The BindingNavigate control missed under ToolStripContainer tab when running the DemoConsole application on net481

[Zheng-Li01]

.NET version

Branch Issue_12830_Multi-Target_DemoConsole from Ricardo WinForms Repo

Did it work in .NET Framework?

Yes

Did it work in any of the earlier releases of .NET Core or .NET 5+?

this issue caused by the #12996, the BindingNavigate control displayed well when running the DemoConsole application on .NET

Issue description

The BindingNavigate control missed under ToolStripContainer tab when running the DemoConsole application on net481
,NET:

.NET Framework:

Steps to reproduce

Test the sample app: DemoConsole in Ricardo WinForms Repo Issue_12830_Multi-Target_DemoConsole branch

[Tanya-Solyanik]

Please add this control to the test app, but this issue is not blocking the multitargetting merge.

[ricardobossan]

@Tanya-Solyanik The BindingNavigator control had to be excluded from the ToolStripContainer tab on .NET Framework because it causes the entire tab to render blank:

This happens due to an exception when the designer tries to name child items inside BindingNavigator, which depends on nested IDesignerHost support, a known limitation tracked in issue #11866.

As per the team's decision, nested IDesignerHost will not be implemented for now. Therefore, I believe this issue (#13248) is considered a "won't fix" due to this underlying limitation.

Should I close this PR, and #11866 as well?

Detailed Root Cause Analysis

Root Cause Analysis

The issue occurs because the BindingNavigator control cannot be added to the ToolStripContainer tab when running the DemoConsole application on .NET Framework (net481). Here's a breakdown of the problem:

• To avoid the entire tab rendering as blank on net472, I had to comment out the code that adds the BindingNavigator:

#if NETCOREAPP
BindingNavigator bindingNavigator = surface.CreateControl<BindingNavigator>(new(0, 0), new(0, 0));

BindingSource bindingSource = new()
{
 DataSource = new List<string> { "Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3" }
};

bindingNavigator.Dock = DockStyle.Bottom;
bindingNavigator.BindingSource = bindingSource;

richTextBox.DataBindings.Add(new Binding("Text", bindingSource, "Text", true, DataSourceUpdateMode.OnPropertyChanged));

panel.Controls.Add(bindingNavigator);
#endif

The blank tab issue is caused by an exception that occurs when the designer attempts to assign a name to one of the child items inside BindingNavigator. This is a known issue being tracked in #11866 ("Add Nested DesignerHost Logic to DemoConsole for Handling Control Names"):

Exception call stack:

at DesignSurfaceExt.DesignSurfaceExt.CreateComponent[TComponent](IDesignerHost& host) in C:\Users\v-rbossan\source\repos\winforms\src\test\integration\DesignSurface\DesignSurfaceExt\DesignSurfaceExt.cs:line 223
at DesignSurfaceExt.DesignSurfaceExt.CreateControl[TControl](Size controlSize, Point controlLocation) in C:\Users\v-rbossan\source\repos\winforms\src\test\integration\DesignSurface\DesignSurfaceExt\DesignSurfaceExt.cs:line 160

Inner Exception call stack:

at System.ComponentModel.Container.ValidateName(IComponent component, String name)
at System.ComponentModel.Container.Add(IComponent component, String name)
at System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerHost.PerformAdd(IComponent component, String name)
at System.Windows.Forms.Design.BindingNavigatorDesigner.SiteItem(IDesignerHost host, ToolStripItem item)
at System.Windows.Forms.Design.BindingNavigatorDesigner.SiteItems(IDesignerHost host, ToolStripItemCollection items)
at System.Windows.Forms.Design.BindingNavigatorDesigner.InitializeNewComponent(IDictionary defaultValues)
at DesignSurfaceExt.DesignSurfaceExt.CreateComponent[TComponent](IDesignerHost& host) in DesignSurfaceExt.cs:line 216

However, as noted by the team, this will not be addressed at the moment.

Since fixing this would require implementing nested IDesignerHost support (tracked in #11866), and that feature will not be implemented at this time, it seems appropriate to close issue #13248 as "won't fix", and optionally do the same for #11866 (unless we want to keep it as a long-term feature backlog item).

[Tanya-Solyanik]

@ricardobossan - I agree with your suggestion. Please add a short comment that a nested host is required and a link to the known issue and discussion to the source code to explain why you have #if NETFramework