Question

I have a Windos::Forms::GroupBox which contains a Windows::Forms::ListView. When I add items, I add items to the ListView I tell it to resize but how do I do the same for it’s parent GroupBox?

[edit] This is my custom resizing list control:

ResizingListView::ResizingListView(void)
{

}

void ResizingListView::ResizeVerticallyToItems(void)
{
    // Work out the height of the header
    int headerHeight = 0;
    int itemsHeight = 0;
    if( this->Items->Count == 0 )
    {
        // If no items exist, add one so we can work out how big the header is
        Items->Add("");
        headerHeight = GetHeaderSize();
        this->Items->Clear();
        itemsHeight = 0;
    }
    else
    {
        headerHeight = GetHeaderSize();
        itemsHeight = this->Items->Count*this->Items[0]->Bounds.Height;
    }

    // Work out the overall height and resize to it
    System::Drawing::Size sz = this->Size;
    int borderSize = 0;
    if( this->BorderStyle != System::Windows::Forms::BorderStyle::None )
    {
        borderSize = 2;
    }
    sz.Height = headerHeight+itemsHeight+borderSize;
    this->Size = sz;
}

int ResizingListView::GetHeaderSize(void)
{
    return Items[0]->Bounds.Top;
}

void ResizingListView::OnResize(System::EventArgs^ e)
{
    if( this->Scrollable == false )
    {
        ResizeVerticallyToItems();
    }
}

So when I finish aadding items I call ResizeVerticallyToItems() which resizes the control without any problems. The parent GroupBox has some padding though which disappears when my list resizes. So my thoughts were that I needed to ask the parent GroupBox to resize.

This is the group box’s initialisation:

this->grpMyStatus->AutoSize = true;
this->grpMyStatus->BackColor = System::Drawing::Color::FromArgb(static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(64)), 
    static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(64)), static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(64)));
this->grpMyStatus->BackgroundImageLayout = System::Windows::Forms::ImageLayout::Stretch;
this->grpMyStatus->Controls->Add(this->lstMyStatus);
this->grpMyStatus->Dock = System::Windows::Forms::DockStyle::Top;
this->grpMyStatus->Font = (gcnew System::Drawing::Font(L"Microsoft Sans Serif", 9.75F, System::Drawing::FontStyle::Bold, 
    System::Drawing::GraphicsUnit::Point, static_cast<System::Byte>(0)));
this->grpMyStatus->ForeColor = System::Drawing::Color::SkyBlue;
this->grpMyStatus->Location = System::Drawing::Point(3, 166);
this->grpMyStatus->Name = L"grpMyStatus";
this->grpMyStatus->Padding = System::Windows::Forms::Padding(3, 3, 3, 20);
this->grpMyStatus->Size = System::Drawing::Size(270, 92);
this->grpMyStatus->TabIndex = 5;
this->grpMyStatus->TabStop = false;
this->grpMyStatus->Text = L"My Status";

…and this is the child list’s initialisation:

this->lstMyStatus->BackColor = System::Drawing::Color::FromArgb(static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(64)), 
    static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(64)), static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(64)));
this->lstMyStatus->BorderStyle = System::Windows::Forms::BorderStyle::None;
this->lstMyStatus->Columns->AddRange(gcnew cli::array< System::Windows::Forms::ColumnHeader^  >(1) {this->columnHeader6});
this->lstMyStatus->Dock = System::Windows::Forms::DockStyle::Top;
this->lstMyStatus->Font = (gcnew System::Drawing::Font(L"Verdana", 8.25F, System::Drawing::FontStyle::Bold, System::Drawing::GraphicsUnit::Point, 
    static_cast<System::Byte>(0)));
this->lstMyStatus->ForeColor = System::Drawing::Color::FromArgb(static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(224)), 
    static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(224)), static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(224)));
this->lstMyStatus->HeaderStyle = System::Windows::Forms::ColumnHeaderStyle::None;
this->lstMyStatus->HideSelection = false;
this->lstMyStatus->Items->AddRange(gcnew cli::array< System::Windows::Forms::ListViewItem^  >(3) {listViewItem3, 
    listViewItem4, listViewItem21});
this->lstMyStatus->LabelWrap = false;
this->lstMyStatus->Location = System::Drawing::Point(3, 18);
this->lstMyStatus->Name = L"lstMyStatus";
this->lstMyStatus->RightToLeft = System::Windows::Forms::RightToLeft::Yes;
this->lstMyStatus->RightToLeftLayout = true;
this->lstMyStatus->Scrollable = false;
this->lstMyStatus->ShowGroups = false;
this->lstMyStatus->ShowItemToolTips = true;
this->lstMyStatus->Size = System::Drawing::Size(264, 54);
this->lstMyStatus->SmallImageList = this->imgLights;
this->lstMyStatus->TabIndex = 18;
this->lstMyStatus->UseCompatibleStateImageBehavior = false;
this->lstMyStatus->View = System::Windows::Forms::View::Details;
this->lstMyStatus->SelectedIndexChanged += gcnew System::EventHandler(this, &Status::lstMyStatus_SelectedIndexChanged);

Answer 1

It’s automatic when you set the GroupBox’ AutoSize property to True, it will grow as needed to fit the ListView. This isn’t very common in most typical layouts since that will makes it liable to overlap some other control or grow beyond the form edges.