How to: Custom Paint a Menu Bar of a Popup Menu

• Nov 13, 2018
• 2 minutes to read

The following sample code handles the PopupMenu.PaintMenuBar event. The handler fills the menu bar area with a linear gradient brush and paints “XtraBars Suite” on it.

The image below displays an example of using such a PopupMenu.PaintMenuBar event handler. (Note that the PopupMenu.MenuBarWidth property of the corresponding popup menu should be set to 20 to obtain similar output).

C#

using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;

readonly Font textFont = new Font("Tahoma", 11, FontStyle.Bold);
private void popupMenu1_PaintMenuBar(object sender, 
  DevExpress.XtraBars.BarCustomDrawEventArgs e) {
   // filling the background
    using(var backBrush = new LinearGradientBrush(e.Bounds, Color.Black,
        Color.Blue, LinearGradientMode.Vertical))
        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(backBrush, e.Bounds);

    // formatting the output string
    using(var outStringFormat = new StringFormat()) {
        outStringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Near;
        outStringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center;
        outStringFormat.FormatFlags |= StringFormatFlags.DirectionVertical;

        // transforming the painting surface and modifying the bounding rectangle
        // this is needed to provide proper string orientation
        e.Graphics.RotateTransform(180);
        Rectangle rect = e.Bounds;
        rect.Offset(-rect.Width, -rect.Height);

        // painting the string
        e.Graphics.DrawString("XtraBars Suite", textFont,
            Brushes.White, rect, outStringFormat);
        e.Graphics.ResetTransform();
    }

    // prohibiting default painting
    e.Handled = true;
}

VB.NET

Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Drawing.Drawing2D

Private ReadOnly textFont As New Font("Tahoma", 11, FontStyle.Bold)
Private Sub PopupMenu1_PaintMenuBar(ByVal sender As Object, _
  ByVal e As DevExpress.XtraBars.BarCustomDrawEventArgs) Handles PopupMenu1.PaintMenuBar
    ' filling the background
    Using backBrush = New LinearGradientBrush(e.Bounds, Color.Black, Color.Blue, LinearGradientMode.Vertical)
        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(backBrush, e.Bounds)
    End Using

    ' formatting the output string
    Using outStringFormat = New StringFormat()
        outStringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Near
        outStringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center
        outStringFormat.FormatFlags = outStringFormat.FormatFlags Or StringFormatFlags.DirectionVertical

        ' transforming the painting surface and modifying the bounding rectangle
        ' this is needed to provide proper string orientation
        e.Graphics.RotateTransform(180)
        Dim rect As Rectangle = e.Bounds
        rect.Offset(-rect.Width, -rect.Height)

        ' painting the string
        e.Graphics.DrawString("XtraBars Suite", textFont, Brushes.White, rect, outStringFormat)
        e.Graphics.ResetTransform()
    End Using

    ' prohibiting default painting
    e.Handled = True
End Sub