Adding controls dynamically at design time vb.net

Question

I have been developing some custom smart tags. I am using a DesignerActionMethodItem which gets me to a fired method in code. When I try to hit the controls.Add the control is added but it seems the designer is unaware of it. It is never serialized and it goes away when the form is refreshed in the designer. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am sort of stuck and google hasn't helped me. Please don't send me anything about smart tags that has nothing to do with adding controls dynamically at design time, I have already read so many looking for this.

Answer 1

here is slimmed down version of my code:

Imports System.ComponentModel Imports System.Windows.Forms

_ Public Class Example

End Class

Public Class ExampleControlDesigner Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Design.ControlDesigner

Public _Control As Example

Public Overrides Sub Initialize(ByVal component As System.ComponentModel.IComponent)
    MyBase.Initialize(component)
    _Control = Me.Control
End Sub

Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ActionLists() As System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionListCollection
    Get
        Dim d As New System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionListCollection()
        d.Add(New ExampleControlDesignerActionList(Me))
        Return d
    End Get
End Property

End Class

Public Class ExampleControlDesignerActionList Inherits System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionList

Dim _controlDesigner As ExampleControlDesigner
Dim _designerActionUISvc As System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionUIService
Dim _Control As Example

Public Sub New(ByVal designer As ExampleControlDesigner)
    MyBase.New(designer.Component)
    _designerActionUISvc = GetService(GetType(System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionUIService))
    _controlDesigner = designer
    _Control = designer._Control
End Sub

Public Sub AddControl()
    Dim frm As Form = _Control.Parent
    Dim b As New Button
    frm.Controls.Add(b)
End Sub
Public Overrides Function GetSortedActionItems() As System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionItemCollection
    Dim items As New System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionItemCollection()
    Dim mi As New System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionMethodItem(Me, "AddControl", "Add Control", "Methods")
    items.Add(mi)
    Return items
End Function

End Class

The problem occurs inside the AddControl method. Because this code is being executed at design time it does not behave as intended. A control is added to the form, but it is never seriallized and therefore can not be interacted with. Any help would be greatly appreciated.