LinkArea Structure
Represents an area within a LinkLabel control that represents a hyperlink within the control.
Assembly: System.Windows.Forms (in System.Windows.Forms.dll)
There are two ways to add a hyperlink to the text of a LinkLabel control. You can access the Add method of the LinkLabel.LinkCollection class through the Links property of the LinkLabel to add multiple hyperlinks to the control's text. If you only need to add a single hyperlink to the text of the control, you can use the LinkArea property of the LinkLabel. This property accepts a LinkArea that defines the location of the hyperlink within the control's text. When a hyperlink is specified using the LinkArea property, the link area is then added to the LinkLabel.LinkCollection in the same manner as adding the link using the Add method of the LinkLabel.LinkCollection.
The Length property specifies the number of characters within the text of the LinkLabel to include in the link area. The Start property specifies the first character in the control text to include in the hyperlink. If you want to determine whether a specific LinkArea is empty, you can use the IsEmpty property instead of checking the values of the Start and Length properties.
The following code example demonstrates using the LinkLabel class, with multiple LinkArea sections defined, to display a label on a form. The example demonstrates setting the AutoSize, LinkBehavior, DisabledLinkColor, LinkColor, and VisitedLinkColor properties to customize the look of the LinkLabel. The first LinkArea is specified using the LinkLabel.LinkArea property. Additional links are added to the LinkLabel using the LinkLabel.LinkCollection.Add method. The example handles the LinkClicked event by starting the Web browser for hyperlinks, and displaying a MessageBox for other links.
Imports System Imports System.Drawing Imports System.Windows.Forms Public NotInheritable Class Form1 Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form Friend WithEvents LinkLabel1 As System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabel <System.STAThread()> _ Public Shared Sub Main() System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(New Form1) End Sub 'Main Public Sub New() MyBase.New() Me.LinkLabel1 = New System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabel ' Configure the LinkLabel's size and location. Specify that the ' size should be automatically determined by the content. Me.linkLabel1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(34, 56) Me.linkLabel1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(224, 16) Me.linkLabel1.AutoSize = True ' Configure the appearance. ' Set the DisabledLinkColor so that a disabled link will show up against the form's background. Me.linkLabel1.DisabledLinkColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red Me.linkLabel1.VisitedLinkColor = System.Drawing.Color.Blue Me.linkLabel1.LinkBehavior = System.Windows.Forms.LinkBehavior.HoverUnderline Me.linkLabel1.LinkColor = System.Drawing.Color.Navy Me.linkLabel1.TabIndex = 0 Me.linkLabel1.TabStop = True ' Identify what the first Link is. Me.linkLabel1.LinkArea = New System.Windows.Forms.LinkArea(0, 8) ' Identify that the first link is visited already. Me.linkLabel1.Links(0).Visited = true ' Set the Text property to a string. Me.linkLabel1.Text = "Register Online. Visit Microsoft. Visit MSN." ' Create new links using the Add method of the LinkCollection class. ' Underline the appropriate words in the LinkLabel's Text property. ' The words 'Register', 'Microsoft', and 'MSN' will ' all be underlined and behave as hyperlinks. ' First check that the Text property is long enough to accommodate ' the desired hyperlinked areas. If it's not, don't add hyperlinks. If Me.LinkLabel1.Text.Length >= 45 Then Me.LinkLabel1.Links(0).LinkData = "Register" Me.LinkLabel1.Links.Add(24, 9, "www.microsoft.com") Me.LinkLabel1.Links.Add(42, 3, "www.msn.com") ' The second link is disabled and will appear as red. Me.linkLabel1.Links(1).Enabled = False End If ' Set up how the form should be displayed and adds the controls to the form. Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(292, 266) Me.Controls.AddRange(New System.Windows.Forms.Control() {Me.LinkLabel1}) Me.Text = "Link Label Example" End Sub Private Sub linkLabel1_LinkClicked(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabelLinkClickedEventArgs) Handles LinkLabel1.LinkClicked ' Determine which link was clicked within the LinkLabel. Me.LinkLabel1.Links(LinkLabel1.Links.IndexOf(e.Link)).Visited = True ' Displays the appropriate link based on the value of the LinkData property of the Link object. Dim target As String = CType(e.Link.LinkData, String) ' If the value looks like a URL, navigate to it. ' Otherwise, display it in a message box. If (target IsNot Nothing) AndAlso (target.StartsWith("www")) Then System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(target) Else MessageBox.Show(("Item clicked: " + target)) End If End Sub End Class
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.