Visual Basic® .NET Power Coding

Implementing an Extender Provider

IExtenderProvider interfaces provide and extend the behaviors of existing classes. For example, you are probably familiar with the ToolTip control. You need to place only one ToolTip control on a Windows Form to extend every control on that form (including the form itself) to include a ToolTip property. This coordination is created by implementing a class that implements IExtenderProvider and applying the ProvidePropertyAttribute to that class.

While thinking about a good, practical example for an extender provider, I was searching the Web and was surprised to encounter Phillip Davis's “Extended Interfaces for Toolbars” at http://www.codeproject.com/cs/menu/extendedtoolbar.asp. Davis reminded me that buttons ...