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Introduction

These controls keep themselves up-to-date automatically. Create visually stunning, highly interactive Windows forms. Update Controls simplify UI programming. And the new tab control features inertia.

How it Works

With other controls, you set properties like "Text" to put data into the form. When the data changes, you have to set the property again. But with Update Controls, you implement events like "GetText". The controls automatically update themselves when the data changes.

The following code is all it takes to attach the First Name text box to the data object:

Public Partial Class ContactForm
    Inherits Form
    Private _contact As Contact

    Public Sub New(ByVal contact As Contact)
        _contact = contact
        InitializeComponent()
    End Sub

    Private Function firstNameTextBox_GetText() As String
        Return _contact.FirstName
    End Function

    Private Sub firstNameTextBox_SetText(ByVal value As String)
        _contact.FirstName = value
    End Sub
End Class

The data is stored in a simple object. We start by defining fields:

Public Class Contact
    Private _firstName As String
    Private _lastName As String
    Private _email As String
    Private _phone As String
End Class

Then we press Ctrl+D, Ctrl+G and the library generates dynamic properties:

Public Class Contact
    Private _firstName As String
    Private _lastName As String
    Private _email As String
    Private _phone As String

    #Region "Dynamic properties"
    ' Generated by Update Controls --------------------------------
    Private _dynFirstName As New Dynamic()
    Private _dynLastName As New Dynamic()
    Private _dynEmail As New Dynamic()
    Private _dynPhone As New Dynamic()

    Public Property FirstName() As String
        Get
            _dynFirstName.OnGet()
            Return _firstName
        End Get
        Set
            _dynFirstName.OnSet()
            _firstName = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property LastName() As String
        Get
            _dynLastName.OnGet()
            Return _lastName
        End Get
        Set
            _dynLastName.OnSet()
            _lastName = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property Email() As String
        Get
            _dynEmail.OnGet()
            Return _email
        End Get
        Set
            _dynEmail.OnSet()
            _email = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property Phone() As String
        Get
            _dynPhone.OnGet()
            Return _phone
        End Get
        Set
            _dynPhone.OnSet()
            _phone = value
        End Set
    End Property
    ' End generated code --------------------------------
    #End Region
    Dynamic properties
End Class

Finally, we add our own business logic:

    Public ReadOnly Property FullName() As String
        Get
            If String.IsNullOrEmpty(FirstName) AndAlso String.IsNullOrEmpty(LastName) Then
                Return "New Contact"
            Else
                Return String.Format("{0}, {1}", LastName, FirstName)
            End If
        End Get
    End Property

Now our data object is ready for any Update Controls that we want to attach to it. Now or in the future.