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.NET Framework Class Library
TabControl..::.Appearance Property

Gets or sets the visual appearance of the control's tabs.

Namespace: System.Windows.Forms
Assembly: System.Windows.Forms (in System.Windows.Forms.dll)
Syntax
Public Property Appearance As TabAppearance
public TabAppearance Appearance { get; set; }
public:
property TabAppearance Appearance {
	TabAppearance get ();
	void set (TabAppearance value);
}
member Appearance : TabAppearance with get, set

Property Value

Type: System.Windows.Forms..::.TabAppearance
One of the TabAppearance values. The default is Normal.
Exceptions
ExceptionCondition
InvalidEnumArgumentException

The property value is not a valid TabAppearance value.

Remarks

When you set the Appearance property to FlatButtons, it only appears as such when the Alignment property is set to Top. Otherwise, the Appearance property appears as if set to the Buttons value.

NoteNote

When you set the Appearance property to Buttons, you must also set the Alignment property to Top so that the tab page contents display correctly.

Examples

The following code example creates a TabControl with two TabPage objects. This example sets the Appearance property to Buttons, which displays the tabs of the tab pages as buttons.

Use the System.Windows.Forms namespace for this example.


Imports System.Windows.Forms

Public Class Form1
    Inherits Form

    Public Sub New()
        Dim tabText As String() = {"tabPage1", "tabPage2"}
        Dim tabControl1 As New TabControl()
        Dim tabPage1 As New TabPage(tabText(0))
        Dim tabPage2 As New TabPage(tabText(1))

        ' Sets the tabs to appear as buttons.
        tabControl1.Appearance = TabAppearance.Buttons

        tabControl1.Controls.AddRange(New TabPage() {tabPage1, tabPage2})
        Controls.Add(tabControl1)
    End Sub

    Shared Sub Main()
        Application.Run(New Form1())
    End Sub
End Class


using System.Windows.Forms;

public class Form1 : Form
{
    public Form1()
    {
        string[] tabText = {"tabPage1", "tabPage2"};
        TabControl tabControl1 = new TabControl();
        TabPage tabPage1 = new TabPage(tabText[0]);
        TabPage tabPage2 = new TabPage(tabText[1]);

        // Sets the tabs to appear as buttons.
        tabControl1.Appearance = TabAppearance.Buttons;

        tabControl1.Controls.AddRange(new TabPage[] {tabPage1, tabPage2});
        Controls.Add(tabControl1);
    }

    static void Main() 
    {
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }
}


using namespace System;
using namespace System::Windows::Forms;
public ref class Form1: public Form
{
public:
   Form1()
   {
      array<String^>^tabText = {"tabPage1","tabPage2"};
      TabControl^ tabControl1 = gcnew TabControl;
      TabPage^ tabPage1 = gcnew TabPage( tabText[ 0 ] );
      TabPage^ tabPage2 = gcnew TabPage( tabText[ 1 ] );

      // Sets the tabs to appear as buttons.
      tabControl1->Appearance = TabAppearance::Buttons;
      array<TabPage^>^tabPageArray = {tabPage1,tabPage2};
      tabControl1->Controls->AddRange( tabPageArray );
      Controls->Add( tabControl1 );
   }

};

int main()
{
   Application::Run( gcnew Form1 );
}


Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1
Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.