Is there a way in VB.NET to have buttons and menu bars that are built in the code show up in the design view? - vb.net

Question

Is there a way in VB.NET to make components like buttons and menus bars show in design view of you added them in programmatically?
I now in Java i you add a button in the code it will show in design view if you switch back and forth. Can this be done in VB.NET.
Code:
Imports System.IO
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
'defining the main menu bar
Dim mnuBar As New MainMenu()
'defining the menu items for the main menu bar
Dim myMenuItemFile As New MenuItem("&File")
Dim myMenuItemEdit As New MenuItem("&Edit")
Dim myMenuItemView As New MenuItem("&View")
Dim myMenuItemProject As New MenuItem("&Project")
'adding the menu items to the main menu bar
mnuBar.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemFile)
mnuBar.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemEdit)
mnuBar.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemView)
mnuBar.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemProject)
' defining some sub menus
Dim myMenuItemNew As New MenuItem("&New")
Dim myMenuItemOpen As New MenuItem("&Open")
Dim myMenuItemSave As New MenuItem("&Save")
'add sub menus to the File menu
myMenuItemFile.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemNew)
myMenuItemFile.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemOpen)
myMenuItemFile.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemSave)
'add the main menu to the form
Me.Menu = mnuBar
' Set the caption bar text of the form.
Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
'create a new TreeView
Dim TreeView1 As TreeView
TreeView1 = New TreeView()
TreeView1.Location = New Point(5, 30)
TreeView1.Size = New Size(150, 150)
Me.Controls.Add(TreeView1)
TreeView1.Nodes.Clear()
'Creating the root node
Dim root = New TreeNode("Application")
TreeView1.Nodes.Add(root)
TreeView1.Nodes(0).Nodes.Add(New TreeNode("Project 1"))
'Creating child nodes under the first child
For loopindex As Integer = 1 To 4
TreeView1.Nodes(0).Nodes(0).Nodes.Add(New _
TreeNode("Sub Project" & Str(loopindex)))
Next loopindex
' creating child nodes under the root
TreeView1.Nodes(0).Nodes.Add(New TreeNode("Project 6"))
'creating child nodes under the created child node
For loopindex As Integer = 1 To 3
TreeView1.Nodes(0).Nodes(1).Nodes.Add(New _
TreeNode("Project File" & Str(loopindex)))
Next loopindex
' Set the caption bar text of the form.
Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
End Sub
Private Sub openInWeb()
Try
Dim url As String = "http://www.stackoverflow.com"
Process.Start(url)
Catch ex As Exception
MsgBox("There's something wrong!")
Finally
End Try
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim fileReader As System.IO.StreamReader
fileReader =
My.Computer.FileSystem.OpenTextFileReader("C:\Users\itpr13266\Desktop\Asnreiu3.txt")
Dim stringReader As String
stringReader = fileReader.ReadLine()
MsgBox("The first line of the file is " & stringReader)
openInWeb()
End Sub
Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
Dim myStream As Stream = Nothing
Dim openFileBox As New OpenFileDialog()
openFileBox.InitialDirectory = "c:\"
openFileBox.Filter = "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*"
openFileBox.FilterIndex = 2
openFileBox.RestoreDirectory = True
If openFileBox.ShowDialog() = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
Try
myStream = openFileBox.OpenFile()
If (myStream IsNot Nothing) Then
' Insert code to read the stream here.
'**************************
' your code will go here *
'**************************
End If
Catch Ex As Exception
MessageBox.Show("Cannot read file from disk. Original error: " & Ex.Message)
Finally
If (myStream IsNot Nothing) Then
myStream.Close()
End If
End Try
End If
End Sub
Private Sub Button3_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
Dim myStream As Stream
Dim saveFileDialog1 As New SaveFileDialog()
saveFileDialog1.Filter = "txt files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*"
saveFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 2
saveFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = True
If saveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
myStream = saveFileDialog1.OpenFile()
If (myStream IsNot Nothing) Then
' Code to write the stream goes here.
myStream.Close()
End If
End If
End Sub
Private Sub ToolTip1_Popup(sender As System.Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.PopupEventArgs) Handles ToolTip1.Popup
End Sub
Private Sub Button(p1 As Object)
Throw New NotImplementedException
End Sub
Private Function myButton() As Windows.Forms.Button
Throw New NotImplementedException
End Function
Private Sub Button4_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button4.Click
AboutBox1.Show()
End Sub
Private Sub Button5_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button5.Click
Dim lbl As New Label
lbl.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(159, 23) 'set your size (if required)
lbl.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(12, 190) 'set your location
lbl.Text = "You just clicked button 5" 'set the text for your label
Me.Controls.Add(lbl) 'add your new control to your forms control collection
End Sub
Public Sub HellowWorld()
MsgBox("Hello World!")
End Sub
Private Sub Button6_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button6.Click
HellowWorld()
End Sub
Private Sub Button7_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button7.Click
Dim ProgressBar1 As ProgressBar
Dim ProgressBar2 As ProgressBar
ProgressBar1 = New ProgressBar()
ProgressBar2 = New ProgressBar()
'set position
ProgressBar1.Location = New Point(10, 200)
ProgressBar2.Location = New Point(10, 250)
'set values
ProgressBar1.Minimum = 0
ProgressBar1.Maximum = 200
ProgressBar1.Value = 130
ProgressBar2.Minimum = 0
ProgressBar2.Maximum = 100
ProgressBar2.Value = 40
'add the progress bar to the form
Me.Controls.Add(ProgressBar1)
Me.Controls.Add(ProgressBar2)
' Set the caption bar text of the form.
End Sub
End Class

Answer 1

The Designer does only show Controls that are created in the FormName.Designer.vb file. It does not run code in the FormName.vb file. When adding controls in the Designer, they are added to the InitializeComponent() method in the FormName.Designer.vb file.
So the only way to show the controls in the Designer is to add them in the Designer or to edit the FormName.Designer.vb file manually. If you decide for the latter, you should mimic the code that is generated by the Designer very closely in order to avoid problems when the Designer is shown. Also, be prepared that the Designer regards the FormName.Designer.vb file as completely generated code and might decide to recreate the file sooner or later omitting parts that it cannot handle.
Side note: in order to see the FormName.Designer.vb file, you should select "Show All Files" for the project in Solution Explorer.