TabControl.DrawItem Event

Definition

Occurs when the TabControl needs to paint each of its tabs if the DrawMode property is set to OwnerDrawFixed.

C#
public event System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventHandler DrawItem;
C#
public event System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventHandler? DrawItem;

Event Type

Examples

The following code example creates a TabControl with one TabPage. This example declares an event handler that is used to draw a string and Rectangle on the tab of tabPage1. The event handler is bound to the DrawItem event.

C#
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class Form1 : Form
{
    private Rectangle tabArea;
    private RectangleF tabTextArea;

    public Form1()
    {
        TabControl tabControl1 = new TabControl();
        TabPage tabPage1 = new TabPage();

        // Allows access to the DrawItem event. 
        tabControl1.DrawMode = TabDrawMode.OwnerDrawFixed;

        tabControl1.SizeMode = TabSizeMode.Fixed;
        tabControl1.Controls.Add(tabPage1);
        tabControl1.ItemSize = new Size(80, 30);
        tabControl1.Location = new Point(25, 25);
        tabControl1.Size = new Size(250, 250);
        tabPage1.TabIndex = 0;
        ClientSize = new Size(300, 300);
        Controls.Add(tabControl1);

        tabArea = tabControl1.GetTabRect(0);
        tabTextArea = (RectangleF)tabControl1.GetTabRect(0);

        // Binds the event handler DrawOnTab to the DrawItem event 
        // through the DrawItemEventHandler delegate.
        tabControl1.DrawItem += new DrawItemEventHandler(DrawOnTab);
    }

    // Declares the event handler DrawOnTab which is a method that
    // draws a string and Rectangle on the tabPage1 tab.
    private void DrawOnTab(object sender, DrawItemEventArgs e)
    {
        Graphics g = e.Graphics;
        Pen p = new Pen(Color.Blue);
        Font font = new Font("Arial", 10.0f);
        SolidBrush brush = new SolidBrush(Color.Red);

        g.DrawRectangle(p, tabArea);
        g.DrawString("tabPage1", font, brush, tabTextArea);
    }

    static void Main() 
    {
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }
}

Remarks

When you set the DrawMode property to OwnerDrawFixed, the TabControl raises the DrawItem event whenever it needs to paint one of its tabs. To customize the appearance of the tabs, provide your own painting code in a handler for the DrawItem event.

The TabControl does not support variable tab sizes with owner drawing.

For more information about handling events, see Handling and Raising Events.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
Windows Desktop 3.0, 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

See also