DialogPage Class

Article
07/12/2014

Provides a standard dialog box functionality for implementing Toolbox property sheets, ToolsOptions pages, or custom UI dialog boxes, with support for the Visual Studio automation model, Windows Forms, and state persistence by using the Visual Studio settings mechanism.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
  System.MarshalByRefObject
    System.ComponentModel.Component
      Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.DialogPage
        Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.UIElementDialogPage

Namespace: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell
Assembly: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.11.0 (in Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.11.0.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
Public Class DialogPage _
    Inherits Component _
    Implements IWin32Window, IProfileManager

[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
public class DialogPage : Component, IWin32Window, 
    IProfileManager

[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
public ref class DialogPage : public Component, 
    IWin32Window, IProfileManager

[<ComVisibleAttribute(true)>]
type DialogPage =  
    class 
        inherit Component 
        interface IWin32Window 
        interface IProfileManager 
    end

public class DialogPage extends Component implements IWin32Window, IProfileManager

The DialogPage type exposes the following members.

Constructors

	Name	Description
	DialogPage	Initializes a new instance of DialogPage.

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Properties

	Name	Description
	AutomationObject	Gets the DTE automation model object for a given instance of a dialog page class.
	CanRaiseEvents	Gets a value indicating whether the component can raise an event. (Inherited from Component.)
	Container	Gets the IContainer that contains the Component. (Inherited from Component.)
	DesignMode	Gets a value that indicates whether the Component is currently in design mode. (Inherited from Component.)
	Events	Gets the list of event handlers that are attached to this Component. (Inherited from Component.)
	SettingsRegistryPath	Gets or sets the sub-key under the Visual Studio version-specific root for storing settings data for a dialog page.
	Site	Gets or sets the site of the dialog page. Overrides the implementation inherited from Component. (Overrides Component.Site.)
	Window	Gets the window that is used as the user interface of the dialog page.

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Methods

	Name	Description
	CreateObjRef	Security Critical. Creates an object that contains all the relevant information required to generate a proxy used to communicate with a remote object. (Inherited from MarshalByRefObject.)
	Dispose()	Releases all resources used by the Component. (Inherited from Component.)
	Dispose(Boolean)	Releases the unmanaged resources that are used by a dialog page class and optionally releases the managed resources; the parent class, Component supports unmanaged resources. (Overrides Component.Dispose(Boolean).)
	Equals	Determines whether the specified object is equal to the current object. (Inherited from Object.)
	Finalize	Releases unmanaged resources and performs other cleanup operations before the Component is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Component.)
	GetHashCode	Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetLifetimeService	Security Critical. Retrieves the current lifetime service object that controls the lifetime policy for this instance. (Inherited from MarshalByRefObject.)
	GetService	Returns an object that represents a service provided by the Component or by its Container. (Inherited from Component.)
	GetType	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
	InitializeLifetimeService	Security Critical. Obtains a lifetime service object to control the lifetime policy for this instance. (Inherited from MarshalByRefObject.)
	LoadSettingsFromStorage	Called by Visual Studio to load the settings of a dialog page from local storage, generally the registry.
	LoadSettingsFromXml	Called by Visual Studio to load the settings of a dialog page from the Visual Studio settings storage on disk.
	MemberwiseClone()	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	MemberwiseClone(Boolean)	Creates a shallow copy of the current MarshalByRefObject object. (Inherited from MarshalByRefObject.)
	OnActivate	Handles Windows Activate messages from the Visual Studio environment.
	OnApply	Handles Apply messages from the Visual Studio environment.
	OnClosed	Handles Close messages from the Visual Studio environment.
	OnDeactivate	Handles Deactive messages from the Visual Studio environment.
	ResetSettings	Should be overridden to reset settings to their default values.
	SaveSettingsToStorage	Called by Visual Studio to store the settings of a dialog page in local storage, typically the registry.
	SaveSettingsToXml	Called by Visual Studio to store the settings of a dialog page to the Visual Studio settings storage on disk.
	ToString	Returns a String containing the name of the Component, if any. This method should not be overridden. (Inherited from Component.)

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Events

	Name	Description
	Disposed	Occurs when the component is disposed by a call to the Dispose method. (Inherited from Component.)

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Explicit Interface Implementations

	Name	Description
	IWin32Window.Handle	Gets the handle of the window of the dialog page.

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Remarks

Notes for Implementers

Implement classes derived from DialogPage when you create a user dialog box, especially a Tools Options page or a Toolbox property page.

Notes for Callers

The simplest implementation of DialogPage requires only the definition of public properties on the implementing class. The property types must support conversion to and from strings through TypeConverter.

The base implementation of DialogPage provides default handlers for standard windows events, and implements the Component, IWin32Window, and IProfileManager.

Classes derived from DialogPage have the following:

Automatic support for component sharing through the Visual Studio DTE automation object model.
- Any instance of DialogPage is an automation object, because the class inherits the Component interface implementation.
- Applications that must access the automation object of the class use the AutomationObject property.
  
  The AutomationObject property returns this (Me in Visual Basic), because the implementation of DialogPage is already an automation object by default.
- An implementation of DialogPage can offer an automation object other than itself by overriding the base AutomationObject implementation. For example, this might be done to provide separate user interface and the object models.
Support for the Visual Studio settings mechanism, based on the public properties of the automation object of the derived class.
- For an object derived from DialogPage to provide persistence, it must be registered by using ProvideProfileAttribute.
- Types derived from DialogPage inherit a default persistence implementation of IProfileManager.
- The default implementation persists all public properties of the automation object of the dervied class, which is the object that is returned by AutomationObject and that supports conversion to and from strings through TypeConverter.
- This behavior can be changed by overriding LoadSettingsFromXml, SaveSettingsToXml, LoadSettingsFromStorage, and SaveSettingsToStorage.
A default user interface that is based on the public properties of the automation object of the derived class.
- For a dialog page implementation to provide a Tools Options page, it must be registered by using ProvideOptionPageAttribute.
- For a dialog page implementation to provide a Toolbox dialog page, it must be registered by using ProvideToolboxPageAttribute.
- Dialog pages use Window to return a IWin32Window, which provides a handle to the window that provides the user interface of the class.
- By default, the window that is referenced by Window is a property grid, which is implemented by an instance of PropertyGrid by selecting the automation object.
- The DialogPage base class uses its implementation of AutomationObject to obtain the automation object of the class and the public properties of that automation object.
- Changes to public properties made through the user interface of a dialog page are automatically saved to local storage (typically the registry) by a call to the SaveSettingsToStorage method.
- A dialog page implementation can change its user interface by overriding Window.

Note

Typically, an instance of a dialog page class is its own automation object. Therefore, properties that are persisted or displayed are those of the class that is derived from DialogPage. However, if AutomationObject returns another object, it is that object's properties, not the class's, that are persisted or displayed.

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.