How do I hide some of the default control properties at design-time (C#)?

Question

I have a custom control that I made. It inherits from System.Windows.Forms.Control, and has several new properties that I have added. Is it possible to show my properties (TextOn and TextOff for example) instead of the default "Text" property.

My control works fine, I'd just like to de-clutter the property window.

Answer 1

You could either override them (if they can be overriden) and apply the Browsable attribute, specifying false, or create a new version of the property and apply the same attribute (this second approach doesn't always appear to work so YMMV).

Also, you can use a custom TypeConverter for your type and override the GetProperties method to control what properties get displayed for your type. This approach is more robust to the underlying base classes changing but can take more effort, depending on what you want to achieve.

I often use a combination of the Browsable attribute and a custom TypeConverter.

Answer 2

You are looking for design-time attributes, specifically the BrowsableAttribute. DefaultPropertyAttribute sets which property is the default one to edit.

Answer 3

Override the property and add [Browsable(false)].

You might also want to add [EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)], which will hide the property in IntelliSense in the code editor. Note that it will only be hidden in a separate solution from the original control.