TabStrip Control (VBCCRTabStrip)

VBCCRTabStrip control provides a tab container that allows users to switch between different content panels by clicking on tabs. It is commonly used to organize and display related but different content groups.

Properties

Key Properties

• Tabs: Tab collection
• SelectedItem: Currently selected tab
• TabIndex: Current tab index
• MultiRow: Whether to allow multiple rows
• Style: Tab style
• TabFixedWidth: Fixed width
• TabMinWidth: Minimum width
• Alignment: Tab alignment
• TabOrientation: Tab orientation (top/bottom)
• HotTracking: Mouse hover effect
• TabEnabled: Tab enabled state
• TabVisible: Tab visible state
• ImageList: Icon list

Methods

Main Methods

• AddTab(Caption As String, [Key As String], [Image As Variant], [ToolTipText As String]): Add new tab
• RemoveTab(Index As Variant): Remove tab
• Clear(): Clear all tabs
• GetTab(Index As Variant) As Tab: Get tab object
• SelectTab(Index As Variant): Select specified tab
• HitTest(X As Single, Y As Single) As Long: Test click position

Events

• Click(): Click event
• BeforeClick(Cancel As Boolean): Before click event
• MouseDown(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
• MouseMove(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
• MouseUp(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
• TabClick(Tab As Tab): Tab click event
• KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
• KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
• KeyUp(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)

Code Examples

Basic Usage

Private Sub Form_Load()
    ' Add tabs
    With TabStrip1
        .AddTab "General"
        .AddTab "Advanced"
        .AddTab "Settings"
        .MultiRow = False
        .Style = tabStyleDefault
        .TabIndex = 0
    End With
    
    ' Show corresponding panel
    ShowPanel TabStrip1.TabIndex
End Sub

Private Sub TabStrip1_Click()
    ShowPanel TabStrip1.TabIndex
End Sub

Private Sub ShowPanel(ByVal Index As Long)
    ' Hide all panels
    fraGeneral.Visible = False
    fraAdvanced.Visible = False
    fraSettings.Visible = False
    
    ' Show selected panel
    Select Case Index
        Case 0: fraGeneral.Visible = True
        Case 1: fraAdvanced.Visible = True
        Case 2: fraSettings.Visible = True
    End Select
End Sub

Dynamic Tabs

Private Sub CreateDynamicTabs()
    ' Clear existing tabs
    TabStrip1.Clear
    
    ' Dynamically add tabs
    For i = 1 To 5
        With TabStrip1
            .AddTab "Tab " & i, "TAB" & i
            .GetTab(i - 1).ToolTipText = "This is Tab " & i
            .GetTab(i - 1).Enabled = True
            .GetTab(i - 1).Tag = "DATA" & i
        End With
    Next i
End Sub

Private Sub LoadTabContent(ByVal TabIndex As Long)
    Dim Data As String
    Data = TabStrip1.GetTab(TabIndex).Tag
    
    ' Load content based on tab data
    Select Case Data
        Case "DATA1": LoadGeneralContent
        Case "DATA2": LoadAdvancedContent
        Case "DATA3": LoadSettingsContent
        Case Else: LoadDefaultContent
    End Select
End Sub

Tab with Images

Private Sub SetupImageTabs()
    ' Set up image list
    With ImageList1
        .ListImages.Add 1, "GENERAL", LoadPicture("general.ico")
        .ListImages.Add 2, "ADVANCED", LoadPicture("advanced.ico")
        .ListImages.Add 3, "SETTINGS", LoadPicture("settings.ico")
    End With
    
    ' Assign image list to tab strip
    Set TabStrip1.ImageList = ImageList1
    
    ' Add tabs with images
    With TabStrip1
        .AddTab "General", , 1
        .AddTab "Advanced", , 2
        .AddTab "Settings", , 3
    End With
End Sub

Common Use Cases

Document Interface

Private Sub CreateDocumentTabs()
    Dim FileName As String
    
    ' Add new document tab
    FileName = "Document" & (TabStrip1.Tabs.Count + 1) & ".txt"
    
    With TabStrip1
        .AddTab FileName, "DOC" & .Tabs.Count
        .TabIndex = .Tabs.Count - 1
    End With
    
    ' Create and show document content
    CreateDocumentContent FileName
End Sub

Private Sub TabStrip1_TabClick(ByVal Tab As Tab)
    ' Load document content
    LoadDocument Tab.Key
End Sub

Settings Manager

Private Sub CreateSettingsTabs()
    With TabStrip1
        ' Add settings categories
        .AddTab "User Settings"
        .AddTab "System Settings"
        .AddTab "Network Settings"
        .AddTab "Security Settings"
        
        ' Set tooltips
        .GetTab(0).ToolTipText = "Configure user preferences"
        .GetTab(1).ToolTipText = "Configure system options"
        .GetTab(2).ToolTipText = "Configure network options"
        .GetTab(3).ToolTipText = "Configure security options"
    End With
End Sub

Private Sub SaveTabSettings()
    Dim i As Long
    
    For i = 0 To TabStrip1.Tabs.Count - 1
        SaveSettings TabStrip1.GetTab(i).Key
    Next i
End Sub

Best Practices

1. Tab Management

Private Sub ManageTabs()
    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    
    With TabStrip1
        ' Save current tab index
        Dim CurrentIndex As Long
        CurrentIndex = .TabIndex
        
        ' Update tabs
        .Clear
        LoadTabs
        
        ' Restore selection if valid
        If CurrentIndex < .Tabs.Count Then
            .TabIndex = CurrentIndex
        End If
    End With
    Exit Sub
    
ErrorHandler:
    Debug.Print "Tab management error: " & Err.Description
End Sub

2. Error Handling

Private Sub SafeTabOperation(ByVal Index As Long)
    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    
    If Index < 0 Or Index >= TabStrip1.Tabs.Count Then
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    TabStrip1.SelectTab Index
    LoadTabContent Index
    Exit Sub
    
ErrorHandler:
    MsgBox "Tab operation error: " & Err.Description, vbExclamation
End Sub

Known Issues and Solutions

1. Tab Width Issues

Private Sub FixTabWidth()
    Const MIN_WIDTH As Long = 60
    Const MAX_WIDTH As Long = 150
    
    With TabStrip1
        .TabMinWidth = MIN_WIDTH
        .TabFixedWidth = 0 ' Auto width
        
        ' Adjust if tabs are too wide
        If .Width / .Tabs.Count > MAX_WIDTH Then
            .TabFixedWidth = MAX_WIDTH
        End If
    End With
End Sub

2. Tab Visibility

Private Sub HandleTabVisibility()
    Dim i As Long
    Dim VisibleCount As Long
    
    ' Count visible tabs
    For i = 0 To TabStrip1.Tabs.Count - 1
        If TabStrip1.GetTab(i).Visible Then
            VisibleCount = VisibleCount + 1
        End If
    Next i
    
    ' Show message if no visible tabs
    If VisibleCount = 0 Then
        lblNoTabs.Visible = True
    Else
        lblNoTabs.Visible = False
    End If
End Sub

Additional Tips

1. Tab Navigation

Private Sub TabStrip1_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
    Select Case KeyCode
        Case vbKeyLeft
            MoveToPreviousTab
        Case vbKeyRight
            MoveToNextTab
        Case vbKeyHome
            MoveToFirstTab
        Case vbKeyEnd
            MoveToLastTab
    End Select
End Sub

Private Sub MoveToPreviousTab()
    If TabStrip1.TabIndex > 0 Then
        TabStrip1.TabIndex = TabStrip1.TabIndex - 1
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub MoveToNextTab()
    If TabStrip1.TabIndex < TabStrip1.Tabs.Count - 1 Then
        TabStrip1.TabIndex = TabStrip1.TabIndex + 1
    End If
End Sub

2. Dynamic Tab Updates

Private Sub UpdateTabStatus()
    Dim Tab As Tab
    
    For Each Tab In TabStrip1.Tabs
        ' Update tab status
        Tab.Enabled = CheckTabAccess(Tab.Key)
        Tab.ToolTipText = GetTabStatus(Tab.Key)
        
        ' Update tab caption if needed
        If HasPendingChanges(Tab.Key) Then
            Tab.Caption = Tab.Caption & " *"
        End If
    Next Tab
End Sub

3. Tab Context Menu

Private Sub TabStrip1_MouseUp(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
    If Button = vbRightButton Then
        Dim TabIndex As Long
        TabIndex = TabStrip1.HitTest(X, Y)
        
        If TabIndex >= 0 Then
            PopupMenu mnuTabContext
        End If
    End If
End Sub