title: How do I add a Control to a Container in an inherited WinForm
body: <p>I have a base form in another project that enforces the same look &amp; feel to all our WinForms programs. I inherited from that BaseForm, to create my own template, BaseView. This template of mine has additional controls like a ProgressBar, a Timer and a TableLayoutPanel.</p>
  
  <p>I now want to inherit from my BaseView and use the Designer to add my program-specific controls, however I cannot drop anything like Panels or any other Controls into it. I have tried some suggestions, like making sure the base form's components are public, but to no avail - most of the TLP's properties are still grayed out.</p>
  
  <p>Could someone perhaps give me any suggestions? Many Thanks!</p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <pre><code>partial class BaseView
  {
      /// &lt;summary&gt;
      /// Required designer variable.
      /// &lt;/summary&gt;
      private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;
  
      /// &lt;summary&gt;
      /// Clean up any resources being used.
      /// &lt;/summary&gt;
      /// &lt;param name="disposing"&gt;true if managed resources should be disposed; otherwise, false.&lt;/param&gt;
      protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
      {
          if (disposing &amp;&amp; (components != null))
          {
              components.Dispose();
          }
          base.Dispose(disposing);
      }
  
      #region Windows Form Designer generated code
  
      /// &lt;summary&gt;
      /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
      /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
      /// &lt;/summary&gt;
      private void InitializeComponent()
      {
          this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();
          System.ComponentModel.ComponentResourceManager resources = new System.ComponentModel.ComponentResourceManager(typeof(BaseView));
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form = new System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel();
          this.panel_Buttons = new System.Windows.Forms.Panel();
          this.panel_MainBody = new System.Windows.Forms.Panel();
          this.progressBar = new System.Windows.Forms.ProgressBar();
          this.timer_ProgressBar = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer(this.components);
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.SuspendLayout();
          this.SuspendLayout();
          // 
          // lblFormId
          // 
          this.lblFormId.AutoSize = false;
          this.lblFormId.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(390, 9);
          this.lblFormId.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(98, 13);
          this.lblFormId.TextAlign = System.Drawing.ContentAlignment.MiddleRight;
          // 
          // btnClose
          // 
          this.btnClose.Anchor = ((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Top | System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Right)));
          this.btnClose.DialogResult = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.Cancel;
          this.btnClose.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(447, 5);
          this.btnClose.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(41, 21);
          this.btnClose.TabIndex = 4;
          // 
          // tableLayoutPanel_Form
          // 
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.ColumnCount = 1;
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.ColumnStyles.Add(new System.Windows.Forms.ColumnStyle(System.Windows.Forms.SizeType.Percent, 100F));
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.Controls.Add(this.panel_Buttons, 0, 2);
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.Controls.Add(this.panel_MainBody, 0, 1);
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Fill;
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(0, 0);
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.Name = "tableLayoutPanel_Form";
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.RowCount = 3;
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.RowStyles.Add(new System.Windows.Forms.RowStyle(System.Windows.Forms.SizeType.Absolute, 30F));
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.RowStyles.Add(new System.Windows.Forms.RowStyle(System.Windows.Forms.SizeType.Percent, 100F));
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.RowStyles.Add(new System.Windows.Forms.RowStyle(System.Windows.Forms.SizeType.Absolute, 30F));
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(496, 322);
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.TabIndex = 26;
          // 
          // panel_Buttons
          // 
          this.panel_Buttons.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Fill;
          this.panel_Buttons.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(3, 295);
          this.panel_Buttons.Name = "panel_Buttons";
          this.panel_Buttons.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(490, 24);
          this.panel_Buttons.TabIndex = 0;
          // 
          // panel_MainBody
          // 
          this.panel_MainBody.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Fill;
          this.panel_MainBody.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(3, 33);
          this.panel_MainBody.Name = "panel_MainBody";
          this.panel_MainBody.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(490, 256);
          this.panel_MainBody.TabIndex = 1;
          // 
          // progressBar
          // 
          this.progressBar.Anchor = ((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom | System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Right)));
          this.progressBar.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(383, 324);
          this.progressBar.Name = "progressBar";
          this.progressBar.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(112, 21);
          this.progressBar.TabIndex = 27;
          // 
          // timer_ProgressBar
          // 
          this.timer_ProgressBar.Interval = 700;
          this.timer_ProgressBar.Tick += new System.EventHandler(this.timer_Tick);
          // 
          // BaseView
          // 
          this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(6F, 13F);
          this.CancelButton = this.btnClose;
          this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(496, 346);
          this.Controls.Add(this.progressBar);
          this.Controls.Add(this.tableLayoutPanel_Form);
          this.Cursor = System.Windows.Forms.Cursors.Default;
          this.Icon = ((System.Drawing.Icon)(resources.GetObject("$this.Icon")));
          this.MinimumSize = new System.Drawing.Size(512, 384);
          this.Name = "BaseView";
          this.Controls.SetChildIndex(this.btnClose, 0);
          this.Controls.SetChildIndex(this.tableLayoutPanel_Form, 0);
          this.Controls.SetChildIndex(this.lblFormId, 0);
          this.Controls.SetChildIndex(this.lblFormDescription, 0);
          this.Controls.SetChildIndex(this.progressBar, 0);
          this.tableLayoutPanel_Form.ResumeLayout(false);
          this.ResumeLayout(false);
          this.PerformLayout();
  
      }
  
      #endregion
  
      private System.Windows.Forms.ProgressBar progressBar;
      private System.Windows.Forms.Timer timer_ProgressBar;
      public System.Windows.Forms.TableLayoutPanel tableLayoutPanel_Form;
      public System.Windows.Forms.Panel panel_Buttons;
      public System.Windows.Forms.Panel panel_MainBody;
  }
  </code></pre>