The new strip controls improve on MainMenu, ToolBar, StatusBar, and ContextMenu in several key ways, including:
- A consistent API to all strip controls
- Improved design-time experience
- Allowing adjacent strip controls to be repositioned with respect to one another, as well as repositioned to the top, right, bottom, and left of the host form's client area
- Contemporary look of Office 2003 and Windows themes
- Ability to host a rich set of child controls, such as dropdown lists, labels, menus, and textboxes
- Rendering support that simplifies custom painting coding
While MainMenu, ToolBar, StatusBar, and ContextMenu are not included by default in the Visual Studio Toolbox, they are still included in the .NET Framework, primarily for backwards compatibility. Of course, the strip controls are located on the Toolbox so you can easily drag them onto your form. Through the Designer, you can add a variety of controls to each strip control
Controls Hosted by Strip Control| Strip Control | Designer-Allowed Strip Item Controls |
|---|---|
| MenuStrip | ToolStripMenuItem (for both top menu and submenu items) ToolStripComboBox ToolStripTextBox ToolStripSeparator (for submenus) |
| ContextMenuStrip | Same as MenuStrip |
| ToolStrip | ToolStripButton ToolStripComboBox ToolStripSplitButton ToolStripLabel ToolStripSeparator ToolStripDropDownButton ToolStripTextBox ToolStripProgressBar |
| StatusStrip | ToolStripStatusLabel ToolStripProgressBar ToolStripDropDownButton ToolStripSplitButton |
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| AllowItemReorder | Users can reposition strip items by setting this property to True. The user needs to press Alt before repositioning (not for ContextMenuStrip). |
| ShowItemToolTips | Sets whether strip items can also display tool tips (not for MenuStrip or Context MenuStrip). |
| Dock | Specifies the form edge to line the strip control up against or fill. |
| RenderMode | Strip controls support three render modes: System: rendered with colors from the system palette. Professional: rendered according to the current Windows Color Scheme—Blue, Olive Green, or Silver. ManagerRenderMode: rendered using the Windows Theme sensitive ToolStripRenderer and is the default. Custom is currently unsupported. |
| SizingGrip | Specifies whether the form sizing grip should be shown or hidden (StatusStrip only). |
| GripStyle | Specifies whether a MenuStrip or ToolStrip displays a grip allowing it to be repositioned. |
| CanOverflow | When the form becomes narrower than a strip control, this option specifies how to visually represent strip items that are hidden by the overlap, either hidden if False or accessible via a dropdown at the end of the strip control if True. |
Key Strip Item Control Property Configurations
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| DisplayStyle | Specifies what to display; values include None, Text, Image, and ImageAndText. |
| TextImageRelation | Sets the position of text in relation to an image. Applied when DisplayStyle is ImageAndText. |
| ImageScaling | Specifies how an image is rendered, either ShrinkToFit or None. |
| Alignment | Determines which end of a strip control a strip item control will align to, either Head or Tail (Left or Right sides, respectively, when rendering left-to-right). |
| Overflow | Determines how each strip item control responds to overflow. Can be either Never, Always, or AsNeeded, which leaves the decision up to the host strip control. |
Key MaskedTextBox Properties
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| HidePromptOnLeave | True by default but, if set to False, ensures that prompt characters are always visible. |
| PromptChar | Used to change the prompt character. Underscore by default. |
| AllowPromptAsInput | In some cases, your prompt character may also be a valid value and setting AllowPromptAsInput to True allows this when neither can be reasonably changed. |
| IncludeLiterals | Specifies whether to include literal character values in MaskedTextBox's Text property. |
| IncludePrompts | Specifies whether to include prompt character values in MaskedTextBox's Text property. |
| ResetOnPrompt | If True, when a prompt is entered, a prompt is inserted and values on the right-hand side are shifted right. |
| ResetOnSpace | If True, when a space is entered, a space is inserted and values on the right-hand side are shifted right. |