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I'm making some controls which all have to share the same look and some common behavior, although they are meant for different kind of inputs. So I made a BaseClass which inherit from UserControl, and all my controls inherit from BaseClass.
However, if i add controls for BaseClass in the designer, such as a TableLayoutPanel, i can't access them when I'm designing the inherited classes. I see the TableLayoutPanel, but even though he is "protected", i can't modify it or put controls in it through the designer. I've no trouble accesing it by code, but i don't want to lose the ability to use the designer.
Right now, i simply removed all controls from BaseClass, added the layout and all the common controls in each of the inherited class, then use references to manipulate them inside BaseClass. But that doesn't satisfy me at all. Is there a way to make the designer work with inherited protected member controls ?
Environment : C#, .NET 3.5, Visual Studio 2008
EDIT to answer SLaks's suggestion. I tried setting a property, and although I'm not used to use them it doesn't seem to work. Here is the code i tried :
public partial class UserControl1 : UserControl
{
public UserControl1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public TableLayoutPanel TableLayoutPanel1
{
get { return tableLayoutPanel1;}
set { tableLayoutPanel1 = value;}
}
}
public partial class UserControl2 : UserControl1
{
public UserControl2()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
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A Form is a Control so we can cast any form in your project as a simple Control object. Example; Control c = TheForm("Form1"); Once we have this, we can gain access to ALL the child controls including the children in other container controls on the form.
In order to inherit from a form, the file or namespace containing that form must have been built into an executable file or DLL. To build the project, choose Build from the Build menu. Also, a reference to the namespace must be added to the class inheriting the form.
A UserControl is a collection of controls placed together to be used in a certain way. For example you can place a GroupBox that contains Textbox's, Checkboxes, etc. This is useful when you have to place the same group of controls on/in multiple forms or tabs.
When you try to access from the inherited control with the designer to the TableLayoutPanel declared in the base control, you're using a feature in WinForms called "Visual Inheritance".
Unfortunately TableLayoutPanel doesn't support visual inheritance: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms171689%28VS.80%29.aspx
That's why the TableLayoutPanel appears blocked in the inherited controls.
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