Editors Package

The Editors package is a comprehensive collection of controls most commonly used in creating data entry forms. All the editor controls have been architected to provide simple and powerful means for capturing data input, validating and displaying it with the appropriate formatting. They also come with full data binding, internationalization, and localization support.

Web Forms / ASP.NET versions of some of the data editors are also included in this package.

Essential Tools now comes with the ability to customize the color theme of Office 2007 styled controls. For example, you could use a "green theme" instead of the built-in "blue theme". With a single line of code, you can apply this theme on all the Essential Tools controls in your form.

The various controls in Essential Tools that support this feature are:

The AutoAppend class provides auto persisting of previously entered items in a windows forms ComboBox based on a category keyword and also populates the ComboBox control's items collection with the persisted list.

Implement Microsoft Internet Explorer style auto completion with ease using the Auto Complete control. The Essential Tools Auto Complete control can be used to add Auto Complete support to Text Box, ComboBox and user controls that embed an edit control.

AutoCompleteModes AutoComplete control provides various modes for the auto completion.

AutoCompletion modes supported are

• Autosuggest Possible matches for the current content of this active edit control will be presented in the form of a popup window with a selectable list of matches.
• AutoAppend The most appropriate match for the current content of the edit control will be automatically appended to the edit control and the user can choose to type further or accept the apended word.
• Both
  Activates both AutoAppend and Autosuggest modes of auto completion for the target control
• MultiSuggest
  MultiSuggest is used for displaying matching items from multiple columns.
• MultiSuggestExtended
  MultiSuggest extended is used for displaying matching items from multiple columns and also highlights all possible matches from Multiple columns.
• Disabled AutoComplete will be disabled.

Supports serialization of history items to the Windows Registry, Isolated Storage or the File System. Multiple target controls can use the same Auto Complete control and data source.

Sub item matches are supported with optional column headers.

Easy to use designer support enables users to drag and drop an Auto Complete control to a form and set an extender property on the target control.

Users can specify the number of columns in the DropDown and design the column header titles.

The ComboBoxAutoComplete control combines a ComboBox control with an AutoComplete control to provide Auto completion for that instance of the ComboBox.

The ComboBoxBase is an advanced ComboBox control that provides many improvements over the standard ComboBox control. It essentially separates the edit portion from the DropDown portion thereby making this architecture powerful and flexible. Users may plug in any ListControl derived class as the list for the list portion of the ComboBox using the ListControl property.

The ComboBoxBase control provides a FlatStyle mode that lets users draw the control flat or use XP Themes.

The ComboBoxBase can also use AutoComplete text as a user types in the text area.

Essential Grid users can drop the GridListControl in the DropDown area to get a multi-column DropDown effect. (The ComboBoxBase control is provided for free with Essential Grid.)

Written using native .NET Controls, this Control lets users customize everything in the ComboBox from the textbox to the dropdown window.

A ComboDropDown lets users easily associate any Control derived class in the DropDown region. This creates rich combo controls, such as a tree DropDown mechanism.

ComboBoxDropDown also supports various Visual styles including the new Office2007 style with all three color schemes.

The ComboBoxAdv is an advanced combo box control that provides many improvements over the standard ComboBox control.

The ComboBoxAdv can also use AutoComplete text as users type in the text area.

ComboBoxAdv control allows to set various visual styles including the new Office2007 style with all three color schemes to enrich your application with the standard look and feel.

MultiColumnComboBox control

Based on our ComboBoxBase control, the MultiColumnComboBox is an advanced combo box control that has the capability to show multiple columns in the drop-down list. Also, since the drop-down list is bound virtually to the datasource, data binding to a very large datasource is instantaneous. MultiColumnComboBox can only be populated through data binding and you cannot manually add items to the combo box.

Popup Control Container supports the creation of custom popups containing any .NET control, including any of the Essential Suite controls. It lets users customize behavior by recognizing the BeforePopup, Popup and CloseUp events.

Resizable color selection DropDown control allows users to create a sophisticated interface, specifying custom colors.

Transfer the text into the popup control before display and retrieve the new text after it is closed.

Full design time support lets users layout a popup just like a panel.

The PopupControlContainer can be configured with ease during design time. The popup can be shown anywhere on the screen like a context menu.

Associate the popup with a parent control so that it aligns with the parent's borders, for ComboBox like behavior.

The DateTimePickerAdv control provides a convenient interface for selecting a date and has several important features:

XP Themes and Visual styles The DateTimePickerAdv control supports XP themes when applicable.Also a wide variety of visual styles can be applied to the DateTimePickerAdv, including the new Microsoft Office 2007 Style, to enhance the appearance of the control.

Internationalization The DateTimePickerAdv control is fully culture aware. The DropDown calendar also displays the appropriate culture.

Databinding Supports DataBinding with a data source. Supports null value.

Custom DropDown The DateTimePickerAdv can display a custom DropDown calendar. Any calendar that implements the IDateTimePickerExtCalendar interface can be dropped down as a custom calendar.

The MonthCalendarAdv control is an advanced calendar control that can display a full month of the year with the appropriate culture information for the months and days of the week.

A wide variety of visual styles can be applied to the MonthCalendarAdv, to enhance the appearance of the control. This also includes the new Microsoft Office 2007 Style for all the child controls of the MonthCalendarAdv, such as the UpDown Spin Button, DropDown button of DateTimePickerAdv, ScrollButton, TodayButton and None button.

Multiple dates can be selected while using the MonthCalendarAdv on Mouse drag, if required and also the selected dates can be retrieved.

The Calculator control implements common arithmetic operations. It provides a complete keyboard interface for entering input. The look and feel of the Calculator buttons support the Windows Forms styles architecture.

The Calculator control can be set to Windows Standard layout or Quicken like financial layout.

Customizable model provides easy mechanism to format output and display.

Users may drag and drop the control onto a form and set its properties using the designer.

Further, a wide variety of visual styles can be applied to the CalculatorControl, including the new Microsoft Office 2007 Style, in different color schemes, to enhance the appearance of the control.

ButtonAdv is an advanced button control capable of displaying images with different alignments and various border styles.

A wide variety of visual styles can be applied to the ButtonAdv, including the new Microsoft Office 2007 Style, in different color schemes, to enhance the appearance of the control.

The Button Edit control is a composite control that combines buttons with a Text Box. The Button Edit control can be used for a variety of purposes that require a Text Box placed alongside one or more buttons. Child buttons are derived from standard Windows Forms Button controls and support all their properties and events.

Flat styles can be applied to the buttons in the ButtonEdit Control.

Images can be drawn over the buttons in ButtonEdit.

The internal Textbox for ButtonEdit can be modified to any custom TextBox, such as CurrencyTextBox, Integer TextBox, PercentTextBox,etc.

The child controls available for ButtonEdit support data binding.

The Lookup Button Edit allows users to select an option from a DropDown list.

The buttons and their characteristics can all be specified through the designer.

CurrencyEdit supports display and collection of currency values. The control handles user keyboard input and currency formatting with no code required. It is fully compatible with the Windows Forms Text Box and uses the globalization features of the .NET platform to provide locale specific formatting.

The Currency Edit class can display a DropDown Financial Calculator.

CurrencyTextBox supports display and collection of currency values. The control handles user keyboard input and currency formatting with no code required. It is fully compatible with the Windows Forms Text Box and uses the globalization features of the .NET platform to provide locale specific formatting.

Formatting can be completely customized by providing localized information.

The control supports different colors for displaying negative and positive values.

The digits displayed after the decimal point can be modified and set to the user requirement. The extra zeros can be truncated or removed while displaying the currency value.

The control raises a ValidationError event when unacceptable input is encountered.

DoubleTextBox supports display and collection of double values. The control handles user keyboard input and double formatting with no code required. It is fully compatible with the Windows Forms Text Box and uses the globalization features of the .NET platform to provide locale specific formatting.

The control supports values with a precision of 15 characters. The maximum and minimum values supported are by default the maximum and minimum values for the double data type.

The DoubleTextBox control supports displaying negative values in a different color and also using different negative formats.

IntegerTextBox supports display and collection of Int64 values. The control handles user keyboard input and double formatting with no code required. It is fully compatible with the Windows Forms Text Box and uses the globalization features of the .NET platform to provide locale specific formatting.

The maximum and minimum values supported are by default the maximum and minimum values for the Int64 data type.

The IntegerTextBox control supports displaying negative values in a different color and also using different negative formats.

PercentTextBox supports display and collection of percentage values. The control handles user keyboard input and percent formatting with no code required. It is fully compatible with the Windows Forms Text Box and uses the globalization features of the .NET platform to provide locale specific formatting.

The control supports two different modes of editing percentage values. In PercentMode, the values are edited as percentage values itself. In DoubleMode, the values are edited as double values and then displayed using percentage formatting. For example, 3.45 will be shown during editing and 345% will be displayed if the control loses focus.

The PercentTextBox control supports displaying negative percentage values in a different color and also using different negative formats.

The Masked Edit Control is an easy to use Text Box based control for collecting Masked data input. The control can be used for collecting user input in various standard formats. It is fully compatible with the Windows Forms Text Box control. A control set with no Mask acts similar to the Windows Forms Text Box. The Mask Edit Control behaves the same as the Microsoft Masked Edit ActiveX Control.

The control supports all commonly used Mask symbols.

The control supports all clipboard functions such as Cut, Copy and Paste.

The masked characters in the MaskEditBox, can be displayed sequentially, if needed.

The control raises a ValidationError event when unacceptable input is encountered.

DomainUpDownExt is an advanced version of the standard windows DomainUpDown control providing support for enhanced features such as themed drawing, Spin Orientation and Office2007 Style with all three color schemes.

Themed Drawing

Spin Orientation

The Updown button can be in either vertical or horizontal orientation.

The DomainUpDownExt supports Office2007Style.

The NumericUpDownExt control included in this package enables XP Themed look-and-feel for the NumericUpDown control. It derives from NumericUpDown and adds the ThemesEnabled property (to enable an XP Themed look when available) and the ThemedBorders property (to selectively draw an XP Themed border).

NumericUpDownExt also comes with the New Office2007 style with all three color schemes.

The ColorPickerButton drops down a ColorUIControl and provides a standard user interface for selecting colors.

The ColorUIControl provides a standard user interface for selecting colors.

Microsoft Office 2007 style color picker cells can be viewed using the ColorPickerUIAdv control.

The CheckBoxAdv class is an advanced CheckBox control. It is capable of displaying several backgrounds such as gradients and images.

CheckBoxAdv with gradient background styles

CheckBoxAdv with visual styles

CheckBoxAdv with ImageCheckBox

CheckBoxAdv with images (ImageCheckBox property) for Checked, Indeterminate and Unchecked states

CheckBoxAdv with Themes enabled

CheckBoxAdv with different border styles

CheckBoxAdv with different shadow offsets

RadioButtonAdv is an advanced radioButton control that helps us to give great look and feel with themes support, gradient colors, images, shadow text and visual styles.

RadioButtonAdv with gradient background styles

RadioButtonAdv with various visual styles

Gradient Label is an easy to use label control that supports extensive background customization. It helps users create attractive labels in an application, and supports numerous borders and patterns. The background can be customized from within the Windows Forms designer.

The EditableList control is a control that displays a list control that allows in place editing when the user double clicks on the list control.

The FolderBrowser class implements a convenient and easy to use wrapper for the folder browser Win32 Shell API.

The file system directory that contains files and folders that appear on the desktop for all users.

A typical path is C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersDesktop.

The folder browser will not include network folders below the domain level in the dialog box's tree view control, or allow navigation to network locations outside of the domain.

The folder browser will only return local file system directories. If the user selects folders that are not part of the local file system, the OK button is grayed.

Uses MakeNewFolder button.

The file system directory that contains the templates that are available to all users. A typical path is C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersTemplates.

The folder browser includes a TextBox control in the browse dialog box that allows the user to type the name of an item.

The TextBox is capable of AutoCompleting the text entered.

The file system directory that serves as a common repository for favorite items common to all users.

You can navigate to the particular link in a browser by clicking on the contextmenu under right click and selecting open as shown below.

This is specified at the top of the tree control in Folder Browser dialog.

The FontComboBox is a ComboBox that lists the fonts installed on the system as a list of items.

The FontComboBox control can be displayed in Simple and DropDownList modes.

A ListBox which can display and allow selection of fonts.

TextBoxExt is a TextBox derived control that can display different border colors and styles.

An overflow indicator can be set to the TextBoxExt control which gets added to the textbox when the text size increases beyond the size of the control.

Also tooltip can be set for the overflow indicator.

This feature lets you display a watermark text (also known as cue text or banner text) for various input controls that are TextBox or ComboBox based. It comes with two display modes, the Edit Mode where the banner text disappears only after the associated control is not empty and the Focus Mode where the banner text disappears immediately after the associated control receives the focus.

BannerText Settings for various input controls