How to: Custom Paint a Menu Bar of a Sub-Menu
- 2 minutes to read
This example shows you how to paint the menu bar using the BarCustomContainerItem.PaintMenuBar event. The sample handler fills the background of the bar with a texture and linear gradient brush. Then it paints the name of the container item, whose menu is displayed.
The image below demonstrates code execution. (Note that the BarCustomContainerItem.MenuBarWidth property of corresponding container items must be set to 20 to obtain similar output).
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;
using DevExpress.XtraBars;
private void BarSubItem1_PaintMenuBar(object sender, BarCustomDrawEventArgs e) {
// creating a texture brush and filling the background with an image
TextureBrush brush = new TextureBrush(Image.FromFile(@"C:\Images\lblue.gif"));
e.Graphics.FillRectangle(brush, e.Bounds);
// filling the background with a linear gradient brush
LinearGradientBrush lBrush = new LinearGradientBrush(e.Bounds,
Color.FromArgb(0, 0, 0, 0), Color.Blue, LinearGradientMode.Vertical);
e.Graphics.FillRectangle(lBrush, 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 bounding rectangle
// this allows to provide the proper string orientation
e.Graphics.RotateTransform(180);
Rectangle rect = e.Bounds;
rect.Offset(-rect.Width, -rect.Height);
// determining the caption of the owning container item and painting it
BarItem item = sender as BarItem;
string outString = item.Caption.Replace("&", "") + " menu";
e.Graphics.DrawString(outString, new Font("Verdana", 11, FontStyle.Bold),
new SolidBrush(Color.White), rect, outStringFormat);
e.Graphics.ResetTransform();
// prohibiting default painting
e.Handled = true;
}