How to extend the VisualStudio Form designer

Question

I would like to write an extension to the VisualStudio form designer which automatically corrects some properties of controls:

More specifically, I would like to be able to select a TableLayoutPanel, invoke some command (menu, macro, verb, whatever) and have the AutoSize, Anchor, Margin, Padding etc. properties of the contained controls adjusted in some way (depending on the type of the controls, position in grid etc.).

The documentation about Automation and Extensibility of VS in MSDN seems to be very comprehensive but I couldn't find a topic about extending the form designer.

I would appreciate any advice on how I can query/manipulate controls in the form designer 'from outside' (I'm aware I could derive my own controls and implement custom designers for them but I'd rather avoid that...)

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Ok, I finally found some resources on the topic:

• Resources about Visual Studio .NET extensibility
• HOWTO: Manipulating controls of Windows forms from Visual Studio .NET add-ins

I think, I'll go on with these...