Question

I have a static event in a DLL that I use frequently – Toolkit.Dialogs.ExitConfirm

The only way I can use this event is by modifying the line that adds the event in form.Designer.cs. Example:

this.FormClosing += new System.Windows.Forms.FormClosingEventHandler(this.Form1_FormClosing);

becomes

this.FormClosing += new System.Windows.Forms.FormClosingEventHandler(Toolkit.Dialogs.ExitConfirm);

If I try to add it via the Properties->Events page, it gives me this error: ‘Toolkit.Dialogs.ExitConfirm’ is not a valid identifier.

Is there a way to allow Form Designer to reference events from other classes/namespaces?

Edit: some people work better with visual cues, so here’s some images to define the issue: https://i.stack.imgur.com/3fsRd.jpg

The first image shows how I have to make it work in Visual Studio – an event that calls an event.

The second image shows what I’m actually trying to do.

The third image is the error that occurs when I key in the method name by hand.

Answer 1

The WinForms designer isn’t designed to do that. I’m a little surprised it doesn’t lose your event the next time you make a change in the designer.

A few ideas on other ways you could make this work:

• You could make a Form class that hooks the event for you, and descend all your other forms from that base class. Then you’d get the behavior everywhere.
• You could make a utility method that hooks the event for you, and call it from each form’s constructor.
• You could make an extension method that hooks the event and then shows the form, and call your extension method everywhere you show your forms (instead of calling Show).

The base class is probably the simplest solution, as long as you aren’t already using form inheritance for some other purpose.