SftTabs/DLL 6.5 - Tab Control

New Features

Only a minimal conversion is required when upgrading to SftTabs/DLL 6.5. SftTabs/DLL 6.5 is virtually 100% source code compatible to version 6.0 and earlier versions.

New in 6.5

• SftTabs/DLL 6.5 no longer provides help documentation integrated with development tools in various custom formats - instead documentation is located at https://softelvdm.com/Documentation/SftTabs DLL 6 5, which allows for continuous documentation updates without the need to release a new product version. Web access is required to access the product documentation.
• New support for a second tab image in each tab (see SFTTABS_TAB, TabPicture2), typically used as a tab Close button.
• New support for tab reordering within a tab control (see SFTTABS_TAB, fReorder) and drag & drop of a tab between controls (see SFTTABS_TAB, fDragDrop).
• New tab row alignment options SFTTABS_TABS_LEFT and SFTTABS_TABS_RIGHT (see SFTTABS_CONTROL, tabsAlignment).
• New tab layout mode SFTTABS_LAYOUT_DISTRIBUTE, SFTTABS_LAYOUT_FLOW and SFTTABS_LAYOUT_AUTOFLOW (see SFTTABS_CONTROL, layoutMode).
• New GetDragInfo and SetDragInfo functions to control drag & drop.
• New MoveTab function to move a tab within a tab control.
• New information returned to determine whether Windows themes are active (see SFTTABS_CONTROL, fThemesActive).
• New information returned to determine whether tab text may have been clipped (see SFTTABS_CONTROL, fClippedText).
• New information returned to determine whether tab labels may have been dropped (see SFTTABS_CONTROL, fLabelDropped).
• New information returned to determine whether scroll buttons may have been dropped (see SFTTABS_CONTROL, fScrollDropped).
• The maximum number of tabs per tab control has been increased to 256.
• The maximum number of tab rows per tab control has been increased to 32.

New Notifications

• SFTTABSN_LBUTTONDOWN_IMAGE2 - The left mouse button was pressed on a tab's second image portion.
• SFTTABSN_LBUTTONDBLCLK_IMAGE2 - The left mouse button was pressed on a tab's second image portion.
• SFTTABSN_LAYOUT - The tab layout has changed.
• SFTTABSN_DRAGSTART, SFTTABSN_DRAGMOVE, SFTTABSN_DRAGDROP - Notifications supporting drag & drop and tab reordering.

New in 6.0

• 9 new tab styles.
• Tab pictures now support PNG, TIFF, JPEG, GIF, Exif, EMF+, EMF (GDI+ images) with full support for alpha-blended (translucent and semi-transparent) images (see SFTTABS_TAB, TabPicture and SFT_PICTURE structures).
• New SwitchTab function to make the next/previous tab the active tab.
• New notifications identifying which exact part of a tab was clicked (background, text or picture - SFTTABSN_LBUTTONDOWN_TEXT, SFTTABSN_LBUTTONDBLCLK_TEXT, SFTTABSN_LBUTTONDOWN_IMAGE, SFTTABSN_LBUTTONDBLCLK_IMAGE, SFTTABSN_LBUTTONDOWN_AREA, SFTTABSN_LBUTTONDBLCLK_AREA).
• Each tab now supports additional tab pictures when the tab is hot (flyby highlighting) or disabled.
• The SFTTABS_TAB structure now returns the location of the tab label and tab picture (see SFTTABS_TAB, rectPic, rectText).
• The exact height of one tab (tab row) can now be defined using the SFTTABS_CONTROL, forcedSize member.
• The new SFTTABS_CONTROL, fSwitchOnRelease member defines whether tab switching occurs as the user presses or releases the mouse button on a tab.
• The control now uses an even smoother painting method (on Windows XP and newer). Applications can still force the painting method used in older releases of the product using SFTTABS_CONTROL, fCompatibleRendering.
• The tab page border can be suppressed for the new button tab styles (SFTTABSSTYLE_BUTTONS_xxx), see SFTTABS_CONTROL, fNoBorder.
• The index of the tab currently highlighted (hot) due to flyby highlighting can now be retrieved using SFTTABS_CONTROL, highlightTabIndex.
• GDI+ specific support (SFTTABS_CONTROL, fGDIPlus, GDIPlusAvailable, LoadGDIPlusImageFromResource, FreeGDIPlusImageLoadedFromResource, DrawSelectionOutline).
• The SetControlInfo function now provides an error return value, making troubleshooting a bit easier (see SFTTABS_CONTROL, lastErrorValue).
• The drawing callback (SFTTABS_DRAWTABPROC) can now also be used when hidden tabs are present in a tab control.
• The drawing callback information provided in the SFTTABS_DRAWINFO structure has been expanded (AvailableRect, iRealTab, fShowAccel).

New Notifications

• SFTTABSN_SWITCHINGDISABLED - A disabled tab has been clicked. This could be used to inform the end-user that a disabled tab has been clicked.