>>> First queston is, can you subclass it or is it a sealed class?
>
>I have subclasssed it in code and can use that subclass on a form. I'm new to .net so don't know else to subclass it.

Hi!

This is a limitation Microsoft has introduced with VS2005 - since VS2005 visual inheritance is no longer supported.
It's founded by problems with designer serialization of complex components and component collections.

DEVEXPRESS introduced a workaround to re-enable visual inheritance for their controls. It can be enabled by using the DXDesignKeys tool located in the DX Tools menu.

Here is a link which talks about this:
http://community.devexpress.com/forums/t/65511.aspx

Hope this helps.

Sarosh