Access the WinForms Dashboard Designer

• Aug 28, 2025

This topic describes how to customize the DashboardDesigner control used to create and modify dashboards in WinForms XAF applications.

• In a Windows Forms module, add a Controller that is activated in the IDashboardData Views only.
• Access the WinShowDashboardDesignerController using the Frame.GetController<ControllerType> method.
• Access the DashboardDesignerManager object using the WinShowDashboardDesignerController.DashboardDesignerManager property.
• Handle the DashboardDesignerManager.DashboardDesignerCreated event and access the DashboardDesigner object using the DashboardDesigner event argument.

C#

using DevExpress.DashboardWin; 
using DevExpress.ExpressApp; 
using DevExpress.ExpressApp.Dashboards.Win; 
using DevExpress.Persistent.Base; 
// ... 
public class CustomizeDashboardDesigner : ObjectViewController<ObjectView, IDashboardData> { 
    protected override void OnActivated() { 
        base.OnActivated(); 
        WinShowDashboardDesignerController showDashboardDesignerController = 
             Frame.GetController<WinShowDashboardDesignerController>();
        if (showDashboardDesignerController != null) { 
            showDashboardDesignerController.DashboardDesignerManager.DashboardDesignerCreated += 
                DashboardDesignerManager_DashboardDesignerCreated; 
        }
    } 
    private void DashboardDesignerManager_DashboardDesignerCreated(object sender, DashboardDesignerShownEventArgs e) { 
        e.DashboardDesigner.ActionOnClose = DashboardActionOnClose.Save; 
    } 
    protected override void OnDeactivated() { 
        WinShowDashboardDesignerController showDashboardDesignerController = 
            Frame.GetController<WinShowDashboardDesignerController>(); 
        if (showDashboardDesignerController != null) { 
            showDashboardDesignerController.DashboardDesignerManager.DashboardDesignerCreated -= 
                DashboardDesignerManager_DashboardDesignerCreated; 
        }
        base.OnDeactivated(); 
    } 
}