Set Focus To Specific Property In Property Grid

  • Thread starter Thread starter Derek Hart
  • Start date Start date
D

Derek Hart

I can set focus to my property grid by using propgrid.Focus - but how can I
set the default property that is always first? Or just set focus to the
default property? Can this be done?
 
I can set focus to my property grid by using propgrid.Focus - but how canI
set the default property that is always first? Or just set focus to the
default property? Can this be done?
Click to expand...

Hi Derek,

To select(or focus) a pre-defined property in a PropertyGrid control
programmatically, you can use loop through GridItems and check "label"
to determine which item to be selected:

'------Begin-----
Dim GridItem As GridItem = PropertyGrid1.SelectedGridItem
Dim pGridItem As GridItem = GridItem.Parent
For Each egi As GridItem In pGridItem.GridItems
If egi.Label = "property_label_here" Then
PropertyGrid1.Focus()
egi.Select()
End If
Next
'------End-------


Hope this helps,

Onur Güzel
 
Thank you for the answer. Just need to add one thing to it. I am running
this code on the keydown event for a textbox control. It sets focus to the
grid properly now. But I need to trap the keystroke that was hit and fill it
in as the first character in the property, just like how Visual Studio works
when you are on a control and hit the first keyboard character and it starts
typing in the default property for that control. Is this possible?


I can set focus to my property grid by using propgrid.Focus - but how can
I
set the default property that is always first? Or just set focus to the
default property? Can this be done?
Click to expand...

Hi Derek,

To select(or focus) a pre-defined property in a PropertyGrid control
programmatically, you can use loop through GridItems and check "label"
to determine which item to be selected:

'------Begin-----
Dim GridItem As GridItem = PropertyGrid1.SelectedGridItem
Dim pGridItem As GridItem = GridItem.Parent
For Each egi As GridItem In pGridItem.GridItems
If egi.Label = "property_label_here" Then
PropertyGrid1.Focus()
egi.Select()
End If
Next
'------End-------


Hope this helps,

Onur Güzel
 
Thank you for the answer. Just need to add one thing to it. I am running
this code on the keydown event for a textbox control. It sets focus to the
grid properly now. But I need to trap the keystroke that was hit and fillit
in as the first character in the property, just like how Visual Studio works
when you are on a control and hit the first keyboard character and it starts
typing in the default property for that control. Is this possible?




Hi Derek,

To select(or focus) a pre-defined property in a PropertyGrid control
programmatically, you can use loop through GridItems and check "label"
to determine which item to be selected:

'------Begin-----
Dim GridItem As GridItem = PropertyGrid1.SelectedGridItem
Dim pGridItem As GridItem = GridItem.Parent
For Each egi As GridItem In pGridItem.GridItems
If egi.Label = "property_label_here" Then
PropertyGrid1.Focus()
egi.Select()
End If
Next
'------End-------

Hope this helps,

Onur Güzel
Click to expand...

As far as i understand (i couldn't guess well maybe), you're wanting
something like IntelliSense or setting the value of a property within
textbox, and setting PropertyGrid item's value outside PropertyGrid
control is not possible, because "Value" property is ReadOnly.

Or, my another guess that if you want to highlight a property grid
item which is inside PropertyGrid control while initial key matches
with the text in textbox you can use that:

'--------------Begin-------------
Private Sub TextBox1_KeyDown(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) _
Handles TextBox1.KeyDown

Dim GridItem As GridItem = _
PropertyGrid1.SelectedGridItem
Dim pGridItem As GridItem = _
GridItem.Parent
For Each egi As GridItem In _
pGridItem.GridItems
If egi.Label.StartsWith(e.KeyData.ToString) Then
PropertyGrid1.Focus()
egi.Select()
End If
Next

End Sub
'--------End----------

HTH,

Onur Güzel
 
Not quite. When I am in Visual Studio designing a form, and I highlight a
text box, when I then hit a letter, such as "T", it moves the cursor to the
property grid into the text property and enters "T" - then then user can
type the rest of the text in this property. Make sense?

Thank you for the answer. Just need to add one thing to it. I am running
this code on the keydown event for a textbox control. It sets focus to the
grid properly now. But I need to trap the keystroke that was hit and fill
it
in as the first character in the property, just like how Visual Studio
works
when you are on a control and hit the first keyboard character and it
starts
typing in the default property for that control. Is this possible?




Hi Derek,

To select(or focus) a pre-defined property in a PropertyGrid control
programmatically, you can use loop through GridItems and check "label"
to determine which item to be selected:

'------Begin-----
Dim GridItem As GridItem = PropertyGrid1.SelectedGridItem
Dim pGridItem As GridItem = GridItem.Parent
For Each egi As GridItem In pGridItem.GridItems
If egi.Label = "property_label_here" Then
PropertyGrid1.Focus()
egi.Select()
End If
Next
'------End-------

Hope this helps,

Onur Güzel
Click to expand...

As far as i understand (i couldn't guess well maybe), you're wanting
something like IntelliSense or setting the value of a property within
textbox, and setting PropertyGrid item's value outside PropertyGrid
control is not possible, because "Value" property is ReadOnly.

Or, my another guess that if you want to highlight a property grid
item which is inside PropertyGrid control while initial key matches
with the text in textbox you can use that:

'--------------Begin-------------
Private Sub TextBox1_KeyDown(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) _
Handles TextBox1.KeyDown

Dim GridItem As GridItem = _
PropertyGrid1.SelectedGridItem
Dim pGridItem As GridItem = _
GridItem.Parent
For Each egi As GridItem In _
pGridItem.GridItems
If egi.Label.StartsWith(e.KeyData.ToString) Then
PropertyGrid1.Focus()
egi.Select()
End If
Next

End Sub
'--------End----------

HTH,

Onur Güzel
 
Not quite. When I am in Visual Studio designing a form, and I highlight a
text box, when I then hit a letter, such as "T", it moves the cursor to the
property grid into the text property and enters "T" - then then user can
type the rest of the text in this property.  Make sense?











As far as i understand (i couldn't guess well maybe), you're wanting
something like IntelliSense or setting the value of a property within
textbox, and setting PropertyGrid item's value outside PropertyGrid
control is not possible, because "Value" property is ReadOnly.

Or, my another guess that if you want to highlight a property grid
item which is inside PropertyGrid control while initial key matches
with the text in textbox you can use that:

'--------------Begin-------------
Private Sub TextBox1_KeyDown(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) _
Handles TextBox1.KeyDown

Dim GridItem As GridItem = _
PropertyGrid1.SelectedGridItem
Dim pGridItem As GridItem = _
GridItem.Parent
For Each egi As GridItem In _
pGridItem.GridItems
If egi.Label.StartsWith(e.KeyData.ToString) Then
PropertyGrid1.Focus()
egi.Select()
End If
Next

End Sub
'--------End----------

HTH,

Onur Güzel
Click to expand...

Now got it what you desribe in VS. But couldn't associate your aim
with a textbox and typing in a defaul property of a propertygrid
control. For example, you can make a property default by using
"DefaultPropertyAttribute" in your class, for example you can design
your class whose default property is "Title" as follows:

<DefaultPropertyAttribute("Title")> _
Public Class SampleProperty

Private _Title As String

<CategoryAttribute("Application"), _
Browsable(True), _
[ReadOnly](False), _
BindableAttribute(False), _
DefaultValueAttribute(""), _
DesignOnly(False), _
DescriptionAttribute("Enter Title for the application")> _
Public Property Title() As String
Get
Return _Title
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As String)
_Title = Value
End Set
End Property

Now, when you associate that class with PropertyGrid using:
"PropertyGrid1.SelectedObject = New SampleProperty" preferably in
form1_load event, "Title" property is pre-selected in gray and when
you type in a textbox using the code above, it gets focus in blue and
starts to type the value of that property.

Sorry, if i got wrong,

Hope this helps,

Onur Güzel
 
Not sure I understand how this will solve the problem. In Visual Studio, if
I design a text box, then highlight it and hit a keyboard character, it will
set focus to the property grid, and enter that character in the "text"
property waiting for more input. Can I recreate this somehow?


Not quite. When I am in Visual Studio designing a form, and I highlight a
text box, when I then hit a letter, such as "T", it moves the cursor to
the
property grid into the text property and enters "T" - then then user can
type the rest of the text in this property. Make sense?











As far as i understand (i couldn't guess well maybe), you're wanting
something like IntelliSense or setting the value of a property within
textbox, and setting PropertyGrid item's value outside PropertyGrid
control is not possible, because "Value" property is ReadOnly.

Or, my another guess that if you want to highlight a property grid
item which is inside PropertyGrid control while initial key matches
with the text in textbox you can use that:

'--------------Begin-------------
Private Sub TextBox1_KeyDown(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) _
Handles TextBox1.KeyDown

Dim GridItem As GridItem = _
PropertyGrid1.SelectedGridItem
Dim pGridItem As GridItem = _
GridItem.Parent
For Each egi As GridItem In _
pGridItem.GridItems
If egi.Label.StartsWith(e.KeyData.ToString) Then
PropertyGrid1.Focus()
egi.Select()
End If
Next

End Sub
'--------End----------

HTH,

Onur Güzel
Click to expand...

Now got it what you desribe in VS. But couldn't associate your aim
with a textbox and typing in a defaul property of a propertygrid
control. For example, you can make a property default by using
"DefaultPropertyAttribute" in your class, for example you can design
your class whose default property is "Title" as follows:

<DefaultPropertyAttribute("Title")> _
Public Class SampleProperty

Private _Title As String

<CategoryAttribute("Application"), _
Browsable(True), _
[ReadOnly](False), _
BindableAttribute(False), _
DefaultValueAttribute(""), _
DesignOnly(False), _
DescriptionAttribute("Enter Title for the application")> _
Public Property Title() As String
Get
Return _Title
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As String)
_Title = Value
End Set
End Property

Now, when you associate that class with PropertyGrid using:
"PropertyGrid1.SelectedObject = New SampleProperty" preferably in
form1_load event, "Title" property is pre-selected in gray and when
you type in a textbox using the code above, it gets focus in blue and
starts to type the value of that property.

Sorry, if i got wrong,

Hope this helps,

Onur Güzel
 
Not sure I understand how this will solve the problem. In Visual Studio,
if I design a text box, then highlight it and hit a keyboard character, it
will set focus to the property grid, and enter that character in the
"text" property waiting for more input. Can I recreate this somehow?
Click to expand...

Remember that the PropertyGrid has an object assigned to it that serves as
the source of the data it displays. I think what you need to do is alter
that object so that your desired property now contains the character that
was typed and then set your focus to the PropertyGrid and the property.
 
Thanks for the different information. Just can't get it working. If I have
a textbox highlighted (remember, I am in runtime mode with custom code that
draws a rectangle around the textbox), then I hit a keystroke, it does set
focus to the property grid, and sets focus to the property.

Now I tried this code:
CType(propGrid.SelectedObject, PropertiesLabel).LabelName =
e.KeyData.ToString
propGrid.Refresh

So now when I hit a keystroke, it does fill in the first character into the
grid. But here is the tricky part. It does not open the property up for
editing. It sets focus to the property. Now the user hits another keystroke
and it types over the first one. Is is possible after the Refresh is done,
to open up the property for editing, and be in the second character
position?
 
Thanks for the different information. Just can't get it working. If I
have a textbox highlighted (remember, I am in runtime mode with custom
code that draws a rectangle around the textbox), then I hit a keystroke,
it does set focus to the property grid, and sets focus to the property.

Now I tried this code:
CType(propGrid.SelectedObject, PropertiesLabel).LabelName =
e.KeyData.ToString
propGrid.Refresh

So now when I hit a keystroke, it does fill in the first character into
the grid. But here is the tricky part. It does not open the property up
for editing. It sets focus to the property. Now the user hits another
keystroke and it types over the first one. Is is possible after the
Refresh is done, to open up the property for editing, and be in the second
character position?
Click to expand...

At this point you might have to dig into P/Invoke and just send a keystroke
to the property grid with the key_event() API function. If you look at the
PropertyGrid class in Reflector you find that there's a bunch of internal
and private stuff supporting its functionality, and I doubt you'll be able
to access them through the Framework. (Maybe if you derive from the grid?
But I doubt it....)
 
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