Hi all,

Our model allows to change the type of an element using the property grid. The element type changes succesfully, but the propertgrid is not updated accordingly.
When another element is selected and then the changed element, then the propertygrid displays the correct properties.

How can I dynamically update the property grid after changed the element's type?

Kind regards,
Ronald

Hi Ronald,

What do you mean when you say you change the type of an element? Do you mean you change the model element that a shape represents?

Thanks,
George Mathew
DSL Tools Team

Hi George,

We have a DSL that contains model elements called AfdAttribute. Derived from AfdAttribute are AfdTextAttribute, AfdNumberAttribute etc. Attributes have no shape, because they are displayed as a melCollection (Model ELementCollection ?) of an Entity shape.

After adding an AfdAttribute to an Entity, the user can change from AfdTextAttribute to AfdNumberAttribute and v.v.. AfdTextAttrute and AfdNumberAttribute have differtent properties, which we want to be displayed in the PropertyGrid correspondingly.

I hope I used the correct terms.

Regards,
Ronald

Hi Ronald,

Thanks for the eplanation. You say "After adding an AfdAttribute to an Entity, the user can change from AfdTextAttribute to AfdNumberAttribute and v.v..". How does the user change from AfdTextAttribute to AfdNumberAttribute? I'm assuming you are showing the AfdAttributes as a compartment within an Entity.

Thanks,
George Mathew
DSL Tools Team

Hi George,

You are right, I'm showing the attributes as a compartment within an Entity.

An Entity provides some kind of context. Within that context only certain values (more concrete: mappings) are allowed. After adding a AfdAttribute to an Entity the user can set properties of the AfdAttribute, a.o. the property Mapping. Using a UITypeConverter I display a dropdown showing only allowed Mappings within the context of the Entity. The user selects a Mapping from the dropdown and on the dropdown click event I read the selected Mapping. A mapping has a type, e.g. string, int etc. Using the type of the selected Mapping I can derive the corresponding AfdAttribute, e.g. AfdTextAttribute for a string type Mapping. Then I create the corresponding subtype of AfdAttribute and replace the current AfdAttribute with the newly created attribute.

The last part in code (AfdPropertyDescriptor is the class representing a mapping):
private void SetAttribute(System.ComponentModel.ITypeDescriptorContext context, AfdPropertyDescriptor propDesc)
{
ElementPropertyDescriptor descriptor = context.PropertyDescriptor as ElementPropertyDescriptor;
ModelElement element = descriptor.ModelElement;
AfdEntity container = ((AfdAttribute)element).AfdAttributeContainer;
using (Transaction t = container.Store.TransactionManager.BeginTransaction("Change AfdAttribute"))
{
AfdAttribute atttribute = CreateAttribute(container.Store, propDesc, (AfdAttribute)element);
int index = container.AfdAttributes.IndexOf((AfdAttribute)element);
container.AfdAttributes.ReplaceAt(index, atttribute);
t.Commit();
}
}

After replacing the AfdAttribute I would like to update the propertygrid to display the properties of the new AfdAttribute type, something like: propertyGrid.SelectedObject = attribute.

Regards,
Ronald

Hi Ronald,

Does George's reply to your other thread at

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=306422&SiteID=1

answer this? i.e. Resetting the selection to refresh the grid?

I know that it is kind of a hack but you can do:

propertyGrid1.Hide();
propertyGrid1.Show();

I haven't been able to figure it out but somehow you have to rebind all the controls and repainting the propertygrid causes this to happen.

Hope it helps.