This component allows you to display a small Icon next to a Control to indicate that there is something wrong with the user input. When the user hovers the mouse over the icon, a ToolTip appears containing some text descriptive of the error.

First, you must set the ContainerControl property to the container for the controls that need validation. This happens automatically if the ErrorProvider is dropped onto a designer surface. You can also set a specific Icon if the default red circle with a white exclamation is not to your taste or culture. The position at which an icon should appear is set using the Get/SetIconAlignment() and Get/SetIconPadding() methods. The icon can also be made to blink using the BlinkRate and BlinkStyle properties. (See ErrorBlinkStyle for more information about this).

There are two principle modes of operation. The simplest is to set the DataSource property to refer to a System.Data.DataSet, and you will automatically get errors displayed for any rows that have a column error (either set by the framework, or with the System.Data.DataRow.SetColumnError() method).

The alternative is to use the SetError() method, which allows you to set specific error text for any control. To clear the error condition, call SetError() for the control with an empty string ("").

public class ErrorProvider : System.ComponentModel.Component : System.ComponentModel.IExtenderProvider {
// Public Constructors
   public ErrorProvider();
   public ErrorProvider(ContainerControl parentControl);
// Public Instance Properties
   public int BlinkRate{set; get; }
   public ErrorBlinkStyle BlinkStyle{set; get; }
   public ContainerControl ContainerControl{set; get; }
   public string DataMember{set; get; }
   public object DataSource{set; get; }
   public Icon Icon{set; get; }
   public override ISite Site{set; }
// overrides System.ComponentModel.Component
// Public Instance Methods
   public void BindToDataAndErrors(object newDataSource, string newDataMember);
   public bool CanExtend(object extendee);  // implements System.ComponentModel.IExtenderProvider
   public string GetError(Control control);
   public ErrorIconAlignment GetIconAlignment(Control control);
   public int GetIconPadding(Control control);
   public void SetError(Control control, string value);
   public void SetIconAlignment(Control control, ErrorIconAlignment value);
   public void SetIconPadding(Control control, int padding);
   public void UpdateBinding();
// Protected Instance Methods
   protected override void Dispose(bool disposing);  // overrides System.ComponentModel.Component
}

Hierarchy

System.Object System.MarshalByRefObject System.ComponentModel.Component(System.ComponentModel.IComponen, System.IDisposable) ErrorProvider(System.ComponentModel.IExtenderProvider)