Notification Button

Updated on Sep 15, 2025

Product Version	Product	Author	Last modified
Q2 2015	RadButton for WinForms	Desislava Yordanova	November 05, 2015

Problem

This article demonstrates how to create a notification button.

Solution

Firstly, you should create a new project with a RadRibbonForm. Afterwards, drag several RadButton controls from the Toolbox and drop them onto the form. You need to insert a RibbonTab and a RadRibbonBarGroup with several RadButtonElements. The following screenshot illustrates how the design time should look like:

Next, we should create a derivative of RadButton where the CreateChildItems method should be overridden in order to add a red circled LightVisualElement to illustrate the notification. The NotificationCount property controls whether the notification badge will be visible. If its value is set to 0, the red circle will be hidden:

C#

public class NotificationButton : RadButton
{
    int result;
    LightVisualElement lve;
    int sizeConst = 26;

    protected override void CreateChildItems(Telerik.WinControls.RadElement parent)
    {
        base.CreateChildItems(parent);

        lve = new LightVisualElement();
        lve.BackColor = Color.Red;
        lve.DrawFill = true;
        lve.StretchHorizontally = false;
        lve.StretchVertically = false;
        lve.GradientStyle = Telerik.WinControls.GradientStyles.Solid;
        lve.Shape = new RoundRectShape(sizeConst / 2);
        lve.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
        lve.ForeColor = Color.White;
        lve.MinSize = new Size(sizeConst, sizeConst);
        lve.Visibility = ElementVisibility.Collapsed;
        this.RootElement.Children.Add(lve);

        // Pushing the ButtonElement off the top and right edges
        // so that the badge is not completely overlapped with the button
        this.ButtonElement.Margin = new System.Windows.Forms.Padding(0, 5, 5, 0);
    }

    protected override void InitLayout()
    {
        base.InitLayout();

        lve.Margin = new System.Windows.Forms.Padding(this.Size.Width - sizeConst - 1, 0, 0, 0);
    }

    protected override void OnSizeChanged(EventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnSizeChanged(e);

        lve.Margin = new System.Windows.Forms.Padding(this.Size.Width - sizeConst - 1, 0, 0, 0);
    }

    [DefaultValue(0)]
    public int NotificationCount
    {
        get
        {
            if (lve.Text != null)
            {
                bool isInt = int.TryParse(lve.Text, out result);
                if (isInt)
                {
                    return result;
                }
            }

            return 0;
        }
        set
        {
            if (value > 0)
            {
                lve.Visibility = ElementVisibility.Visible;
            }
            else
            {
                lve.Visibility = ElementVisibility.Collapsed;
            }
            lve.Text = value.ToString();
        }
    }

    protected override Size DefaultSize
    {
        get
        {
            return new Size(150, 50);
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Public Class NotificationButton
Inherits RadButton
    Private result As Integer
    Private lve As LightVisualElement
    Private sizeConst As Integer

    Protected Overrides Sub CreateChildItems(ByVal parent As Telerik.WinControls.RadElement)
        MyBase.CreateChildItems(parent)
        sizeConst = 26
        lve = New LightVisualElement()
        lve.BackColor = Color.Red
        lve.DrawFill = True
        lve.StretchHorizontally = False
        lve.StretchVertically = False
        lve.GradientStyle = Telerik.WinControls.GradientStyles.Solid
        lve.Shape = New RoundRectShape(sizeConst / 2)
        lve.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias
        lve.ForeColor = Color.White
        lve.MinSize = New Size(sizeConst, sizeConst)
        lve.Visibility = ElementVisibility.Collapsed
        Me.RootElement.Children.Add(lve)

        ' Pushing the ButtonElement off the top and right edges
        ' so that the badge is not completely overlapped with the button
        Me.ButtonElement.Margin = New System.Windows.Forms.Padding(0, 5, 5, 0)
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Sub InitLayout()
        MyBase.InitLayout()

        lve.Margin = New System.Windows.Forms.Padding(Me.Size.Width - sizeConst - 1, 0, 0, 0)
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Sub OnSizeChanged(ByVal e As EventArgs)
        MyBase.OnSizeChanged(e)

        lve.Margin = New System.Windows.Forms.Padding(Me.Size.Width - sizeConst - 1, 0, 0, 0)
    End Sub

    <DefaultValue(0)> _
    Public Property NotificationCount() As Integer
        Get
            If Not lve.Text Is Nothing Then
                Dim isInt As Boolean = Integer.TryParse(lve.Text, result)
                If isInt Then
                    Return result
                End If
            End If

            Return 0
        End Get
        Set(value As Integer)
            If value > 0 Then
                lve.Visibility = ElementVisibility.Visible
            Else
                lve.Visibility = ElementVisibility.Collapsed
            End If
            lve.Text = value.ToString()
        End Set
    End Property

    Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property DefaultSize() As Size
        Get
            Return New Size(150, 50)
        End Get
    End Property
End Class

The complete examples in C# and VB can be downloaded by clicking the following link.