2005
May06

Short term plans

Sorry not to have posted during several days. Things continue to progress though. The main thing is that I have frozen the development because I am now working heavily on the documentation for the API. NDOC does not fully recognize C# 2.0 but nevertheless I can work with it and preview my progress. Once I am satisfied with it, I will publish an alpha release so that you can play with the PropertyGrid. From the discussion that will result, I will continue the development and create a beta [...]

2005
Apr21

Visual C# Express beta2

Just installed it yesterday and everything seems fine with the current code. I had only one compile error and it deals with MaskedTextBox.InputText. This property simply disappeared and this is a real annoyance for me. I currently have a workaround. Let me explain my concern: In a previous post, I showed an example with a phone number. It is stored as a string variable that doesn't contain the characters of the mask, i.e. 5551234567 and not (555)123-4567. When the user edits the variable I want [...]

2005
Apr14

Properties and categories sorting

This is a concern often seen in forums or newsgroups. With the Microsoft PropertyGrid, sorting the properties means having to derive from ICustomTypeDescriptor or TypeDescriptionProvider to return the properties in a specific order. Sorting the categories is simply impossible. I think I have to remedy this problem. First, don't forget the first mode of operation of SPG: in this mode you can dynamically add and remove categories and properties, so by doing that you control the order. In the more [...]

2005
Apr12

Appearance customization

Here is the first post of the set I promised previously: As you all know, the Microsoft PropertyGrid comes in only one flavour, the one I call the DotNet look. It is neat and simple, no point on that. It was even a reference for me when I began coding the version for MFC. But I realized that people wanted more. Some advanced GUI have their own theme and the control should mimic it. In SPG, this is easy. You will be able to choose between some built-in "drawing managers" and you will eventually [...]

2005
Apr06

MaskedTextBox

This is just a short post to say that I have many requests to include the MaskedTextBox as a way to edit properties. I confirm here that it will be available in SPG. Update on April 7: This is done and here is a screenshot. [...]

2005
Mar31

First insight

I will in a short time post some articles about specific features of SPG.NET. In the meantime you can already read a list of existing features for the MFC version of the library. Here are the topics I will discuss. They will come with screenshots: Overall look customization: modifying the overall look of the grid is already described on the VisualHint web site. But I want to recall it here because this is one point that can make your grid really stand out in your product and this is something [...]

2005
Mar26

What can you expect?

You are discovering this web site and of course you are wondering what to expect. What will emerge from all this talk. Let's put it as a shopping list: A successful and proven design coming from Smart PropertyGrid for MFC. Plenty of features, some that will make the control work like the existing .NET PropertyGrid, and other new exciting ones that will fill in all its shortcomings, lacks and drawbacks. A fast evolving product, based on your needs and criticisms. A top notch support. Your [...]

2005
Mar23

This was an evidence...

... I had to blog to show any interested .NET developers that a new type of PropertyGrid is coming. What better tool than a blog could do that? Anyway, I thought it was easy, but when english is not your natural language and when you face a blank window, writing even the most insipid spiel is not obvious. So just let me introduce myself: my name is Nicolas Cadilhac. I live in Montreal, Canada. I'm creating my own company because I want to dedicate the right amount of time to the products I [...]