How do I center controls without resizing them? (.net Winforms)

Question

I have a fairly simple user control that represents a basic login control. So it has a couple labels, text boxes, and a button. I would like this user control to fill its container, so I have set its dock mode to fill. So far easy enough.

Now, I would like all the controls in my user control to be centered based on whatever size my user control is when rendered. I can't think of a anchor / dock combination that will do the trick.

The user control has a ReSize event. So I know I can calculate and move the controls based on my User control's size during that event. But I was hoping this issue was common enough to be handled through the designer if I desired.

Possible duplicate of [Centering controls within a form in .NET (Winforms)?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/491399/centering-controls-within-a-form-in-net-winforms) — Jim Fell, May 19 '16 at 18:49

score 13 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 08 '09 at 14:34

13

It is actually all pretty simple. You just have to turn off all anchor properties, and set dock to none.

answered Jun 08 '09 at 14:34

Matthew Vines

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 02 '09 at 22:26

1

Look at the TableLayoutPanel control and use it in conjunction with the docking and anchor properties. You should be able to control the layout fairly precisely that way.

answered Jun 02 '09 at 22:26

Chris Dunaway

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Of course. I've been out of Winforms programming for a bit and I missed this one in the docs. Spoiled by css I guess, I didn't look hard enough. Thanks. – Matthew Vines Jun 02 '09 at 22:28

How do I center controls without resizing them? (.net Winforms)

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