Hide form's DoubleBuffered property without make it nonfunctional - vb.net

Question

Using a Class I am trying to hide the DoubleBuffered property from form's property window but without make it nonfunctional. So I did something like this in code example below... Ηowever, DoubleBuffered property still appears. So, can we really hide DoubleBuffered property and if yes, how can we do that?
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.ComponentModel.Design
Public Class MyForm
Inherits Form
<Browsable(False)>
Public Overloads Property DoubleBuffered As Boolean
Get
Return MyBase.DoubleBuffered
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Boolean)
MyBase.DoubleBuffered = value
End Set
End Property
Public Sub New()
Me.DoubleBuffered = True
End Sub
End Class

Answer 1

You could create a custom component designer for your Form, but that is a daunting task to just recreate the functionality of the inaccessible System.Windows.Forms.Design.FormDocumentDesigner. The simpler way is use the Form's Site property as I have shown you before to access the designer services.
In this case, you need to override the ITypeDescriptorFilterService service of the designer host. This service is used by the designer for all type discovery/filtering operations and is not limited to a specific component.
The first step is to create a class that implements ITypeDescriptorFilterService. The following is one such implementation. It is a generic implementation that allows it to filter components of the specified type and takes list of property names that you want to exclude from the PropertyGrid display. The final item it requires is a reference to the existing service used by the designer host.
Friend Class FilterService(Of T) : Implements ITypeDescriptorFilterService
Private namesOfPropertiesToRemove As String()
Public Sub New(baseService As ITypeDescriptorFilterService, ParamArray NamesOfPropertiesToRemove As String())
Me.BaseService = baseService
Me.namesOfPropertiesToRemove = NamesOfPropertiesToRemove
End Sub
Public ReadOnly Property BaseService As ITypeDescriptorFilterService
Public Function FilterAttributes(component As IComponent, attributes As IDictionary) As Boolean Implements ITypeDescriptorFilterService.FilterAttributes
Return BaseService.FilterAttributes(component, attributes)
End Function
Public Function FilterEvents(component As IComponent, events As IDictionary) As Boolean Implements ITypeDescriptorFilterService.FilterEvents
Return BaseService.FilterEvents(component, events)
End Function
Public Function FilterProperties(component As IComponent, properties As IDictionary) As Boolean Implements ITypeDescriptorFilterService.FilterProperties
' ref: ITypeDescriptorFilterService Interface: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.componentmodel.design.itypedescriptorfilterservice(v=vs.110).aspx
'
' The return value of FilterProperties determines if this set of properties is fixed.
' If this method returns true, the TypeDescriptor for this component can cache the
' results. This cache is maintained until either the component is garbage collected or the Refresh method of the type descriptor is called.
' allow other filters 1st chance to modify the properties collection
Dim ret As Boolean = BaseService.FilterProperties(component, properties)
' only remove properties if component is of type T
If TypeOf component Is T AndAlso Not (properties.IsFixedSize Or properties.IsReadOnly) Then
For Each propName As String In namesOfPropertiesToRemove
' If the IDictionary object does not contain an element with the specified key,
' the IDictionary remains unchanged. No exception is thrown.
properties.Remove(propName)
Next
End If
Return ret
End Function
End Class
Example Usage in Form:
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.ComponentModel.Design
Public Class TestForm : Inherits Form
Private host As IDesignerHost
Private altTypeDescriptorProvider As FilterService(Of TestForm)
' spelling and character casing of removedPropertyNames is critical
' it is a case-sensative lookup
Private Shared removedPropertyNames As String() = {"DoubleBuffered"}
Public Overrides Property Site As ISite
Get
Return MyBase.Site
End Get
Set(value As ISite)
If host IsNot Nothing Then
UnwireDesignerCode()
End If
MyBase.Site = value
If value IsNot Nothing Then
host = CType(Site.GetService(GetType(IDesignerHost)), IDesignerHost)
If host IsNot Nothing Then
If host.Loading Then
AddHandler host.LoadComplete, AddressOf HostLoaded
Else
WireUpDesignerCode()
End If
End If
End If
End Set
End Property
Private Sub HostLoaded(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
RemoveHandler host.LoadComplete, AddressOf HostLoaded
WireUpDesignerCode()
End Sub
Private Sub WireUpDesignerCode()
AddFilter()
End Sub
Private Sub UnwireDesignerCode()
If host IsNot Nothing Then
RemoveFilter()
End If
host = Nothing
End Sub
Private Sub AddFilter()
Dim baseFilter As ITypeDescriptorFilterService = CType(host.GetService(GetType(ITypeDescriptorFilterService)), ITypeDescriptorFilterService)
If baseFilter IsNot Nothing Then
' remove existing filter service
host.RemoveService(GetType(ITypeDescriptorFilterService))
' create our replacement service and add it to the host's services
altTypeDescriptorProvider = New FilterService(Of TestForm)(baseFilter, removedPropertyNames)
host.AddService(GetType(ITypeDescriptorFilterService), altTypeDescriptorProvider)
TypeDescriptor.Refresh(Me.GetType) ' force a type description rescan
End If
End Sub
Private Sub RemoveFilter()
If altTypeDescriptorProvider IsNot Nothing Then
host.RemoveService(GetType(ITypeDescriptorFilterService))
host.AddService(GetType(ITypeDescriptorFilterService), altTypeDescriptorProvider.BaseService)
altTypeDescriptorProvider = Nothing
End If
End Sub
End Class
Now when you create a form that inherits from TestForm, the DoubleBuffered property will be excluded from the PropertyGrid display.