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Vista Style Address Bar for .NET 2.0/WinForms

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4.77/5 (12 votes)
10 Apr 2010CPOL2 min read 70.9K   2.4K   83   16
WinForms version of the Vista style address bar that can be extended to support more than just browsing the file system.
abe.png

Introduction

Whilst Windows Vista still sits in amidst much controversy and discussion, a few of the features/changes it implemented have been quite cool. However, Microsoft failed to really let slide some of the cool UI changes down to us normal (or student) developers.

This article/code sample contains a personal implementation of the Vista-Style address bar for use in .NET/WinForms applications. It's based around a simple Tree/Node traversal that can be inherited to browse whatever you like.

Included in the demo is an example implementation that browses the file system tree, though it is limited in functionality (it was only made to illustrate how it all works :)).

Using the Code

The easiest way to understand the code is to download it and open it and have a play about.

The simplest way to use the bar is to drop it onto your form in Design view, then in the constructor of your form add the following code:

C#
//Initialize the bar with a root node type.
this.AdBar.InitializeRoot(new FileSystemNode());

All you need to do is pass it a root node, and the node itself should provide the information directly to the control. The FileSystemNode provides a basic enumeration of the first logical drive found on your Windows Install.

To implement the IAddressNode class, there are a few simple Properties to override and implement, then three real methods to implement yourself:

  • UpdateNode() - Used to update the node itself for any changes (e.g. in the FileSystemNode it checks for child folder changes and folder name changes)
  • GetChild() - Searches for a given child node based on a unique ID (A Unique ID being whatever you define it as. In FileSystemNode, we use an absolute path for a folder as the unique ID).
  • Clone() - Clones a given node as a separate value copy (rather than just by reference).

Conclusion

It's simple and relatively lightweight, it just needs you to implement your own IAddressNode derivatives to let it traverse any hierarchical structure you see fit. :)

History

  • 7/3/2009 - First upload of code to CodeProject
  • 29/12/2009 - Version 2.0 Supporting "My Computer" root node and VS2008, various bug fixes
  • 10/4/2010 - Version 2.1 Fix to overflow behaviour to make use of available space better. Slight optimization to overflow generation.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)



Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionSHGetFileInfo error in FileSystemNode.GenerateNodeDisplayDetails Pin
black__cat1-Sep-16 7:35
black__cat1-Sep-16 7:35 
Questioncomputernode rename Pin
Chris Anders17-Jan-14 5:36
Chris Anders17-Jan-14 5:36 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
TG_Cid22-Nov-10 7:17
TG_Cid22-Nov-10 7:17 
Question[My vote of 1] Why is your demo's form not resizable? Pin
tonyt10-Apr-10 16:35
tonyt10-Apr-10 16:35 
AnswerRe: [My vote of 1] Why is your demo's form not resizable? Pin
User 338124711-Apr-10 0:34
User 338124711-Apr-10 0:34 
GeneralRe: [My vote of 1] Why is your demo's form not resizable? Pin
tonyt11-Apr-10 12:57
tonyt11-Apr-10 12:57 
GeneralRe: [My [revote of 5]] Why is your demo's form not resizable? Pin
tonyt7-May-10 1:37
tonyt7-May-10 1:37 
GeneralOverflow problems Pin
see_seA1-Mar-10 11:14
see_seA1-Mar-10 11:14 
GeneralRe: Overflow problems Pin
User 338124710-Apr-10 4:20
User 338124710-Apr-10 4:20 
GeneralRe: Overflow problems Pin
User 338124710-Apr-10 6:09
User 338124710-Apr-10 6:09 
GeneralDoubleClick Pin
mikeduglas8-Jan-10 19:49
mikeduglas8-Jan-10 19:49 
GeneralRe: DoubleClick Pin
User 338124710-Apr-10 4:21
User 338124710-Apr-10 4:21 
GeneralDropDowns Pin
tonyt29-Dec-09 14:41
tonyt29-Dec-09 14:41 
GeneralRe: DropDowns Pin
User 338124730-Dec-09 2:07
User 338124730-Dec-09 2:07 
GeneralNull Reference Exception Pin
BenW26924-May-09 21:36
BenW26924-May-09 21:36 
GeneralRe: Null Reference Exception Pin
User 338124719-Dec-09 14:32
User 338124719-Dec-09 14:32 

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