Mail Designer Pro 3 Tutorial

 



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The Windows Forms Designer provides many tools for building Windows Forms applications. This article illustrates how to build an app using the various tools provided by the designer, including the following tasks:

  • Arrange controls using snaplines.
  • Accomplish designer tasks using smart tags.
  • Set margins and padding for controls.
  • Arrange controls using a TableLayoutPanel control.
  • Partition your control’s layout by using a SplitContainer control.
  • Navigate your layout with the Document Outline window.
  • Position controls with the size and location information display.
  • Set property values using the Properties window.

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When you're finished, you'll have a custom control that's been assembled using many of the layout features available in the Windows Forms Designer. This control implements the user interface (UI) for a simple calculator. The following image shows the general layout of the calculator control:

Create the custom control project

The first step is to create the DemoCalculator control project.

  1. Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Forms Control Library project. Name the project DemoCalculatorLib.

  2. To rename the file, in Solution Explorer, right-click UserControl1.vb or UserControl1.cs, select Rename, and change the file name to DemoCalculator.vb or DemoCalculator.cs. Select Yes when you are asked if you want to rename all references to the code element 'UserControl1'.

The Windows Forms Designer shows the designer surface for the DemoCalculator control. In this view, you can graphically design the appearance of the control by selecting controls and components from Toolbox and placing them on the designer surface. For more information about custom controls, see Varieties of custom controls.

Design the control layout

The DemoCalculator control contains several Windows Forms controls. In this procedure, you'll arrange the controls using the Windows Forms Designer.

  1. In the Windows Forms Designer, change the DemoCalculator control to a larger size by selecting the sizing handle in the lower-right corner and dragging it down and to the right. In the lower-right corner of Visual Studio, find the size and location information for controls. Set the size of the control to width 500 and height 400 by watching the size information as you resize the control.

  2. In Toolbox, select the Containers node to open it. Select the SplitContainer control and drag it onto the designer surface.

    The SplitContainer is placed on the DemoCalculator control's designer surface.

    Tip

    The SplitContainer control sizes itself to the fit the size of the DemoCalculator control. Look at the Properties window to see the property settings for the SplitContainer control. Find the Dock property. Its value is DockStyle.Fill, which means the SplitContainer control will always size itself to the boundaries of the DemoCalculator control. Resize the DemoCalculator control to verify this behavior.

  3. In the Properties window, change the value of the Dock property to None.

    The SplitContainer control shrinks to its default size and no longer follows the size of the DemoCalculator control.

  4. Select the smart tag glyph () on the upper-right corner of the SplitContainer control. Select Dock in Parent Container to set the Dock property to Fill.

    The SplitContainer control docks to the DemoCalculator control's boundaries.

    Note

    Several controls offer smart tags to facilitate design. For more information, see Walkthrough: Perform common tasks using Smart Tags on Windows Forms controls.

  5. Select the vertical border between the panels and drag it to the right, so that most of the space is taken by the left panel.

    The SplitContainer divides the DemoCalculator control into two panels with a movable border separating them. The panel on the left will hold the calculator buttons and display, and the panel on the right will show a record of the arithmetic operations performed by the user.

  6. In the Properties window, change the value of the BorderStyle property to Fixed3D.

  7. In Toolbox, select the Common Controls node to open it. Select the ListView control and drag it into the right panel of the SplitContainer control.

  8. Select the ListView control's smart tag glyph. In the smart tag panel, change the View setting to Details.

  9. In the smart tag panel, select Edit Columns.

    The ColumnHeader Collection Editor dialog box opens.

  10. In the ColumnHeader Collection Editor dialog box, select Add to add a column to the ListView control. Change the value of the column's Text property to History. Select OK to create the column.

  11. In the smart tag panel, select Dock in Parent Container, and then select the smart tag glyph to close the smart tag panel.

  12. From the Containers node Toolbox, drag a TableLayoutPanel control into the left panel of the SplitContainer control.

    The TableLayoutPanel control appears on the designer surface with its smart tag panel open. The TableLayoutPanel control arranges its child controls in a grid. The TableLayoutPanel control will hold the DemoCalculator control's display and buttons. For more information, see Walkthrough: Arrange controls using a TableLayoutPanel.

  13. Select Edit Rows and Columns on the smart tag panel.

    The Column and Row Styles dialog box opens.

  14. Select the Add button until five columns are displayed. Select all five columns, and then select Percent in the Size Type box. Set the Percent value to 20. This sets each column to the same width.

  15. Under Show, select Rows.

  16. Select Add until five rows are displayed. Select all five rows, and the select Percent in the Size Type box. Set the Percent value to 20. This sets each row to the same height.

  17. Select OK to accept your changes, and then select the smart tag glyph to close the smart tag panel.

  18. In the Properties window, change the value of the Dock property to Fill.

Populate the control

Now that the layout of the control is set up, you can populate the DemoCalculator control with buttons and a display.

  1. In Toolbox, select the TextBox control icon.

    A TextBox control is placed in the first cell of the TableLayoutPanel control.

  2. In the Properties window, change the value of the TextBox control's ColumnSpan property to 5.

    The TextBox control moves to a position that is centered in its row.

  3. Change the value of the TextBox control's Anchor property to Left, Right.

    The TextBox control expands horizontally to span all five columns.

  4. Change the value of the TextBox control's TextAlign property to Right.

  5. In the Properties window, expand the Font property node. Set Size to 14, and set Bold to true for the TextBox control.

  6. Select the TableLayoutPanel control.

  7. In Toolbox, select the Button icon.

    A Button control is placed in the next open cell of the TableLayoutPanel control.

  8. In Toolbox, select the Button icon four more times to populate the second row of the TableLayoutPanel control.

  9. Select all five Button controls by selecting them while holding down the Shift key. Press Ctrl+C to copy the Button controls to the clipboard.

  10. Press Ctrl+V three times to paste copies of the Button controls into the remaining rows of the TableLayoutPanel control.

  11. Select all 20 Button controls by selecting them while holding down the Shift key.

  12. In the Properties window, change the value of the Dock property to Fill.

    All the Button controls dock to fill their containing cells.

  13. In the Properties window, expand the Margin property node. Set the value of All to 5.

    All the Button controls are sized smaller to create a larger margin between them.

  14. Select button10 and button20, and then press Delete to remove them from the layout.

  15. Select button5 and button15, and then change the value of their RowSpan property to 2. These will be the Clear and = buttons for the DemoCalculator control.

Use the Document Outline window

When your control or form is populated with several controls, you may find it easier to navigate your layout with the Document Outline window.

  1. On the menu bar, choose View > Other Windows > Document Outline.

    The Document Outline window shows a tree view of the DemoCalculator control and its constituent controls. Container controls like the SplitContainer show their child controls as subnodes in the tree. You can also rename controls in place using the Document Outline window.

  2. In the Document Outline window, right-click button1, and then select Rename. Change its name to sevenButton.

  3. Using the Document Outline window, rename the Button controls from the designer-generated name to the production name according to the following list:

    • button1 to sevenButton

    • button2 to eightButton

    • button3 to nineButton

    • button4 to divisionButton

    • button5 to clearButton

    • button6 to fourButton

    • button7 to fiveButton

    • button8 to sixButton

    • button9 to multiplicationButton

    • button11 to oneButton

    • button12 to twoButton

    • button13 to threeButton

    • button14 to subtractionButton

    • button15 to equalsButton

    • button16 to zeroButton

    • button17 to changeSignButton

    • button18 to decimalButton

    • button19 to additionButton

  4. Using the Document Outline and Properties windows, change the Text property value for each Button control name according to the following list:

    • Change the sevenButton control text property to 7

    • Change the eightButton control text property to 8

    • Change the nineButton control text property to 9

    • Change the divisionButton control text property to / (forward slash)

    • Change the clearButton control text property to Clear

    • Change the fourButton control text property to 4

    • Change the fiveButton control text property to 5

    • Change the sixButton control text property to 6

    • Change the multiplicationButton control text property to * (asterisk)

    • Change the oneButton control text property to 1

    • Change the twoButton control text property to 2

    • Change the threeButton control text property to 3

    • Change the subtractionButton control text property to - (hyphen)

    • Change the equalsButton control text property to = (equals sign)

    • Change the zeroButton control text property to 0

    • Change the changeSignButton control text property to +/-

    • Change the decimalButton control text property to . (period)

    • Change the additionButton control text property to + (plus sign)

  5. On the designer surface, select all the Button controls by selecting them while holding down the Shift key.

  6. In the Properties window, expand the Font property node. Set Size to 14, and set Bold to true for all the Button controls.

This completes the design of the DemoCalculator control. All that remains is to provide the calculator logic.

Implement event handlers

The buttons on the DemoCalculator control have event handlers that can be used to implement much of the calculator logic. The Windows Forms Designer enables you to implement the stubs of all the event handlers for all the buttons with one selection.

  1. On the designer surface, select all the Button controls by selecting them while holding down the Shift key.

  2. Select one of the Button controls.

    The Code Editor opens to the event handlers generated by the designer.

Test the control

Because the DemoCalculator control inherits from the UserControl class, you can test its behavior with the UserControl Test Container. For more information, see How to: Test the run-time behavior of a UserControl.

  1. Press F5 to build and run the DemoCalculator control in the UserControl Test Container.

  2. Select the border between the SplitContainer panels and drag it left and right. The TableLayoutPanel and all its child controls resize themselves to fit in the available space.

  3. When you are finished testing the control, select Close.

Use the control on a form

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The DemoCalculator control can be used in other composite controls or on a form. The following procedure describes how to use it.

Create the project

The first step is to create the application project. You'll use this project to build the application that shows your custom control.

  1. Create a new Windows Forms Application project and name it DemoCalculatorTest.

  2. In Solution Explorer, right-click the DemoCalculatorTest project, and then select Add Reference to open the Add Reference dialog box.

  3. Go to the Projects tab, and then select the DemoCalculatorLib project to add the reference to the test project.

  4. In Solution Explorer, right-click DemoCalculatorTest, and then select Set as StartUp Project.

  5. In the Windows Forms Designer, increase the size of the form to about 700 x 500.

Use the control in the form's layout

To use the DemoCalculator control in an application, you need to place it on a form.

  1. In Toolbox, expand the DemoCalculatorLib Components node.

  2. Drag the DemoCalculator control from Toolbox onto your form. Move the control to the upper-left corner of the form. When the control is close to the form's borders, snaplines will appear. Snaplines indicate the distance of the form's Padding property and the control's Margin property. Position the control at the location indicated by the snaplines.

    For more information, see Walkthrough: Arrange controls using snaplines.

  3. Drag a Button control from Toolbox and drop it onto the form.

  4. Move the Button control around the DemoCalculator control and observe where the snaplines appear. You can align your controls precisely and easily using this feature. Delete the Button control when you're finished.

  5. Right-click the DemoCalculator control, and then select Properties.

  6. Change the value of the Dock property to Fill.

  7. Select the form, and then expand the Padding property node. Change the value of All to 20.

    The size of the DemoCalculator control is reduced to accommodate the new Padding value of the form.

  8. Resize the form by dragging the various sizing handles to different positions. Observe how the DemoCalculator control is resized to fit.

Next steps

This article has demonstrated how to construct the user interface for a simple calculator. To continue, you can extend its functionality by implementing the calculator logic, then publish the app using ClickOnce. Or, continue on to a different tutorial where you create a picture viewer using Windows Forms.

See also

Version 4.3.0.114 — released on November 26, 2020

Naming capabilities for personalized attachments are enhanced: using an optional name and multiple merge fields is possible.

Version 4.3 — released on January 24, 2020

  • New: support of the exclusion list is added: messages are not sent to these recipients, even if the addresses are present in the main recipient list or data source.
  • New: the option of generating detailed report for created messages is added.
  • Fixed: a problem with missing spaces in the attachment names, obtained from the data file field.

Version 4.2 — released on September 5, 2019

  • New: the option 'Save copies of the generated files to folder' is now available for RTF and HTML/MHT attachments as well.
  • New: a possibility to send product logs to the MAPILab Support Team is added.
  • Fixed: an error could appear with the 'PDF/RTF/HTML Attachment' message format if message body was kept blank.
  • Fixed: in the 'Save copies of the generated PDF files to folder' option, an issue with the incorrect file name format is resolved if a data source field is selected as file name.
  • New: the mail profile selection option is added.

Version 4.1 — released on June 17, 2019

  • New: tracking email campaign results with Google Analytics.
  • Check for running programs from the Microsoft Office suite during the installation of the add-in is added, as well as the possibility of force closing them for the correct installation of the add-in.
  • Check of the launch of the installation of the add-in with another user’s rights ('Run as Administrator') and automatic selection of the correct installation method is added.

Version 4.0.1 — released on April 4, 2019

  • Mechanism of embedding images into HTML-formatted messages is significantly improved.
  • Fixed: an error with loading .NET module for connection to SharePoint, known on the systems where different .NET Framework versions are installed, is resolved.

Version 4.0 — released on December 28, 2018

  • New: program interface is completely redesigned. Sending personal mailings is now smarter and faster.
  • New: personal messages sent attached as files in the PDF format can be saved to the specified local folder or network share.
  • New: the number of recipients is displayed.
  • Fixed: an issue with processing file masks in the file names got from the data source.
  • New: options for viewing program logs are added.
  • New: custom setting to delay the start of mailing is added.
  • Program Help item is updated.

Version 3.0.2 — released on October 9, 2018

Support for Microsoft Outlook 2019 is added.

Version 3.0.1 — released on April 19, 2018

  • Diagnostics logs are improved for advanced troubleshooting.
  • Fixed: an issue with processing large recipient lists known with the 32-bit Office 2016 edition.

Version 3.0 — released on February 22, 2018

  • The mechanism of generating personalized PDF-documents is improved.
  • New: Microsoft SharePoint Lists are supported now as Mail Merge data source.
  • Professional edition of the product is released.

Version 2.12.3.3 — released on August 18, 2017

  • Fixed: an issue with adding the add-in toolbar to the 'Mailings' ribbon tab in Publisher and Word, known in several cases with Microsoft Office 2013-1016.
  • Fixed: the 'Invalid registry data type' error, known with the recent updates applied over the version 2.6 and lower installed previously.

Version 2.12.1.0 — released on May 17, 2017

  • Revised and updated installation / deployment mechanism of the add-in for Microsoft Office applications has been added:
    • diagnostics of the current MS Office configuration;
    • add-in loading diagnostics in Word, Outlook and Publisher;
    • mechanism for fixing loading issues in case the add-in is disabled in any Office applications.
  • Diagnostics logs enriched with a new detailed data to simplify troubleshooting.

Version 2.12.0.4 — released on February 10, 2017

  • An update for the mechanism for prevention of a system security warning from Outlook when trying to access items has been implemented. This warning appeared in systems of some languages after installation of Outlook 2016.

Version 2.12.0.3 — released on January 30, 2017

Improved handling of large lists of recipients when operating memory is low.

Version 2.12 — released on October 12, 2016

  • New feature is added: current document name can be used to rename the attached file which contains the main message text, when the “PDF/HTML/RTF Attachment” message format is selected.
  • Fixed: the error known with some specific configurations on closing publication in Publisher.

Version 2.11 — released on July 4, 2016

  • New: Logging level option is added for troubleshooting: Mail Merge Toolkit Help button (down-pointing arrow)-> Logging.
  • New: alternate action for messages with attachments is added: if the file is unavailable, you can select to stop sending the message with failing attachment. Other available alternates: Skip for this message, Skip for all messages, Stop sending.
  • Fixed: an issue with detection of the records number in the data source if some specific filters are used.

Version 2.10 — released on March 22, 2016

If the modes “HTML/RTF/PDF Attachment” are selected for the main document, inserting graphics is now supported for the outgoing HTML message body, generated by the add-in based on the custom form.

Version 2.9 — released on September 7, 2015

  • Support for Microsoft Office 2016 has been added;
  • Support for Windows 10 has been added.

Version 2.8 — released on January 19, 2015

The format of the outgoing message is changed if the modes: “HTML Attachment”, “RTF Attachment”, or “PDF Attachment” are selected as message format in the add-in settings. The new version of Mail Merge Toolkit generates messages in the HTML format, instead of the previously used RTF.

Version 2.7 — released on June 25, 2014

  • An issue with incorrect converting publication to the GIF format by using Mail Merge in Microsoft Office Publisher 2007-2013 is fixed.
  • New feature is added in Microsoft Office Publisher: export of publication to the PDF format.
  • The method of editing in Microsoft Office Publisher is updated: the built-in editor is now used.
  • If you select the 'PDF Attachment' message formats in Publisher, you can configure using a separate template in the message body (so that it is not empty if you send your message text as an attachment).
  • Unicode support is added.
  • The bug of processing filters by the data source record numbers is fixed.

Version 2.6.4 — released on May 27, 2014

  • Compatibilty with Microsoft Office 2013 Service Pack 1 (KB2817430) is added.
  • New feature is added: you can use a separate template in the message body if selecting message formats like: 'HTML Attachment', 'RTF Attachment', 'PDF Attachment' (in previous versions, message text was sent in the attachment, and message body was empty).
  • An issue with incorrect displaying specific local characters is fixed.
  • The method of sending messages with attachment is optimized.

Version 2.6.3 — released on October 18, 2013

Pro
  • An issue when the registration code is unsaved known if running Microsoft Office Word without Administrator credentials is fixed.
  • Unicode paths to the attached files (specific national characters in filenames) are now supported.
  • New feature: file masks are now supported in the name of attached files.
  • An issue with sending blank message body is fixed – it was known in several cases with the systems where non-English local language settings were used.

Version 2.6.2 — released on February 25, 2013

The feature to send personalized messages as PDF attachments has been added.

Version 2.6.1 — released on November 16, 2012

  • Support for Windows 8 has been added;
  • Support for Microsoft Office 2013 has been added.

Version 2.6 — released on December 19, 2011

A possibility to use data source fields inside of automated Word fields (for example, Database field) is added.

Version 2.5.7 — released on October 14, 2010

The problem with displaying full path to the attachments has been fixed.

Version 2.5.6 — released on February 19, 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta (64-bit editions) support has been added.

Version 2.5.5 — released on December 10, 2009

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta (32-bit editions) support has been added.

Version 2.5.4 — released on July 22, 2009

  • Deployment capability has been extended;
  • Minor interface changes.

Version 2.5.3 — released on December 23, 2008

Support for Microsoft Outlook 2007 hotfix package KB958789 has been added.

Version 2.5.2 — released on December 18, 2007

The problem with adding extra character to end of the message has been fixed.

Version 2.5.0 — released on December 11, 2006

  • Support for Windows Vista has been added;
  • Support for Microsoft Office 2007 has been added.

Version 2.4.0 — released on April 20, 2006

  • Attachment Manager has been added;
  • Program Installation Wizard has been improved;
  • The 'Help' section has been enhanced;
  • The list of company's products and their description has been updated.

Version 2.3.0 — released on January 17, 2006

Some bugs have been fixed.

Version 2.2.0 — released on July 8, 2005

  • A possibility to send messages when the 'CC' and 'BCC' fields are filled in has been added.
  • The fields and the settings of the main window of the program can be saved now.

Version 2.1.0 — released on June 11, 2005

  • The way to select accounts has beed changed.
  • Now you can send the merged messages with background images.

Version 2.0.0 — released on May 27, 2005

The message converter has been rewritten and the bugs with message formatting have been fixed.

Version 1.7 — released on March 14, 2005

The possibility to send messages through a specifed account has been added.

Version 1.6 — released on February 23, 2005

German language has been added.

Version 1.5 — released on January 13, 2005

  • Bug with sending messages by Excel datasource has been fixed.
  • Russian language has been added.

Version 1.4 — released on August 27, 2004

  • Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 compatibility issues are fixed.
  • Product was tested with Windows XP 64-bit Edition, no known issues.

Version 1.3 — released on August 10, 2004

  • The Button 'Mail Merge Toolkit' has been added to the 'Mail Merge' toolbar of Microsoft Word.
  • Now you can send the merged messages like attachments in the RTF format.
  • A possibility to send messages to recipients from exchange server's address book has been added.

Version 1.2 — released on January 14, 2004

  • Add-in now allows the user to choose save or not to save sent messages(to the Sent Items folder).
  • Some bugs have been fixed.

Version 1.1 — released on October 24, 2003

Bug with recognizing the type of message attachment has been fixed.

Version 1.0 — released on October 9, 2003

First public version.