Important Properties of the ToolStrip Control in Visual Studio .NET

Drawer QR Code ISO/IEC18004 in Visual Studio .NET Important Properties of the ToolStrip Control

Description Indicates whether items can be reordered by the user. When set to True, contained tool strip items can be reor dered when the user holds down the Alt key and grabs the item with the mouse.

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Table 4-1

Description Indicates whether this tool strip can be merged with another tool strip. Indicates whether tool strip items can be automatically moved to the overflow button when needed. Indicates how the tool strip is docked. Although ToolStrip controls can be free in the form, they are most commonly docked to one of the form edges. Indicates how the controls on the tool strip are laid out. A value of HorizontalStackWithOverFlow indicates that items are stacked horizontally and overflow as needed. VerticalStackWithOverFlow stacks items vertically and overflows as needed. StackWithOverflow determines the stack model appropriate to the Dock property of the tool strip. Flow allows the items to stack horizontally or vertically as needed, and Table arranges all of the items flush left. Determines how the tool strip items are rendered. System uses system settings, Professional indicates a Microsoft Office style appearance, and ManagerRenderMode gets the setting automatically. Indicates whether tooltips for individual tool strip items are displayed. When hosted in a ToolStripContainer, indicates whether the tool strip will stretch to the full length of the ToolStripPanel. Indicates the direction of the text in controls hosted in the tool strip.

The StatusStrip control is very similar to the ToolStrip control and can host the same controls that a ToolStrip control can. The primary differences are in the default setting for the properties. StatusStrip controls are designed to dock at the bottom of the form and provide status updates to the user and have default properties set to values that

facilitate this functionality. ToolStrip controls are designed for a variety of tool-based roles and have default values for properties that indicate a more generalized role.

At design time, you can add tool strip items to a tool strip by choosing appropriate items from the drop-down menu in the Designer as shown in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1

The item you choose from the menu will be added to the tool strip, and an instance of it will be added to your application. You can set properties for the item in the Prop erties window and refer to the item in code. At run time, you can dynamically add items to a tool strip by using the ToolStrip.Items .Add method. This method allows you to specify a reference to an existing tool strip item and add it to the toolbar, or it will create and add a new tool strip item when you specify text or an image. An example is shown here:

aToolStripItem = myToolStrip.Items.Add("New Item")

bToolStripItem = myToolStrip.Items.Add(anImage)

// C# ToolStripItem aToolStripItem;

ToolStripItem bToolStripItem;

aToolStripItem = myToolStrip.Items.Add("New Item");

bToolStripItem = myToolStrip.Items.Add(anImage);

In this example, a new tool strip item is added when text or an image is specified. When items are added in this way, the resulting item is always a ToolStripButton object. The

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ToolStrip.Items.Add method returns a reference to the new item so you can set proper ties and events for it at run time. You can also create a new tool strip item and then add it directly, as shown here:

' VB Dim aComboBox As New ToolStripComboBox()

myToolStrip.Items.Add(aComboBox)

// C# ToolStripComboBox aComboBox = new ToolStripComboBox();

myToolStrip.Items.Add(aComboBox);

By following this example, you can create a tool strip item of any kind and add it to a tool strip at run time.

The .NET Framework 2.0 provides several items designed to be hosted in tool strips. Items such as the ToolStripLabel, ToolStripButton, ToolStripTextBox, ToolStripComboBox and ToolStripProgressBar controls are similar to the Label, Button, TextBox, ComboBox, and ProgressBar controls, but are designed to be hosted in tool strips. ToolStripSplitButton, ToolStripDropDownButton, and ToolStripSeparator are new controls designed to provide functionality specific to tool strips.