Drawing a rectangle around a toolStripMenuItem

Question

I know that I can draw rectangles just about anywhere I want using

using (Graphics G = myControl.CreateGraphics())
{
    G.DrawRectangle(new Pen(myColor),myControl.Bounds);
}

but I'm having trouble figuring out how to do this with a toolStripMenuItem, so that I can draw a rectangle around it.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

You can try using the Paint event (you should rarely ever use CreateGraphics) and the ContentRectangle property:

void toolStripButton1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e) {
  e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.Red, toolStripButton1.ContentRectangle);
}

Answer 2

The easiest way is to inherit from the control and override the OnPaint method, then change all instances of ToolStripMenuItem to MyToolStripMenuItem.

class MyToolStripMenuItem : ToolStripMenuItem
{
    protected override void OnPaint( PaintEventargs pe )
    {
        base.OnPaint( pe );

        pe.ClipRectangle.Inflate( -1, -1 );
        pe.Graphics.DrawRectangle( Pens.Black, pe.ClipRectangle );
    }
}

A bit more complicated, but better in the long run for maintainability, is implementing a custom ToolStripRenderer which would allow you to change the look of the entire thing, for example making it look like VS2010.

(Image taken from VBForums)

Answer 3

While ToolStripMenuItem is not a control, its parent is. Therefore you can call

myToolStripMenuItem.GetCurrentParent().CreateGraphics()