Creating a custom toolbox icon for my custom user control

Question

I have been working at this a while but can't seem to figure it out!

I have a Solution that looks like the following layout...

Solution 'Gen' (2 projects)
'-> MyControls
    '-> graphics
        '-> UserControl1.bmp
    '-> UserControl1.cs
'-> Gen
    '-> MainGUI.cs

I want to simply make a toolbox icon so that I can see a nice icon on my toolbar instead of the blue-like gear (the default toolbox icon).

---

The steps I have currently taken...

1. Created A Bitmap Image:

I made a 16x16 pixel image that is 16 colors (4 bit).

2. Embed The Image As A Resource:

Clicked on the image in the Solution Explorer window, then in the properties window I changed the Build Action to "Embedded Resource".

3. Add An Internal Class Used To Fix A Bug In The GetImageFromResource() Method:

BEFORE the namespace declare I added the following lines...

internal class resfinder
{
}

4. Add The Class Property 'ToolboxBitmap':

Above the class declaration...

public partial class UserControl1 : UserControl

I added the following line...

[ToolboxBitmap(typeof(resfinder), "Gen.graphics.UserControl1.bmp")]

5. Build Project:

Under the Build menu I used "Rebuild Solution".

ENTIRE BLOCK OF CODE:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

internal class resfinder
{
}

namespace Gen
{
    [ToolboxBitmap(typeof(resfinder), "Gen.graphics.UserControl1.bmp")]
    public partial class UserControl1 : UserControl
    {
        public UserControl1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    }
}

---

RESULTS:

I still have the little blue-like gear as a toolbox icon when I try to use it on the MainGUI.cs form.

---

Sources:

• How to find the elusive ToolboxBitmap icon
• How to: Provide a Toolbox Bitmap for a Control
• Displaying custom icon for custom control?

Answer 1

It seems the answer is simple... I have actually done everything right!

There is a small thing worth noting though...

The custom toolbox icon will NOT show up if you are using a reference to a project in the same solution.

To fix/workaround this you need to do the following...

Add a reference to the compiled (product of the custom control project) DLL file instead.

I ended up removing the custom control project after compiling it and then adding a reference to my project that I wanted to use it on. After I did that I right clicked in the Toolbox then clicked "Choose Items...". Then clicked Browse and loaded the DLL from there.

Now the custom toolbox icon shows up just fine!