Custom Control Step by Step

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TOPIC: Custom Control Step by Step

Custom Control Step by Step 02 Feb 2010 23:00 #250

Introduction
This is a short and simple demonstration of .NET framework's capability of creating custom controls.

Here I'm going to make a custom control and then, test my control in a Windows application. I have implemented some custom properties for my control, so you can learn how it is done in C#.

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Building the Control

1.Open the Visual Studio and start a new project. Your project must be based on the Windows Control Library template. Call your project ctlCuteButton and click OK.

2.Once you have your project open, delete the UserControl from the project. Just remove it because the 'User Control' is not exactly what we need here.

3.Now go to the 'Project' menu: Project->Add User Control... and select the Custom Control template there. 'Custom Control' is what we need in this case. You may call it CE_CustomControl. Now click OK. A new Custom control has been added to your project.

The first thing we must do here is to change the base class of the CE_CustomControl:

Override the following line:

public partial class CE_SampleButton : System.Windows.Forms.Control

by this one:

public partial class CE_SampleButton : System.Windows.Forms.Button

Now your control is based on theSystem.Windows.Forms.Button class.
5.Now let's create some custom properties for our control. This is done by inserting the following code inside the CE_CustomControl class:

  private Color _firstColor = Color.LightCyan;	//first color
        public Color FirstColor
        {
            get { return _firstColor; }
            set { _firstColor = value; Invalidate(); }
        } 
       private Color _secondColor = Color.Red; 	//second color
        public Color SecondColor
        {
            get { return _secondColor; }
            set { _secondColor = value; Invalidate(); }
        }
        /// <summary>
        ///  transparency degree (applies to the 1st color)
        /// </summary>
        private int _firstColorTransparent = 89;
        public int FirstColorTransparent
        {
            get { return _firstColorTransparent; }
            set { _firstColorTransparent = value; Invalidate(); }
        }
        /// <summary>
        /// transparency degree (applies to the 2nd color)
        /// </summary>
        private int _secendColorTransparent = 80;
        public int SecondColorTransparent
        {
            get { return _secendColorTransparent; }
            set { _secendColorTransparent = value; Invalidate(); }
        }

The Invalidate() methoid is used to refresh the design view and all controls inside.

6.And the last thing to do before compiling our control is to override the Paint event. So let's do it:

            // Calling the base class OnPaint
            base.OnPaint(pe);
            // Create two semi-transparent colors
            Color c1 = Color.FromArgb
                (_firstColorTransparent, _firstColor);
            Color c2 = Color.FromArgb
                (_secendColorTransparent, _secondColor);
            Brush b = new System.Drawing.Drawing2D.LinearGradientBrush
                (ClientRectangle, c1, c2, 10);
            pe.Graphics.FillRectangle(b, ClientRectangle);
            b.Dispose();

7.Now you may compile the control by pressing <Ctrl>+<Shift>+<B>.

Testing the Control
1.Open a new instance of the VS .NET. Create a new project choosing the Windows Application template

2.From a new Windows Forms project, we can add the compiled custom control to the toolbox. I do this by right-clicking the toolbox, selecting Customize Toolbox, and from the .NET Framework Components tab, clicking Browse and locating the Control Library DLL # (in our case, CE_CustomControl\bin\Debug\CE_CustomControl.dll). The component CE_CustomControl will then appear in the Toolbox.

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Visual C# .NET 2002 Standard Edition
Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition

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CE
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CodersEngine

Re: Custom Control Step by Step 26 Jun 2010 03:54 #377

How To Create Custom Control Step by Step(C#)Part 1 How To Create Custom Control Step by Step(C#)Part 2 Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express Edition This attachment is hidden for guests. Please log in or register to see it. Attachments: This attachment is hidden for guests. Please log in or register to see it.	CE OFFLINE Administrator Posts: 197 Karma: 78
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