The Visual Foxpro framework we currently use has an "i" layer or "insulation" layer which is where all developer changes are recommended take place.  All application instances are then subclassed from this layer vs. directly from the framework vendor's classes. 

Question: does Strataframe have an "insulation" layer to prevent future source upgrades from overwriting developer enhancements?  If not, is it recommended one create their own subclasses and, if so, can the Strataframe wizards, builders, factories, etc. be changed to subclass from this layer?

Thanks in advance,

Randy Jean

Thanks for the quick response!  Guess I should brush up on events vs. method overrides.  I've seen the move toward events even in the VFP world as the newest version has better event binding.

You're right, VFP was starting to get better with events.  But their most recent version doesn't even begin to support events natively.  The problem with VFP is that they were trying to "slap a bandaid" on the problem to support event binding, creation, and handling.  All event processing is at the root level of .NET which makes it truly a viable solution.

OK, here's an example of something I know how to do through inheritance, but not sure how to do with events:



Strataframe Labels: I would like the default for all labels to be backcolor = transparent



I know how to do this through subclassing and I know if I I was not using the trial and had Strataframe source I could change the base class (which would not insulate me from future upgrades overwriting my change), but how would I do this using events?



Thanks,

Randy

You would need to somehow attach to the visiblity changed event of every label within the application and within the event handler, set the back color to transparent.  It is possible with events, but won't find a good place to centralize attaching to all of those events.  You're better off subclassing the StrataFrame label and using that for everything.

You'll also want to be aware that the label inherits it's back color from it's parent, you'll need to set the property after the ParentChanged event in the subclass.  Or, you could override (or shadow) the back color of the form and set it to always return Transparent.

This seems to work. Do you see anything wrong with this?

Imports System.Drawing



Public Class OGSFFormControls



    Class OGSFLabel

        Inherits MicroFour.StrataFrame.UI.Windows.Forms.Label

        Public Sub New()

            MyBase.New()

            TextAlign = ContentAlignment.MiddleRight

            Font = New Font("Lucida Sans Typewriter", 8.0!, _

             FontStyle.Regular, _

             GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(0, Byte))

            Height = 12

            BackColor = Color.Transparent

        End Sub

    End Class



End Class