Question

I have written a Visual Studio 2008 addin that adds controls to a Form. I want some of those controls’ Visible property set to False so they’re hidden during runtime, so I do this:

If hiddenControls.Contains(.ColumnName) Then 'hiddenControls is TypeOf List(Of String)
    fieldControlAsControl.Visible = False 'TypeOf Control
End If

This doesn’t work. Not only is the control invisible in the designer window itself, but the .Visible = False code doesn’t even make it into [FormName].designer.vb.

I have tried forcing Serialization on the Visible property like so, to no avail:

<DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)> _
Public Shadows Property Visible() As Boolean
    Get
        Return MyBase.Visible
    End Get
    Set(ByVal value As Boolean)
        MyBase.Visible = value
    End Set
End Property

Can anyone help me with forcing the Visible property to be serialized in my addin?

Answer 1

I found a relatively good workaround (‘good’ meaning it doesn’t feel very ineloquent). I added the following code to the controls that get added to the form by my addin:

<System.ComponentModel.Browsable(False)> _
Public Overloads Property Visible() As Boolean
    Get
        Return MyBase.Visible
    End Get
    Set(ByVal value As Boolean)
        MyBase.Visible = value
    End Set
End Property

<System.ComponentModel.Category("Appearance")> _
<System.ComponentModel.Description("Whether the FieldControl will be visible at runtime.")> _
<System.ComponentModel.DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)> _
<System.ComponentModel.Browsable(True)> _
Public Property VisibleAtRunTime() As Boolean
    Get
        Return mVisibleAtRunTime
    End Get
    Set(ByVal value As Boolean)
        mVisibleAtRunTime = value
        If Not DesignMode Then
            Visible = value
        End If
    End Set
End Property

I then have the addin set the “VisibleAtRunTime” property instead of the “Visible” property.