Additional Windows Controls

1
Chapter 13

• Additional Windows Controls

2
Objectives

• Describe the purpose of container controls and
  the relationships between them
• Create a menu system for a form
• Create a toolbar on a form
• Display informational messages using the
  StatusStrip control
• Restrict character input using the MaskedTextBox
  control
• Use the RichTextBox control to work with
  formatted text

3
Working with Additional Windows Controls

• The MenuStrip control is used to create a menu
  system
• The ContextMenuStrip control is used to create
  pop-up (context) menus
• The ToolStrip control is used to create a toolbar
• The StatusStrip control is used to create a
  status bar
• The MaskedTextBox supports editing capabilities
  beyond those supported by the TextBox control
• The RichTextBox control is used to edit Rich Text
  Format files and plain text files

4
Understanding the Purpose of Container Controls

• As their name implies container controls contain
  (group) other control instances
• The TabControl is a container control
• The TabPage control is a container control
• The MenuStrip, ToolStrip, and StatusStrip
  controls are also container controls

5
Figure 13-1 Hierarchical relationship between
container control instances
6
Creating Menus

• Menus provide an alternative to buttons on a form
• A menu improves the user interface when too many
  buttons may clutter a user interface
• A menu systems contains
• Drop-down menus
• Menu items

7
Figure 13-2 Anatomy of a menu
8
Classes that make up a Menu System

• The MenuStrip class provides the container for
  the menu
• The ToolStripMenuItem class is used to create
  items on a menu
• The ToolStripComboBox class creates a drop-down
  combo box on a menu
• The ToolStripTextBox class creates a text box on
  a menu
• The ToolStripSeperator class creates a visual
  separator bar

9
Introduction to the MenuStrip Class

• The MenuStrip class is responsible for the layout
  of menu items
• The MenuStrip class supports the following
  members
• The Items property is a collection containing
  references to the items appearing on the menu
• The ShowItemToolTips property controls whether
  ToolTips appear
• The TextDirection property allows a menu to be
  rotated
• The Visible property defines whether the menu and
  menu items are visible

10
Introduction to the ToolStripMenuItem Class

• The ToolStripMenuItem class is the primary class
  used to create menu items
• The Checked property defines a checked menu item
• The Enabled property enables or disables a menu
  item
• The Image property contains the menu items image
• The ShowShortcutKeys and ShortcutKeys properties
  define the shortcut keys for a menu item
• The Text property defines the text appearing on a
  menu item
• The Visible property defines whether the menu
  item is visible

11
Creating a Menu System

• Create an instance of the MenuStrip control on a
  form
• The MenuStrip control appears on the Menus
  Toolbars tab of the Toolbox
• Using the Windows Forms Designer, edit the menu
  system in place
• Edit properties with the Properties window or
  Items Collection Editor

12
Figure 13-3Menu visual designer
13
Figure 13-4 Menu visual designer with menu items
created
14
Associating a Menu System with a Form

• A form may have several menu systems
• Associate a menu system with a form by setting
  the forms MainMenuStrip property to a MenuStrip
  instance
• Example
• Me.MainMenuStrip msDemo

15
Modifying a Menu System

• Right-click a menu item or menu and select items
  from the context menu
• Click Delete to delete a menu item
• Click Insert to insert a menu or menu item
• Click Insert, Separator to insert a separator bar
• Click View Code to view the Code Editor for a
  menu item's Click event handler
• Click Properties to activate the Properties
  window for the menu item
• The Set Image button assigns an image to a menu
  item

16
The Items Collection Editor

• The Items Collection Editor provides an
  alternative to editing menu items in-place
• The Items Collection Editor can only edit part of
  a menu system at once
• Click Add to add a menu item
• Reorder menu items, as necessary
• Use the Properties section to edit a menu item's
  properties
• These same properties can be edited using the
  Properties window

17
Figure 13-5Items Collection Editor
18
Shortcut Keys

• Create shortcut keys for the more frequently used
  menu items
• Shortcut keys can reduce the number of keyboard
  to mouse transitions thereby improving the user
  interface
• The first character of a menu system is typically
  used as shortcut key

19
Figure 13-6 Creating a shortcut key for a menu
item
20
Adding Images to Menu Items

• Each menu item can display an image
• Images are commonly used by other control
  instances too
• Use the Select Resource dialog box to add images
• Images can be stored in two ways
• In the projects resource file
• In the resource file for the form

21
Figure 13-7 Select Resource dialog box
22
Creating Event Handlers for Menus

• Event handlers for menus work like event handlers
  for buttons
• Both support a Click event
• Double-click a menu item to create the Click
  event handler and activate the Code Editor

23
Creating Context Menus

• Use the ContextMenuStrip control to create a
  context menu
• Create menu items in-place as usual
• Create Click event handlers for menu items
• Associate a context menu with a control instance
  by setting the ContextMenuStrip property of the
  control instance

24
Figure 13-8Creating a context menu
25
Creating a Toolbar (Introduction)

• The ToolStrip control provides the container for
  the buttons that appear on the toolbar
• Controls that appear on a toolbar
• ToolStripButton
• ToolStripSeparator
• ToolStripDropDownButton
• TolStripCombobox
• ToolStripTextBox

26
Figure 13-10Toolbar with sample buttons
27
Creating Buttons on a Toolbar

• Use the Items Collection Editor to edit the
  buttons on a toolbar
• Its the same Items Collection Editor used with
  other control instances
• Set properties for each button, as necessary

28
Figure 13-11Items Collection Editor
29
The ToolStripButton Class

• The ToolStripButton is similar to an ordinary
  Button
• Properties
• The Checked property is used to create a checked
  button
• The CheckOnClick property, when True, causes the
  button to become checked when clicked
• The DisplayStyle property cause the button to
  display text, an image, or both
• The Image property contains the image appearing
  on the button
• The Text property contains the text appearing on
  the button
• Handle the Click event

30
The ToolStripSeparator Class

• Use to create a vertical space between two
  buttons
• Properties
• The ForeColor property defines the color of the
  separator bar
• The Visible property defines whether the
  separator bar is visible or hidden

31
The ToolStripProgressBar Class

• The ToolStripProgressBar displays a progress bar
  used to indicate the relative progress of a
  long-running operation
• The Minimum and Maximum properties define the
  range of values
• The Value property contains the current value
• The Increment method accepts one argument the
  value to increment the progress bar

32
Other ToolStrip Controls

• The ToolStripComboBox displays a combo box
• The ToolStripTextBox displays an editable text
  box
• The ToolStripLabel displays a label

33
Introduction to the StatusStrip Control

• The StatusStrip control is used to create a
  status bar typically appearing along the bottom
  of a form
• Its a container for other control instances
• ToolStripStatusLabel
• ToolStripProgressBar
• ToolStripDropDownButton

34
Figure 13-12 StatusStrip with sample control
instances
35
The Items Collection Editor

• Again, the Items Collection Editor is used to
  create the items on a status bar
• The interface is the same as other Collection
  Editors

36
Items Collection Editor for the StatusStrip
37
The ToolStripLabel Class

• The ToolStripLabel class provides the primary
  means to display items on a status bar
• Properties
• The BorderSides property defines how the border
  appears
• The BorderStyle property defines how the
  three-dimensional border appears
• The Padding property controls the white space
  between the text and the edge of the control
  instance
• The Spring and AutoSize properties control
  automatic resizing

38
Displaying the Status of Keyboard Keys

• The My.Computer.Keyboard class has properties to
  get the status of keyboard keys
• NumLock
• CapsLock
• ScrollLock

39
Displaying the Status of Keyboard Keys (Example)

• Display the status of the Num Lock key
• If My.Computer.Keyboard.NumLock True Then
• tsslNumLock.Text "Num enabled"
• Else
• tsslNumLock.Text "Num disabled"
• End If

40
Advanced Text Processing Controls (Introduction)

• Two controls extend the capabilities of the
  TextBox control
• The MaskedTextBox control supplies specialized
  editing capabilities
• The RichTextBox control is used to edit a file
  format called Rich Text Format (RTF)

41
The MaskedTextBox Control

• The Mask property is used to restrict valid input
  characters and the position of those characters
• Its similar to the Format argument of the
  ToString method
• Special characters called placeholder characters
  define the input mask

42
Placeholder and Literal Characters (1)
43
Placeholder and Literal Characters (2)
44
Creating an Input Mask

• Set the Mask property by hand or with code
• Use the Input Mask dialog box
• Visual Studio supplies several common input masks

45
Figure 13-15Input Mask Dialog Box
46
Additional Properties of the MaskedTextBox Control

• The PromptChar property stores the character that
  will be displayed as a prompt
• The BeepOnError property controls whether an
  audible beep is sounded if an invalid character
  is entered
• The MaskInputRejected event fires when an invalid
  character is entered

47
Introduction to the RichTextBox Control

• Use the RichTextBox control to edit files having
  a standardized format of RTF
• RTF files contain formatting directives

48
Figure 13-18Rich text file
49
Figure 13-18 Formatted text in a RichTextBox
control instance
50
Configuring the Appearance of the RichTextBox
Control

• The AcceptsTab defines what happens when the user
  presses the Tab key
• If True, a Tab character is inserted
• If False, pressing the Tab key causes the next
  control instance to get focus
• The DetectURLs property controls whether URLs are
  recognized
• The RightMargin property sets the right margin
  for text
• The ScrollBars property controls whether
  horizontal or vertical scroll bars appear

51
Reading and Writing Files with the RichTextBox
Control

• The LoadFile and SaveFile methods read and write
  text files and rich text files
• There is no need to read files one character or
  one line at a time

52
LoadFile and SaveFile (Syntax)

• The path argument contains the filename
• The LoadFile and SaveFile methods read and write
  the file, respectively
• The enumerations PlainText and RichText control
  how the file is processed

53
The LoadFile and SaveFile Methods (Example)

• Load and save an RTF file
• rtfText.LoadFile("C\Demo.rtf", _
  RichTextBoxStreamType.RichText)
• rtfText.SaveFile("C\Demo.rtf", _
• RichTextBoxStreamType.RichText)

54
Managing Text in a RichTextBox Control

• Two concepts are important related to selecting
  text
• When no text is selected, the cursor position is
  called the insertion point
• When the end user selects text, that text is
  called the selection

55
Properties Related to the Insertion Point or
Selection

• The SelectedRTF property contains the selected
  text including formatting directives
• The SelectedText property contains the selected
  text without the formatting directives
• The SelectionColor property contains the
  foreground color of the selected text
• The SelectionFont property contains the font of
  the selected text