Vista & XP gradient styles added to .NET ColorTab control v1.6
After quite a bite of work and extending the existing gradient class in the ColorTab control, we are now able to offer a .NET tab control that supports the desktop, Windows Mobile, Smart Phone & tablet platforms AND offers Vista & XP gradient styles!

The great thing about how the gradient class has been constructed is that all gradients are drawn at runtime.
With this in mind, you are able apply *ANY* color scheme you like to the ColorTab with this sort of effect:

Flat tabs


Standard Gradient


Office Gradient


Vista Gradient


XP Gradient

You can have a closer look at the ColorTab v1.6 control by downloading and implementing the developer demo


Thursday, January 03, 2008 6:17:39 AM UTC      Comments [0]  Color Tab

Color Tab - Tab Stop for Smartphone
Due to the limited nature of the Smartphone interface, here are some notes on how we have organised tab stops for the Smartphone interface.

Within the ColorTab control, it is the tab pages that hold focus. With this in mind, when a tab page has focus, the left and right keys are used to switch between tabs.

All but the Smartphone OS have some way of the user entering the tab page contents (either by mouse, or stylus), we have therefore made the enter key on the Smartphone the trigger for the first control within the currently selected tab page to gain focus. After the tab control pages loose control of focus, it is up to the developer to nagivate between existing controls within the tab pages and to give focus back to the tab control when the user is done.

If there are brighter ideas than this out there, we would be gratefull to hear them.

Here is the code used within the KeyUp event on the tab page for reference:

protected override void OnKeyUp(KeyEventArgs e)
{
  base.OnKeyUp(e);

  if (Parent.Equals(null))
   return;

  switch (e.KeyData)
  {
   case Keys.Right:
    ((ColorTab)Parent).SelectedIndex++;
    break;

   case Keys.Left:
    ((ColorTab)Parent).SelectedIndex--;
    break;
#if Smartphone
   // enter into the tab page
   // the developer is going to have to set focus from here on in
   // due to the limitations of the Smartphone
   case Keys.Enter:
    if (base.Controls.Count > 0 && base.Focused)
     SelectNextControl(this, true, true, true, true);

   break;
#endif
  }
}

Thursday, November 01, 2007 3:59:58 AM UTC      Comments [0]  Color Tab

ColorTab v1.6
This is the second release of the Color Tab control this month.. the earlier v1.5 realease saw additional properties added like:

ShowBorderNonSelected - border non-selected tabs
TabStripBackColor - set color behind tabs
TabStripShowGradient - Show gradient behind tabs
Spacing - Set the spacing between tabs
Align - align tab content: left;center;right
BackgroundImage - tab page background image
TabImage - tab background image
TabImageSelected - selected tab background image

The latest release of the ColorTab control (v1.6) includes much improved keyboard navigation and a new property 'HotTrack'.
Navigational functionality has been emulated from the standard Tab Control so that you are now able to tab onto the Color Tab control using the keyboard, then using the arrow keys navigate your way through the available tabs. With the HotTrack property set to true the border on the focused tab is highlighted for easy reference to which tab is focused.

Pressing the tab key, then takes you inside the tab area where you can navigate your way through controls as you would on the standard Tab Control.

I must say, after having a bit of a look around the net, there doesn't seem to be another feature rich Tab Control available quite like this one with support for PocketPC, Smartphone, Desktop, WindowsCE & Tablet.

Please see the help file for a complete list of features: http://www.pocketpccontrols.com/controls/help/



Wednesday, May 23, 2007 7:01:03 AM UTC      Comments [0]  Color Tab