MBScrollBar in VB.NET

 Introduction

Why another Scroll Bar? The standard ScrollBar is too limited in functionality and I couldn't find a custom control written that did all that I wanted. This is a User Control with Microsoft Office 2007 Visual Style. It is simple to use; just drop it on the form, and use it like the normal ScrollBar.

Background

MBScrollBar is a ContextMenuStrip which inherits all the properties of a simple Scroll Bar control. I added Microsoft Office 2007 like Visuals in MBScrollBar, also it supports the mouse wheel. The language used is VB.NET. There are so many classes which provide same functionality, but for that we have to write a minimum of two lines of code to add that renderer class to our application. MBScrollBar is the Scroll Bar which already contains the MBScrollBarRenderer Class; you just add the reference of MBScrollBar.Dll then use it by Dragging and Dropping. Here is a MBScrollBar demo:

MBScrollBar Control



Code

The concept for this Scroll Bar came from the Microsoft Office 2007 Scroll Bar. I organized the methods of MBScrollBar into layers. The following methods are responsible for rendering a simple Scroll Bar like Microsoft Office.

This is the Render Background method of a MBScrollBar item.

''' <summary>
    ''' Draw Background for MBScrollBar
    ''' </summary>
    ''' <param name="g">graphics As Graphics</param>
    ''' <param name="rect">Rect As Rectangle</param>
    ''' <param name="orientation">Orientation As MBScrollBarOrientation</param>
    Public Shared Sub DrawBackground(ByVal g As Graphics, ByVal rect As Rectangle, ByValorientation As MBScrollBarOrientation)
        If (g Is Nothing) Then
            Throw New ArgumentNullException("g")
        End If
        If (rect.IsEmpty Or g.IsVisibleClipEmpty Or Not g.VisibleClipBounds.IntersectsWith(rect)) Then
            Return
        End If
        If (orientation = MBScrollBarOrientation.Vertical) Then
            DrawBackgroundVertical(g, rect)
        Else
            DrawBackgroundHorizontal(g, rect)
        End If   
 End Sub

This is the Render Arrow Button method of a MBScrollBar Item.

''' <summary>
''' Draw Arrow Button For MBScrollBar
''' </summary>
''' <param name="g">graphics As Graphics</param>
''' <param name="rect">Rect As Rectangle</param>
''' <param name="state">State As MBScrollBarState</param>
''' <param name="arrowUp">ArrowUp As Boolean</param>
''' <param name="orientation">Orientation As MBScrollBarOrientation</param>
Public Shared Sub DrawArrowButton(ByVal g As Graphics, ByVal rect As Rectangle, ByVal state AsMBScrollBarArrowButtonState, ByVal arrowUp As Boolean, ByVal orientation AsMBScrollBarOrientation)
        If g Is Nothing Then
            Throw New ArgumentNullException("g")
        End If
        If rect.IsEmpty Or g.IsVisibleClipEmpty Or (Not g.VisibleClipBounds.IntersectsWith(rect)) Then
            Return
        End If
        If orientation = MBScrollBarOrientation.Vertical Then
            DrawArrowButtonVertical(g, rect, state, arrowUp)
        Else
            DrawArrowButtonHorizontal(g, rect, state, arrowUp)
        End If
    End Sub

This method handles the painting of a MBScrollBar.

''' <summary>
''' Handles MBScrollBar Mouse Wheel
''' </summary>

Protected Overrides Sub OnMouseWheel(ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs)
        MyBase.OnMouseWheel(e)
        If (Me._Value < Me.Minimum Or Me._Value > Me.Maximum) Then
            Return
        Else
            If e.Delta > 0 Then
                Me._Value = Me._Value - 1
            Else
                Me._Value = Me._Value + 1
            End If
            If Me._Value > 100 Then Me._Value = 100
            If Me._Value < 0 Then Me._Value = 0
        End If
        Me.ChangeThumbPosition(Me.GetThumbPosition())
        Me.Refresh()
    End Sub

Using the Code

It is very easy to use a MBScrollBar in your application. Just add the reference of the provided DLL to your application and just drag and drop.



History

MBScrollBar Version 1.0.