Do I use the Paint event to position controls at runtime?

Question

I am fairly new to C# programming coming from VB6 so please be gentle :P

I have been using Panels to group controls (i.e. Panels contains Textbox, Labels, Listview, etc.) and then have the panel align itself at run-time so that the controls align in different resolutions. However, I am doing this from the Panel's Paint routine(?)

i.e.:

private void pnlTop_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
    {
        btnExit.Location                = new Point(this.Width - (this.Left + lblTitleMain.Left + btnExit.Width), 10);
        btnMinimize.Location            = new Point(this.Width - (this.Left + lblTitleMain.Left + (btnExit.Width * 2)), 10);
        btnSettings.Location            = new Point(this.Width - (this.Left + lblTitleMain.Left + (btnExit.Width * 2 + btnExit.Width)), 10);

        lblTitleMain.Left               = (((this.ClientSize.Width - lblTitleMain.Width) / 2) / 2) / 2;
        lblTitleMain.Top                = btnExit.Top + lblTitleMain.Height;

        int intMenuY                    = lblTitleMain.Bottom + 5;
        lnkMenuSystem.Location          = new Point(lblTitleMain.Left + 3, intMenuY);
        lnkMenuDeployment.Location      = new Point(lnkMenuSystem.Right + 50, intMenuY);
        lnkMenuTables.Location          = new Point(lnkMenuDeployment.Right + 50, intMenuY);
        lnkMenuTCP.Location             = new Point(lnkMenuTables.Right + 50, intMenuY);
        lnkMenuDCM.Location             = new Point(lnkMenuTCP.Right + 50, intMenuY);
        lnkMenuProcessData.Location     = new Point(lnkMenuDCM.Right + 50, intMenuY);
        lnkMenuGenerateReports.Location = new Point(lnkMenuProcessData.Right + 50, intMenuY);

        lineMenuButtom.StartPoint       = new Point((((this.ClientSize.Width - lblTitleMain.Width) / 2) / 2) / 2, lnkMenuSystem.Top + lnkMenuSystem.Height + 10);
        lineMenuButtom.EndPoint         = new Point(this.Width - (this.Left + lblTitleMain.Left), lnkMenuSystem.Top + lnkMenuSystem.Height + 10);

        lnkMenuErrorMessage.Location    = new Point(lnkMenuSystem.Left, lineMenuButtom.Y1+5);
        lnkMessageWelcome.Location      = new Point(lineMenuButtom.X2 - lnkMessageWelcome.Width, lineMenuButtom.Y2 + 5);
        GlobalVariables.intGeneralLeft  = lineMenuButtom.StartPoint.X;
        GlobalVariables.intGeneralWidth = lineMenuButtom.X2;
    }

What I want to ask is this: Is this the proper way to do it?

The reason for this was because I am uncertain if this will impact performance once the application runs on old systems (assuming that it would be used in XP with 2g RAM Pentium 4 HT or equivalent System).

SLaks SLaks · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-19T03:00:41

No; that is certainly the wrong way to do it.
Paint can fire very often; you should do as little work in it as possible. (and you certainly shouldn't modify the layout)

Instead, you should set the Anchor and Dock properties in the designer so that it will all happen automatically.

Do I use the Paint event to position controls at runtime?

1 Answers