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How to: Custom Draw a ToolStrip Control

The ToolStrip controls have the following associated rendering (painting) 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

To change the Microsoft Office–style borders to straight

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 ToolStripManager.RenderMode property to choose one of the provided renderers.

  2. Use ToolStripManager.Renderer to assign a custom renderer.

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

To turn off the Microsoft Office colors for the entire application

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

Concepts

Controls with Built-In Owner-Drawing Support

Reference

ToolStrip Control Overview (Windows Forms)

ToolStripSystemRenderer

ToolStripProfessionalRenderer

ToolStripRenderer