pdc);
List<string> GetPropertiesToShow();
}
[Serializable]
public class DropDownList : System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox, IPropertyFilter
{
public DropDownList()
{
}
#region IPropertyFilter Members
public TypeConverter GetConverter()
{
return TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(this, true);
}
public EventDescriptorCollection GetEvents(Attribute[] attributes)
{
return TypeDescriptor.GetEvents(this, attributes, true);
}
EventDescriptorCollection System.ComponentModel.ICustomTypeDescriptor.GetEvents()
{
return TypeDescriptor.GetEvents(this, true);
}
public string GetComponentName()
{
return TypeDescriptor.GetComponentName(this, true);
}
public object GetPropertyOwner(PropertyDescriptor pd)
{
return this;
}
public AttributeCollection GetAttributes()
{
return TypeDescriptor.GetAttributes(this, true);
}
public PropertyDescriptorCollection GetProperties(Attribute[] attributes)
{
PropertyDescriptorCollection pdc = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(this, attributes, true);
return FilterProperties(pdc);
}
PropertyDescriptorCollection System.ComponentModel.ICustomTypeDescriptor.GetProperties()
{
PropertyDescriptorCollection pdc = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(this, true);
return FilterProperties(pdc);
}
public object GetEditor(Type editorBaseType)
{
return TypeDescriptor.GetEditor(this, editorBaseType, true);
}
public PropertyDescriptor GetDefaultProperty()
{
return TypeDescriptor.GetDefaultProperty(this, true);
}
public EventDescriptor GetDefaultEvent()
{
return TypeDescriptor.GetDefaultEvent(this, true);
}
public string GetClassName()
{
return TypeDescriptor.GetClassName(this, true);
}
public PropertyDescriptorCollection FilterProperties(PropertyDescriptorCollection pdc)
{
// Filter out properties that we do not want to display in PropertyGrid
return ControlDesignerHelper.GetBrowsableProperties(pdc, GetPropertiesToShow());
}
// Determines what properties of this control has to be shown in PropertyGrid
public List<string> GetPropertiesToShow()
{
// get a list of common properties that we want to show for all controls
List<string> browsableProps = ControlDesignerHelper.GetBasePropertiesToShow();
// add properties that are specific to this controls
browsableProps.Add("Items");
browsableProps.Add("AutoPostBack");
browsableProps.Add("AppendDataBoundItems");
browsableProps.Add("DataTextField");
browsableProps.Add("DataValueField");
return browsableProps;
}
#endregion
}
I have implemented ICustomTypeDescriptor
to filter out properties that I do not want to show in the PropertyGrid
.
Problem:
I am facing problem while serializing values of Enabled
& Visible
properties that are inherited from System.Windows.Forms.Control
class.
WriteProperties Method (BasicDesignerLoader
):
private void WriteProperties(XmlDocument document, PropertyDescriptorCollection properties, object value, XmlNode parent, string elementName)
{
foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
{
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(prop.Name);
if (prop.ShouldSerializeValue(value))
{
string compName = parent.Name;
XmlNode node = document.CreateElement(elementName);
XmlAttribute attr = document.CreateAttribute("name");
attr.Value = prop.Name;
node.Attributes.Append(attr);
DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute visibility = (DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute)prop.Attributes[typeof(DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute)];
switch (visibility.Visibility)
{
case DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible:
if (!prop.IsReadOnly && WriteValue(document, prop.GetValue(value), node))
{
parent.AppendChild(node);
}
break;
case DesignerSerializationVisibility.Content:
object propValue = prop.GetValue(value);
if (typeof(IList).IsAssignableFrom(prop.PropertyType))
{
WriteCollection(document, (IList)propValue, node);
}
else
{
PropertyDescriptorCollection props = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(propValue, propertyAttributes);
WriteProperties(document, props, propValue, node, elementName);
}
if (node.ChildNodes.Count > 0)
{
parent.AppendChild(node);
}
break;
default:
break;
}
}
}
}
Problem # 1: The ShouldSerializeValue
method for the Enabled
& Visible
property always returns false.
Problem # 2: Even if I skip the ShouldSerializeValue
method check the GetValue
method of the PropertyDescriptor
always returns True
.
Current Workaround:
As a workaround I have currently made the Enabled
& Visible
properties hidden using the BrowsableAttribute
, and created two other boolean properties and used the DisplayNameAttribute
to change their display name to be Enable
& Visible
.
But for this workaround I have to write these snippets in every control.
Am I missing something or doing anything wrong? Why are the Enabled
& Visible
property do not change?
You will find a long discussion about this issue here. (dead link, can't find a new one)
This MSDN page aldo makes this remark:
The InheritedPropertyDescriptor class modifies the default value of a property, so that the default value is the current value at object instantiation. This is because the property is inherited from another instance. The designer defines resetting the property value as setting it to the value that was set by the inherited class. This value may differ from the default value stored in metadata.
ShouldSerializeValue's return value is based on the difference between the current value and the default value so I think this is directly related to your problem.
I hope this will help you figure out what happens in your own context.