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GroupBoxRenderer Class

Provides methods used to render a group box control with or without visual styles. This class cannot be inherited.

Namespace:  System.Windows.Forms
Assembly:  System.Windows.Forms (in System.Windows.Forms.dll)

'Declaration
Public NotInheritable Class GroupBoxRenderer
'Usage
Dim instance As GroupBoxRenderer

The GroupBoxRenderer class provides a set of static methods that can be used to render a group box control. Rendering a control refers to drawing the user interface of a control. To draw a group box, use one of the DrawGroupBox methods. These methods provide a variety of text drawing options.

If visual styles are enabled in the operating system and visual styles are applied to the current application, DrawGroupBox will draw the group box with the current visual style. Otherwise, DrawGroupBox will draw the group box with the classic Windows style. This is useful if you are drawing a custom control that should automatically match the current visual style setting of the operating system.

This class wraps the functionality of a System.Windows.Forms.VisualStyles.VisualStyleRenderer that is set to one of the elements exposed by the System.Windows.Forms.VisualStyles.VisualStyleElement.Button.GroupBox class. For more information, see Rendering Controls with Visual Styles.

Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003 Platform Note: Visual styles are supported only on these platforms.

The following code example demonstrates how to create a custom control that uses the DrawGroupBox method to draw a group box with a double border if visual styles are enabled.

Imports System
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Windows.Forms.VisualStyles



Class Form1
    Inherits Form
    Private WithEvents button1 As Button


    Public Sub New() 
        Dim GroupBox1 As New CustomGroupBox()
        button1 = New Button()

        GroupBox1.Text = "Radio Button Display" 
        Me.button1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(185, 231)
        Me.button1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(105, 23)
        Me.button1.Text = "Toggle Visual Styles"

        Controls.Add(GroupBox1)
        Me.Controls.Add(Me.button1)

        ' Add some radio buttons to test the CustomGroupBox. 
        Dim count As Integer = 8
        Dim ButtonArray(count) As RadioButton
        Dim i As Integer 
        For i = 0 To count
            ButtonArray(i) = New RadioButton()
            ButtonArray(i).Text = "Button " +(i + 1).ToString()
            GroupBox1.Controls.Add(ButtonArray(i))
        Next i

        If Application.RenderWithVisualStyles Then 
            Me.Text = "Visual Styles Enabled" 
        Else 
            Me.Text = "Visual Styles Disabled" 
        End If 

    End Sub 'New

    <STAThread()>  _
    Shared Sub Main() 
        ' If you do not call EnableVisualStyles below, then  
        ' GroupBoxRenderer automatically detects this and draws 
        ' the group box without visual styles.
        Application.EnableVisualStyles()
        Application.Run(New Form1())

    End Sub 'Main


    ' Match application style and toggle visual styles off 
    ' and on for the application. 
    Private Sub button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) _
        Handles button1.Click

        GroupBoxRenderer.RenderMatchingApplicationState = True

        Application.VisualStyleState = _
            Application.VisualStyleState Xor _
            VisualStyleState.ClientAndNonClientAreasEnabled

        If Application.RenderWithVisualStyles Then 
            Me.Text = "Visual Styles Enabled" 
        Else 
            Me.Text = "Visual Styles Disabled" 
        End If 

    End Sub 
End Class 


Public Class CustomGroupBox
    Inherits Control
    Private innerRectangle As New Rectangle()
    Private state As GroupBoxState = GroupBoxState.Normal
    Private panel As New FlowLayoutPanel()


    Public Sub New() 
        Me.Size = New Size(200, 200)
        Me.Location = New Point(10, 10)
        Me.Controls.Add(panel)
        Me.Text = "CustomGroupBox" 
        Me.Font = SystemFonts.IconTitleFont

        innerRectangle.X = ClientRectangle.X + 5
        innerRectangle.Y = ClientRectangle.Y + 15
        innerRectangle.Width = ClientRectangle.Width - 10
        innerRectangle.Height = ClientRectangle.Height - 20

        panel.FlowDirection = FlowDirection.TopDown
        panel.Location = New Point(innerRectangle.X + 5, innerRectangle.Y + 5)
        panel.Size = New Size(innerRectangle.Width - 10, innerRectangle.Height - 10)

    End Sub 'New 


    ' Draw the group box in the current state. 
    Protected Overrides Sub OnPaint(ByVal e As PaintEventArgs) 
        MyBase.OnPaint(e)

        GroupBoxRenderer.DrawGroupBox(e.Graphics, ClientRectangle, Me.Text, Me.Font, state)

        ' Draw an additional inner border if visual styles are enabled. 
        If Application.RenderWithVisualStyles Then
            GroupBoxRenderer.DrawGroupBox(e.Graphics, innerRectangle, state)
        End If 

    End Sub 'OnPaint

    ' Pass added controls to the internal FlowLayoutPanel. 
    Protected Overrides Sub OnControlAdded(ByVal e As ControlEventArgs) 
        MyBase.OnControlAdded(e)

        ' Ensure that you do not add the panel itself. 
        If e.Control IsNot Me.panel Then 
            Me.Controls.Remove(e.Control)
            panel.Controls.Add(e.Control)
        End If 

    End Sub 'OnControlAdded
End Class 'CustomGroupBox

System.Object
  System.Windows.Forms.GroupBoxRenderer

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98

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

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0
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