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This is an advanced section. You should read this section if you want to create a custom theme or want to get to know better the internal structure of RadGroupBox. |
Like all Telerik WinForms controls RadGroupBox is build upon Telerik Presentation Framework (TPF). TPF consists of various elements (such as primitives and layouts) that are the building blocks of the controls. The RadGroupBox tree structure is given on the screenshot below:
The most important nodes are GroupBoxContent, GroupBoxHeader, GroupBoxFooter, and RadGroupBoxElement. The last one also plays the role of the layout node for the control which arranges its child nodes - content, header, and footer (all three extending the GroupBoxVisualElement class). The footer node if not collapsed (the default value is collapsed) is always arranged as a bar at the bottom of the control, and the content and the header are arrange above the area occupied by the footer. All high level arrangement properties such as GroupBoxStyle, HeaderPosition, HeaderAlignment, etc are defined as dependency properties.
GroupBoxContent node consists of a border and a fill. GroupBoxHeader and GroupBoxFooter have an ImageAndTextLayoutPanel as well so that a text and image can be placed and arranged. Please refer to ImageAndTextLayoutPanel about more information regarding image alignment, text alignment, image and text relation, etc.
Please refer to Architecture section for more information about the building blocks of the above tree and their corresponding properties.
Code samples
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The code samples below are just a demonstration of how you can set node properties programmatically. You will probably prefer to use the Visual Style Builder to create your themes using no code. |
Example 1
The code sample below access the FillPrimitive of the header, changes the first two gradient stop colors to red and yellow, and then the gradient style to linear. GroupBoxElement property of the control returns the RadGroupBoxElement, then the code access the GroupBoxHeader - Children[1] - finally the code access the FillPrimitive - Children[0] - which is cast to FillPrimitive so that you can use its properties like GradientStyle.
Copy[C#] Change the GroupBox header color
((FillPrimitive)this.radGroupBox1.GroupBoxElement.Children[1].Children[0]).BackColor = Color.Red;
((FillPrimitive)this.radGroupBox1.GroupBoxElement.Children[1].Children[0]).BackColor2 = Color.Yellow;
((FillPrimitive)this.radGroupBox1.GroupBoxElement.Children[1].Children[0]).GradientStyle = Telerik.WinControls.GradientStyles.Linear;
Copy[VB.NET] Change the GroupBox header color
DirectCast(Me.RadGroupBox1.GroupBoxElement.Children(1).Children(0), FillPrimitive).BackColor = Color.Red
DirectCast(Me.RadGroupBox1.GroupBoxElement.Children(1).Children(0), FillPrimitive).BackColor2 = Color.Yellow
DirectCast(Me.RadGroupBox1.GroupBoxElement.Children(1).Children(0), FillPrimitive).GradientStyle = Telerik.WinControls.GradientStyles.Linear
Example 2
The code snippet below makes the BorderPrimitive of the Header invisible:
Copy[C#] Change the GroupBox header border
((BorderPrimitive)this.radGroupBox1.GroupBoxElement.Children[1].Children[1]).Visibility = Telerik.WinControls.ElementVisibility.Hidden;
Copy[VB.NET] Change the GroupBox header border
DirectCast(Me.RadGroupBox1.GroupBoxElement.Children(1).Children(1), BorderPrimitive).Visibility = Telerik.WinControls.ElementVisibility.Hidden