Adding Other Controls

[Tim Larson]

Would it be possible to add other controls like a combobox or list view into the Chat UI? If the user has many choise I wouldn't want to fill the screen with all of the choices.

 

Thanks,

Tim

[Tim Larson]

I know there is the list overlay but I was thinking of just injecting a multi-column combobox to show multiple columns of data to help the user choose easier.

[Dess | Tech Support Engineer, Principal]

Hello, Tim,    

RadChat allows you to create custom items and add any element that you need in the chat messages. A sample approach is demonstrated in the following help article: https://docs.telerik.com/devtools/winforms/chat/customizing-appearance/custom-items

When you need to offer the user a list of options, the ChatListOverlay is the appropriate solution as you can select an item from a predefined list of choices. If you wish to display a RadMultiColumnComboBox you can create a custom ChatListOverlay. a sample approach is demonstrated in the following code snippet: 

public RadForm1()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    CustomBaseChatItemOverlay listOverlay = new CustomBaseChatItemOverlay("List overlay");
    DataTable dt = new DataTable();
    dt.Columns.Add("Id", typeof(int));
    dt.Columns.Add("Name", typeof(string));
    for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    {
        dt.Rows.Add(i, "Item" + i);
    }
    listOverlay.Mccb.DisplayMember = "Name";
    listOverlay.Mccb.ValueMember = "Id";
    listOverlay.Mccb.DataSource = dt;
    bool showAsPopup = false;
    Author author = new Author(Properties.Resources.AndrewFuller, "Andrew");
    this.radChat1.Author = author;
    ChatOverlayMessage overlayMessage = new ChatOverlayMessage(listOverlay, showAsPopup, author, DateTime.Now);
    this.radChat1.AddMessage(overlayMessage);
}

public class CustomBaseChatItemOverlay : BaseChatItemOverlay
{
    public CustomBaseChatItemOverlay(string title) : base(title)
    {
        this.mccb.SelectedValueChanged += mccb_SelectedValueChanged;
    }

    public RadMultiColumnComboBox Mccb
    {
        get
        {
            return this.mccb;
        }
    }

    private void mccb_SelectedValueChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (this.mccb.SelectedItem != null)
        {
            this.CurrentValue = this.mccb.SelectedValue;
        }
    }

    RadMultiColumnComboBox mccb;

    protected override Telerik.WinControls.RadElement CreateMainElement()
    {
        mccb = new RadMultiColumnComboBox();
        return new RadHostItem(this.mccb);
    }

    protected override void DisposeManagedResources()
    {
        this.mccb.SelectedValueChanged -= mccb_SelectedValueChanged;
        base.DisposeManagedResources();
    }
}

I hope this information helps. If you have any additional questions, please let me know.  

 

Regards,
Dess
Progress TelerikRadChat for Winforms