in VS 2008, I am attempting to design a windows form that is similar to a set of property pages but uses a TreeView to select the page rather than a TabControl. An example of this design is the Options dialog in VS 2008 itself. There are two reasons I want to do this: 1. I prefer the look and feel; 2. I want to give users the ability to add child nodes to the TreeView.
I am using multiple Panel controls to contain the controls for each "property page". These panels will all be coincident on the form, i.e. overlapping each other. I am finding that the VS UI designer is not very user-friendly when I do this; I can select each panel easily enough, but all the controls inside the panel are visible at the same time, leading to a jumbled mess. Working with a TabControl is much easier, as you can select a tab and only see the controls that you've placed onto that tab.
Is there a different approach that will make this easier for me, or do I have to make do with a TabControl? TIA
Best Answer
In order to get behavior similar to the
TabControl
where each tab gives you a different designer canvas on which to place controls, you will need to write a designer for your control that provides the tabbing interaction when in the Forms designer. However, if you want to avoid this, you could take the approach we use in a similar situation and make each tab page its ownUserControl
, then add them as tabs in the constructor of your main tabbed control.This allows you to design each tab individually, avoiding the overlapping issue you currently face.