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TabForm Class

A tabbed UI form that allows you to add custom buttons (Bar Items) to the form’s header. Tabs and custom buttons can be incorporated directly in the title bar.

Namespace: DevExpress.XtraBars

Assembly: DevExpress.XtraBars.v24.1.dll

NuGet Package: DevExpress.Win.Navigation

Declaration

public class TabForm :
    XtraForm

The following members return TabForm objects:

Remarks

Tip

A complete Tab UI application based on the TabForm can be created with a single click by using the DevExpress Project Template Gallery.

To convert your form to a TabForm, use the FormAssistant component (see Form Assistant).

The TabForm consists of two regions:

TabForm

The TabFormControl encapsulates the form’s header. It displays tabs (the TabFormControlBase.Pages collection) and custom buttons (TabFormControlBase.TitleItemLinks, TabFormControlBase.TabLeftItemLinks, and TabFormControlBase.TabRightItemLinks).

Each tab (a TabFormPage object) is associated with its own XtraScrollableControl, which is a container for your controls. When you or your end user selects a tab, the TabForm’s client area displays the associated XtraScrollableControl. To access a tab page’s control container in code, use the TabFormPage.ContentContainer property.

The TabForm’s main features include:

Feature

Member

Any number of tabs

TabFormControlBase.Pages

An end user can add tabs at runtime using the built-in Add (“+”) button

TabFormControlBase.ShowAddPageButton

TabFormControlBase.PageCreated

Tabs can be displayed in the title bar

TabFormControlBase.ShowTabsInTitleBar

Close buttons in tabs

TabFormControlBase.ShowTabCloseButtons

Images in tabs

TabFormPage.Image, TabFormPage.ImageIndex, and TabFormPage.ImageUri

A tab can be dragged away from the current form to create a separate form

TabFormControlBase.AllowMoveTabsToOuterForm

Appearance customization

TabFormControlBase.Appearance

Custom buttons

TabFormControlBase.TitleItemLinks, TabFormControlBase.TabLeftItemLinks, and TabFormControlBase.TabRightItemLinks

Tab header size

TabFormControlBase.MaxTabWidth

TabFormControlBase.MinTabWidth

To create a tab form in code, use the TabForm class as a base class.

using DevExpress.XtraBars;

namespace DXApplication1 {
    public partial class Form1 : TabForm
    {
        private DevExpress.XtraBars.TabFormControl tabFormControl1;
        private DevExpress.XtraBars.TabFormPage tabFormPage1;
        private DevExpress.XtraBars.TabFormContentContainer tabFormContentContainer1;

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            this.tabFormControl1 = new DevExpress.XtraBars.TabFormControl();
            this.tabFormContentContainer1 = new DevExpress.XtraBars.TabFormContentContainer();
            this.tabFormPage1 = new DevExpress.XtraBars.TabFormPage();
            ((System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize)(this.tabFormControl1)).BeginInit();
            this.SuspendLayout();

            this.tabFormControl1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(0, 0);
            this.tabFormControl1.Name = "tabFormControl1";
            this.tabFormControl1.Pages.Add(this.tabFormPage1);
            this.tabFormControl1.SelectedPage = this.tabFormPage1;
            this.tabFormControl1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(284, 50);
            this.tabFormControl1.TabForm = this;
            this.tabFormControl1.TabIndex = 0;
            this.tabFormControl1.TabStop = false;

            this.tabFormContentContainer1.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Fill;
            this.tabFormContentContainer1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(0, 50);
            this.tabFormContentContainer1.Name = "tabFormContentContainer1";
            this.tabFormContentContainer1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(284, 211);
            this.tabFormContentContainer1.TabIndex = 1;

            this.tabFormPage1.ContentContainer = this.tabFormContentContainer1;
            this.tabFormPage1.Name = "tabFormPage1";
            this.tabFormPage1.Text = "Page 0";

            this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(6F, 13F);
            this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
            this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(284, 261);
            this.Controls.Add(this.tabFormContentContainer1);
            this.Controls.Add(this.tabFormControl1);
            this.Name = "Form1";
            this.TabFormControl = this.tabFormControl1;
            this.Text = "Form1";
            ((System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize)(this.tabFormControl1)).EndInit();
            this.ResumeLayout(false);
        }
    }
}

Note

Do not add a separate BarManager to the TabForm and TabFormControl.

You can add a toolbar(s) to a specific tabbed page. To accomplish this, create a User Control, add a BarManager to the User Control, and then add this User Control to the target tabbed page (TabFormPage.ContentContainer).

Inheritance

Show 11 items
Object
MarshalByRefObject
Component
Control
ScrollableControl
ContainerControl
Form
DevExpress.XtraEditors.DForm
DevExpress.XtraEditors.MouseWheelContainerForm
XtraForm
TabForm
See Also