Auto Scrolling Windows Form for Dynamic Content

Question

I'm working on C# .NET 3.5 desktop application. In the software I have a Form, which contains a TableLayoutPanel tp1. The 2nd row of the tp1 contains a GroupBox. The GroupBox contains another TableLayoutPanel tp2. tp2 will grow dynamically during runtime.

Form
-----------------------------
|  TableLayoutPanel tp1      |
|____________________________|
|    GroupBox                |
|    ________________________|
|   |                        |
|   |  TableLayoutPanel tp2  |
|   |  ______________________|
|   | |                      |
|   | |   Dynamic content    |
|   | |        here          |
|   | |                      |
|   | |______________________|
|   |________________________|
|                            |
|____________________________|
-----------------------------

The AutoScroll of the Form is true.

The SizeType of Row 2 of tp1 is AutoSize.

The AutoSize of the GroupBox is true.

The AutoSize of tp2 is true. tp2 is dynamically updated by the following code:

tp2.RowCount = tp2.RowCount + 1;
tp2.RowStyles.Add(new RowStyle(SizeType.AutoSize));

GroupBox gb = new GroupBox();
gb.BackColor = Color.Red;
tp2.Controls.Add(gb, 0, tp2.RowCount - 1);

I want a scrollbars to appear in the Form when tp1 is larger than the window size. But no scrollbar is appearing.

I can activate scrollbars in the same way if I set AutoScroll to true for tp1. But I want the scrollbars on the Form, not tp1.

How can I achieve that?

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 16 '16 at 11:07

You need to perform such settings using designer or code:

var panel1 = new TableLayoutPanel();
panel1.CellBorderStyle = TableLayoutPanelCellBorderStyle.Single;
panel1.RowCount = 2;
panel1.RowStyles.Add(new RowStyle(SizeType.Absolute, 20));
panel1.RowStyles.Add(new RowStyle(SizeType.AutoSize));
panel1.AutoSize = true;
panel1.AutoSizeMode= System.Windows.Forms.AutoSizeMode.GrowAndShrink;

var groupBox1 = new GroupBox() { Text = "GroupBox" };
groupBox1.AutoSize = true;
groupBox1.AutoSizeMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoSizeMode.GrowAndShrink;

var panel2 = new TableLayoutPanel() {Top= 24, Left= 5 };
panel2.CellBorderStyle = TableLayoutPanelCellBorderStyle.Single;
panel2.AutoSize = true;
panel2.AutoSizeMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoSizeMode.GrowAndShrink;

groupBox1.Controls.Add(panel2);

panel1.Controls.Add(new Label() { Text = "Label" });
panel1.Controls.Add(groupBox1);

this.SuspendLayout();
this.Controls.Add(panel1);
this.AutoScroll = true;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
    panel2.RowCount += 1;
    panel2.RowStyles.Add(new RowStyle(SizeType.AutoSize));
    panel2.Controls.Add(new GroupBox()
    {
        Text = string.Format("GroupBox{0}", i + 1)
    });
}
this.ResumeLayout(true);

And this would be the result:

I got my problem solved way before this answer. Thanks for the answer though. — Donotalo, Sep 16 '16 at 11:19

Auto Scrolling Windows Form for Dynamic Content

1 Answers1