Using the Properties Grid

[Mick Dugan]

In my application, users may create a number of objects. Information about these objects (height, width, name, etc) is stored in several 2 dimensional arrays. How do I go about using the properties grid to display the data?

[snarfblam]

A search on Google yielded this as the first result.

 

The tutorial implements the ICustomTypeDescriptor interface to customize what is shown in the PropertyGrid.

 

Depending on your needs, it might be easier to create a class that exposes the property you need to be edited.

class EditableItem {
   // Constructor
   public EditableItem(int width, int height, int etCetera){
       _Width = width;
       _Height = height;
       _EtCetera = etCetera;
   }

   // Expose data to edit as properties
   int _Height;
   public int Height{ get{ return _Height;} set {_Height = value;} }

   int _Width;
   public int Width{ get{ return _Width;} set {_Width = value;} }

   int _EtCetera;
   public int EtCetera{ get{ return _EtCetera;} set {_EtCetera = value;} }
}

public void EditItem(int index1, int index2) {
   // Create an object with the data to edit
   EditableItem i = new EditableItem(
       Heights[index1, index2], 
       Widths[index1, index2],
       EtCeteras[index1, index2]);

   // Present the user with the data in the property grid
   MyPropertyGrid.SelectedObject = i;
   
   // At some point you will need to save the previously selected item's data
   // back to the arrays. A good time to do this would be immediately before
   // a new item is selected.
}

Public Class EditableItem
   'Constructor
   Public Sub New (width As Integer, height As Integer, etCetera As Integer)
       _Width = width
       _Height = height
       _EtCetera = etCetera
   End Sub

   'Expose data to edit as properties
   Dim _Width As Integer
   Property Width() As Integer
       Get
           Return _Width
       End Get
       Set(ByVal value As Integer)
           _Width = value
       End Set
   End Property

   Dim _Height As Integer
   Property Height() As Integer
       Get
           Return _Height
       End Get
       Set(ByVal value As Integer)
           _Height = value
       End Set
   End Property

   Dim _EtCetera As Integer
   Property EtCetera() As Integer
       Get
           Return _EtCetera
       End Get
       Set(ByVal value As Integer)
           _EtCetera = value
       End Set
   End Property
End Class

Public Sub EditItem(ByVal index1 As Integer, ByVal index2 As Integer)
   'Create an object with the data to edit
   Dim i As New EditableItem( _
       Heights(index1, index2), _
       Widths(index1, index2), _
       EtCeteras(index1, index2))

   'Present the user with the data in the property grid
   MyPropertyGrid.SelectedObject = i

   'At some point you will need to save the previously selected item's data
   'back to the arrays. A good time to do this would be immediately before
   'a new item is selected.
End Sub

[Mick Dugan]

Thanks for the lead!