AutoSizeMode Enum

Definition

Specifies how a control will behave when its AutoSize property is enabled.

public enum AutoSizeMode
Inheritance
AutoSizeMode

Fields

Name Value Description
GrowAndShrink 0

The control grows or shrinks to fit its contents. The control cannot be resized manually.

GrowOnly 1

The control grows as much as necessary to fit its contents but does not shrink smaller than the value of its Size property. The form can be resized, but cannot be made so small that any of its contained controls are hidden.

Examples

The following code example shows a form created using code that automatically resizes to fit its contents. When ran, the form will display a Label, a TextBox for entering a URL, and a Button for displaying that URL inside of the user's default Web browser. The code example uses a FlowLayoutPanel to lay out the contained controls one after the other, and sets the AutoSize and AutoSizeMode to grow and shrink to fit the contents of its form.

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    this.AutoSize = true;
    this.AutoSizeMode = AutoSizeMode.GrowAndShrink;
    this.Text = "URL Opener";

    flowPanel = new FlowLayoutPanel();
    flowPanel.AutoSize = true;
    flowPanel.AutoSizeMode = AutoSizeMode.GrowAndShrink;
    this.Controls.Add(flowPanel);

    urlLabel = new Label();
    urlLabel.Name = "urlLabel";
    urlLabel.Text = "URL:";
    urlLabel.Width = 50;
    urlLabel.TextAlign = ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter;
    flowPanel.Controls.Add(urlLabel);

    urlTextBox = new TextBox();
    urlTextBox.Name = "urlTextBox";
    urlTextBox.Width = 250;
    flowPanel.Controls.Add(urlTextBox);

    urlButton = new Button();
    urlButton.Name = "urlButton";
    urlButton.Text = "Open URL in Browser";
    urlButton.Click += new EventHandler(urlButton_Click);
    flowPanel.Controls.Add(urlButton);
}

void urlButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        Uri newUri = new Uri(urlTextBox.Text);
    }
    catch (UriFormatException uriEx)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("Sorry, your URL is malformed. Try again. Error: " + uriEx.Message);
        urlTextBox.ForeColor = Color.Red;
        return;
    }
    
    // Valid URI. Reset any previous error color, and launch the URL in the 
    // default browser.
    // NOTE: Depending on the user's settings, this method of starting the
    // browser may use an existing window in an existing Web browser process.
    // To get around this, start up a specific browser instance instead using one of
    // the overloads for Process.Start. You can examine the registry to find the
    // current default browser and launch that, or hard-code a specific browser.
    urlTextBox.ForeColor = Color.Black;
    Process.Start(urlTextBox.Text);
}

Remarks

Setting the GrowAndShrink value produces the same behavior that you get for controls with the AutoSize property enabled but which have no

AutoSizeMode property. The MinimumSize and MaximumSize properties are respected, but the current value of the Size property is ignored.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
Windows Desktop 3.0, 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

See also