Glass Style ProgressBar For Windows Applications

Introduction

 
Why another Progressbar? The standard ProgressBar is too limited in functionality and I couldn't find a custom control written that did all that I wanted. This is a User Control with many properties and versatility. It is simple to use, just drop it on the form, adjust the design-time properties, and use it as the normal ProgressBar.
 

Background

 
MBProgressBar is a simple progress bar that inherits all the properties of a simple progress bar. I added some extra functionalities MBProgressBar like Animation, Glow, Highlight, and so on. The language used is VB.NET.
 

Control Properties

 
Here is the list of properties available in MBProgressBar:
  • Color: This property sets the MBProgressBar color.
  • GlowColor: This property sets the glow color of the MBProgressBar.
  • BackgroundColor: This property sets the back color of the MBProgressBar.
  • HighlightColor: This property sets the highlight color of the MBProgressBar.
  • Animation: This property sets the animation of the MBProgressBar.

Code

 
 
The concept for this Progressbar came from the Vista "Progress Bar" or Windows 7 “Progress Bar”. I organized my paint event into layers like this:
  1. Private Sub GlowAnimation_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, _  
  2.            ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs) Handles Me.Paint  
  3.     e.Graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias  
  4.     e.Graphics.InterpolationMode = InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic  
  5.     DrawBackground(e.Graphics)  
  6.     DrawBackgroundShadows(e.Graphics)  
  7.     DrawBar(e.Graphics)  
  8.     DrawBarShadows(e.Graphics)  
  9.     DrawHighlight(e.Graphics)  
  10.     DrawInnerStroke(e.Graphics)  
  11.     DrawGlow(e.Graphics)  
  12.     DrawOuterStroke(e.Graphics)  
  13. End Sub 
The following are some methods that provide a transparent look to MBProgressBar. This method draws the background for the MBProgressBar.
  1. Private Sub DrawBackground(ByVal g As Graphics)  
  2.     Dim r As Rectangle = Me.ClientRectangle  
  3.     r.Width = r.Width - 1  
  4.     r.Height = r.Height - 1  
  5.     Dim rr As GraphicsPath = RoundRect(r, 2, 2, 2, 2)  
  6.     g.FillPath(New SolidBrush(Me.BackgroundColor), rr)  
  7. End Sub 
This method draws the background shadow for the MBProgressBar:
  1. Private Sub DrawBackgroundShadows(ByVal g As Graphics)  
  2.     Dim lr As Rectangle = New Rectangle(2, 2, 10, Me.Height - 5)  
  3.     Dim lg As LinearGradientBrush = New LinearGradientBrush(lr, _  
  4.         Color.FromArgb(30, 0, 0, 0), Color.Transparent, _  
  5.         LinearGradientMode.Horizontal)  
  6.     lr.X = lr.X - 1  
  7.     g.FillRectangle(lg, lr)  
  8.     Dim rr As Rectangle = New Rectangle(Me.Width - 12, 2, 10, Me.Height - 5)  
  9.     Dim rg As LinearGradientBrush = New LinearGradientBrush(lr, _  
  10.         Color.Transparent, Color.FromArgb(20, 0, 0, 0), _  
  11.         LinearGradientMode.Horizontal)  
  12.     lr.X = lr.X - 1  
  13.     g.FillRectangle(rg, rr)  
  14. End Sub 
This method draws MBProgressBar.
  1. Private Sub DrawBar(ByVal g As Graphics)  
  2.     Dim r As Rectangle = New Rectangle(1, 2, Me.Width - 3, Me.Height - 3)  
  3.     r.Width = CInt((Value * 1.0F / (100) * Me.Width))  
  4.     g.FillRectangle(New SolidBrush(Color()), r)  
  5. End Sub 

Using the Code

 
 
It is very easy to use them MBProgressBar in your application. Just add the reference of the provided DLL to your application and just drag and drop.
 

History

  • MBProgressBar Version 1.0