Customizing ToolStrip Items

There are many types of ToolStrip<Control> classes.

But how can you create your own customized version. Let’s say you want a control that prefixes a label before your combo box?
Ok that is very simple, you just extend the ToolStripControlHost class

First we create our UserControl:

using System.Windows.Forms;

	public partial class ComboBoxWithLabel : UserControl
	{
		public ComboBoxWithLabel()
		{
			InitializeComponent();
		}

		public string LabelText
		{
			get {return label1.Text;}
			set {label1.Text = value;}
		}

		public ComboBox.ObjectCollection Items
		{
			get
			{
				return comboBox1.Items;
			}
		}
	}

	partial class ComboBoxWithLabel
	{
		/// <summary> 
		/// Required designer variable.
		/// </summary>
		private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;

		/// <summary> 
		/// Clean up any resources being used.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="disposing">true if managed resources should be disposed; otherwise, false.</param>
		protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
		{
			if (disposing && (components != null))
			{
				components.Dispose();
			}
			base.Dispose(disposing);
		}

		#region Component Designer generated code

		/// <summary> 
		/// Required method for Designer support - do not modify 
		/// the contents of this method with the code editor.
		/// </summary>
		private void InitializeComponent()
		{
			this.label1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
			this.comboBox1 = new System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox();
			this.SuspendLayout();
			// 
			// label1
			// 
			this.label1.AutoSize = true;
			this.label1.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Left;
			this.label1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(0, 0);
			this.label1.Name = "label1";
			this.label1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(35, 13);
			this.label1.TabIndex = 0;
			this.label1.Text = "label1";
			// 
			// comboBox1
			// 
			this.comboBox1.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Right;
			this.comboBox1.FlatStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle.Flat;
			this.comboBox1.FormattingEnabled = true;
			this.comboBox1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(35, 0);
			this.comboBox1.Name = "comboBox1";
			this.comboBox1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(134, 21);
			this.comboBox1.TabIndex = 1;
			// 
			// ComboBoxWithLabel
			// 
			this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(6F, 13F);
			this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
			this.Controls.Add(this.comboBox1);
			this.Controls.Add(this.label1);
			this.Name = "ComboBoxWithLabel";
			this.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(169, 22);
			this.ResumeLayout(false);
			this.PerformLayout();

		}

		#endregion

		public System.Windows.Forms.Label label1;
		public System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox comboBox1;
	}

Next we just create an extension of the ToolStripControlHost

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms.Design;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing.Design;

[DefaultProperty("Items")]
[ToolStripItemDesignerAvailability(ToolStripItemDesignerAvailability.All)]
public class MyCustomComboBoxWithLabel : ToolStripControlHost
{
	public MyCustomComboBoxWithLabel()
		: base(new ComboBoxWithLabel())
	{
	}
	[Browsable(false)]
	public ComboBoxWithLabel ComboBoxWithLabel
	{
		get { return base.Control as ComboBoxWithLabel; }
	}
	

	[Browsable(true)]
	[DefaultValue(false)]
	public string LabelText
	{
		get { return ComboBoxWithLabel.LabelText; }
		set { ComboBoxWithLabel.LabelText = value; }
	}

	[Localizable(true)]
	[DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Content)]
	[Editor("System.Windows.Forms.Design.ListControlStringCollectionEditor, System.Design, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", typeof(UITypeEditor))]
	public System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox.ObjectCollection Items
	{
		get { return ComboBoxWithLabel.comboBox1.Items; }
		set {
			foreach (var item in value)
			{
				ComboBoxWithLabel.comboBox1.Items.Add(item);
			}
		}
	}
}

And Next ...

Well there is not next. You just used it :) And this is how it looks: