I would like to subclass the Microfour.Strataframe.UI.Windows.Forms.DevEx.TextEdit so I don't have to set all the properties each time to get currency box behavior when I drop one on a form (this form will have > 30 ) I will be using this to bind to character fields as well.



I am still a little uncertain as to how masking works in .NET.



I am trying to add a new component, and set the inherits, then set the properties I want in the properties sheet. I get a warning that fProperties has a the exact property in the base class and should be marked Shadows but I'm out of my depth on exactly how to set this up.



I'd be open to any alternative suggestions as to how to create the textbox that will behave right to left, 2 decimals, show with normal backcolor when disabled or readonly etc. The DevEx.TextEdit ( part of the DevExpress freebie in the XtraEditors ) might be the easiest to adapt for my purposes but if anyone has built something else they'd like to share I'd certainly like to see it.



Assume others have been down this path before so I'll look forward to suggestions.



TIA

You have two options.  Implement the Shadows property and create your own internal privates to set the values on the parent class or create totally new properties that you set and in turn sets the parents base properties.

The second option is basically the same, but is slightly harder to implement dynamically as the base class will not automatically evaluate the property, thus requiring you to set each property regardless of the serialized state.

Hope this helps   Also, the above code was quick and dirty and not tested, but it will be close.

First, in case I didn't say so before, I created this by using a component class.



I think I get what you're saying but the fProperties seems to encompass all the dx specific properties of TextEdit, storing them in the repository.



The component library builds, but when I drop the component on a form all the props I set in the subclassed component are ignored, then there is a problem reopening the component in the designer.



The warning I get is this :









I tried this ( both the commented and uncommented version ) with exactly the same result







Also tried this naming the props _fProperties and fProperties()



In all cases the designer part of the control looks like this :







I'm obviously missing a basic concept here. Should I be just using a the SF wrapper as a model and creating my own wrapper to remove one layer of abstraction?



Since this involves the SF wrapper for the DevEx control, I'd really appreciate it if you could just tell me specifically, for subclassing this particular SF control, what the best approach to take is.



Since DevEx just released all these controls for free, this might be really useful for a lot of us who haven't been using the DevEx stuff up til now.



TIA

Okay, I tried stealing the code from the SF source code for the TextEdit wrapper, discovering it is just a class, not a component, so it may well be that my fProperties problem was mostly because I was using a component so there was a design file.



But now there is the question of how to change defaults for properties in my subclass (the whole purpose of doing the subclass to start with )



While my rip-off of the SF wrapper fine - subclassing directly from the DevEx control just as the framework does - builds fine and works as part of my own UI dll , I have discovered that the property sheet allows you to set properties but they do not persist into the built class. Same with subclassing the MaskedTextbox.



Looks like the properties must be over ridden ( shadowed ? ) in the code itself to get new defaults.



Interesting.



Also guessing I'm going to find the DevEx control is going to work differently from the SF MaskedTextbox, since the devEx control uses a repository which seems to be basically a data dictionary approach.



Surely a whole lot of other folks have already dealt with this??? Suggestions ?

Hi Charles,



I've extended a TextEdit control. I did not like the gray coloring for disabled and readonly controls (difficult to read). Also, I wanted the control to reflect any binding length limits. So here is what I did:







I am pretty sure that I started with an empty component. I have seen that fProperties issue. It's been a while since I designed this control, so I do not remember what I did to work around it.



Have a great day!

Bill

Thanks, Bill.



I'll need to chew this over. I'm assuming this is code inside the inherited class, so I'll approach it that way and see what happens.

Yup...it's in there...



public partial class TextEdit : MicroFour.StrataFrame.UI.Windows.Forms.DevEx.TextEdit



Enjoy!

I'm not entirely following this thread (I haven't chewed on the code much) and I don't use DevX controls, but a couple of thoughts.



First if all you want to do is set some defaults, I believe I'd just try setting them in the constructor of the sub classed control. This might not work, but I think it will. If it didn't I'd likely try overriding the create control method. Any properties you set on designer would then override them.



Second, if that didn't work or wasn't what you wanted, then I'd use shadowing to replace certain properties with my own. This can get tricky when dealing with inheritance and interfaces, but is definitely doable.



Here's some sample code for the first method (just typed in):







That should be the entire class! Of course I might be missing what the issue is or some other issue your having but this sort of thing is pretty easy.

If you do that in a subclass New() do you need to call the baseclass constructor first ?

I use trial and error a lot--and the KISS method. I did try placing the property settings in the constructor, but it did not work. Of course, I may have been doing something wrong. It does work in the layout method (a method called during the GUI rendering phase). I get a little pragmatic when it comes to some of this stuff. I kind of wonder what shadowing or interfacing or even overriding would do that my approach does not do. I am open to the possibilities.



Here is the entire class that includes the code posted earlier: