Property grid and Expandable objects

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Hello!

I have a question on how to preview an object that has certain properties in the PropertyGrid but in such a way that the properties are grouped in an expandable type property. My model is similar to this:

I have an abstract base class called "Shape"

Then, I have several abstract classes that derive that class like "Shape2D" and "Shape3D".

Finally, I have classes that derive those two classes, like "Circle", "Sphere", "Ellipse" and so on.

Every one of these classes have some properties like "Radius", "Length", "Side", "Height" and such.

What I would need to do is to be able to show those properties in a PropertyGrid when a "Shape" class is selected in a list. What modifications should I do to make this possible? I've searched all over the net, but all the examples are unnecessarily complicated to show this kind of behavior. A link to a simple example would also suffice!!

Thank you in advance!

EDIT:

I apologize for changing the question, but I forgot one important thing. The class "Shape" is contained in another class called "ShapeContainer" that has properties of it's own. Now, I would need to preview the "ShapeContainer" class in the PropertyGrid with all it's properties, but with the "Shape" properties as well (within an expandable property).

Thanks again!

Posted 19-Apr-10 3:49am

brboLikus

Updated 19-Apr-10 4:00am

v2

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Rajitha Wimalasooriya · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-19T22:34:00

You need to decorate your abstract base class Shape with the TypeConverterAttribute. For Example,

C#

[TypeConverter(typeof(ExpandableObjectConverter))]
public abstract class Shape
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public abstract double Area { get; }
}

Your derived classes can be implemented the regular way,

C#

public abstract class Shape3D : Shape
{
    public abstract double Volume { get; }
}

C#

public class Cube : Shape3D
{
    public double Height { get; set; }
    public double Width { get; set; }
    public double Depth { get; set; }

    public override double Area
    {
        get
        {
            return 2*((Height*Width) + (Width*Depth) + (Depth*Height));
        }
    }

    public override double Volume
    {
        get
        {
            return Height*Width*Depth;
        }
    }
}

ShapeContainer can contain a shape and can also have it's own properties,

C#

public class ShapeContainer
{
    public string ContainerProperty { get; set; }
    public Shape ContainerShape { get; set; }
}

Now when an instance of the ShapeContainer is set to the property grid it will show the properties of the shape as well.

C#

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Shape shape = new Cube() { Height = 2, Width = 3, Depth = 4, Id = 1, Name = "Cube1"};
    ShapeContainer container = new ShapeContainer();
    container.ContainerProperty = "ShapeContainer1";
    container.ContainerShape = shape;

    propertyGrid.SelectedObject = container;
}