Visual Studio Editor Clone V0.1a

• Download demo project - 30.6 Kb
• Download source project - 181 Kb

Background

Following the upcoming Visual Studio components (menu bar, toolbox etc.), I decided to gather them all and implement all in one application, to be a clone of the VS 2002 .NET Editor. Thanks to all the developers writing such controls, they are extremely helpful and time saving.

Introduction

This is an alpha version of the VS Clone project and it only contains the GUI part (most of it); the plan is to reach a fully working editor, which looks like the VS Editor, only without the debugger (I lack this knowledge). Anyway, this is the first released version.

Form Control Creation

private void SetToolBox()
{
    ToolBoxControl = new ToolBox();
    //add control to form

    this.Controls.Add(ToolBoxControl);        

    //*** Add Toolbox Controls ***//


    //Add Tabs

    ToolBoxControl.AddTab("Data",0);
    ToolBoxControl.AddTab("Components",0);
    ToolBoxControl.AddTab("Windows Forms",0);
    ToolBoxControl.AddTab("General",0);

    //Add Items

    //Add Items

    ToolBoxControl[2].AddItem("Label",0,true,typeof(Label).Namespace);
    ToolBoxControl[2].AddItem("TextBox",0,true,typeof(TextBox).Namespace);
    ToolBoxControl[2].AddItem("PictureBox",0, 
                               true,typeof(PictureBox).Namespace);
    ToolBoxControl[2].AddItem("ListView",0,true,typeof(ListView).Namespace);
    ToolBoxControl[2].AddItem("ComboBox",0,true,typeof(ComboBox).Namespace);
    ToolBoxControl[2].AddItem("Button",0,true,typeof(Button).Namespace);
    ToolBoxControl[2].AddItem("CheckBox",0,true,typeof(CheckBox).Namespace);

    //*** Done Adding Items ***//


    // ** Set Visual Properties **//

    ToolBoxControl.Font = new Font("Arial",8);
    ToolBoxControl.BackColor = SystemColors.Control;
    ToolBoxControl.ItemSelectedColor = Color.LightGray;

    //scroll items up

    for (int i=0;i<5;i++)
        ToolBoxControl[2].ScrollItems(ScrollDirection.Up);

}

private void FormDisplay_DragDrop(object sender, 
             System.Windows.Forms.DragEventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        //get drop data

        ToolBoxItem DragData = 
          (ToolBoxItem)e.Data.GetData(typeof(ToolBoxItem));

        //create a new control


        Assembly controlAsm = 
          Assembly.LoadWithPartialName(DragData.Object.ToString());
        Type controlType = 
          controlAsm.GetType(DragData.Object.ToString() 
                             + "." + DragData.Caption);

        Control newControl = 
          (Control)Activator.CreateInstance(controlType);
        //location on client form

        newControl.Location = PointToClient(new Point(e.X,e.Y));

        //default text

        newControl.Text = DragData.Caption;

        //show properties in propertygrid when clicked

        newControl.Click += new EventHandler(Control_Click);

        //add control to form

        this.Controls.Add(newControl);

        //make z-order upper

        newControl.BringToFront();

    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
    }                    
}

Docking all the Controls Together

private void DockControls()
{
    //Set Displayes

    DockManager.InnerControl = DisplayTabControl;
    //Right Dock

    //******** Add Toolbox

    cToolBox = DockManager.Contents.Add(ToolBoxControl,"ToolBox");
    //set the toolbox to be 1/7 of the screen

    cToolBox.DisplaySize = 
      new Size(this.ClientSize.Width / 7,this.ClientSize.Height);

    //******** Add Display Explorer

    cExplorer = DockManager.Contents.Add(DisplayTree,"Solution Explorer");
    //set the solution explorer to be 1/6 of the screen

    cExplorer.DisplaySize = 
      new Size(this.ClientSize.Width / 6,this.ClientSize.Height);

    //******** Add PropertyGrid

    cProperties = DockManager.Contents.Add(PropertyGridControl,"Proprties");

    //******** Add Output

    OutputWindow = new FormOutput();
    cOutput = DockManager.Contents.Add(OutputWindow,"Output",imageList,18);

    //******** Add Tasklist

    FormOutput TaskList = new FormOutput();
    cTaskList = DockManager.Contents.Add(TaskList,"Task List",imageList,19);

    //divide the content to two (Properties and Tree)

    wcRight = DockManager.AddContentWithState(cExplorer, State.DockRight);

    //add Properties and ProjectTree

    DockManager.AddContentToZone(cProperties,wcRight.ParentZone,1);

    //add OutputTab

    wcBottom = DockManager.AddContentWithState(cOutput,State.DockBottom);
    //add output and tasklist

    DockManager.AddContentToWindowContent(cTaskList,wcBottom);

    //Add Toolbox

    DockManager.AddContentWithState(cToolBox,State.DockLeft);

    //Set Status Bar

    DockManager.OuterControl = statusBar;

    //Resize Controls/Forms

    OutputWindow.Bounds = wcBottom.Bounds;
}

Control Links

• Magic Library Controls (Crownwood Software)
• ToolBox Control

What's Next?

Now working on enabling GUI into code - creating forms, dragging controls etc. Also creating a code editor to allow design time editing.