C# winforms 'Control' does not contain a definition for 'BorderStyle'

Question

I'm creating a winforms app using VS 2022 and getting the above error.
Checking MSDN there is no Control property called BorderStyle . Instead BorderStyle documentation is found under Windows Desktop 6.

This is my code:

using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace BURS_Library
{
    public class Styles : Form
    {
        public static void LBLasBTN_Enable(Control ctrlName)
        {
            ctrlName.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(214, 206, 165);
            ctrlName.ForeColor = Color.FromArgb(0, 0, 0);
            ctrlName.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle;
            ctrlName.Font = new Font("Segoe UI", 8, FontStyle.Bold);
            ctrlName.Enabled = true;
            ctrlName.Cursor = Cursors.Hand;
        }

All of the other properties are compiling. Looking in the Designer file I find "controlName".BorderStyle = etc so I was surprised when this didn't work. What should I be using instead of Control ?
Thank you.

Answer 1

A WinForm Control is just a common base class for all WinForm controls: read the docs . Not all WinForm controls have a border/border style.

There are a couple of options if you want to set the border style with a generic method.

Reflection

Using reflection is basically a catch-all here and will only set the border style if a border style property exists:

public static void LBLasBTN_Enable( Control ctrl )
{
    ctrl.BackColor = Color.FromArgb( 214, 206, 165 );
    ctrl.ForeColor = Color.FromArgb( 0, 0, 0 );
    ctrl.Font = new Font( "Segoe UI", 8, FontStyle.Bold );
    ctrl.Enabled = true;
    ctrl.Cursor = Cursors.Hand;

    PropertyInfo pi = ctrl.GetType().GetProperty( "BorderStyle", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance );
    if( pi != null )
    {
        pi.SetValue( ctrl, BorderStyle.FixedSingle );
    }
}

Casting

Alternatively, the control can be cast into whatever type you expect to have a border style:

public static void LBLasBTN_Enable( Control ctrl )
{
    ctrl.BackColor = Color.FromArgb( 214, 206, 165 );
    ctrl.ForeColor = Color.FromArgb( 0, 0, 0 );
    ctrl.Font = new Font( "Segoe UI", 8, FontStyle.Bold );
    ctrl.Enabled = true;
    ctrl.Cursor = Cursors.Hand;

    if( ctrl is Label lbl )
    {
        lbl.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle;
    }

    // add other types as needed...
}

Personally I'm a bit lazy and would just go the reflection route. However, if you want to be fully explicit, then go the casting route.