If you want to have a special icon for your control appear in the Toolbox, you can specify a particular image by using the ToolboxBitmapAttribute. This class is an attribute, a special kind of class you can attach to other classes. For more information about attributes, see Attributes Overview in Visual Basic for Visual Basic and Attributes (C# Programming Guide) for Visual C#.
Using the ToolboxBitmapAttribute, you can specify a string that indicates the path and file name for a 16 by 16 pixel bitmap. This bitmap then appears next to your control when added to the Toolbox. You can also specify a Type, in which case the bitmap associated with that type is loaded. If you specify both a Type and a string, the control searches for an image resource with the name specified by the string parameter in the assembly containing the type specified by the Type parameter.
To specify a Toolbox bitmap for your control
Add the ToolboxBitmapAttribute to the class declaration of your control before the Class keyword for Visual Basic, and above the class declaration for Visual C#.
' Specifies the bitmap associated with the Button type.
<ToolboxBitmap(GetType(Button))> Class MyControl1
' Specifies a bitmap file.
End Class
<ToolboxBitmap("C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\MyPics\myImage.bmp")> _
Class MyControl2
End Class
' Specifies a type that indicates the assembly to search, and the name
' of an image resource to look for.
<ToolboxBitmap(GetType(MyControl), "MyControlBitmap")> Class MyControl
End Class
// Specifies the bitmap associated with the Button type.
[ToolboxBitmap(typeof(Button))]
class MyControl1 : UserControl
{
}
// Specifies a bitmap file.
[ToolboxBitmap(@"C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\MyPics\myImage.bmp")]
class MyControl2 : UserControl
{
}
// Specifies a type that indicates the assembly to search, and the name
// of an image resource to look for.
[ToolboxBitmap(typeof(MyControl), "MyControlBitmap")]
class MyControl : UserControl
{
}
// Specifies the bitmap associated with the Button type.
/** @attribute ToolboxBitmap(Button.class) */
class MyControl1 extends UserControl
{
}
// Specifies a bitmap file.
/** @attribute ToolboxBitmap("C:\\Documents and Settings\\Joe\\MyPics\\myImage.bmp")*/
class MyControl2 extends UserControl
{
}
// Specifies a type that indicates the assembly to search, and the name
// of an image resource to look for.
/* @attribute ToolboxBitmap(MyControl.class, "MyControlBitmap") */
class MyControl extends UserControl
{
}
Rebuild the project.
See Also
Tasks
Reference
ToolboxBitmapAttribute
Other Resources