Every WinForms developer is confronted with the same problem - the more controls on your palette, the harder it is to find the exact one you need. This is exacerbated by the fact that some component libraries have multiple versions of the same control that each perform a slightly different set of functions. The XtraEditors Library simplifies this nightmare by aggregating the functionality of all versions into a single control that can perform multiple actions - with absolute and uncompromising flexibility.

On this page, we describe some of the core capabilities that underpin the XtraEditors Library and ways in which you can leverage key features to reduce the amount of code you write and deliver stunning applications that will blow away your competition. Select from one of the following items to learn more:

Editor Buttons

Data Editor Buttons are supported by nearly all editor controls and give you a myriad of design options. Features include:

• Unlimited number of buttons aligned both to the left or right edge of the text box.
• 16 predefined button faces.
• The ability to create buttons that display custom glyph, custom text or both.
• Shortcuts, hints, visibility, appearance, width and enabled state can be customized for each button individually.
• The ability to disable the text box while editor buttons are enabled. This feature is most commonly used to create combo boxes, spin editors or editors with dropdown forms that don't allow direct text editing.
• The ability to hide the text box and only display editor buttons. This can be useful when using container controls such as the XtraGrid. With this feature, you can create columns that only show buttons within their individual cells.
• Different paint styles can be specified for an editor and its buttons.

Spin Buttons

Spin button functionality is available in the SpinEdit and TimeEdit controls. Spin buttons can be used to increment or decrement editor values or any of its segments (such as the second portion of a time value). Standard features available to you when using spin button editors include:

• Customizable spin button position among a set of buttons. This means that the spin button is not necessarily displayed at the right edge of the text box. This also means that you can hide the spin button when needed.
• Horizontal or vertical spin button layout.
• Optional processing for the CTRL+UP and CTRL+DOWN key combinations to scroll edit values. These shortcuts are important when using spin editors in container controls like the XtraGrid. The reason is that container controls may intercept the usual UP and DOWN scrolling keys to move focus to the next or previous row.
• Auto-repeat functionality. Clicking a button and holding it pressed results in the continuous incrementing/decrementing of a given value.

Dropdown Windows

Nearly half of the editors that ship within the XtraEditors Library use dropdown windows for data selection/manipulation. They all include the following common features:

• Customizable dropdown button position among a set of buttons. This means that the dropdown button isn't necessarily displayed at the right edge of the text box. This also means that you can hide this button when needed.
• Customizable shortcut used to open and close the dropdown window.
• Dropdown window paint styles and appearance can be customized independent of other areas of the control.
• Dropdown invocation by a single or double-click on a text box.
• Optional dropdown shadow painting.
• At your discretion, you can control when a specific dropdown window is opened or closed by handling specially designed events.

BLOB Editors

The ImageEdit and MemoEdit controls are both designed to edit BLOB data and thus give you common visual interface options.

• Customizable images that indicate whether the editor is empty.
• The ability to replace indicator images (when the dropdown memo field is hidden) with actual values from the field.
• End-user dropdown window resizing.
• Fully customizable dropdown window state and its subsequent size at runtime.
• OK and Cancel buttons that allow end users to accept or reject changes.

Dropdown Lists

The ComboBoxEdit, ImageComboBoxEdit and MRUEdit controls allow end users to choose a value from a dropdown list. By definition, dropdown lists are a specialized versions of dropdown windows and thus dropdown list editors include all features described earlier for dropdown windows. In addition to these features, they also provide the following capabilities:

• Optional auto-completion for the entered string. Both case-sensitive and insensitive search options are available.
• Customizable dropdown window size. You can specify how many items are to be visible simultaneously and the dropdown window's width in pixels.
• The ability to optionally display the drop down window when a user begins to enter a value within the text editor.
• End-user dropdown resizing, if enabled.
• Optional item hot-tracking.
• Optional value scrolling by double-clicking the text box.
• Optional processing for the CTRL+UP and CTRL+DOWN key combinations. These shortcuts are important when using spin editors in container controls like the XtraGrid. The reason is that container controls may intercept the UP and DOWN scrolling keys to move focus to the next or previous row.
• Customizable item height and the ability to paint items manually.