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An Office 2003-like popup notifier

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4.71/5 (58 votes)
23 Mar 2006CPOL1 min read 316K   7.1K   182   113
A nice little control to help the user notice you're trying to tell him something...

Image 1

Introduction

This is a simple project, a control that mimics the Microsoft® Outlook® 2003 mail alert.

Features

This control has several features. Among them, you'll find:

Image 2

Progressive appearance - transparency

Image 3

MSN Messenger like pop-ups (any size, color, etc.)

Image 4

Another sample

This control is 100% drawn in the code, there is absolutely no other dependencies than System.Drawing and System.Windows.Forms.

You can include a ContextMenuStrip when clicking on the "down arrow" button.

Using the code

The controls is made of two basic classes:

  • A form (the part that will actually show up).
  • A class that contains all the properties that will be includable on forms.

The class contains two timers, one used for the appearing/disappearing animation, the other (configurable) is used to define how much time the popup is shown before it disappears.

This is how the form is actually shown:

VB
fPopup.Size = Size
fPopup.Opacity = 0
fPopup.Location = _
  New Point(Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Right_
   - fPopup.Size.Width - 1, _
   Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea.Bottom)
fPopup.Show()

The form is does the drawing in the Paint event.

I'm using these functions to obtain a color that is similar but lighter/darker. There might exist another method.

VB
Private Function GetDarkerColor(ByVal Color As Color) As Color
    Dim clNew As Color
    clNew = Drawing.Color.FromArgb(255, DedValueMin0(CInt(Color.R), _
            Parent.GradientPower), DedValueMin0(CInt(Color.G), _
            Parent.GradientPower), DedValueMin0(CInt(Color.B), _
            Parent.GradientPower))
    Return clNew
End Function

And to avoid flickering...

VB
Me.SetStyle(ControlStyles.OptimizedDoubleBuffer, True)
Me.SetStyle(ControlStyles.ResizeRedraw, True)
Me.SetStyle(ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint, True)

Points of Interest

None really, it's nice, it's fun, it's colorful... that's it :)

History

  • March 2006 - V 1.0.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
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Comments and Discussions

 
AnswerNew / Update to this Notification Popup Pin
MacSpudster20-Feb-14 12:38
professionalMacSpudster20-Feb-14 12:38 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
dipan chikani15-Sep-12 2:23
dipan chikani15-Sep-12 2:23 
NewsNew Version of this Control with many Bugs fixed (Link inside) Pin
Simon B.3-Nov-11 4:54
Simon B.3-Nov-11 4:54 
Questioncontrols property Pin
sergio5822-Jul-11 4:08
sergio5822-Jul-11 4:08 
GeneralShowing multiple popups at the same time. Pin
kdlc19-Jan-09 7:56
kdlc19-Jan-09 7:56 
GeneralUnable to close the popup with the close button!!! Pin
harvindersingh1151-Oct-08 3:04
harvindersingh1151-Oct-08 3:04 
GeneralRe: Unable to close the popup with the close button!!! Pin
edzjx13-Feb-10 8:49
edzjx13-Feb-10 8:49 
GeneralRe: Unable to close the popup with the close button!!! Pin
jamslove16-Aug-10 4:29
jamslove16-Aug-10 4:29 
GeneralRe: Unable to close the popup with the close button!!! Pin
nikoskritikos30-Aug-10 5:47
nikoskritikos30-Aug-10 5:47 
GeneralRe: Unable to close the popup with the close button!!! Pin
Member 1145156917-Aug-15 23:17
Member 1145156917-Aug-15 23:17 
QuestionHow to use this in a project C# Pin
harvindersingh11529-Sep-08 3:22
harvindersingh11529-Sep-08 3:22 
AnswerRe: How to use this in a project C# Pin
harvindersingh1151-Oct-08 4:03
harvindersingh1151-Oct-08 4:03 
GeneralRe: How to use this in a project C# Pin
lasai27-Jan-10 15:48
lasai27-Jan-10 15:48 
GeneralExcellent Work........... Pin
Member 401738119-Aug-08 6:14
Member 401738119-Aug-08 6:14 
GeneralFrom right to left order Pin
ammsamm22-Oct-07 0:40
ammsamm22-Oct-07 0:40 
GeneralNew version anyone Pin
Nicolas Wälti25-Aug-07 23:21
Nicolas Wälti25-Aug-07 23:21 
GeneralRe: New version anyone - I'd be glad Pin
semmel7110-Oct-07 8:04
semmel7110-Oct-07 8:04 
GeneralRe: New version anyone Pin
Takeru A.G.23-Dec-07 6:22
Takeru A.G.23-Dec-07 6:22 
JokeRe: New version anyone Pin
garyjohn_200031-Dec-07 6:06
garyjohn_200031-Dec-07 6:06 
NewsUnused Code Pin
pablleaf21-Jun-07 12:07
pablleaf21-Jun-07 12:07 
NewsRedundant Line of Code Pin
pablleaf21-Jun-07 10:38
pablleaf21-Jun-07 10:38 
GeneralSmall Doubt Pin
GayuDams26-Apr-07 2:05
GayuDams26-Apr-07 2:05 
GeneralOpacity Problem with multiple stacking popups Pin
fperugini22-Mar-07 10:18
fperugini22-Mar-07 10:18 
AnswerRe: Opacity Problem with multiple stacking popups Pin
fperugini23-Mar-07 4:33
fperugini23-Mar-07 4:33 
QuestionRe: Opacity Problem with multiple stacking popups Pin
Styxke5-Apr-07 20:27
Styxke5-Apr-07 20:27 

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