A simple, single page Quick-Start Guide can be downloaded
here.
Property grid search
Property grid search allows you to quickly find properties or events in the property
grid.
Property grid search works from anywhere in Visual Studio but only with the
classical property grid, commonly used within Visual Studio. Windows Presentation
Foundation and Silverlight designers present a different property grid, which already
has a filter bar. Property grid search from RapidDesign does not work with this
grid.
Getting started with the Property grid search
Property grid search places itself above the property grid, next to the show properties
/ events buttons. You can quicky select property grid search text box by pressing
ALT + Space - this is the default keyboard shortcut. You can change the keyboard
shortcut using the Keyboard options page in Visual Studio. This procedure is describled
below.
After the property grid search text box is selected you can immediately start typing
to find the property you want to change. You can clear the property grid search
text box by pressing Escape. If there are any properties or events found, you can
press the Enter key to select the highlitd property / event. You can also select
it with the mouse. The focus is automatically transfered to the property grid, just
start typing the set the property value. If the property has a custom designer use
the standard F4 key to open it, or use your mouse.
Searching techniques
By typing in the property grid search text box, you start the search process. You
can type only with lower-case letters which makes the property grid search find
all properties, that have the typed text anywhere in the property name.
You can use upper-case letters to start a Pascal notation search. For example if
you write BC, properties like BackColor, BorderColor,
UseVisualStyleBackColor could be found. To specify the property name more
precisely, you can write not only the capital letters, but a fragment of name written
in lower-case. For example by typing BorC you will narrow the results
to only the BorderColor property.
Property grid search finds properties also in the nested objects. If you want to
set a Windows Forms Button width, you can type width in the property
grid search, and the nested property Width of the Size will be
found.
Sometimes more than one property matches the search string entered. Property grid
search informs about the number of matching properties, and allows you to browse
through the results by pressing Down or Up, you can also use the mouse wheel. The
matching property names are sorted in a way, that the properties best matching your
serach criteria will be presented first.
Setting property values
When the property grid serach is closed, the property grid is automatically activated
and you can immediatelly type to set the property value. If the property has a custom
editor, you can open it by pressing the standard F4 key. If the editor suppors operating
with the keyboard (and most do), you can still use your keyboard to set the property
to a desired value.
Viewing modified properties and events
When the property grid seach is selected and there is no text entered in the text
box, property grid search displays modified properties or events with handlers,
depanding on the current view. If you type anything in the property grid search
text box, the modified propertes / events will be replaced by the search results.
If you wish to see the property grid and close the modified propertes / events view,
press the Escape key.
Searching for events
The property grid search can also be used to find an event and hook up an event
handler. To start an event serach, just select property grid search and press ALT
+ Space. This makes property grid search to select the Events tab in the property
grid. Now you can search for events in the same way you search for properies.
Hooking up event handlers
After searching for an event and closing the property grid search window, the keyboard
focus will be set to the property grid. Now you can just press the ENTER key to
let Visual Studio create a default event handler and take you straight to code,
or you can write your own name for the event handler. If you want to delete an existing
event handler associated with the event, press the backspace key and the event handler
will be deleted.
Changing the keyboard shortcut for Property grid search
The sandard shortcut key for selecting the property grid search is ALT + Space.
To change the key combinantion, please do the following:
- In Visual Studio, click the Tools menu and the Options menu
- Expand the Environment group and then select Keyboard
- In the text box labeled Show commands containing type
rapiddesign
- Select the
Tools.RapidDesignPropertyGridSearch command and press the
new shortcut key in the box labeled Press shortcut keys
- Press the Assign button to set the new shortcut key.
Quick-Access Toolbox
Quick-Access Toolbox lets you select and group controls that you use, and display
them like a context menu, right above the design surface.
Quick-Access Toolbox works with Windows Forms and ASP.NET Projects.
Getting started with the Quick-Access Toolbox
To start working with the Quick-Access Toolbox just do the following:
- Press and hold the middle mouse button over a component which you are designing
(Windows Forms Form, User Control, Component; ASP.NET Page or User Control).
- Move your mouse to select the control you need. You can press one of the modifier
keys:
Control, Shift, Tab, to see a different set of controls.
- Release the middle mouse button and the control will be selected for you. In ASP.NET
projects, the control will be automatically placed on the page or user control.
Customizing control sets and creating new ones
RapidDesign allows you to select your own controls to show in the Quick-Access Toolbox.
You can even create your own sets of controls, which will be shown after pressing
the space or escape key. To customize the control sets
do the following:
- In Visual Studio, click the Tools menu and the Options menu
- Expand RapidDesign group in the list on the left and select Quick-Access
Toolbox - Windows Forms or Quick-Access Toolbox - ASP.NET
- To add a control to a control set, select the desired control in the list on the
left and click the
>> button.
- To remove a control from a control set, select the desired control in the list on
the right and click the
<< button.
- To change the active control set, select in in the combo box on the right
- To create a new control set, expand the combo box on the right and select the
<Add new...> option
Customizing how Quick-Access Toolbox looks
The way that Quick-Access Toolbox looks and behaves can be changed. You can set
the colors, size, style and other options. To customize Quick-Access Toolbox do
the following:
- In Visual Studio, click the Tools menu and the Options menu
- Expand RapidDesign group in the list on the left and select Quick-Access
Toolbox - General.
- All of the options are explained below the property grid.
License key
RapidDesign has a 14-day trial version. If you want to use RapidDesign after the
trial expries, you have to buy a license key. See the license
page for deatils.
Entering the license key
After purchase of RapidDesign professional license, you can enter the license key
to enable the use of RapidDesign after the trial period. To register your license
with RapidDesing, do the folowing:
- In Visual Studio, click the Tools menu and the Options menu
- Expand RapidDesign group in the list on the left and select RapidDesign
- License registration.
- Click the
Enter license key button and enter your license
key.
- RapidDesign should recognize your license key and register it.
Removing the license key
RapidDesign license key can be entered in different number of computers depanding
on your license type. For example, a single user license allows you to register
it on three computers. Additionally RapidDesign gives you a way to unregister a
license from a computer so you can register a different one. The number of unregistrations
that you can do depands on your license type. To unregister a license key, do the
following:
- In Visual Studio, click the Tools menu and the Options menu
- Expand RapidDesign group in the list on the left and select RapidDesign
- License registration.
- Click the
Remove license key button.
- RapidDesign should unregister your license key and revert to trial version.