Creating Windows List Of Tabs In C#

 

Introduction

Look in any editor,you can see Window menu that shows list of tabs.(see above image)

So that it is so much important in any editor to manage list of tabs.it is also used to change a tab easily without finding a tab in tabcontrol or in any tab selector. Just go to Window menu and select tab/window which you want to edit. It is so much simple to create windows list in C#.

So how to create Tabs Windows List

Create a windows list function that change in menu items by changing tabs. If you create a new tab then just call windows list function to modify drop down menu items of Window menu. Whenever tabs are changed in tabControl then just call windows list function. If you add new tab/remove tab then just call windows list function.

How it Works

Firstly, you have to remove all drop down menu items of Window menu. Then read all tabs from tabControl and add it to TabControl.TabCollection.

Now read each tabpage in TabCollection using foreach() statement. In foreach statement, create new menuitem using class ToolStripMenuItem and set text to each menuitem as each tabpage text. Now add each menuitem to Window menu. Finally, add click event handler to each menuitem. Create menuitem click events function. In this function, read clicked menuitem text and find tabpage in tabControl having text of clicked menuitem.

Start

Step 1 : Create new Windows Forms Application in C#.

Step 2 : Drag & Drop MenuStrip onto Form and add the following components to MenuStrip(menuStrip1),

 

             File

                   New

                   Open

                   Close

                   Close All

                   Exit

 

 

           Window

                  Close All Windows

                  ---separator------

 

Step 3: Drag & Drop TabControl onto Form and remove all tabpages of TabControl(tabControl1).

Step 4: Declare "static int count" variable globally.

public static int count = 1;

Step 5: 

Add the following windows list function to your Form1 code. Whenever you will do changes in tabs then just call the following function to apply all changes to Window drop down menu items. I used function name "UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu". 

//*************************************************************************************
// Update windows list to Window menu
//*************************************************************************************
public void UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu()
{
    //get all tab pages from tabControl1
    TabControl.TabPageCollection tabcoll = tabControl1.TabPages;

    //get  windowToolStripMenuItem drop down menu items count
    int n = windowToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.Count;

    //remove all menu items from of windowToolStripMenuItem
    for (int i = n - 1; i >=2; i--)
    {
        windowToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.RemoveAt(i);
    }

    //read each tabpage from tabcoll and add each tabpage text to windowToolStripMenuItem
    foreach (TabPage tabpage in tabcoll)
    {
        //create Toolstripmenuitem
        ToolStripMenuItem menuitem = new ToolStripMenuItem();
        String s = tabpage.Text;
        menuitem.Text = s;

        if (tabControl1.SelectedTab == tabpage)
        {
            menuitem.Checked = true;
        }
        else
        {
            menuitem.Checked = false;
        }

        //add menuitem to windowToolStripMenuItem
        windowToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.Add(menuitem);

        //add click events to each added menuitem
        menuitem.Click += new System.EventHandler(WindowListEvent_Click);
    }
}

private void WindowListEvent_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    //casting ToolStripMenuItem to ToolStripItem
    ToolStripItem toolstripitem = (ToolStripItem)sender;

    //create collection of tabs of tabContro1
    //check every tab text is equal to clicked menuitem then select the tab
    TabControl.TabPageCollection tabcoll = tabControl1.TabPages;
    foreach (TabPage tb in tabcoll)
    {
        if (toolstripitem.Text == tb.Text)
        {
            tabControl1.SelectedTab = tb;
            //call UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu() to perform changes on menuitems
            UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
        }
    }
}

Step 6: Perform operations of New, Open, Close, Close All, Exit, Close All Windows. The following are the actions defined separately. 

New

private void newToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    TabPage tabpage = new TabPage();
    tabpage.Text = "Untitled " + count;
    //add richtextbox to tabpage
    RichTextBox richtextbox = new RichTextBox();
    richtextbox.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
    tabpage.Controls.Add(richtextbox);

    tabControl1.TabPages.Add(tabpage);
    tabControl1.SelectedTab = tabpage;

    count++;

    //call windows list function
    UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
}

Open

private void openToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    TabPage tabpage = new TabPage();
    //add richtextbox to tabpage
    RichTextBox richtextbox = new RichTextBox();
    richtextbox.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
    tabpage.Controls.Add(richtextbox);

    //read file using OpenFileDialog
    OpenFileDialog openfilediag = new OpenFileDialog();
    openfilediag.Filter = "All files|*.*";

    if(openfilediag.ShowDialog()==DialogResult.OK)
    {
        richtextbox.Text = File.ReadAllText(openfilediag.FileName);

        String filename = openfilediag.FileName.Substring(openfilediag.FileName.LastIndexOf("\\") + 1);

        tabpage.Text = filename;
        tabControl1.TabPages.Add(tabpage);
        tabControl1.SelectedTab = tabpage;
    }
    //call windows list function
    UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
}

Close

private void closeToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if(tabControl1.TabCount>0)
    {
        tabControl1.TabPages.Remove(tabControl1.SelectedTab);

        //call windows list function
        UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
    }
}

Close All

private void closeAllToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    tabControl1.TabPages.Clear();
}

Exit

private void exitToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Application.Exit();
}

Close All Windows: Same as Close All,

Step 7: Now add SelectedIndexChanged event to tabControl1 and call UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu() function at last in it.  

private void tabControl1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    //call windows list function
    UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
}

Step 8: Run your form and check it out.  

 

Complete Code: 

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.IO;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WindowsListOfTabs
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        //*************************************************************************************
        // Update windows list to Window menu
        //*************************************************************************************
        public void UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu()
        {
            //get all tab pages from tabControl1
            TabControl.TabPageCollection tabcoll = tabControl1.TabPages;

            //get  windowToolStripMenuItem drop down menu items count
            int n = windowToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.Count;

            //remove all menu items from of windowToolStripMenuItem
            for (int i = n - 1; i >=2; i--)
            {
                windowToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.RemoveAt(i);
            }

            //read each tabpage from tabcoll and add each tabpage text to windowToolStripMenuItem
            foreach (TabPage tabpage in tabcoll)
            {
                //create Toolstripmenuitem
                ToolStripMenuItem menuitem = new ToolStripMenuItem();
                String s = tabpage.Text;
                menuitem.Text = s;

                if (tabControl1.SelectedTab == tabpage)
                {
                    menuitem.Checked = true;
                }
                else
                {
                    menuitem.Checked = false;
                }

                //add menuitem to windowToolStripMenuItem
                windowToolStripMenuItem.DropDownItems.Add(menuitem);

                //add click events to each added menuitem
                menuitem.Click += new System.EventHandler(WindowListEvent_Click);
            }
        }

        private void WindowListEvent_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            //casting ToolStripMenuItem to ToolStripItem
            ToolStripItem toolstripitem = (ToolStripItem)sender;

            //create collection of tabs of tabContro1
            //check every tab text is equal to clicked menuitem then select the tab
            TabControl.TabPageCollection tabcoll = tabControl1.TabPages;
            foreach (TabPage tb in tabcoll)
            {
                if (toolstripitem.Text == tb.Text)
                {
                    tabControl1.SelectedTab = tb;
                    //call UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu() to perform changes on menuitems
                    UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
                }
            }
        }


        public static int count = 1;

        //Form1 Load
        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
        }


        //  File -> New
        private void newToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            TabPage tabpage = new TabPage();
            tabpage.Text = "Untitled " + count;
            //add richtextbox to tabpage
            RichTextBox richtextbox = new RichTextBox();
            richtextbox.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
            tabpage.Controls.Add(richtextbox);

            tabControl1.TabPages.Add(tabpage);
            tabControl1.SelectedTab = tabpage;

            count++;

            //call windows list function
            UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
        }


        //  File -> Open
        private void openToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            TabPage tabpage = new TabPage();
            //add richtextbox to tabpage
            RichTextBox richtextbox = new RichTextBox();
            richtextbox.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
            tabpage.Controls.Add(richtextbox);

            //read file using OpenFileDialog
            OpenFileDialog openfilediag = new OpenFileDialog();
            openfilediag.Filter = "All files|*.*";

            if(openfilediag.ShowDialog()==DialogResult.OK)
            {
                richtextbox.Text = File.ReadAllText(openfilediag.FileName);

                String filename = openfilediag.FileName.Substring(openfilediag.FileName.LastIndexOf("\\") + 1);

                tabpage.Text = filename;
                tabControl1.TabPages.Add(tabpage);
                tabControl1.SelectedTab = tabpage;
            }
            //call windows list function
            UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
        }


        //  File -> Close
        private void closeToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if(tabControl1.TabCount>0)
            {
                tabControl1.TabPages.Remove(tabControl1.SelectedTab);

                //call windows list function
                UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
            }
        }

        //  File -> Close All
        private void closeAllToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            tabControl1.TabPages.Clear();
        }


        //  File -> Exit
        private void exitToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Application.Exit();
        }


        //  tabControl1 Selected Index Changed
        private void tabControl1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            //call windows list function
            UpdateWindowsList_WindowMenu();
        }


        //  Window -> Close All Windows
        private void closeAllWindowsToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            tabControl1.TabPages.Clear();
        }
    }
}