Feature include:Editors Package
The Editors package is a comprehensive collection of controls most commonly used in creating data entry forms. All the editor controls have been architected with to provide simple and powerful means for capturing data input, validating the data and displaying it with the appropriate formatting. They also come with full data binding, internationalization and localization support.
Notification Package
The Notification package consists of controls used for providing visual feedback to the user of the status of certain events in an application. Common applications of the notification package include enhanced progress bars, splash screens and customized message boxes with animation.
Wizard Package
The Wizard Package provides controls that use the Wizard interface (a series of tabs laid out with next, back and other buttons) popularized by many Windows based applications. The Wizard control lets users create such applications quickly. The XP Task Pane provides a different view to wizards than seen in the Task Pane feature in Office XP.
Tabs Package
The XP Tabs (TabControlExt) feature provided as part of this package is an advanced tab control with plenty of appearance styles and configuration capabilities. It makes the creation of custom tabs with custom shapes and styles a snap.
Navigation Package
The Navigation package includes controls such as the GroupBar, GroupView and the XPTaskBar that are primarily used for implementing command lists, where each command is represented by an image and/or text. Popular examples of command lists are the Microsoft OutlookBar, VS.NET Toolbox, Windows 2000/XP Folder Selectors and the Windows XP TaskBar. The GroupBar implements a tab-type container that can serve as a host for a collection of GroupView or other Windows Forms controls. The GroupView is an extensively customizable list-type control capable of cloning the above listed popular command interfaces. The XPTaskBar may be used for displaying standard command items or as a container that can host several other controls.
Layout Manager Package
The Layout Manager package provides users with a comprehensive set of Layout Managers that help manage advanced layouts on a form.
Essential Tools provides Swing like Layout Managers for the most common layout needs. FlowLayout, CardLayout, GridLayout and GridBagLayout managers are provided. Complete design-time support with extended properties provides WYSIWYG functionality while designing containers.
Tabbed MDI Package
The Tabbed MDI package provides users a new Tabbed MDI layout mode (as an alternative to the default Cascade and Tiled modes), popularized by VS.Net, in MDI applications. This framework was built with great consideration for ease of use, to avoid having to modify an existing MDI application in any way to enable Tabbed MDI mode. With a single method call, users can switch between Tabbed and regular MDI layout modes.
CommandBars Package
The CommandBars package is comprised of the CommandBars framework. CommandBars implement the framework support that is required for creating Visual Studio.NET type dockable/floatable menus and toolbars. A CommandBar in itself provides only the dockable host, and it is up to the user to implement the menu or toolbar that imparts the CommandBar its functionality. The Essential Tools Menus Package uses the CommandBars framework for creating the XP menus and toolbars.
Menus Package
The Essential Tools Menus package comes with the XP Menus framework which provides users the latest Office XP look and feel and functionality for menus, toolbars and context menus.
Docking Package
The Docking Package consists of the Essential Tools docking windows architecture that allows users to add Visual Studio.NET type dockable controls to Windows Forms applications. Any control can be set as a docking window and docking layouts can be hosted within Forms, UserControls or any derivative of the ContainerControl type. The framework supports the complete range of docking behaviors such as docking/floating, nested levels, tabbed groups, state transitions, autohide, MDIchild transitions, non-dockable/non-floatable options, a unique fill mode and full state persistence. An advanced designer allows users to harness full WYSIWYG configuration of the dock layout.
Tree Package
The Tree Package provides an advanced TreeView control with numerous appearance options, extensive customization capabilities and a databound mode that supports data binding by taking a relational data source with rows and columns (DataSet, DataView, ArrayList) and grouping the rows based on one or more specified fields.
