how to change the color of the tab control in vb.net

Question

can anybody say how change the color of  the tab control in vb.net

Answer 1

If you want the entire tabpage to change color then:

Me.TabPage1.BackColor = Color.Blue

if you want just the tab to change then you must owner draw the tab...see sample in this thread:

 

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=839148&SiteID=1

Answer 2

i am sorry i asked for tab control not tab page

Answer 3

The tab control is made up of tab pages....do you want the entire tab page to change color or just the rectangular tab at the top?

Answer 4

tab control contains a list of tab page is in it i change the color of tab control it show the tabpage1, tabpage2 and so

Answer 5

this will change all tabpages in a tabcontrol to the same color (blue in this sample)

For Each tp As TabPage In Me.TabControl1.TabPages

tp.BackColor = Color.Blue

Next

Answer 6

i was asking tab control and not for tabpage first u understan first

Answer 7

Excuse me narasiman, but you need to understand that the tabcontrol itself does not have color...it is made up of pages that have color...Without pages it will show as a white rectangle and if you do not want that to show then....set the visible property to false...otherwise to change the color of the tabcontrol...you MUST change the color of the individual tabpages!!!

 

Answer 8

any updates??

Answer 9

Is there anyway to change the background color of the tab row (where all the tabs are listed) without using OwnerDraw?

I changed my tabpages background color but it leaves a section above the tabs in the generic color.

I tried ownerdraw and the results were very discouraging....

Any ideas?

Answer 10

Add the following to form load, it redraws any time, the tabs are changed. I'm not sure why.   

 

 Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

 

        TabControl1.DrawMode = TabDrawMode.OwnerDrawFixed

 

    End Sub

 

I found this Sub somewhere and changed it slightly. Add this sub to your program. It colors the Tab (not the page) the same colors as the background

of the tab, if it is the one selected. The other tabs are colored a standard white with black text. You can modify it anyway you want, but it seems to work very well for coloring the tabs.

 

    Private Sub TabControl1_DrawItem(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventArgs) Handles TabControl1.DrawItem

        Dim g As Graphics = e.Graphics

        Dim tp As TabPage = TabControl1.TabPages(e.Index)

        Dim br As Brush

        Dim sf As New StringFormat

        Dim r As New RectangleF(e.Bounds.X, e.Bounds.Y + 2,e.Bounds.Width, e.Bounds.Height - 2)

 

        sf.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center

 

        Dim strTitle As String = tp.Text

        'If the current index is the Selected Index, change the color

        If TabControl1.SelectedIndex = e.Index Then

            'this is the background color of the tabpage

            'you could make this a stndard color for the selected page

            br = New SolidBrush(tp.BackColor)

            'this is the background color of the tab page

            g.FillRectangle(br, e.Bounds)

            'this is the background color of the tab page

            'you could make this a stndard color for the selected page

            br = New SolidBrush(tp.ForeColor)

            g.DrawString(strTitle, TabControl1.Font, br, r, sf)

        Else

            'these are the standard colors for the unselected tab pages

            br = New SolidBrush(Color.WhiteSmoke)

            g.FillRectangle(br, e.Bounds)

            br = New SolidBrush(Color.Black)

            g.DrawString(strTitle, TabControl1.Font, br, r, sf)

        End If

 

    End Sub

Answer 11

Thanks Hillimonster! This works well.

Answer 12

Can someone tell me how to set the tab selected font to bold

Also is there any way to have gradients on the selected tab ?

Thanks !

Answer 13

 

To get the font to bold, do this:

 

in the dim statements at the top of the procedure, add this line:

Code Snippet

Dim xFont As Font

 

 

 

Inside the If statement, place this:

Code Snippet

xFont = New Font(TabControl1.Font, FontStyle.Bold)

 

 

 

Inside the Else block, place this instead:

Code Snippet

 

xFont = New Font(TabControl1.Font, FontStyle.Regular)

 

 

then in both the if and the else statements, change the g.DrawString code to this:

 

Code Snippet

g.DrawString(strTitle, xFont, br, r, sf)

 

 

 

That works to set the font to bold on the displayed tab. (I don't know how to do the gradient, though.)

 

when I use this procedure, it sets the tab button to the correct colors, but it leaves a border around the Tab Control that doesn't match the background color.  It also leaves the background around the tab buttons the default control color.  How do I set those areas to a specific color, so there is nothing left of the original "control" color?

Answer 14

 

I answered part of my own question. I still don't know how to color the "dead space" to the right of the tab buttons.  Any hints?

 

Here's how to draw a border around the tabpage:

 

Code Snippet

'Place this at the top of the Sub.

'May need to adjust the + and - numbers to make the border show up correctly.

Dim rBorder As New RectangleF(TabControl1.Left - 3, TabControl1.Top - 12, SSTab1.Width + 1, SSTab1.Height + 1)

 

 

 

Code Snippet

'Place this before the g.fillRectangle(br, r) code:

g.FillRectangle(br, rBorder)    'Border around entire tabpage area

 

 

 

Note: I modified the above sub to include both the bold/regular font change and the border.  Since I'm using the same back and fore colors for selected and unselected tab pages, I could've simplified the code even further.  I didn't because I want to have this code to refer back to, should I ever want the tabs to be different colors based on selection.

 

Here is the complete, revised code.  I used a tab control named SSTab1 instead of TabControl1:

 

Code Snippet

Private Sub SSTab1_DrawItem(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventArgs) Handles SSTab1.DrawItem
        Dim g As Graphics = e.Graphics
        Dim tp As TabPage = SSTab1.TabPages(e.Index)
        Dim brBack As Brush
        Dim brFore As Brush
        Dim sf As New StringFormat
        Dim xFont As Font

        'Set the box border around the tabpages

        '    may need to adjust the + and - amounts.
        Dim rBorder As New RectangleF(SSTab1.Left - 3, SSTab1.Top - 12, _

            SSTab1.Width + 1, SSTab1.Height + 1)
        Dim r As New RectangleF(e.Bounds.X, e.Bounds.Y + 1, _

            e.Bounds.Width, e.Bounds.Height - 1)
        sf.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
        Dim strTitle As String = tp.Text
        'If the current index is the Selected Index, change the color
        If SSTab1.SelectedIndex = e.Index Then
            'this is the background color of the tabpage
            'you could make this a standard color for the selected page
            brBack = New SolidBrush(tp.BackColor)   'Set Tab Page Background
            brFore = New SolidBrush(tp.ForeColor)   'Set title foreground
            xFont = New Font(SSTab1.Font, FontStyle.Bold)   'set Font
        Else
            'these are the standard colors for the unselected tab pages
            brBack = New SolidBrush(tp.BackColor)   'Set Tab Page Background
            brFore = New SolidBrush(tp.ForeColor)   'Set title foreground
            xFont = New Font(SSTab1.Font, FontStyle.Regular)   'set Font
        End If

        g.FillRectangle(brFore, rBorder)     'Border around entire tabpage area
        g.FillRectangle(brBack, e.Bounds)     'tab page itself
        g.DrawString(strTitle, xFont, brFore, r, sf)    'Draw the labels.
    End Sub

 

 

 

 

Answer 15

Hi

How is the sub TabControl1_DrawItem invoked?

Answer 16

I know this a little late, but i had the same issue like Cadius: How to color the "dead space". The tips here helped for the
tab buttons, but not the "dead space". But i found a solution.

I theck the State Attribute of the System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventArgs. If the state ist DrawItemState.None
then i paint the Rectangle for the "dead space" else not. Here is my code:

Private Sub tabWebservice_DrawItem(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventArgs) Handles tabWebservice.DrawItem

Dim g As System.Drawing.Graphics = e.Graphics
Dim tp As TabPage = tabWebservice.TabPages(e.Index)
Dim br As System.Drawing.Brush
Dim colBorder As System.Drawing.Brush
Dim sf As New System.Drawing.StringFormat
Dim r As System.Drawing.RectangleF = Nothing

Dim rBorder As New System.Drawing.RectangleF(tabWebservice.Left, tabWebservice.Top, tabWebservice.Width, tabWebservice.Height)

sf.Alignment = System.Drawing.StringAlignment.Center

Dim strTitle As String = tp.Text

If (e.State = DrawItemState.None) Then
    Dim rBack As New System.Drawing.RectangleF(tabWebservice.Left, tabWebservice.Top, tabWebservice.Width, tp.Bounds.Top - 2)'

    'this is the background color of the tabpage
    'you could make this a stndard color for the selected page
    br = New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(tp.BackColor)

    'this is the background color of the tab page
    g.FillRectangle(br, rBack)

    br.Dispose()
End If

'If the current index is the Selected Index, change the color
If tabWebservice.SelectedIndex = e.Index Then
    r = New System.Drawing.RectangleF(e.Bounds.X, e.Bounds.Y + 2, e.Bounds.Width, e.Bounds.Height - 2)

    'this is the background color of the tabpage
    'you could make this a stndard color for the selected page
    br = New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(tp.BackColor)

    colBorder = New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(System.Drawing.Color.WhiteSmoke)

    'this is the background color of the tab
    g.FillRectangle(br, e.Bounds)

    'this is the background color of the tab page
    'you could make this a stndard color for the selected page
    br.Dispose()

    br = New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(tp.ForeColor)

    r.Offset(0, 1)

    g.DrawString(strTitle, tabWebservice.Font, br, r, sf)

    br.Dispose()

    colBorder.Dispose()

Else

    'these are the standard colors for the unselected tab pages
    br = New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(tp.BackColor)

    r = New System.Drawing.RectangleF(e.Bounds.X, e.Bounds.Y, e.Bounds.Width, e.Bounds.Height + 2)

    Dim rBack As New System.Drawing.RectangleF(tabWebservice.Left + 1, tabWebservice.Top + e.Bounds.Y + e.Bounds.Height + 3, tabWebservice.Width - 3, tabWebservice.Height - (e.Bounds.Y + e.Bounds.Height + 4))

    'this is the background color of the tab page
    g.FillRectangle(br, rBack)

    'this is the background color of the tab button
    g.FillRectangle(br, r)

    br.Dispose()
    br = New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(System.Drawing.Color.Black)

    r.Offset(0, 3)

    g.DrawString(strTitle, tabWebservice.Font, br, r, sf)

    br.Dispose()

End If

'Dispose objects
sf.Dispose()

End Sub

 

Hope this helps...

 

Cheers

Answer 17

The tab control is made up of tab pages....do you want the entire tab page to change color or just the rectangular tab at the top?

Do you know how to change the rectangular thing at top(the tab or that thing you click on)

Answer 18

good one

---

Varun Kumar

Answer 19

Same problem here