DxUltimate Sample: AutoSizeMemoEdit - An Auto-Sizing DevExpress MemoEdit Control

1. Introduction

DevExpress WinForms controls employ multiple different mechanism for automatic sizing of controls. I'll just name the three that are relevant in this case:

1. WinForms.Control.AutoSize
   The normal auto-sizing mechanism provided by the WinForms framework
2. DevExpress.XtraEditors.BaseControl.AutoSizeInLayoutControl
   A DX specific mechanism for autosizing controls inside a LayoutControl
3. DevExpress.XtraEditors.Controls.IAutoHeightControl
   Another DC specific mechanism which is focusing on automatic height. Its primary purpose seems to be autosizing editors inside grid and list controls to allow variable row heights

The MemoEdit control implements #3, but not #1 and #2. I'm not sure about the reason, but I suspect that the intention might have been to avoid confusion with AutoSize (#1) when the MemoEdit is used in DataGrid & Co.

2. The Problem

Is simple: You cannot use the MemoEdit in a form/control and neither in a LayoutControl and let it autosize by its contents, because #1 and #2 are not implemented.

3. Solution

This example includes an inherited MemoEdit control: AutoSizeMemoEdit

The AutoSizeMemoEdit control implements both missing autosizing mechanisms (#1 and #2), and nothing else is required than placing it on a form or control or on a LayoutControl.

Usage

There are three different use cases, each of which is controlled by a different setting:

• Standalone Edit Control
  set AutoSizeMemoEdit.AutoSize
• Inside regular XtraLayoutControl (and DataLayoutControl)
  set AutoSizeMemoEdit.AutoSizeInLayoutControl
• In a LayoutView inside xtraGrid
  set RepositoryItemAutoSizeMemoEdit.AutoSizeInGridLayoutView

Important Note

This control is made specifically for the demonstrated use cases. It might or might not work in other situations.

4. Examples

In LayoutControl

Scrollbars are set to False by default and AutoSizeInLayoutControl is set to True:

In AutoSize-Form

The AutoSize property of the AutoSizeMemoEdit is set to True and AutoSizeMode to GrowOrShrink. Finally, AutoSize of the Form is set to True as well, resulting in the complete form resizing when editing:

In Form with Dock Panels

In this case, the form is not set to AutoSize and the AutoSizeMemoEdit control is automatically resizing itself to show all of its contents:

In a LayoutView inside the DataGrid Control

This requires setting the AutoSizeInGridLayoutView of the RepositoryItemAutoSizeMemoEdit after adding AutoSizeMemoEdit as a ColumnEdit in the LayoutView.