Infragistics.Win.UltraWinExplorerBar Namespace

The UltraWinExplorerBar automatically provides several types of items that can be used to populate the control's sliding groups. However, if these item types are insufficient to meet the needs of your application, you can place WinForms control inside of a group to create a custom interface. The UltraExplorerBarContainerControl is used to facilitate this process.

In order to host WinForms controls, an UltraExplorerBarContainerControl is automatically created inside of a group when its UltraExplorerBarGroupSettings.Style property is set to ControlContainer. (Any existing items in the group become inaccessible to the user, as the container control takes up the entire area of the group.) The UltraWinExplorerBarContainerControl provides a canvas onto which you can place WinForms controls.

Because the UltraWinExplorerBarContainerControl is created automatically as needed, you will only need to interact with it directly under limited circumstances.

The UltraExplorerBarGroup object represents a sliding group in the UltraExplorerBar interface. Each UltraWinExplorerBar contains one or more groups. They are used to organize the interface elements that make up the primary UI of the control.

Each group can contain either UltraExplorerBarItem objects or WinForms controls. The group can be set to one of several Styles, which determine how the items in the group will appear. Note that many of the Group's settings are not set directly on the UltraExplorerBarGroup object itself, but on the associated UltraExplorerBarGroupSettings object, which encapsulates the appearance and behavior settings that can be applied to the group.

The UltraExplorerBarGroupAppearances object encapsulates the appearance settings for a particular UltraExplorerBarGroup object. Each group can have separate appearances for when it is displaying large or small icons for its items. The UltraExplorerBarGroupAppearances object is typically returned by the UltraExplorerBarGroupSettings.AppearancesLarge and UltraExplorerBarGroupSettings.AppearancesSmall properties.

Note that since all group-related appearance properties are encapsulated by the UltraExplorerBarGroupSettings object, these properties are found on that object rather than on the UltraWinExplorerBarGroup object itself.

The UltraExplorerBarGroupSettings object is used to encapsulate all of the appearance and behavior settings that are applied to an UltraExplorerBarGroup object. The settings of this object are capable of being persisted by using the UltraExplorerBar.SaveAsBinary or UltraExplorerBar.SaveAsXml methods.

The settings of this object include AppearancesLarge and AppearancesSmall which determine the formatting of the group items in small and large icon modes, HeaderButtonStyle and HeaderVisible, which control the look of the group header, and Style which determines the overall look of the items that make up the group.

The GroupSettingsResolved object contains the same properties as the UltraExplorerBar.GroupSettings object. You can use this object to determine what values are in effect for any given setting of the GroupSettings object. Some properties of the GroupSettings object may be set to their "use default" value, which indicates that the setting in effect for the Group is being inherited rather than explicitly set at the Group level. For these properties, you cannot determine which setting is actually being applied to the Group. However, the properties of the GroupSettingsResolved object will always return a meaningful value that you can examine to determine how the Group will appear or behave.

If you need to examine property settings at the Group level and take action based on the setting in effect for the Group, access the properties via the GroupSettingsResolved object to make sure you will always have a valid value for comparison purposes.

The UltraExplorerBarItem object represents an Item within an UltraWinExplorerBar Group. Items are interface elements similar to menu items that invoke an action in the program when clicked. An Item consists of an icon and a text string that describes the function of the item. Items an be set to take on one of several pre-defined appearances, such as state (toggle) button or separator, in addition to the standard icon plus label appearance.

Many of the details of an Item's appearance are determined by the settings of the Group that contains the item. (Usually, these settings are derived from the UltraExplorerBar.GroupSettings object.) For example, Group-level settings will specify whether the item displays a large or a small icon, the relative position of the text and the icon, and so on. Also note that Items are not controls. While you can place WinForms controls in an UltraWinExplorerBar Group, doing so will hide any Items that exist in the Group. Items and WinForms controls are mutually exclusive within a single Group.

The UltraExplorerBarItemAppearances object encapsulates the appearance settings for a particular UltraExplorerBarItem object. Each item can have separate appearances for when it is being displayed with a large or small icon. The UltraExplorerBarItemAppearances object is typically returned by the UltraExplorerBarItemSettings.AppearancesLarge and UltraExplorerBarItemSettings.AppearancesSmall properties.

Note that since all item-related appearance properties are encapsulated by the UltraExplorerBarItemSettings object, these properties are found on that object rather than on the UltraWinExplorerBarItem object itself.

Appearance settings applied at the Item level will override the same settings applied at the Group level. Any Item that does not have a specific Appearance property set explicitly will inherit its setting for that property from the Group.

The UltraExplorerBarItemSettings object is used to encapsulate all of the appearance and behavior settings that are applied to an UltraExplorerBarItem object. The settings of this object are capable of being persisted by using the UltraExplorerBar.SaveAsBinary or UltraExplorerBar.SaveAsXml methods.

The settings of this object include AppearancesLarge and AppearancesSmall which determine the formatting of the Item in small and large icon modes, Enabled which determines whether the item can be activated, Indent which specifies the amount of indenting applied to the Item, and Style which determines whether the Item will function as a buttton, state button, label or separator.

The ItemSettingsResolved object contains the same properties as the UltraExplorerBarItemSettings object. You can use this object to determine what values are in effect for any given setting of the ItemSettings object. Some properties of the ItemSettings object may be set to their "use default" value, which indicates that the setting in effect for the Item is being inherited rather than explicitly set at the Item level. For these properties, you cannot determine which setting is actually being applied to the Item. However, the properties of the ItemSettingsResolved object will always return a meaningful value that you can examine to determine how the Item will appear or behave.

If you need to examine property settings at the Item level and take action based on the setting in effect for the Item, access the properties via the ItemSettingsResolved object to make sure you will always have a valid value for comparison purposes.