Custom ProgressBar Control

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Introduction

Why another Progress Bar? The Standard ProgressBar was too limited and I couldn't find a custom control written that did all that I wanted. This is a UserControl with lots of properties and versatility. It shows minimum to maximum value progress or infinite back and forth progress. It is simple to use, just drop it on the form, adjust the design time properties and use it like the normal ProgressBar.

Background

This was my first UserControl that implemented some design time properties including an expandable property with the ExpandableObjectConverter TypeConverter and ControlDesigner. I have expanded the Design-Time editing in Version 2.0 using the techniques explained here: UITypeEditorsDemo[^] (Because of the new Editors, a revamp of the Properties occurred so there are some differences from the previous version). The demo also illustrates how to use a component or runtime BackgroundWorker to run different threads.

Control Properties

Here is a list of the primary properties:

• BarStyleFill

  The fill style for the bar. Solid, Patterns, multiple color blends, and Image

• BarColorBlend

  The Colors and Positions used for Gradient fills

• BarColorSolid, BarColorSolidB

  The Colors used for Solid and Hatch fills

• FocalPoints

  The movable Centerpoint and Focus Scales for the color blends

• Shape

  The shape of the bar. Rectangle, Ellipse, Triangle, and Text

• BorderColor, BorderWidth

  Change the border properties

• Orientation

  Horizontal or Vertical progress

• FillDirection

  Horizontal Right to Left or Left to Right and Vertical Bottom to Top or Top to Bottom

• Corners, CornersApply

  Adjust the corner radius and apply to the border, bar, or both

• ForeColor, TextAlignment, TextAlignmentVert, TextWrap, TextPlacement, Shadow

  Adjust the color, alignments, wrapping, and if the text appears over the control or moves with the bar

• TextShow, TextFormat

  Templates for what text to display:

• None
• Value = Just the Value
• ValueOfMax = Formats the Value with the Max i.e. '22 of 100'
• Percent = Just the ValuePercent with a percent sign
• FormatString = Enter any text here:
• Enter {0} where you want the Value to show.
• Enter {1} where you want the ValuePercent to show.
• Enter {2} where you want the Max to show.
  i.e. '{0} rows of data out of {2} processed'
• BarType

  Display Min to Max progress or Back and Forth infinite progress

• BarLength, BarLengthValue

  Bar continues to expand with the Value or a fixed length of the bar moves with the value

• Min, Max

  The minimum and maximum value of the ProgressBar

• Value

  The current value of the ProgressBar

• ShowDesignBorder

  Show a dotted line in design mode only if there is no border

Control Methods

• ValuePercent()

  Get the Percent the value represents

• ResetBar(opt value)

  Sets the Value to MinValue or MaxValue

• Increment(opt value)

  Increase the value by one or the value given

• Decrement(opt value)

  Decrease the value by one or the value given

Using the Code

Once you get the Progress Bar looking the way you want, add some code. You can directly change the Value property or use the Increment/Decrement methods:

With MyProgBarText
   .Max = 200
   .ResetBar()
   For i As Int32 = 0 To 200
       .Increment()
       // Add Your Code Here
   Next
End With

For the Infinite Progress Bar, change the BarType and change the CylonRun Boolean value:

MyProgBarCylon.BarType = MyProgBar.eBarType.CylonBar
MyProgBar.CylonRun = True

Points of Interest

The SmartTag makes it easy to customize the Progress Bar. All the important properties are organized to simplify the process.

History

• Version 1.0 February 2008
• Version 2.0 November 2008
• Version 3.0 June 2011
• Many design and layout fixes