Auto Sizing BindingNavigator when its content grows

Environment

Product Version	Product	Author
2025.3.812	RadBindingNavigator for WinForms	Nadya Karaivanova

Description

I want the RadBindingNavigator to grow or shrink dynamically when its contents change, such as when the CommandBarLabel text updates. Placing it inside a TableLayoutPanel set to auto-size and without docking or anchoring causes the last button to get hidden when the content grows. Docking the navigator and using alignment and stretch settings on its CommandBarRowElement and CommandBarStripElement also aligns it to the left instead of keeping it centered.

This knowledge base article answers how to make RadBindingNavigator resize dynamically with its content.

Solution

To make the RadBindingNavigator grow and shrink dynamically with its contents, manually update its size based on the change in the size of the element holding the text label. Use the following approach:

1. Subscribe to the TextChanged event of the BindingNavigatorElement.PageLabel in your code.
2. Implement a delayed execution mechanism using a timer to adjust the width of the RadBindingNavigator.

Here is a sample implementation:

public partial class Form1 : Telerik.WinControls.UI.RadForm
{
    private int textLength = 0;

    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();

        this.radBindingNavigator1.BindingNavigatorElement.PageLabel.TextChanged += PageLabel_TextChanged;
    }

    protected override void OnShown(EventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnShown(e);

        // Store the initial width of the PageLabel.
        this.textLength = this.radBindingNavigator1.BindingNavigatorElement.PageLabel.BoundingRectangle.Width;
    }

    private void PageLabel_TextChanged(object? sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // Use a timer for delayed execution to handle asynchronous UI updates.
        System.Windows.Forms.Timer timer = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer();
        timer.Interval = 10; // Set a small delay.
        timer.Tick += (t, args) =>
        {
            timer.Stop();

            // Calculate the difference in label width and adjust navigator width.
            int newLength = this.radBindingNavigator1.BindingNavigatorElement.PageLabel.BoundingRectangle.Width;
            this.radBindingNavigator1.Width += (newLength - this.textLength);
            this.textLength = newLength;
        };

        timer.Start();
    }
}