SharpComponents

• Download source - 172.3 KB

Introduction

These are multiple controls which I've been working on for several days. The "SharpComponents" contain a (Context)MenuStrip, a ToolStrip and a StatusStrip too, which all access an owner-created renderer. The renderer itself accesses the so-called "SharpDefinitions". The basic idea of all this is simply a reusable component for multiple other controls. With a SharpDefinition on the form, you can pass it to SharpToolStrip, SharpMenuStrip, SharpContextMenuStrip and SharpStatusStrip. They all will be painted in the same style then.

Using the Code

Using the components is quite easy. First, you drop a Sharp(Context)MenuStrip, SharpToolStrip or SharpStatusStrip on the form and add all the items and stuff you want. After doing that, you have to drop a "SharpDefinitions"-Component on the form. Now edit the properties of the created SharpDefinitions as you wish. As a final step, go back to your Sharp(Whatever)Strip and look for a category called "SharpComponents" - there, you can choose your recently created SharpDefinitions. If everything is done right, the menu should change its appearance.

If you have problems to determine which property belongs to which part of the strip, just take a look at these pictures. I hope I did not miss a property, file a report to me, if I actually did!

Points of Interest

If any beginner programmer is wondering how I did that, I simply added a property to each renderer, which I access through another property on the respective Strip.

In a Renderer-Class:

// The SharpRenderer uses all the resources
// of SharpDefinitions to perform its render.
// This provides various possibilities for the user.
private SharpDefinitions sharpdefinitions;

// We need this property so that SharpComponents
// can access the SharpDefinitions to provide
// it to the user.
public SharpDefinitions SharpDefinitions
{
     get
     {
          return this.sharpdefinitions;
     }
     set
     {
          this.sharpdefinitions = value;
     }
}

In a Strip-Class:

// As we cannot access the SharpRenderer
// directly, we implement a property which
// gets or sets the SharpDefinitions of
// the SharpRenderer through the menu.
[Browsable(true), Category("SharpComponents")]
public SharpDefinitions SharpDefinitions
{
     get
     {
          return ((SharpMenuRenderer)base.Renderer).SharpDefinitions;
     }
     set
     {
          ((SharpMenuRenderer)base.Renderer).SharpDefinitions = value;
          this.Invalidate(true);
     }
}

What actually was a bit tricky was the drawing in the overridden method "OnRenderMenuItemBackground". After making a good long time use of my brain, I figured out that you can determine between the items by checking if they're selected or a part of a dropdown-menu. Pretty quickly, I wrote a working solution for this:

if (this.sharpdefinitions != null)
{
     if (e.Item.Enabled == true)
     {
          // Checks for the item being a selected menu-item,
          // if yes, draw with the selected-colors.
          if (!e.Item.IsOnDropDown && e.Item.Selected)
          {
               var border_rect = new Rectangle(2, 0, e.Item.Width - 5, e.Item.Height - 2);
               var back_rect = new Rectangle(3, 1, e.Item.Width - 6, e.Item.Height - 3);

               var border_pen = new Pen(sharpdefinitions.SelectedBorderColor);
               var back_brush = new SolidBrush(sharpdefinitions.SelectedBackColor);

               e.Graphics.FillRectangle(back_brush, back_rect);
               e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(border_pen, border_rect);

               border_pen.Dispose();
               back_brush.Dispose();
          }

          // Checks for the item being a selected menu-item in the
          // sub-menu. If yes, draw with the submenu-selected-colors.
          else if (e.Item.IsOnDropDown && e.Item.Selected)
          {
               var border_rect = new Rectangle(2, 0, e.Item.Width - 4, e.Item.Height - 1);
               var back_rect = new Rectangle(1, 1, e.Item.Width - 3, e.Item.Height - 2);

               var border_pen = new Pen(sharpdefinitions.SubMenuSelectedBorderColor);
               var back_brush = new SolidBrush(sharpdefinitions.SubMenuSelectedBackColor);

               e.Graphics.FillRectangle(back_brush, back_rect);
               e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(border_pen, border_rect);

               border_pen.Dispose();
               back_brush.Dispose();
          }

          // Checks for the item being a clicked menu-item,
          // if yes, draw it with the clicked-colors.
          if (!e.Item.IsOnDropDown && ((ToolStripMenuItem)e.Item).DropDown.Visible)
          {
               var border_rect = new Rectangle(2, 0, e.Item.Width - 5, e.Item.Height - 2);
               var back_rect = new Rectangle(3, 1, e.Item.Width - 6, e.Item.Height - 3);

               var start_point = new Point(3, 1);
               var end_point1 = new Point(e.Item.Width - 2, 1);
               var end_point2 = new Point(3, e.Item.Height - 3);

               var border_pen = new Pen(sharpdefinitions.ClickedBorderColor);
               var shadow_pen = new Pen(sharpdefinitions.ClickedShadowColor);
               var back_brush = new SolidBrush(sharpdefinitions.ClickedBackColor);

               e.Graphics.FillRectangle(back_brush, back_rect);
               e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(border_pen, border_rect);

               e.Graphics.DrawLine(shadow_pen, start_point, end_point1);
               e.Graphics.DrawLine(shadow_pen, start_point, end_point2);

               border_pen.Dispose();
               shadow_pen.Dispose();
               back_brush.Dispose();
          }
     }
}
else
{
     base.OnRenderMenuItemBackground(e);
}

Closure

I really enjoyed programming those controls and I hope you enjoy using them! If you want me to have anything implemented, not only color-wise but also other stuff, then let me know via private message or just post something in the comments below. I'd really appreciate that and process is also going faster like that!

History

25/11/2014

• Released the first version of SharpComponents -
  Renderers for ToolStrip, MenuStrip and StatusStrip fully working color-wise