Can't set font properly in designer on a custom control.

Hi,

I'm working on a .NET CF project in C# (Visual Studio 2003). I authored 3
custom controls derived from ComboBox, CheckBox and TabControl and added
them to my project. All they do is override the KeyDown method. (I used an
MSDN article "Walkthrough: Authoring a Custom Control for Smart Device
Applications" as a guide). Everything seemed to go smoothly. I can add and
manipulate these controls in the designer.

The problem that I'm having is that I can't set the font property on these
controls in the designer (though I *think* everything else works ok). I can
manually do so in the code. While debugging I noticed that the font that is
read from the resources in InitializeComponent() is always the default
Tahoma 10pt font, regardless of what is in the designer properties of the
control.

I looked in the resx file and the font settings seem wrong.

The font 'Value' is blank rather than "Microsoft Sans Serif, 8.25".

The font 'Type' is:
System.Windows.Forms.Design.ResXNullRef, System.CF.Design,
Version=7.0.5000.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
rather than something like:
System.Drawing.Font, System.CF.Drawing, Version=7.0.5000.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a

Entering the font name into the Value field doesn't help. Entering
something different into the Type field doesn't help either. In this case
it is immediately replaced with the (probably wrong) text.

One clue is that I have the 'localizable' property set to true on all my
forms. (at one point I was planning on using this, but have not as yet).

If I create a test form with the 'localizable' property set to false then
the font setting is never set at all in the designer code
(InitializeComponent()), nor is the font property saved in the resx file.
Again, though the designer claims the control is using 'Microsoft Sans
Serif, 8.25", what get's used is actually 'Tahoma, 10".

I would greatly appreciate any help or advice you might have to offer. I'm
including the source code of one of my custom controls.

Thankyou




using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Windows.Forms;

#if NETCFDESIGNTIME
[assembly:
System.CF.Design.RuntimeAssemblyAttribute("SmartControls,Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=null")]
#endif

namespace SmartControls
{
public class SmartComboBox : System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox
{
public SmartComboBox()
{
}

/// <summary>
/// Handles Keypad input. Uses the Bksp key to mimic the left arrow
key.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="e"></param>
protected override void OnKeyDown(System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs
e)
{
if ( e.KeyCode == Keys.Back )
{
if ( this.SelectedIndex > 0 )
this.SelectedIndex--;
e.Handled = true;
}
else
{
base.OnKeyDown (e);
}
}
}
}

Try to add the ShouldSerializeFont method:

private bool ShouldSerializeFont()
{
return(!Font.Equals(defaultFont));
}

--
Alex Yakhnin, .NET CF MVP
www.intelliprog.com | www.opennetcf.org


"Andrew" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm working on a .NET CF project in C# (Visual Studio 2003). I authored 3
> custom controls derived from ComboBox, CheckBox and TabControl and added
> them to my project. All they do is override the KeyDown method. (I used an
> MSDN article "Walkthrough: Authoring a Custom Control for Smart Device
> Applications" as a guide). Everything seemed to go smoothly. I can add and
> manipulate these controls in the designer.
>
> The problem that I'm having is that I can't set the font property on these
> controls in the designer (though I *think* everything else works ok). I can
> manually do so in the code. While debugging I noticed that the font that is
> read from the resources in InitializeComponent() is always the default
> Tahoma 10pt font, regardless of what is in the designer properties of the
> control.
>
> I looked in the resx file and the font settings seem wrong.
>
> The font 'Value' is blank rather than "Microsoft Sans Serif, 8.25".
>
> The font 'Type' is:
> System.Windows.Forms.Design.ResXNullRef, System.CF.Design,
> Version=7.0.5000.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
> rather than something like:
> System.Drawing.Font, System.CF.Drawing, Version=7.0.5000.0,
> Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
>
> Entering the font name into the Value field doesn't help. Entering
> something different into the Type field doesn't help either. In this case
> it is immediately replaced with the (probably wrong) text.
>
> One clue is that I have the 'localizable' property set to true on all my
> forms. (at one point I was planning on using this, but have not as yet).
>
> If I create a test form with the 'localizable' property set to false then
> the font setting is never set at all in the designer code
> (InitializeComponent()), nor is the font property saved in the resx file.
> Again, though the designer claims the control is using 'Microsoft Sans
> Serif, 8.25", what get's used is actually 'Tahoma, 10".
>
> I would greatly appreciate any help or advice you might have to offer. I'm
> including the source code of one of my custom controls.
>
> Thankyou
>
>
>
>
> using System;
> using System.Data;
> using System.Windows.Forms;
>
> #if NETCFDESIGNTIME
> [assembly:
> System.CF.Design.RuntimeAssemblyAttribute("SmartControls,Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=null")]
> #endif
>
> namespace SmartControls
> {
> public class SmartComboBox : System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox
> {
> public SmartComboBox()
> {
> }
>
> /// <summary>
> /// Handles Keypad input. Uses the Bksp key to mimic the left arrow
> key.
> /// </summary>
> /// <param name="e"></param>
> protected override void OnKeyDown(System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs
> e)
> {
> if ( e.KeyCode == Keys.Back )
> {
> if ( this.SelectedIndex > 0 )
> this.SelectedIndex--;
> e.Handled = true;
> }
> else
> {
> base.OnKeyDown (e);
> }
> }
> }
> }
>
>
>
>
>