Gain Design-Time Power with Control Editors, Part 2 of 2

he first part of this article provided a detailed description of a StateSelector control that lets users select a state from a map. The map itself is a control property named Map. In the Visual Studio Properties window, the article showed how to use a type converter to display a special representation of the Map property in the Properties window. Specifically, that type converter displays the Map property as the string (none) when the property is Nothing or (map) when it contained a value. Part 1 also showed how to use a file name editor to let users select a file, and how to use a dropdown editor to let users pick a line style from a list.

While those features are uncommon, you can go far beyond that. For example, you can display a custom dialog editor that lets users set complicated properties that require more interaction than a dropdown. You can also add smart tags and property pages to your controls, allowing users to set multiple properties in even more complex ways.