The Designer is not a "Black Box” for the application, but can be manipulated in many ways. Besides disabling functions and menu items, user-specific elements can be added that move calculations, actions or outputs to the function logic.

Menu Items, Objects and Functions

Starting point for Designer restrictions is the DesignerWorkspace property of the ListLabel object. In the following table the properties listed can be used to restrict the Designer:

The following example shows how the Designer can be adjusted so no new project can be created. In addition the function ProjectPath$ will be removed and the object "Demo” is prevented from being edited:

ListLabel LL = new ListLabel();
LL.DataSource = CreateDataSet();

LL.DesignerWorkspace.ProhibitedActions.Add(LlDesignerAction.FileNew);
LL.DesignerWorkspace.ProhibitedFunctions.Add("ProjectPath$");
LL.DesignerWorkspace.ReadOnlyObjects.Add("Demo");

LL.Design();
LL.Dispose();

Dim LL As New ListLabel()
LL.DataSource = CreateDataSet()

LL.DesignerWorkspace.ProhibitedActions.Add(LlDesignerAction.FileNew)
LL.DesignerWorkspace.ProhibitedFunctions.Add("ProjectPath$")
LL.DesignerWorkspace.ReadOnlyObjects.Add("Demo")

LL.Design()
LL.Dispose()

Extend Designer

The Designer can be extended by user-specific functions (DesignerFunctions), objects (DesignerObjects) and actions (DesignerActions). User-specific functions can be used to move more complex calculations to the application or add functions which are not covered by the Designer by default. Examples for own objects or actions as well as another own function are shown in the .NET sample Designer Extension Sample.

Register Languages in Designer

Different languages can be registered in the Designer, so that project files can be easily localized later. Localization of Project Files in Designer shows how the translations can be done. Here the three languages English, German and French are registered and can be changed by the user later in Designer simply in the menu:

                
// Define LCIDs
int designerLanguageLCIDen = new CultureInfo("en").LCID;
int designerLanguageLCIDde = new CultureInfo("de").LCID;
int designerLanguageLCIDfr = new CultureInfo("fr").LCID;

// Add/declare the available design languages
// according to their respective LCID
LL.DesignerWorkspace.DesignerLanguages.Add(designerLanguageLCIDde);
LL.DesignerWorkspace.DesignerLanguages.Add(designerLanguageLCIDen);
LL.DesignerWorkspace.DesignerLanguages.Add(designerLanguageLCIDfr);

                
' Define LCIDs
Dim designerLanguageLCIDen As Integer = New CultureInfo("en").LCID
Dim designerLanguageLCIDde As Integer = New CultureInfo("de").LCID
Dim designerLanguageLCIDfr As Integer = New CultureInfo("fr").LCID

' Add/declare the available design languages
' according to their respective LCID
LL.DesignerWorkspace.DesignerLanguages.Add(designerLanguageLCIDde)
LL.DesignerWorkspace.DesignerLanguages.Add(designerLanguageLCIDen)
LL.DesignerWorkspace.DesignerLanguages.Add(designerLanguageLCIDfr)