How to: Use the Modifiers and GenerateMember Properties

Switch View

How to: Use the Modifiers and Gener...

Collapse All

Language Filter

This page is specific to

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:

Windows Forms Programming

How to: Use the Modifiers and GenerateMember Properties

When you place a component on a Windows Form, two properties are provided by the design environment: GenerateMember and Modifiers. The GenerateMember property specifies when the Windows Forms Designer generates a member variable for a component. The Modifiers property is the access modifier assigned to that member variable. If the value of the GenerateMember property is false, the value of the Modifiers property has no effect.

Note:
The dialog boxes and menu commands you see might differ from those described in Help depending on your active settings or edition. To change your settings, choose Import and Export Settings on the Tools menu. For more information, see Visual Studio Settings.

To specify whether a component is a member of the form

In the Windows Forms Designer, open your form.
Open the Toolbox, and on the form, place three Button controls.
Set the GenerateMember and Modifiers properties for each Button control according to the following table.
Button name
GenerateMember value
Modifiers value
button1
true
private
button2
true
protected
button3
false
No change
Build the solution.
In Solution Explorer, click the Show All Files button.
Open the Form1 node, and in the Code Editor,open the Form1.Designer.vb or Form1.Designer.cs file. This file contains the code emitted by the Windows Forms Designer.

Button name	GenerateMember value	Modifiers value
button1	true	private
button2	true	protected
button3	false	No change

Find the declarations for the three buttons. The following code example shows the differences specified by the GenerateMember and Modifiers properties.

Visual Basic

Private Sub InitializeComponent()

    ' button3 is declared in a local scope, because 
    ' its GenerateMember property is false.
    Dim button3 As System.Windows.Forms.Button
    Me.button1 = New System.Windows.Forms.Button()
    Me.button2 = New System.Windows.Forms.Button()
    button3 = New System.Windows.Forms.Button()

private void InitializeComponent()
{   
    // button3 is declared in a local scope, because 
    // its GenerateMember property is false.
    System.Windows.Forms.Button button3;
    this.button1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
    this.button2 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
    button3 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();

Visual Basic

 ' The Modifiers property for button1 is "Private".
 Private button1 As Button

 ' The Modifiers property for button2 is "Protected".
 Protected button2 As Button

' button3 is not a member, because 
' its GenerateMember property is false.

// The Modifiers property for button1 is "private".
private Button button1;

// The Modifiers property for button2 is "protected".
protected Button button2;

// button3 is not a member, because 
// its GenerateMember property is false.

Note:
By default, the Windows Forms Designer assigns the private (Friend in Visual Basic) modifier to container controls like Panel. If your base UserControl or Form has a container control, it will not accept new children in inherited controls and forms. The solution is to change the modifier of the base container control to protected or public.

To specify whether a component is a member of the form

Tasks

Reference

Other Resources