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;

private void popupMenu1_PaintMenuBar(object sender, 
  DevExpress.XtraBars.BarCustomDrawEventArgs e) {
   // filling the background
   LinearGradientBrush brush = new LinearGradientBrush(e.Bounds, Color.Black, 
     Color.Blue, LinearGradientMode.Vertical);
   e.Graphics.FillRectangle(brush, e.Bounds);

   // formatting the output string
   StringFormat 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", new Font("Tahoma", 11, FontStyle.Bold), 
     new SolidBrush(Color.White), rect, outStringFormat);
   e.Graphics.ResetTransform();

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

VB.NET

Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Drawing.Drawing2D

Private Sub PopupMenu1_PaintMenuBar(ByVal sender As Object, _
  ByVal e As DevExpress.XtraBars.BarCustomDrawEventArgs) Handles PopupMenu1.PaintMenuBar
   ' filling the background
   Dim Brush As New LinearGradientBrush(e.Bounds, Color.Black, Color.Blue, _
     LinearGradientMode.Vertical)
   e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Brush, e.Bounds)

   ' formatting the output string
   Dim OutStringFormat As 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 New RectangleF(e.Bounds.X, e.Bounds.Y, e.Bounds.Width, e.Bounds.Height)
   Rect.Offset(-Rect.Width, -Rect.Height)

   ' painting the string
   e.Graphics.DrawString("XtraBars Suite", New Font("Tahoma", 11, FontStyle.Bold), _
     New SolidBrush(Color.White), Rect, OutStringFormat)
   e.Graphics.ResetTransform()

   ' prohibiting default painting
   e.Handled = True
End Sub