Custom menu items serialization ...

Custom menu items serialization ...

• DiegoCrespo

   

  Hy!

  I have build in VB .NET a custom menu which displays icons to each menu item. The StyleMainMenu inherits MainMenu and StyleMenuItem inherits MenuItem. For StyleMainMenu I have a toolboxbitmap and I can choose to insert directly from toolbar a style menu to the form. But, at design time, when I add menu items, they are made as "new MenuItem", not as "new StyleMenuItem".

  Question: how can I make that, by design time, the menu items to be as StyleMenuItem

  Thanks.

  
  

• MSDN Forum User

  Hello Rick ( posting to two forums !) I've got it working ( sort of ! ) with the following attributes added just above the property declaration for MenuItems
  
  [EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Always)]
  [Browsable(true)]
  
  you have to close down VS for the changes to take effect though, before I added these attributes the property "MenuItems" was not visible in the prop sheet for the menu, now it is, and has a button (...) which adds the correct ( i.e. mine ) menuitem class BUT ! only for the menu pads, if you click on a pad and obey the "type here" prompt the standard items are still added, I'll keep at it though, my next step is to try your suggestion
  
  

• Alberto Borbolla MVP

  Hi Pete,

  There's a property of CollectionEditor you may want to override -CollectionItemType

  In the constructor you may want to set this to typeof(PJKBaseMenuItem)

   

  
  
  

• Gabe Covert

  Hy!

  I have tryied your code, but it doesn't function. First of all, I have my control in VB .NET. I have translated the code for VB, I also tryied in C#, but I can see no changes. Second, the "UIEditor" type doesn't exists, maybe it is "UITypeEditor". I have tryied also whit that, but no results.

  What is the problem in the code

   

  
  

• ewillie

  If it's any consolation I can't get it to work either, have you got it working yet as this is exactly what I'm trying to achieve, regards
  
  

• Jackie8640

  Hy!

  My code looks like the code from Peter Kane, but, as he also sad, it does't work. I have it tested in C# and also in my application in VB .NET. Why

  Thanks.

  
  

• naiad

  PMFJI but !, Hello there , I to am trying to achieve this functionality, this is how I've interpreted your code suggestion
  
  // My base menu classes.
      public class PJKBaseMainMenu : MainMenu
      {
          [Editor(typeof(PJKMenuItemCollectionEditor),typeof(UITypeEditor))]
          [EditorBrowsable]
          public new Menu.MenuItemCollection MenuItems
          {
              get
              {
                  return base.MenuItems;
              }
          }
      }
  
      public class PJKMenuItemCollectionEditor : CollectionEditor
      {
          public PJKMenuItemCollectionEditor() : base(typeof(Menu.MenuItemCollection))
          {
          }
  
          protected override Type[] CreateNewItemTypes()
          {
              return new Type[] {typeof(PJKBaseMenuItem)};
          }
      }
  
      public class PJKBaseMenuItem : MenuItem
      {
      }
  
  what am I missing , if I add a new menuitem the generated code is new System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem , any help much appreciated
  
  

• vikionline

  The base type is UITypeEditor, not UIEditor. That was a typo. If you have made that correction, it should be working. Make sure you close and re-open Visual Studio after adding this code and recompiling; Visual Studio does not always automatically recreate editors or converters internally.

  If that doesnt work, you will probably have to post your exact code.

  
  
  

• PalMan

  Insert this into StyleMainMenu:

  [Editor(typeof(StyleMenuItemCollectionEditor), typeof(UIEditor))]
  public new Menu.MenuItemCollection MenuItems
  {
       get
       {
            return base.MenuItems;
       }
  }
  
  Then in a separate class:

  public class StyleMenuItemCollectionEditor : CollectionEditor
  {
       public StyleMenuItemCollectionEditor() : base(typeof(Menu.MenuItemCollection))
       {
       }

       protected override Type[] CreateNewItemTypes()
       {
            return new Type[] {typeof(StyleMenuItem)};
       }
  }

  Both of these require System.ComponentModel.Design. The new property is required because you need a property in StyleMainMenu that you can apply a custom editor to, and MainMenu.MenuItems is not overridable. But since you are just passing through the MenuItems collection from the base class, you are not changing any run-time functionality.

  
  
• Custom menu items serialization ...