docs-desktop/dotnet-desktop-guide/framework/winforms/controls/best-practices-for-the-tablelayoutpanel-control.md

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Best Practices for the TableLayoutPanel Control	03/30/2017	layout [Windows Forms] TableLayoutPanel control [Windows Forms], best practices forms [Windows Forms], best practices AutoSize property [Windows Forms], tableLayoutPanel control controls [Windows Forms], sizing TableLayoutPanel control [Windows Forms], AutoSize behavior layout [Windows Forms], AutoSize layout [Windows Forms], best practices best practices [Windows Forms], tableLayoutPanel control sizing [Windows Forms], automatic automatic sizing	b6706efb-d7a4-45ec-8cf4-08fa993e3afb

Best Practices for the TableLayoutPanel Control

The xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel control provides powerful layout features that you should consider carefully before using on your Windows Forms.

Recommendations

The following recommendations will help you use the xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel control to its best advantage.

Targeted Use

Use the xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel control sparingly. You should not use it in all situations that require a resizable layout. The following list describes layouts that benefit most from the use of the xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel control:

• Layouts in which there are multiple parts of the form that resize proportionally to each other.

• Layouts that will be modified or generated dynamically at run time, such as data entry forms that have user-customizable fields added or subtracted based on preferences.

• Layouts that should remain at an overall fixed size. For example, you may have a dialog box that should remain smaller than 800 x 600, but you need to support localized strings.

The following list describes layouts that do not benefit greatly from using the xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel control:

• Simple data entry forms with a single column of labels and a single column of text-entry areas.

• Forms with a single large display area that should fill all the available space when a resize occurs. An example of this is a form that displays a single xref:System.Windows.Forms.PropertyGrid control. In this case, use anchoring, because nothing else should expand when the form is resized.

Choose carefully which controls need to be in a xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel control. If you have room for your text to grow by 30% using anchoring, consider using the xref:System.Windows.Forms.Control.Anchor%2A property only. If you can estimate the space required by your layout, use of xref:System.Windows.Forms.Control.Dock%2A and xref:System.Windows.Forms.Control.Anchor%2A is easier than estimating the details of remaining space and xref:System.Windows.Forms.Control.AutoSize%2A behavior.

In general, when designing your layout with the xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel control, keep the design as simple as possible.

Use the Document Outline Window

The Document Outline window gives you a tree view of your layout, which you can use to manipulate the z-order and parent-child relationships of your controls. From the View menu, select Other Windows, then select Document Outline.

Avoid Nesting

Avoid nesting other xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel controls within a xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel control. Debugging nested layouts can be difficult.

Avoid Visual Inheritance

The xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel control does not support visual inheritance in the Windows Forms Designer in Visual Studio. A xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel control in a derived class appears as "locked" at design time.

See also

• xref:System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel
• xref:System.Windows.Forms.FlowLayoutPanel