PropertyTab Class
Provides a base class for property tabs.
For a list of all members of this type, see PropertyTab Members.
System.Object
System.Windows.Forms.Design.PropertyTab
System.Windows.Forms.Design.EventsTab
[Visual Basic] MustInherit Public Class PropertyTab Implements IExtenderProvider [C#] public abstract class PropertyTab : IExtenderProvider [C++] public __gc __abstract class PropertyTab : public IExtenderProvider [JScript] public abstract class PropertyTab implements IExtenderProvider
Thread Safety
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
Remarks
PropertyTab provides the base class behavior for a property tab. Property tabs are displayed on the toolbar of the PropertyGrid control of the Properties Window, and allow a component to display different views of its properties or other data.
User code will usually not create an instance of a PropertyTab directly. Instead, a PropertyTabAttribute that indicates the type of the property tab or property tabs to display for a component can be associated with the properties or types that the PropertyTab should be displayed for.
The PropertyGrid will instantiate a PropertyTab of the type specified by a PropertyTabAttribute associated with the type or property field of the component that is being browsed.
Example
[Visual Basic, C#, C++] The following code example provides an example PropertyTab that lists any properties on a component, arranged by type name.
[Visual Basic] 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. Public Class TypeCategoryTab Inherits PropertyTab ' This string contains a Base-64 encoded and serialized example property tab image. <BrowsableAttribute(True)> _ Private img As String = "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" 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 = New BinaryFormatter() Dim stream As New MemoryStream(memBytes) img = CType(formatter.Deserialize(stream), Image) stream.Close() Return img End Function End Class [C#] using System; using System.ComponentModel; using System.ComponentModel.Design; using System.Drawing; using System.IO; using System.Reflection; using System.Runtime.Serialization; using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary; using System.Windows.Forms; using System.Windows.Forms.Design; namespace TypeCategoryTabExample { // This component adds a TypeCategoryTab to the propery browser // that is available for any components in the current design mode document. [PropertyTabAttribute(typeof(TypeCategoryTab), PropertyTabScope.Document)] public class TypeCategoryTabComponent : System.ComponentModel.Component { public TypeCategoryTabComponent() { } } // A TypeCategoryTab property tab lists properties by the // category of the type of each property. public class TypeCategoryTab : PropertyTab { [BrowsableAttribute(true)] // This string contains a Base-64 encoded and serialized example property tab image. private string img = "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"; public TypeCategoryTab() { } // Returns the properties of the specified component extended with // a CategoryAttribute reflecting the name of the type of the property. public override System.ComponentModel.PropertyDescriptorCollection GetProperties(object component, System.Attribute[] attributes) { PropertyDescriptorCollection props; if( attributes == null ) props = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(component); else props = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(component, attributes); PropertyDescriptor[] propArray = new PropertyDescriptor[props.Count]; for(int i=0; i<props.Count; i++) { // 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)); } return new PropertyDescriptorCollection( propArray ); } public override System.ComponentModel.PropertyDescriptorCollection GetProperties(object component) { return this.GetProperties(component, null); } // Provides the name for the property tab. public override string TabName { get { return "Properties by Type"; } } // Provides an image for the property tab. public override System.Drawing.Bitmap Bitmap { get { Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(DeserializeFromBase64Text(img)); return bmp; } } // This method can be used to retrieve an Image from a block of Base64-encoded text. private Image DeserializeFromBase64Text(string text) { Image img = null; byte[] memBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(text); IFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter(); MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(memBytes); img = (Image)formatter.Deserialize(stream); stream.Close(); return img; } } } [C++] #using <mscorlib.dll> #using <System.Windows.Forms.dll> #using <System.Drawing.dll> #using <System.dll> using namespace System; using namespace System::ComponentModel; using namespace System::ComponentModel::Design; using namespace System::Drawing; using namespace System::IO; using namespace System::Reflection; using namespace System::Runtime::Serialization; using namespace System::Runtime::Serialization::Formatters::Binary; using namespace System::Windows::Forms; using namespace System::Windows::Forms::Design; namespace TypeCategoryTabExample{ public __gc class TypeCategoryTab; // forward declaration. // This component adds a TypeCategoryTab to the propery browser // that is available for any components in the current design mode document. [PropertyTabAttribute(__typeof(TypeCategoryTab), PropertyTabScope::Document)] public __gc class TypeCategoryTabComponent : public System::ComponentModel::Component { public: TypeCategoryTabComponent() { } }; // A TypeCategoryTab property tab lists properties by the // category of the type of each property. public __gc class TypeCategoryTab : public PropertyTab { private: [BrowsableAttribute(true)] // This String* contains a Base-64 encoded and serialized example property tab image. String* img; public: TypeCategoryTab() { img = S"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"; } // Returns the properties of the specified component extended with // a CategoryAttribute reflecting the name of the type of the property. System::ComponentModel::PropertyDescriptorCollection* GetProperties(Object* component, System::Attribute* attributes[]) { PropertyDescriptorCollection* props; if (attributes == 0) props = TypeDescriptor::GetProperties(component); else props = TypeDescriptor::GetProperties(component, attributes); PropertyDescriptor* propArray[] = new PropertyDescriptor*[props->Count]; for (int i=0; i<props->Count; i++) { // Create a new PropertyDescriptor from the old one, with // a CategoryAttribute matching the name of the type. Attribute* temp0 [] = {new CategoryAttribute(props->Item[i]->PropertyType->Name)}; propArray->Item[i] = TypeDescriptor::CreateProperty(props->Item[i]->ComponentType, props->Item[i], temp0); } return new PropertyDescriptorCollection(propArray); } System::ComponentModel::PropertyDescriptorCollection* GetProperties(Object* component) { return this->GetProperties(component, 0); } // Provides the name for the property tab. __property String* get_TabName() { return S"Properties by Type"; } // Provides an image for the property tab. __property System::Drawing::Bitmap* get_Bitmap() { System::Drawing::Bitmap* bmp = new System::Drawing::Bitmap(DeserializeFromBase64Text(img)); return bmp; } // This method can be used to retrieve an Image from a block of Base64-encoded text. private: Image* DeserializeFromBase64Text(String* text) { Image* img = 0; Byte memBytes[] = Convert::FromBase64String(text); IFormatter* formatter = new BinaryFormatter(); MemoryStream* stream = new MemoryStream(memBytes); img = dynamic_cast<Image*>(formatter->Deserialize(stream)); stream->Close(); return img; } }; }
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Requirements
Namespace: System.Windows.Forms.Design
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 family
Assembly: System.Windows.Forms (in System.Windows.Forms.dll)