.NET Windows® Forms Custom Controls

Control Design

All Windows-based applications provide several well-known UI elements, such as menus, toolbars, and status bars. Beyond these basic UI elements, most modern applications provide their own custom set of controls and/or extend common UI elements to add some flair to the application. The leader and most-often-imitated UI elements are Microsoft's. MS Office has been a constant source of new UI elements and ideas for third-party control vendors. Advanced docking toolbars, custom menus, and windows are now available from several different vendors.

Users of Visual C++ and MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes) have some basic UI elements afforded to them, such as simple docking toolbars. However, advanced UI elements such as those found in ...