resize all controls on form dynamically when form is resized, works well, setup easy

[sdowney1]

This also resizes fonts.
It keeps controls aligned well.
Set your min size in the form designer properties.
The code works to full screen resizing and has seamlessly redrawn control sizes as form edge is dragged real time for me.

Found this online and had to modify some things as it threw some exceptions.

This is how It worked for me.

First, I called the module code as 'clsElasticforms.vb'

then in 3 places these 3 lines
at the top this

 
Private clsElastic As New clsElasticForms

somewhere in the form_load this. Here is where it logs all the controls, so place it after you have changed any control properties at run time

clsElastic.FindAllControls(Me)

Then in the form_resize, put this

 clsElastic.ResizeAllControls(Me)

The module code

'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
' Resizer
' This class is used to dynamically resize and reposition all controls on a form.
' Container controls are processed recursively so that all controls on the form
' are handled.
'
' Usage:
'  Resizing functionality requires only three lines of code on a form:
'
'  1. Create a form-level reference to the Resize class:
'     Dim myResizer as Resizer
'
'  2. In the Form_Load event, call the  Resizer class FIndAllControls method:
'     myResizer.FindAllControls(Me)
'
'  3. In the Form_Resize event, call the  Resizer class ResizeAllControls method:
'     myResizer.ResizeAllControls(Me)
'
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Imports System.Data.SqlTypes

Public Class clsElasticForms

    '----------------------------------------------------------
    ' ControlInfo
    ' Structure of original state of all processed controls
    '----------------------------------------------------------
    Private Structure ControlInfo
        Public name As String
        Public parentName As String
        Public leftOffsetPercent As Double
        Public topOffsetPercent As Double
        Public heightPercent As Double
        Public originalHeight As Integer
        Public originalWidth As Integer
        Public widthPercent As Double
        Public originalFontSize As Single
    End Structure

    '-------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ' ctrlDict
    ' Dictionary of (control name, control info) for all processed controls
    '-------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Private ctrlDict As Dictionary(Of String, ControlInfo) = New Dictionary(Of String, ControlInfo)
    Private alreadyran As Boolean = False

    '----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ' FindAllControls
    ' Recursive function to process all controls contained in the initially passed
    ' control container and store it in the Control dictionary
    '----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Public Sub FindAllControls(ByVal thisCtrl As Control)
        ' If Already run once, Then don't run again the clear
        ' If alreadyran Then
        'ctrlDict.Clear()
        'alreadyran = True
        'End If

        '-- If the current control has a parent, store all original relative position
        '-- and size information in the dictionary.
        '-- Recursively call FindAllControls for each control contained in the
        '-- current Control
        For Each ctl As Control In thisCtrl.Controls
            Try
                If Not IsNothing(ctl.Parent) Then
                    Dim parentHeight = ctl.Parent.Height
                    Dim parentWidth = ctl.Parent.Width
                    Dim c As New ControlInfo
                    c.name = ctl.Name
                    c.parentName = ctl.Parent.Name
                    c.topOffsetPercent = Convert.ToDouble(ctl.Top) / Convert.ToDouble(parentHeight)
                    c.leftOffsetPercent = Convert.ToDouble(ctl.Left) / Convert.ToDouble(parentWidth)
                    c.heightPercent = Convert.ToDouble(ctl.Height) / Convert.ToDouble(parentHeight)
                    c.widthPercent = Convert.ToDouble(ctl.Width) / Convert.ToDouble(parentWidth)
                    c.originalFontSize = ctl.Font.Size
                    c.originalHeight = ctl.Height
                    c.originalWidth = ctl.Width
                    'changed 6/25/2024, adding this IF gets rid of error "An item of same key has already been added".
                    If Not ctrlDict.ContainsKey(c.name) Then
                        ctrlDict.Add(c.name, c)
                        '  If c.name = "Label1" Then Stop
                        ' Debug.Print(c.name)
                        '  Debug.Print(c.GetType())

                    End If
                End If

            Catch ex As Exception
                Debug.Print(ex.Message)
            End Try

            If ctl.Controls.Count > 0 Then
                FindAllControls(ctl)
            End If

        Next '-- For Each

    End Sub

    '----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ' ResizeAllControls
    ' Recursive function to resize and reposition all controls contained in the Control
    ' dictionary
    '----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Public Sub ResizeAllControls(ByVal thisCtrl As Control)

        Dim fontRatioW As Single
        Dim fontRatioH As Single
        Dim fontRatio As Single
        Dim f As Font

        '-- Resize and reposition all controls in the passed control
        For Each ctl As Control In thisCtrl.Controls
            Try
                If Not IsNothing(ctl.Parent) Then
                    Dim parentHeight = ctl.Parent.Height
                    Dim parentWidth = ctl.Parent.Width

                    Dim c As New ControlInfo

                    Dim ret As Boolean = False
                    Try
                        '-- Get the current control's info from the control info dictionary
                        ret = ctrlDict.TryGetValue(ctl.Name, c)

                        '-- If found, adjust the current control based on control relative
                        '-- size and position information stored in the dictionary
                        If (ret) Then
                            '-- Size
                            ctl.Width = Int(parentWidth * c.widthPercent)
                            ctl.Height = Int(parentHeight * c.heightPercent)

                            '-- Position
                            ctl.Top = Int(parentHeight * c.topOffsetPercent)
                            ctl.Left = Int(parentWidth * c.leftOffsetPercent)

                            '-- Font
                            f = ctl.Font
                            'changed 6/25/2024 to prevent dividing by ZERO
                            'If ctl.Name = "Label100" Then
                            'Debug.Print(ctl.Name)
                            'Debug.Print(ctl.Height)
                            'Debug.Print(c.originalHeight)
                            'Debug.Print(ctl.Width)
                            'Debug.Print(c.originalWidth)
                            'End If

                            If c.originalWidth = 0 Then c.originalWidth = 1
                            If ctl.Width = 0 Then ctl.Width = 1
                            If c.originalHeight = 0 Then c.originalHeight = 1
                            If ctl.Height = 0 Then ctl.Height = 1

                            'dont do the fonts for any ctl like a rtb?  
                            'where the size can be set in the program
                            'If TypeOf ctl IsNot RichTextBox Then
                            fontRatioW = ctl.Width / c.originalWidth
                            fontRatioH = ctl.Height / c.originalHeight
                            fontRatio = (fontRatioW + fontRatioH) / 2 '-- average change in control Height and Width
                            ctl.Font = New Font(f.FontFamily, c.originalFontSize * fontRatio, f.Style)
                            'End If
                        End If
                    Catch
                    End Try
                End If
            Catch ex As Exception
                ' Show the exception's message.
                Debug.WriteLine(ex.Message)
            End Try

            '-- Recursive call for controls contained in the current control
            If ctl.Controls.Count > 0 Then
                ResizeAllControls(ctl)
            End If

        Next '-- For Each
    End Sub

End Class

[sdowney1]

You can get rid of the comments and the alreadyran dim. I was figuring out how it worked, and you can exclude certain controls from resizing by control name or type of control.

As it is, it resizes all controls on a form.