Exposing Columns property of RadGridView in a user control

[SUNIL]

I have a user control in which one of the UI elements is radgridview.
I would like the developer using  this user control to be able to set the columns collection of radgridview on user control.
I have exposed a property from user control, with the following code. I can also define the columns for user control placed on a form by editing this property in design view.  But if I close the form and re-open it, then the columns I defined a few moments ago,  suddenly disappear. I am using Q1 2008 SP1 version.

[Browsable(true)]
        [Description("Columns for grid")]
        [Category("Customization")]
        public GridViewColumnCollection GridColumns
        {
            get { return radGridView1.MasterGridViewTemplate.Columns; }
            set
            {
                foreach (GridViewDataColumn column in value)
                {
                    radGridView.MasterGridViewTemplate.Columns.Add(column);
                }

            }
        }

[Emanuel Varga]

Hello Sunil,

You forgot the DesignerSerializationVisibility attribute, try setting that to Content, like this:

[DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Content)]
[Browsable(true)]
[Description("Columns for grid")]
[Category("Customization")]
public GridViewColumnCollection GridColumns
{
    get { return radGridView1.MasterGridViewTemplate.Columns; }
    set
    {
        foreach (GridViewDataColumn column in value)
        {
            radGridView.MasterGridViewTemplate.Columns.Add(column);
        }

    }
}

It should work like this, if it is not working you can try also creating a property named ShouldSerializeGridColumns that returns true, but i think that was required just in the earlier days.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions or comments, please let me know,

Best Regards,
Emanuel Varga

[SUNIL]

Emanuel,

Your suggestion worked, except that the originally defined columns are showing up also when I close and re-open the form.
So if I change the  exposed property of Columns in user control to include Col1 and Col2, and if original columns were XY and AB, then on closing/opening the form I get 4 columns show up on user control in the following order - XY, AB, Col1 and Col2.

Thanks
Sunil

[SUNIL]

Emanuel,

Is there a way to avoid exposing the Columns collection in user control, but just exposing the radgridview in user control, and then setting columns property of exposed radgridview in user control. I tried it  but  it didn't seem to work.

Thanks
Sunil

[Emanuel Varga]

Hello again Sunil,

The designer is sometimes acting crazy, please try to add your control to a new form and see if you have the same behavior with this new attribute.

Best Regards,
Emanuel Varga

[Maxime]

Hi! I try to do the same thing as mentioned above.
Is anyone have an answer to that question?

"Is there a way to avoid exposing the Columns collection in user control, but just exposing the radgridview in user control, and then setting columns property of exposed radgridview in user control. I tried it  but  it didn't seem to work."

Thanks!

Maxime.

[Jack]

Hello Maxime,

It is not recommended to allow changes in an inherited user control. Although this was possible in previous Visual Studio versions, Microsoft disabled the feature in Visual Studio 2010.
 
Kind regards,
Jack
the Telerik team