Creating Your Own Custom Navigation ToolStrip (Walkthrough)

By default, MM .NET uses the mmNavigationToolStrip class for the navigation ToolStrip. This topic provides a step-by-step walkthrough demonstrating how you can create your own custom navigation ToolStrip with additional buttons added to it. Specifically, the walkthrough demonstrates adding a Delete button to the ToolStrip.

Step 1: Create a ToolStrip Subclass

1. In the Visual Studio Solution Explorer, right-click your Windows Forms project and select Add | New Item... from the shortcut menu.

2. In the Add New Item dialog's Categories pane, select Visual C# Project Items or Visual Basic Items, then under Templates, select Component Class.

3. Next, in the Name text box, enter "MyCustomNavToolStrip" and click the Add button (Visual Studio automatically adds the .cs or .vb extension)

4. Right-click the component design surface and select View Code from the shortcut menu. At the top of the source code add the following namespace references.

   In C#:

   using System.Windows.Forms;
   
   using OakLeaf.MM.Main.Windows.Forms;

   And in VB .NET:

   Imports System.Windows.Forms
   
   Imports OakLeaf.MM.Main.Windows.Forms

5. Specify that MyCustomNavToolStrip is based on mmToolStrip

   In C#:

   public partial class MyCustomNavToolStrip : mmToolStrip

   And in VB .NET:

   Public Class MyCustomNavToolStrip
       Inherits mmToolStrip

Step 2: Customizing the ToolStrip

In this step you add a custom button to the ToolStrip that deletes an item in the primary business object of the currently active form.

1. In the Visual Studio Solution Explorer, double-click the MyCustomNavToolStrip.cs or MyCustomNavToolStrip.vb file. This displays the ToolStrip in design mode.

2. Go to the Properties Window, select the Items property and click its associated ellipses button [...].

3. In the Items Collection Editor dialog's combo box, select mmToolStripButtonDelete and click the Add button:

   

4. On the right side of the dialog, select the Image property and click its ellipses button [...]. This launches the Select Resource dialog:

   

5. In the Select Resource dialog, click the Import... button. Navigate to a folder that contains the image you want to use.

6. Click OK to close the Select Resource dialog

7. In the Items Collection Editor dialog, select the ToolTipText property and set the text you want to appear. For example: Delete.

8. Click OK to close the dialog.

Step 3: Overriding the ToolStrip Factory Method

In this final step you override the method that instantiates the ToolStrip.

1. In the Solution Explorer, double-click the Factory.cs or Factory.vb source code file.

2. If it doesn't already exist, add a reference to the following namespace to the top of the source code file.

   In C#:

   using OakLeaf.MM.Main.Windows.Forms;

   And in VB .NET

   Imports OakLeaf.MM.Main.Windows.Forms

3. Add the following method to the Factory class.

   In C#:

   public override mmNavigationToolStrip CreateNavigationToolStrip()
   {
   	mmNavigationToolStrip NavToolStrip = base.CreateNavigationToolStrip();
   	myToolStrip CustomToolStrip = new myToolStrip();
   
   	int ButtonCount = CustomToolStrip.Items.Count;
   
   	for (int i = 0; i < ButtonCount; i++)
   	{
   		NavToolStrip.Items.Add(CustomToolStrip.Items[0]);
   	}
   
   	return NavToolStrip;
   }

   And in VB .NET:

   Public Overrides Function CreateNavigationToolStrip() As mmNavigationToolStrip
      Dim NavToolStrip As mmNavigationToolStrip = MyBase.CreateNavigationToolStrip()
      Dim CustomToolStrip As New myCustomNavToolStrip()
      
      Dim ButtonCount As Integer = CustomToolStrip.Items.Count
      
      Dim i As Integer
      For i = 0 To ButtonCount - 1
         NavToolStrip.Items.Add(CustomToolStrip.Items(0))
      Next i
      
      Return NavToolStrip
   End Function

The ToolStrip at Runtime

When you run your application, the navigation ToolStrip should look something like this:

When you click the Delete button, the form should delete a record in the primary business object.