How to get the size of a TableLayoutPanel before drawing it?

Question

I need to print some tabular data from database and I decided to fill those into a temporary TableLayoutPanel first so that it will handle the variable length for me. It is then drawn to a PrintDocument as following:

Using printImage As New Bitmap(Table.Width, Table.Height) 'Need to know size here

   Table.DrawToBitmap(printImage, new Rectangle(0, 0, _
   printImage.Width,printImage.Height));                  'But draw is here!
   e.Graphics.DrawImage(printImage, New Point(0, PrintPos))   

End Using

Note that the size of the image is declared before actually drawing the control. That doesn't work because resize of tableLayoutPanel only happens on drawing (I guess so)! Only part of the table is drawn in the print preview.

I have tried to set the size beforehand manually as following:

Table.Autosize = False
Table.Size = Table.PreferredSize 

But that returns the correct size only in cases that resize of cells, due to long content, doesn't happens. Is there other ways to get the size of a control before drawing it?

Answer 1

I have this worked out! Run the following code after you've set up all the data, Row/Column styles, etc:

Table.AutoSize = True
Using pan As New Panel
    pan.Controls.Add(Table)    'Add the table to a temp Panel,
    pan.Controls.Remove(Table) 'to force resize
End Using

And Table.Size will return the correct size! It's a bit hacky but works for me.

Side Note: To make a table that both autosizes its height and fits to paper width, do the following

Table.MaximumSize = New Size(PaperWidth, 0) 'Set maximum width only

Answer 2

Yes, handle the SizeChanged event and keep a class level variable updated with the size. Then when you paint, you will know the size of the control you are trying to draw in.