[Solved] RowSpan on a table created dynamically located inside another table

[Jaysen]

I'm writing a scheduling program that queries a MySQL database for today's appointments and uses a Table Layout Panel with employees on the top and times on the left to display the schedule. I am trying to add another table ontop of that table for each appointment and set the rowspan of that dynamic table to occupy the time slot of that appointment from start to finish.

All the appointments appear in the dynamic table and each dynamic table appears in the appropriate starting positions in the main table. When you are designing GUI's and put a Table within a table, you get a RowSpan and ColumnSpan option for that inner table. The problem I'm having is the dynamic tables are not giving me a RowSpan option, which I believe is because it was created using code and doesn't know that it's inside another table.

Here is part of the code... This code is inside loops for each appointment of each employee

sqlCustomer = MyReader.GetValue(0).ToString()
sqlCompany = MyReader.GetValue(1).ToString()
sqlProblem = MyReader.GetValue(2).ToString()
sqlStart = MyReader.GetValue(3).ToString()
sqlEnd = MyReader.GetValue(4).ToString()

'Create new label
Dim lblAppointment As New Label
lblAppointment.Name = aryEmployees(i) & sqlStart
If sqlCompany = "" Then
lblAppointment.Text = sqlCustomer
Else
lblAppointment.Text = sqlCompany
End If

'Create new table
Dim tblAppointment As New TableLayoutPanel
tblAppointment.ColumnCount = 1
tblAppointment.RowCount = 1
tblAppointment.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
tblAppointment.Controls.Add(lblAppointment, 0, 0)

'Find start and end rows
For Each Label In tblSchedule.Controls
If Label.Text = sqlStart Then
intStart = tblSchedule.GetRow(Label)
End If
If Label.Text = sqlEnd Then
intEnd = tblSchedule.GetRow(Label)
End If
Next

'Add label to schedule
tblSchedule.Controls.Add(tblAppointment, i, intStart)

'Span table to fill time slot
tblAppointment.RowSpan = intEnd - intStart

The very last line gives me an error saying that "RowSpan is not a member of 'System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel'." Is there a workaround/fix or alternate way of doing this that you can think of? I would like to avoid using Data Grids.

[ForumAccount]

The way to resize a TLP's rows is like this:

mytlp.RowStyles.Item(0).SizeType = SizeType.Absolute
mytlp.RowStyles.Item(0).Height = 50 'Pixels Method  1

mytlp.RowStyles.Item(0).SizeType = SizeType.Percent
mytlp.RowStyles.Item(0).Height = 50 'Percent Method 2

mytlp.RowStyles.Item(0).SizeType = SizeType.AutoSize 'Auto Method 3

[Jaysen]

I appreciate the quick response, but maybe I didn't make my problem clear. I have a table layout panel named tblSchedule that has time labels on the left and employees along the top. When the form loads, it connects to a MySQL database and grabs all appointments for the listed employees and adds them to tblSchedule.

Sizing is not a issue, I have the form laid out as I want it. The problem is the appointment currently only occupies one cell of tblSchedule, where I need it to span across multiple rows of tblSchedule. I have tried adding the appointment (which is a label) to a table (named tblAppointment) created using code, then spanning that table ontop of tblShedule, but it doesn't recognize that the tblAppointment is ontop of tblSchedule, so I don't get the RowSpan that I need in order to make this work. That's the issue I'm having.

[Jaysen]

Does nobody know of a better way to do this, or what I'm doing wrong?

[jmcilhinney]

As the error message says, RowSpan isn't a member of any control. It's just made to look that way in the designer for convenience. Try this:

1. Create a new project.
2. Add a TLP to your form.
3. Add a Button to your TLP.
4. Set the Button's RowSpan and ColumnSpan both to 2.
5. Open the Solution Explorer and click the Show All Files button.
6. Expand the node for your form and double-click on the designer.vb file.
7. Observe the code that is generated to set the row span and column span.

You need to mimic that code. This is always the best way to work out how to do things in code that you would usually do in the designer.

[Jaysen]

Thank you very much! Issue is solved, pasted the code below for anyone else with the same issue.

Table.SetRowSpan(Control, Number Of Rows)