The Properties window in Visual Studio makes control
editing easy, but not always fast. For example, imagine you want to
tweak all the text on a form. In previous versions of Visual Studio, the
only option was to select each control in turn and modify the Text
property in the Properties window one at
a time. Although this approach isn't necessarily awkward, it certainly
isn't as easy as it could be. In Visual Studio 2005, you can adjust a
single property for a series of controls directly on the form.
Note
When you need to update a single property for a number of different controls, in-place property editing makes it easy.
To try in-place property editing, create a new form and add an
assortment of controls. (The actual controls you use don't really
matter, but you should probably include some text boxes, buttons, and
labels.) Then, select View â Property Editing View. Finally, choose the
property you want to change from the drop-down list above the form
design surface. By default, the Name
property is selected, but Figure 1-10 shows an example with
the Text
property.
In property-editing view, an edit box appears over every control on the form with the contents of the selected property. You can edit the value of that property by simply clicking on the edit box and entering the new value. You can also jump from one control to the next by pressing the Tab key.
When you are finished with your work, again select View â Property Editing View, or click the Exit Mode link next to the property drop-down list.
...editing tab order? Visual Studio allows you to easily edit tab order by clicking controls in the order that you want users to be able to navigate through them. Select a form with at least one control, and choose View â Tab Order to activate this mode, which works the same as it did in Visual Studio 2003.
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