An Office 2003-like popup notifier

Nicolas Wälti

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4.71/5 (58 votes)

23 Mar 2006CPOL1 min read

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A nice little control to help the user notice you're trying to tell him something...

Introduction

This is a simple project, a control that mimics the Microsoft® Outlook® 2003 mail alert.

Features

This control has several features. Among them, you'll find:

Progressive appearance - transparency

MSN Messenger like pop-ups (any size, color, etc.)

Another sample

This control is 100% drawn in the code, there is absolutely no other dependencies than System.Drawing and System.Windows.Forms.

You can include a ContextMenuStrip when clicking on the "down arrow" button.

Using the code

The controls is made of two basic classes:

A form (the part that will actually show up).
A class that contains all the properties that will be includable on forms.

The class contains two timers, one used for the appearing/disappearing animation, the other (configurable) is used to define how much time the popup is shown before it disappears.

This is how the form is actually shown:

fPopup.Size = Size
fPopup.Opacity = 0
fPopup.Location = _
  New Point(Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Right_
   - fPopup.Size.Width - 1, _
   Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Bottom)
fPopup.Show()

The form is does the drawing in the Paint event.

I'm using these functions to obtain a color that is similar but lighter/darker. There might exist another method.

Private Function GetDarkerColor(ByVal Color As Color) As Color
    Dim clNew As Color
    clNew = Drawing.Color.FromArgb(255, DedValueMin0(CInt(Color.R), _
            Parent.GradientPower), DedValueMin0(CInt(Color.G), _
            Parent.GradientPower), DedValueMin0(CInt(Color.B), _
            Parent.GradientPower))
    Return clNew
End Function

And to avoid flickering...

Me.SetStyle(ControlStyles.OptimizedDoubleBuffer, True)
Me.SetStyle(ControlStyles.ResizeRedraw, True)
Me.SetStyle(ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint, True)

Points of Interest

None really, it's nice, it's fun, it's colorful... that's it :)

History

March 2006 - V 1.0.

License

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

Written By

Nicolas Wälti

Software Developer (Senior)

Switzerland

This member has not yet provided a Biography. Assume it's interesting and varied, and probably something to do with programming.

Comments and Discussions

Redundant Line of Code

pablleaf21-Jun-07 10:38

pablleaf

21-Jun-07 10:38

Just an FYI. In the Sub New function the .FormBorderStyle is being set twice. D'Oh! | :doh:

<br />
Sub New()<br />
        With fPopup<br />
            .TopMost = False<br />
     -----> .FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None <-----<br />
            .StartPosition = System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition.Manual<br />
            .FormBorderStyle = Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None<br />
            .ShowInTaskbar = False<br />
        End With<br />
        tmAnimation.Interval = 50<br />
    End Sub<br />

Small Doubt

GayuDams26-Apr-07 2:05

GayuDams

26-Apr-07 2:05

Can we use this project for .Net 2003 version.
If we open the project we are getting the following error
"The selected file is a visual studio solution file,but was created with a newer version of visual studio and cannot be opened. Sleepy | :zzz:

gayathri

Opacity Problem with multiple stacking popups

fperugini22-Mar-07 10:18

fperugini

22-Mar-07 10:18

I implemented the PopupNotifierCollection to manage multiple stacking popups. The only problem I see is that the Opacity level of the popup windows are different. The bottom most popup is transparent, and the top most one is fully solid.

It may have to do with the animation. Did anyone correct this? It would be nice to have a setting for the maximum opacity too.

-Frank

Re: Opacity Problem with multiple stacking popups

fperugini23-Mar-07 4:33

fperugini

23-Mar-07 4:33

I think I figured it out. You need to take the offset into account in this Function:

Private Function GetOpacityBasedOnPosition() As Double
    Dim iCentPourcent As Integer = fPopup.Height
    Dim iCurrentlyShown As Integer = Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Height - fPopup.Top - iOffset
    Dim dPourcentOpacity As Double = iCentPourcent / 100 * iCurrentlyShown
    Return (dPourcentOpacity / 100) - 0.05
End Function

-Frank

Re: Opacity Problem with multiple stacking popups

Styxke5-Apr-07 20:27

Styxke

5-Apr-07 20:27

Is it possible to share the source with me ?

Thanks in advance !

Re: Opacity Problem with multiple stacking popups

fperugini13-Apr-07 7:16

fperugini

13-Apr-07 7:16

Hi,

The code for the multiple stacking popups was already posted here:

http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/PopupNotifier.asp?msg=1429432#xx1429432xx[^]

Multiple Highlight Lines

b00tleg22-Mar-07 9:38

b00tleg

22-Mar-07 9:38

I got it to run correctly, but how can I add more than one contex line item? I want to create two lines/links that both take seperate actions on their click events... I am finding it hard to change the way it looks, I tried adding labels to popupnotifierform.vb but it does not carry over to the actual popup. I am decent enough with VB but have not tried creating my own component. I was expecting just a form I could change the design of that would pop up.

Thanks on the code though - gives me a place to learn.

Re: Multiple Highlight Lines

Nicolas Wälti22-Mar-07 22:34

Nicolas Wälti

22-Mar-07 22:34

In fact, I've not been using other controls on that form. The form is a placeholder.

Its content is only painted and is not "existing".

You can see for instance in PopupNotifierRenderersOffice2003.vb

<br />
    Protected Overrides Sub OnRenderContent(ByVal e As PopupNotifierRenderArgs)<br />
        If Not e.Parent.Image Is Nothing Then<br />
            e.Graphics.DrawImage(e.Parent.Image, e.Parent.ImagePosition.X, e.Parent.ImagePosition.Y, e.Parent.ImageSize.Width, e.Parent.ImageSize.Height)<br />
        End If<br />
<br />
        e.Parent.Form.HeightOfTitle = e.Graphics.MeasureString("A", e.Parent.TitleFont).Height<br />
<br />
        Dim iTitleOrigin As Integer<br />
        If Not e.Parent.Image Is Nothing Then<br />
            iTitleOrigin = e.Parent.ImagePosition.X + e.Parent.ImageSize.Width + e.Parent.TextPadding.Left<br />
        Else<br />
            iTitleOrigin = e.Parent.TextPadding.Left<br />
        End If<br />
<br />
        If e.Parent.Form.MouseIsOnTextLink Then<br />
            e.Parent.Form.Cursor = Cursors.Hand<br />
            e.Graphics.DrawString(e.Parent.ContentText, New Font(SystemFonts.DialogFont, FontStyle.Underline), New SolidBrush(Color.Black), e.Parent.Form.RectText)<br />
        Else<br />
            e.Parent.Form.Cursor = Cursors.Default<br />
            e.Graphics.DrawString(e.Parent.ContentText, New Font(SystemFonts.DialogFont, FontStyle.Regular), New SolidBrush(Color.Black), e.Parent.Form.RectText)<br />
        End If<br />
        e.Graphics.DrawString(e.Parent.TitleText, New Font(SystemFonts.DialogFont, FontStyle.Bold), New SolidBrush(Color.Black), iTitleOrigin, e.Parent.TextPadding.Top + e.Parent.HeaderHeight)<br />
    End Sub<br />

There is a call to e.Graphics.Drawstring to print the text link and there is a variable that is set by PopupNotifier to define whether we are on the link with the mouse or not. If you just want to have another link, you need to double that feature.

<br />
        If e.Parent.Form.MouseIsOnSecondTextLink Then<br />
            e.Parent.Form.Cursor = Cursors.Hand<br />
            e.Graphics.DrawString(e.Parent.SecondContentText, New Font(SystemFonts.DialogFont, FontStyle.Underline), New SolidBrush(Color.Black), e.Parent.Form.RectSecondText)<br />
        Else<br />
            e.Parent.Form.Cursor = Cursors.Default<br />
            e.Graphics.DrawString(e.Parent.SecondContentText, New Font(SystemFonts.DialogFont, FontStyle.Regular), New SolidBrush(Color.Black), e.Parent.Form.SecondRectText)<br />
        End If<br />

then in PopupNotifier.vb:

<br />
    Private sText2 As String<br />
    <Category("Content")> _<br />
    Property SecondContentText() As String<br />
        Get<br />
            Return sText2<br />
        End Get<br />
        Set(ByVal value As String)<br />
            sText2 = value<br />
<br />
        End Set<br />
    End Property<br />

And then for PopupNotifierForm.vb:

<br />
    Public ReadOnly Property SecondRectText() As RectangleF<br />
        Get<br />
            If Not Parent.Image Is Nothing Then<br />
                Return New RectangleF(Parent.ImagePosition.X + Parent.ImageSize.Width + Parent.TextPadding.Left, Parent.TextPadding.Top + Parent.TextPadding.Top + HeightOfTitle + Parent.HeaderHeight + RectText.Height, Me.Width - Parent.ImageSize.Width - Parent.ImagePosition.X - 16 - 5 - Parent.TextPadding.Left - Parent.TextPadding.Right, Me.Height - Parent.HeaderHeight - Parent.TextPadding.Top - Parent.TextPadding.Top - Parent.TextPadding.Bottom - HeightOfTitle - 1)<br />
            Else<br />
                Return New RectangleF(Parent.TextPadding.Left, Parent.TextPadding.Top + Parent.TextPadding.Top + HeightOfTitle + Parent.HeaderHeight + RectText.Height , Me.Width - 16 - 5 - Parent.TextPadding.Left - Parent.TextPadding.Right, Me.Height - Parent.HeaderHeight - Parent.TextPadding.Top - Parent.TextPadding.Top - Parent.TextPadding.Bottom - HeightOfTitle - 1)<br />
            End If<br />
        End Get<br />
    End Property<br />

Then alors in the mouse_move event

<br />
        If SecondRectText.Contains(e.X, e.Y) Then<br />
            bMouseOnLink2 = True<br />
        Else<br />
            bMouseOnLink2 = False<br />
        End If<br />

And that should pretty much do the trick Smile | :)

Re: Multiple Highlight Lines

b00tleg23-Mar-07 7:04

b00tleg

23-Mar-07 7:04

Thanks, you showed me what to look for to add things. I eventually had to make a couple functions to get the width and height of the text in pixels to set the hover actions (the first link takes up the whole rectangle on the hover action).

I also had to modify the click() function to execute different functions for each link.

The only thing I am stuck on now is how to show the options arrow. Right now if i click under the X I get the context menu, but there is no down arrow to show the user there is a button there...

Re: Multiple Highlight Lines

Honey Arora23-May-07 19:29

Honey Arora

23-May-07 19:29

You could have pasted your code here, atleast for the pixcel thing and for click functionality
would have helped me a lot
(even tried to mail you but CODEPROJECT says your email is not verified so mailing failed Frown | :-(

)

while(1){
$source = "open";
}

C# version

Ambili_T21-Mar-07 22:23

Ambili_T

21-Mar-07 22:23

Hi ..
i have converted this into C# .. but facing 1 problem..
In vb.net he has used like this in PopupNotifier.vb file.
Private WithEvents fPopup As New PopupNotifierForm(Me)

The C# equivalent to "Me" in VB is "THIS".
But u cant get a pointer to "this" keyword IN A CLASS IN C#.
private PopupNotifierForm fPopup = new PopupNotifierForm(this); // gives compile error.
Please help...
thanks

Jay
MCAD.NET

Re: C# version

LittleWhiteDog22-Mar-07 21:33

LittleWhiteDog

22-Mar-07 21:33

With C#, you have to initialize it in the constructor.

public PopupNotifier()
{
//InitializeComponent();
fPopup = new PopupNotifier(this);
...
}

don't waste your time, or time will waste you

Howto move the popup with the grip?

LittleWhiteDog14-Mar-07 5:32

LittleWhiteDog

14-Mar-07 5:32

In outlook, the popup kan be moved around with the "grip". Can this be done with this borderless form too? Or do i need to look for another solution?

- don't waste your time, or time will waste you -

Re: Howto move the popup with the grip?

Nicolas Wälti15-Mar-07 2:42

Nicolas Wälti

15-Mar-07 2:42

I know it is possible...

Maybe you should look at this:
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=248176

Cheers,
Nick

Re: Howto move the popup with the grip? [modified]

LittleWhiteDog21-Mar-07 5:20

LittleWhiteDog

21-Mar-07 5:20

Owkey, this worked. I programmed this in Win XP.
Is it guaranteed to work in Vista as well?

-- modified at 12:10 Wednesday 21st March, 2007

don't waste your time, or time will waste you

Extract the image

LittleWhiteDog13-Mar-07 22:54

LittleWhiteDog

13-Mar-07 22:54

Is there a way to get that envelope-image out of your resources? I was able to save it through "PopupNotifier1.Image.Save("c:\test.bmp", System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp)", but that's not the way i want it. I'm wondering if i can find the file itself somewhere in the project ...

- don't waste your time, or time will waste you -

Re: Extract the image

Nicolas Wälti15-Mar-07 2:41

Nicolas Wälti

15-Mar-07 2:41

You can actually look on the web (where the image had originally be found). It's part (or was) of an icon collection reproducing Vista for Windows XP.

I don't know if you can extract it, I don't think so.

Cheers,
Nick

Re: Extract the image [modified]

LittleWhiteDog15-Mar-07 23:22

LittleWhiteDog

15-Mar-07 23:22

Great, thanks, didn't know that this was a Vista image.
BTW: I found that icon collection you were talking about: take a look here[^]

-- modified at 11:21 Wednesday 21st March, 2007

don't waste your time, or time will waste you

editing the dll file?!?

thebirdman19849-Mar-07 1:45

thebirdman1984

9-Mar-07 1:45

Hi, I am using this for a project, but I cant figure out how to actually change the source code so that I can change the way that the popup looks.

I have got it working by copying the PopupNotifier.dll from the demo files to my project directory but I cant seem to figure out how to do it through the source code files. Do I need to edit the source files and then somehow create a dll from these?

Any help is apprieciated!!

Re: editing the dll file?!?

thebirdman19849-Mar-07 3:35

thebirdman1984

9-Mar-07 3:35

I am actually trying to make the background of the popup window transparent so that I can display my own popup image inside it with text on top, but no luck as of yet.

Please help!!!!!!!!

-------------

Thanks Carl

Re: editing the dll file?!?

Nicolas Wälti15-Mar-07 2:39

Nicolas Wälti

15-Mar-07 2:39

You do need to recompile the source code if you want to change the inner workings of the popup. But you can change it's still by changing the properties of the object you created from the dll included in the project.

Cheers,
Nick

The popup only fires in form load.

astanton197821-Feb-07 2:06

astanton1978

21-Feb-07 2:06

Hi,
I have only been able to make the popup work in form load. If I place them elsewhere, it does not work.

This is the code I am using that works 100% OK in Load but not in other methods (button click, timed loop, etc). Is there some trick to getting this to work?

PopupNotifier pnot = new PopupNotifier();
pnot.TitleText = "Test ToastMe Click";
pnot.ContentText = "Test Content";
pnot.Popup();
pnot.Dispose();

Thanks,

-Andrew

Re: The popup only fires in form load.

astanton197821-Feb-07 4:05

astanton1978

21-Feb-07 4:05

The problem I guess I am really having is getting this to run in a timed loop.

If I call the method (CheckOnce()) to create and display all popups from inside of the below while loop. The method is executed, but no popups are displayed. I have tried to run the popups as a seperate thread, and as begin invoke -ed, but no success. Does anybody know what am I missing here?

private void CheckingLoop()
{
while (!blStopFlag)
{
if (!blIsCheckingActive)
{
colPopups.Clear();
NotificationItems.Clear();
//BeginInvokeWrapper();
//tWorker = new Thread(new ThreadStart(CheckOnce));
//tWorker.Start();
CheckOnce();
Thread.Sleep(intPollingIntervalSeconds * 1000);
}
else
{
Thread.Sleep(intPollingIntervalSeconds * 1000);
}
}
}

Port code to VS .NET

utstudent26-Jan-07 16:37

utstudent

26-Jan-07 16:37

Hi,

Judging from the screen shots, you have designed a very neat control. However, I cannot run the source codes because I don't have VS 2005 installed on my machine. Can you please port the code to VS .NET because I have a feeling this is the sample code I need for the job assignment.

I cannot trace the code unless I can run and build the project. Please help

Thanks and regards,
Connie

Re: Port code to VS .NET

waltersenekal19-Feb-07 3:51

waltersenekal

19-Feb-07 3:51

Hi Connie
Judging from your question, you are a new programmer.
VS.NET comes in 3 versions 2002,2003and 2005 (and soon 2007)
So Think youhave to be more specific.
Why don't you get 2005? It is free from Microsoft
Here is the download link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vb/[^]

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