[HELP PLZ!!] I'm having a little problem setting the default value of a property

[MrPolite]

ahem, here's the property:

Private DEFAULT_FONT As Font = New Font ("Arial")
 
<DefaultValue(DEFAULT_FONT)> _
Public Overrides Property Font() As Font
        Get
            Return mFont
        End Get
        Set(ByVal Value As Font)
            mFont = Value
        End Set
    End Property

It says that DEFAULT_FONT has to be a constant expression, but I cant declare a constant of type font.
What should I do? I just want to have a default value for the font property

[hellswraith]

You wouldn't want a default value for a font that you specify anyway. What if the user doesn't have that font installed? Your property will choke and errors will start to happen.

What you want to do is get the default system font. I am looking for that right now.

[MrPolite]

Originally posted by hellswraith
You wouldn't want a default value for a font that you specify anyway. What if the user doesn't have that font installed? Your property will choke and errors will start to happen.

What you want to do is get the default system font. I am looking for that right now.

I didnt think of that, heh

ok but another problem, I want to do the exact same thing with Drawing.Color. Same problem. how would I fix that?
(ie I have a TextColor property and I want that to have a default value)



thanks for helping

[MrPolite]

bump

[Edneeis]

Maybe it'd be easier to set the defaults in the constructor or some other place then.

[MrPolite]

well it's easy if I don't want to have a default property. I just want the user to be able to reset the color value to a default value. My problem is just with the DefaultValue attribute

[Edneeis]

Well it seems as if the DefaultValue attribute only works with less complex data types that can be constants so I don't think that will work. Although you can set the default value when its created in the constructor and you can still give the user the ability to set the color back to default, just not with the DefaultValue attribute.

[hellswraith]

Originally posted by Edneeis
Well it seems as if the DefaultValue attribute only works with less complex data types that can be constants so I don't think that will work. Although you can set the default value when its created in the constructor and you can still give the user the ability to set the color back to default, just not with the DefaultValue attribute.

But if you put it in the constructor, wouldn't any modification the app develper does to the properties be voided as soon as the object is created durring run time?

[Edneeis]

I don't think so I think the constructor only fires when the control is added to the form and if its just an object then it probably can't be set at designtime.

[Lunatic3]

I tried this to set the defaultvalue for font and it worked but reseting does not work and i dont know why. I tried shouldserialize and reset methods but no success till now

Dim mfont As New Font("Times New Roman", 20.0!)
    <DefaultValue(GetType(System.Drawing.Font), "Times New Roman, 20pt")> _
    Public Overrides Property Font() As Font
        Get
            Return mfont
        End Get
        Set(ByVal Value As Font)
             mfont = Value
        End Set
    End Property