Adding template to custom control in design-time

Question

User559377399 posted

Hi,

i create a custom control which can hold some templates, such as Header, Body Footer, etc.

<cc1:myControl>
<BodyTemplate>
</BodyTemplate>
</cc1:myCnntrol>

i tried to use smarttags to allow the user to edit each of the templates, which worked pretty well. what i could not get working was to add a template if it has not been in the control. eg. add a header-template to the control above. i tried using the RootDesigner.AddControlToDocument() function of my controldesigner. but this function gives me an error, telling me the control i'm going to add the template (i used a new HtmlGenericControl("HeaderTemplate") as new Control) to is not valid. (i can't give the exact error message, cause i use a german version of visual studio 2008)

i've been searching the web for nearly half a day now, but i did'nt find a working solution for my problem

Thanks so far.

Tom

Answer 1

User1270895379 posted

I believe I have the same problem -- I have not tried your attempted solution.

Tom H.

Answer 2

User559377399 posted

ok - eventually i managed to find a way.

the code you want to be added to the control has to be "created" when handling the smarttag method or property-changes.

im my case the designer has a Enum EditMode which defines, what's edited right now. i added the same enum-member to my smarttag and add the new template code in the get-handler. to add some code, just assign a template to the member of your control. i used a custom written DefaultHeaderTemplate. 

code looks like that:

// the controls designer
public class myControlDesigner
{
    ...
    public EditModes EditMode;
    ...
}

// smart-tag actions for the designer
myControlActionList
{
    ...
    public EditModes EditMode
    {
        get { return ((myControlDesigner)Component).EditMode; }
        set 
        {             
            TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(Component)["HeaderTemplate"].SetValue(Component,new DefaultHeaderTemplate());
            ((myControlDesigner)Component).EditMode = value; 
        }
    }
    ...
}

You can also add a template from some plain asp-code. change the code as follows:

TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(Component)["HeaderTemplate"].SetValue(Component, ControlParser.ParseTemplate((IDesignerHost)(Component.Site.GetService(typeof(IDesignerHost))), "[inner-template code here]"))

the string you pass to the Control-Parser should not contain the tags for the template itselfs. only write the content of the template. this did not work out when an empty string is passed. but a string with a single space is a good workaround.

i hope this helps.

Tom