How to use RadTitleBar on a standard MS Form/RadForm

Updated on Oct 31, 2025

Environment

Product Version	Product	Author
2025.3.812	RadTitleBar for WinForms	Nadya Karaivanova

Description

The standard Form as well as RadForm do provide their own title bar integrated in the form. However, a common requirement is to want to customize the buttons on the form, or change their behavior, etc. Here comes RadTitleBar that allows it to be fully customized.

Solution

To use RadTitleBar on a standard Form or RadForm, and achieve the same behavior when minimizing/maximizing the form, you need to override the WndProc() as shown below:

A full code snippet is illustrated below. You can use the following approach for either MS Form or RadForm.

C#

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        //remove title bar of existing Form
        this.ControlBox = false;
        this.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;

        //Add RadTitleBar
        RadTitleBar radTitleBar = new Telerik.WinControls.UI.RadTitleBar();
        radTitleBar.Dock = DockStyle.Top;
        this.Controls.Add(radTitleBar);

    }

    protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)
    {
        if (m.Msg == NativeMethods.WM_GETMINMAXINFO)
        {
            NativeMethods.MINMAXINFO info = (NativeMethods.MINMAXINFO)Marshal.PtrToStructure(m.LParam, typeof(NativeMethods.MINMAXINFO));

            if (this.Parent == null)
            {
                Screen scr = Screen.FromControl(this);
                Rectangle workingArea = scr.WorkingArea;
                Rectangle screenRect = scr.Bounds;

                info.ptMaxSize.x = workingArea.Width;
                info.ptMaxSize.y = workingArea.Height;
                info.ptMaxPosition.x = workingArea.X - screenRect.X;
                info.ptMaxPosition.y = workingArea.Y - screenRect.Y;
                Marshal.StructureToPtr(info, m.LParam, false);
            }
        }

        base.WndProc(ref m);
    }
}
   

VB.NET

Public Partial Class Form1
    Inherits Form

    Public Sub New()
        InitializeComponent()
        ' remove title bar of existing Form
        Me.ControlBox = False
        Me.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None

        ' Add RadTitleBar
        Dim radTitleBar As RadTitleBar = New Telerik.WinControls.UI.RadTitleBar()
        radTitleBar.Dock = DockStyle.Top
        Me.Controls.Add(radTitleBar)
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Sub WndProc(ByRef m As Message)
        If m.Msg = NativeMethods.WM_GETMINMAXINFO Then
            Dim info As NativeMethods.MINMAXINFO = CType(Marshal.PtrToStructure(m.LParam, GetType(NativeMethods.MINMAXINFO)), NativeMethods.MINMAXINFO)

            If Me.Parent Is Nothing Then
                Dim scr As Screen = Screen.FromControl(Me)
                Dim workingArea As Rectangle = scr.WorkingArea
                Dim screenRect As Rectangle = scr.Bounds
                info.ptMaxSize.x = workingArea.Width
                info.ptMaxSize.y = workingArea.Height
                info.ptMaxPosition.x = workingArea.X - screenRect.X
                info.ptMaxPosition.y = workingArea.Y - screenRect.Y
                Marshal.StructureToPtr(info, m.LParam, False)
            End If
        End If

        MyBase.WndProc(m)
    End Sub
End Class