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PropertyTabAttribute Class

Identifies the property tab or tabs to display for the specified class or classes.

Namespace:  System.ComponentModel
Assembly:  System (in System.dll)

'Declaration
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.All)> _
Public Class PropertyTabAttribute _
	Inherits Attribute
'Usage
Dim instance As PropertyTabAttribute

The PropertyTabAttribute lets you add a new property page to a PropertyGrid control. The PropertyTabAttribute can add additional property tabs to expose property information other than a component's default set of properties.

The following code example demonstrates how to use the PropertyTabAttribute to specify a property tab. The code example defines a component that exposes the properties of another selected component by type.

Imports System
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.ComponentModel.Design
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.Runtime.Serialization
Imports System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Windows.Forms.Design

' This component adds a TypeCategoryTab to the property browser 
' that is available for any components in the current design mode document.
<PropertyTabAttribute(GetType(TypeCategoryTab), PropertyTabScope.Document)>  _
Public Class TypeCategoryTabComponent
   Inherits System.ComponentModel.Component

   Public Sub New()
    End Sub 
End Class 

' A TypeCategoryTab property tab lists properties by the  
' category of the type of each property.
<System.Security.Permissions.PermissionSetAttribute(System.Security.Permissions.SecurityAction.Demand, Name:="FullTrust")> _
Public Class TypeCategoryTab
    Inherits PropertyTab

    ' This string contains a Base-64 encoded and serialized example property tab image.
    <BrowsableAttribute(True)> _
    Private img As String = "AAEAAAD/////AQAAAAAAAAAMAgAAAFRTeXN0ZW0uRHJhd2luZywgVmVyc2lvbj0xLjAuMzMwMC4wLCBDdWx0dXJlPW5ldXRyYWwsIFB1YmxpY0tleVRva2VuPWIwM2Y1ZjdmMTFkNTBhM2EFAQAAABVTeXN0ZW0uRHJhd2luZy5CaXRtYXABAAAABERhdGEHAgIAAAAJAwAAAA8DAAAA9gAAAAJCTfYAAAAAAAAANgAAACgAAAAIAAAACAAAAAEAGAAAAAAAAAAAAMQOAADEDgAAAAAAAAAAAAD///////////////////////////////////9ZgABZgADzPz/zPz/zPz9AgP//////////gAD/gAD/AAD/AAD/AACKyub///////+AAACAAAAAAP8AAP8AAP9AgP////////9ZgABZgABz13hz13hz13hAgP//////////gAD/gACA/wCA/wCA/wAA//////////+AAACAAAAAAP8AAP8AAP9AgP////////////////////////////////////8L" 

    Public Sub New()
    End Sub 

    ' Returns the properties of the specified component extended with  
    ' a CategoryAttribute reflecting the name of the type of the property. 
    Public Overloads Overrides Function GetProperties(ByVal component As Object, ByVal attributes() As System.Attribute) As System.ComponentModel.PropertyDescriptorCollection
        Dim props As PropertyDescriptorCollection
        If attributes Is Nothing Then
            props = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(component)
        Else
            props = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(component, attributes)
        End If 
        Dim propArray(props.Count - 1) As PropertyDescriptor
        Dim i As Integer 
        For i = 0 To props.Count - 1
            ' Create a new PropertyDescriptor from the old one, with  
            ' a CategoryAttribute matching the name of the type.
            propArray(i) = TypeDescriptor.CreateProperty(props(i).ComponentType, props(i), New CategoryAttribute(props(i).PropertyType.Name))
        Next i
        Return New PropertyDescriptorCollection(propArray)
    End Function 

    Public Overloads Overrides Function GetProperties(ByVal component As Object) As System.ComponentModel.PropertyDescriptorCollection
        Return Me.GetProperties(component, Nothing)
    End Function 

    ' Provides the name for the property tab. 
    Public Overrides ReadOnly Property TabName() As String 
        Get 
            Return "Properties by Type" 
        End Get 
    End Property 

    ' Provides an image for the property tab. 
    Public Overrides ReadOnly Property Bitmap() As System.Drawing.Bitmap
        Get 
            Dim bmp As New Bitmap(DeserializeFromBase64Text(img))
            Return bmp
        End Get 
    End Property 

    ' This method can be used to retrieve an Image from a block of Base64-encoded text. 
    Private Function DeserializeFromBase64Text(ByVal [text] As String) As Image
        Dim img As Image = Nothing 
        Dim memBytes As Byte() = Convert.FromBase64String([text])
        Dim formatter As New BinaryFormatter()
        Dim stream As New MemoryStream(memBytes)
        img = CType(formatter.Deserialize(stream), Image)
        stream.Close()
        Return img
    End Function 
End Class

System.Object
  System.Attribute
    System.ComponentModel.PropertyTabAttribute

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0
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