How to: Custom Draw a ToolStrip Control

The ToolStrip controls have the following associated rendering (painting) classes:

• ToolStripSystemRenderer provides the appearance and style of your operating system.

• ToolStripProfessionalRenderer provides the appearance and style of Microsoft Office.

• ToolStripRenderer is the abstract base class for the other two rendering classes.

To custom draw (also known as owner draw) a ToolStrip, you can override one of the renderer classes and change an aspect of the rendering logic.

Custom Drawing User Control Sample

The following procedures describe various aspects of custom drawing.

To switch between the provided renderers

• Set the RenderMode property to the ToolStripRenderMode value you want.

  With ManagerRenderMode, the static RenderMode determines the renderer for your application. The other values of ToolStripRenderMode are Custom, Professional, and System.

To change the Microsoft Office–style borders to straight

• Override System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripProfessionalRenderer.OnRenderToolStripBorder(System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripRenderEventArgs), but do not call the base class.

Note
There is a version of this method for ToolStripRenderer, ToolStripSystemRenderer, and ToolStripProfessionalRenderer.

To change the ProfessionalColorTable

• Override ProfessionalColorTable and change the colors you want.

  [Visual Basic]

  Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As _
  System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
      Dim t As MyColorTable = New MyColorTable
      ToolStrip1.Renderer = New ToolStripProfessionalRenderer(t)
  End Sub
  
  Class MyColorTable 
  Inherits ProfessionalColorTable
  
  Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ButtonPressedGradientBegin() As Color
      Get
          Return Color.Red
      End Get
  End Property
  
  Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ButtonPressedGradientMiddle() _
  As System.Drawing.Color
      Get
          Return Color.Blue
      End Get
          End Property
  
  Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ButtonPressedGradientEnd() _
  As System.Drawing.Color
      Get
          Return Color.Green
      End Get
  End Property
  
  Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ButtonSelectedGradientBegin() _
  As Color
      Get
          Return Color.Yellow
      End Get
  End Property
  
  Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ButtonSelectedGradientMiddle() As System.Drawing.Color
      Get
          Return Color.Orange
      End Get
  End Property
  
  Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ButtonSelectedGradientEnd() _
  As System.Drawing.Color
      Get
          Return Color.Violet
      End Get
  End Property
  End Class
  

To change the rendering for all ToolStrip controls in your application

1. Use the System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripManager.RenderMode property to choose one of the provided renderers.

2. Use System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripManager.Renderer to assign a custom renderer.

3. Ensure that System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.RenderMode is set to the default value of ManagerRenderMode.

To turn off the Microsoft Office colors for the entire application

• Set System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripManager.VisualStylesEnabled to false.

To turn off the Microsoft Office colors for one ToolStrip control

• Use code similar to the following code example.

  [Visual Basic]

  Dim colorTable As ProfessionalColorTable()
  colorTable.UseSystemColors = True
  Dim toolStrip.Renderer As ToolStripProfessionalRenderer(colorTable)
  

  [C#]

  ProfessionalColorTable colorTable = new ProfessionalColorTable();
  colorTable.UseSystemColors = true;
  toolStrip.Renderer = new ToolStripProfessionalRenderer(colorTable);
  

See Also

Tasks

How to: Create and Set a Custom Renderer for the ToolStrip Control in Windows Forms

Reference

ToolStrip Control Overview (Windows Forms)
ToolStripSystemRenderer
ToolStripProfessionalRenderer
ToolStripRenderer

Concepts

Controls with Built-In Owner-Drawing Support