Visual Studio Hacks [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Hack 27. Customize the Toolbox

Everything you need can be at your fingertips
in Visual Studio's toolbox. In this hack, learn how
to enhance the toolbox with custom controls and code
snippets.

The toolbox
is used to store controls and code snippets. The controls and code
snippets can be dragged from the toolbox to either the editor or the
code window. The toolbox is designed to save time during development.
Instead of writing control code manually, you can drag and drop
controls or code snippets.

4.5.1. Controls and the Toolbox

The most common use of the toolbox is for Windows

controls
and web controls (including HTML controls). When you work with either
the Windows Forms designer or the Web Forms Designer, you will
constantly interact with the toolbox to drag and drop controls onto
the designer. By default, the toolbox contains controls from within
the .NET Framework, but you can also add custom controls to the
toolbox. Adding new controls to the toolbox is a relatively simple
procedure.

First, right-click on the tab of the toolbox you want to add the
control to and select Add/Remove Items; this will display the dialog
shown in Figure 4-12.

Figure 4-12. Customize Toolbox dialog

From this dialog, you simply need to select your control from the
list of .NET Framework Components or COM Components or use the Browse
button to manually browse for the control. When browsing for
controls, you need to select the assembly that the control is in,
either the assembly that you created for your custom controls or the
assembly provided by the control author.

One of the Windows Forms
controls not added to the toolbox by default is the
PropertyGrid control. Follow these steps to add
this control to your toolbox:

Right-click on the Toolbox tab to which you want to add the control
and select Add/Remove Items.

Scroll through the .NET Framework Components list and find the
control labeled PropertyGrid.

Check the box next to the control.

Click the OK button.

You will then see the PropertyGrid control added
to your tab. You can see the PropertyGrid control
added to the toolbox in Figure 4-13.

Figure 4-13. PropertyGrid control in toolbox

When a control
does
not include a custom icon, you will see a small gear next to the
control in the toolbox, as seen in Figure 4-14. This
is the default icon used when the control author does not provide a
custom icon.

If you are building your own control, it's easy to add a custom toolbox icon: create a 16 16 bitmap and add it to your project. You will need to ensure that the name of the bitmap is the same as the name of the control and the bitmap is set to be an embedded resource.

Figure 4-14. New control in toolbox

4.5.2. Code Snippets and the Toolbox

The
normal use of the toolbox includes
adding and removing tabs and controls, but you can also use the
toolbox to store code snippets. Whether you want to store a method
call to get a connection string, a commonly used piece of JavaScript,
or an architecture-specific piece of code, the toolbox is a great
place to save those pieces of code that you constantly find yourself
typing.

Before adding any code snippets to the toolbox, it is a good idea to
add a separate tab to the toolbox for your code snippets: right-click
on the toolbox and select Add Tab, then enter a name for the tab
(such as Code Snippets) in the text box that
appears at the bottom of the toolbox.

Storing a piece of code in the toolbox is simple: select the code
from the document window and drag it over to the toolbox. After
dropping the code on the toolbox, you will see a snippet like the one
shown in Figure 4-15.

Figure 4-15. Toolbox code snippet

This code snippet can now be dragged and dropped from the toolbox to
the document window, and the included code will be pasted into the
document. You can also rename the snippet by right-clicking on the
item, selecting Rename Item, and then specifying the new name.
Changing the name of the item will not affect the text that is copied
to the document window.

Using the toolbox as a method to store code snippets is an effective
way to reduce coding time and increase your own consistency.

4.5.3. Hacking the Hack

Now that you have
customized the toolbox, it is important to be able to move those
settings between systems. To move toolbox settings from one machine
to another, you need to copy a single file from your profile on the
current machine to your profile on the target machine. The file is
called
toolbox.tbd and is located in the following directory:

\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<7.1>\

This file can be copied to the target system, and all of your toolbox
settings will be moved to the new system when you restart Visual
Studio. Keep in mind that for custom controls, any assemblies that
the toolbox references would need to be copied as well.