Problem
There are a lot of panels for grouping the controls in WinForms. The best one of them is TableLayoutPanel, especially for grouping controls, that are using for editing data. Unfortunately, this panel does not show the header. This necessity appears when there are different kinds of editing controls on the same Windows form.
Solution
It can be solved by GroupBox and TableLayoutPanel. This solution is easy, but may look unpleasant. Another possibility is using Label control in first row of TableLayoutPanel. This solution may be uncomfortable.
I prefer to make inherited panel from TableLayoutPanel with all necessary functions.
How It works
TableLayoutPanel with highlighted header called HeaderTableLayoutPanel is simple, useful, and cute. This control may show the header in a number of different ways:
The HeaderTableLayoutPanel implements just three properties:
- CaptionText - string property that contains a text for showing. If this property is string.Empty or null then the header will not be shown
- CaptionStyle - this is enum (HighlightCaptionStyle) property that points a drawing style. It can be: ForeColor, HighlightColor, HighlightStyle, NavisionAxaptaStyle, GroupBoxStyle (see the image above)
- CaptionLineWidth - byte property that points the width of header's line (0 - the line will not be shown)
Be aware of CaptionLineWidth. If CaptionStyle = HighlightCaptionStyle.HighlightStyle, then two lines with Width = CaptionLineWidth will be shown, one will be above the Header and the second one will be below the header. For CaptionStyle = HighlightCaptionStyle.GroupBoxStyle this property does not do anything.
Screens
How to use it
The following example explains the procedure to create a new HeaderTableLayoutPanel:
using CBComponents;
...
var headerTableLayoutPanel = new HeaderTableLayoutPanel()
{
CaptionText = "Preferred text for header",
CaptionStyle = HeaderTableLayoutPanel.HighlightCaptionStyle.NavisionAxaptaStyle,
CaptionLineWidth = 2
};
this.Controls.Add(headerTableLayoutPanel1);
To install HeaderTableLayoutPanel, run the following command in the Package Manager Console:
PM> Install-Package CBComponents.HeaderTableLayoutPanel
Alternative option: download compiled library and examples.
Supported .NET Frameworks
HeaderTableLayoutPanel inherits from TableLayoutPanel, which was implemented in Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. In general HeaderTableLayoutPanel does not use any special requirements. It can be compiled on any Microsoft .NET Framework platform (including the .NET Framework 3.5 client profile).
Contacts
I would appreciate hearing your opinion on this. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by email: radu.martin@hotmail.com
