- DEVEXPRESS CONTROLS SKIN
- DEVEXPRESS CONTROLS CODE
- DEVEXPRESS CONTROLS FREE
- DEVEXPRESS CONTROLS WINDOWS
It's often better to use program configuration settings to control numer formats. It isn't always convenient to rely on this because sometimes the culture for the OS is setup contrary to a users preferred culture in order to keep some ill-behaved programs from malfunctioning. For one thing, the ThousandsSeparator is tied to the current culture of the program. This allows for much greater flexibility than the NumericUpDown's Minimum, Maximum, and ThousandsSeparator properties. SpinEdit uses a Mask to determine its format. They are hard to get rid of in a NumericUpDown, but very easy to do so for the SpinEdit bedcause they are part of a Buttons property and you can remove any default buttons that exist. I also find the spin buttons are typically useless and just take up space. It also allows me to enter any number of digits and only changes this to be within the Minimum and Maximum values after exiting the control. It doesn't fix my misplaced comma until after I exit the control. When typing values into NumericUpDown, I can type "12,3456.78". First, it does a better job of handling the thousands separator. There are a number of things the SpinEdit does better than the NumericUpDown. These controls are used for entering numeric values. You can bold the section text to make it stand out more. This allows me to section or group controls without wasting alot of space. Instead I use the DevExpress LabelEdit controls, with a visible line and usually with centered text, and also vertical SeparatorControls. Although I still use these on occasion, I find that they aren't good in terms of conserving space. To group related controls, usually a GroupBox or the DevExpress equivalent GroupControl is used. Using LabelEdit and Separator Instead of GroupBox Another drop down type of button could be added on the end for things like most file/folder entered. This is more compact and easielr to control sizing and anchoring and it looks nicer as well. Users can type file name text or click the. This can be improved on by using a single DevExpress ButtonEdit control. The Browse button is used to bring up the standard OpenFileDialog or SaveFileDialog. The first is the more traditional TextBox with Browse button. In the File name entry controls group box at the top, there are 3 examples of controls for file name entry. Starting with the simple controls, the following Form shows some of the differences between the DevExpress controls and the Windows.Forms counterparts. The exceptions to this rule are using non-visual or very simple visual controls like Panel or SplitContainer.
DEVEXPRESS CONTROLS SKIN
One thing that should be mentioned is when you start using DevExpress controls for an application, you probably want to use all DevExpress controls and don't try to mix and match because the DevExpress controls using the same skin have a visual consistency and other controls wouldn't look quite right. The DefaultLookAndFeel control makes it easy to apply a skin to all controls in an application. In the screenshots in this article, I use VS2013 Blue. The VS2010 skin has a slight 3D effect which looks more like the traditional older style, where the VS2013 Blue is completely flat and looks more modern.
DEVEXPRESS CONTROLS WINDOWS
They look good, are not too flashy, and they are very similar to the look of most other Windows controls so that users have some familiarity. The ones I like to use are VS2010 and VS2013 Blue. There are many skins available with the DevExpress WinForms controls. Below I describe how I used these controls effectively in the applications I built. Learning the best way to use the controls can be difficult, especially with all of the different properties available. In addition to these simple controls I used the DevExpress GridControl, LookUpEdit control (which is a multi-column combo box), multi-column TreeList control, Dockable Windows, and SpreadsheetControl. Anything beyond very simple and I recommend using a 3rd party control suite.
DEVEXPRESS CONTROLS FREE
These free controls are still what I use for applicaitons with very simple UIs. These are all available, although lacking in features, in the free set of controls in the namespace. I had a need for traditional controls like text boxes, check boxes, combo boxes, push buttons, date edit controls, numeric edit controls, and menus and toolbars.
DEVEXPRESS CONTROLS CODE
The code was developed using the Visual Studio 2015 Community edition in C# and Windows Forms and the DevExpress WinForms controls version 15.2.4. The project also includes some code to enhance the behavior of the controls where I found they didn't work exactly the way I wanted them to. The code consists mostly of Setup functions for most of the types of controls mentioned. This article describles my experiences and tips in using many of the DevExpress controls to create an effective UI.