This documentation is archived and is not being maintained.

ToolStripDropDownButton Class

Represents a control that when clicked displays an associated ToolStripDropDown from which the user can select a single item.

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

'Declaration
<ToolStripItemDesignerAvailabilityAttribute(ToolStripItemDesignerAvailability.None Or ToolStripItemDesignerAvailability.ToolStrip Or ToolStripItemDesignerAvailability.StatusStrip)> _
Public Class ToolStripDropDownButton _
	Inherits ToolStripDropDownItem
'Usage
Dim instance As ToolStripDropDownButton

ToolStripDropDownButton looks like ToolStripButton, but it shows a drop-down area when the user clicks it. Hide or show the drop-down arrow by setting the ShowDropDownArrow property. ToolStripDropDownButton hosts a ToolStripOverflowButton that displays items that overflow the ToolStrip.

Use the ToolStripDropDownButton to activate familiar drop-down controls such as color pickers. Set the ShowDropDownArrow property to true to more clearly indicate to the user that further options are available on the drop-down list.

The following code example displays three ToolStripButton controls when the ToolStripDropDownButton is clicked. The buttons change the foreground color of the form.

' Declare the drop-down button and the items it will contain. 
Friend WithEvents dropDownButton1 As ToolStripDropDownButton
Friend WithEvents dropDown As ToolStripDropDown
Friend WithEvents buttonRed As ToolStripButton
Friend WithEvents buttonBlue As ToolStripButton
Friend WithEvents buttonYellow As ToolStripButton

Private Sub InitializeDropDownButton() 
    dropDownButton1 = New ToolStripDropDownButton()
    dropDown = New ToolStripDropDown()
    dropDownButton1.Text = "A" 

    ' Set the drop-down on the ToolStripDropDownButton.
    dropDownButton1.DropDown = dropDown

    ' Set the drop-down direction.
    dropDownButton1.DropDownDirection = ToolStripDropDownDirection.Left

    ' Do not show a drop-down arrow.
    dropDownButton1.ShowDropDownArrow = False 

    ' Declare three buttons, set their foreground color and text,  
    ' and add the buttons to the drop-down.
    buttonRed = New ToolStripButton()
    buttonRed.ForeColor = Color.Red
    buttonRed.Text = "A"

    buttonBlue = New ToolStripButton()
    buttonBlue.ForeColor = Color.Blue
    buttonBlue.Text = "A"

    buttonYellow = New ToolStripButton()
    buttonYellow.ForeColor = Color.Yellow
    buttonYellow.Text = "A"

    dropDown.Items.AddRange(New ToolStripItem() {buttonRed, buttonBlue, buttonYellow})
    toolStrip1.Items.Add(dropDownButton1)
End Sub 

' Handle the buttons' click event by setting the foreground color of the 
' form to the foreground color of the button that is clicked. 
Public Sub colorButtonsClick(ByVal sender As [Object], ByVal e As EventArgs) _
    Handles buttonRed.Click, buttonBlue.Click, buttonYellow.Click
    Dim senderButton As ToolStripButton = CType(sender, ToolStripButton)
    Me.ForeColor = senderButton.ForeColor

End Sub

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
Show: