How to: Make a Tab System like Notepad++

In this little tutorial, you will learn to make a tab system like notepad++, Charny NotePad, firefox, etc.

First of all, I'll explain you what we will do. We will make a notepad application with a tab system.

1) Open your IDE and start a new windows forms application project.

2) Add these controls to the form :

ControlNameProperties
TabControltabControlSet 'Dock' to 'Fill'
MenuStripmenuStripDon't change anything

Now, you will add two ToolStripMenuItem to menuStrip, 'File' and 'Edit'.

1.gif

After, add one ToolStripMenuItem in 'File', his text will be 'New' and his name will be menuNew.

2.gif

Add four ToolStripMenuItem and a ToolStripSeparator to the 'Edit' menu :

Text Name
CutmenuCut
CopymenuCopy
PastemenuPaste

toolStripSeparator1
Select AllmenuSelectAll

3.gif

3) Add a Click event handler to menuNew :

private void menuNew_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    TabPage tp = new TabPage("New Document");
    RichTextBox rtb = new RichTextBox();
    rtb.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
    tp.Controls.Add(rtb);
    tabControl.TabPages.Add(tp);
}

You can try the program now. When you press on 'New' it creates a new TabPage with a RichTextBox in tabControl. It works, but if you have many tab pages, how could you execute actions to the selected RichTextBox?

4) Add this method in your code :

private RichTextBox GetActiveEditor()
{
   TabPage tp = tabControl.SelectedTab;
   RichTextBox rtb = null;
   if (tp != null)
   {
       rtb = tp.Controls[0] as RichTextBox;
   }
   return rtb;
}

So, this method retreives the first control of the selected tab. The first control is the RichTextBox.

5) Now, we will add a Click event handler on each ToolStripMenuItem of the 'Edit' menu.

menuCut:

private void menuCut_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    GetActiveEditor().Cut();
}

menuCopy:

private void menuCopy_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    GetActiveEditor().Copy();
}

menuPaste:

private void menuPaste_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    GetActiveEditor().Paste();
}

menuSelectAll:

private void menuSelectAll_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    GetActiveEditor().SelectAll();
}

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