extab - what's new
19.0.0.2 Fen 14, 2024
*Added: HotObject property indicates the index within current tab-skin, that changes its background while the cursor hovers the page. By default, the page's background color is changed according with the HotBackColor. If the HotObject property points to a valid object of the current skin (child of the normal-page in design mode) its background color will be set as soon as the cursor hovers the page.
*Added: In skin-designer, the markers for focused-object are visible while the "Draw grid lines" button is pressed.
*Added: Ability to change the element's position up or down in the ETB builder, using the CTRL + Up or CTRL + Down.

19.0.0.1 Nov 15, 2023
*NEW:   HOT tracking/hover of the pages
*Added: HotBackColor property retrieves or sets a value that indicates the hot-tracking background color.
*Added: HotForeColor property retrieves or sets a value that indicates the hot-tracking foreground color.

18.0.0.1 Apr 17, 2023
*NEW:   Ability to specify the size to show the icons within the control
*Added: ImageSize property specifies the size of the control' icons. By default, the ImageSize property is 16. The control's Images collection is cleared if the ImageSize property is changed, so it is recommended to set the ImageSize property before calling the Images method.
*Fixed: The focus of the X, Y, CX or CY fields is lost once the user presses the Enter key

17.0.0.2 Oct 17, 2022
*Added: The MouseLeave event occurs once the cursor leaves the control
*Added: The FixedPageWidth property specifies the fixed width of the page (the control displays the pages with same size)
*Fixed: The Properties\Template (Help or New) in design mode duplicates the pages (/COM version only)

17.0.0.1 Jul 26, 2022
*NEW: Z-Events support (Standard .NET event patterns)
*Added: Every event of the control (/NET assembly) provides a Z-Event alternative, of "void OnEventRaised(object sender, EventArgs args)" type. The .NET convention is for an event (Z-event) signature to have a void return and 2 parameters. The first parameter is of type System.Object and is the sender of the event. The second parameter must be of type System.EventArgs or derived from System.EventArgs and contains data passed between sender and receiver. For instance, the "DblClick(object sender, short Shift, int X, int Y)" event is equivalent to "ZDblClick(object sender, ZDblClickArgs e)", where "ZDblClickArgs" type is derived from System.EventArgs and includes definitions for Shift, X and Y properties
*Fixed: "Warning: The <event-name> event is a .NET event that does not follow the .NET convention for event signatures (OpenEdge, ABL code)". To prevent this warning, under OpenEdge environment you must use the Z-event alternatives 

16.0.0.2 Jul 12, 2021
*Added: Sets or gets the control's Font property in design mode, for the /NET version
*Fixed: The BackColor/ForeColor properties of the /NET version are not serialized once the user changes in design mode (the control's background/foreground is set to the default value once the form is started)
*Fixed: The BackColor/ForeColor properties of the /NET version are not copied in design mode, when the user copies the control in design-mode using CTRL + C (copy) and CTRL + V (paste) combination

16.0.0.1 Apr 26, 2021
*Added: ExTab.pdf (include the control's documentation in PDF format)
*Added: The Images method supports the Microsoft ImageList ( mscomctl.ocx, MSComctlLib.ImageList type) object directly. Shortly, you can define the control's images by calling Images(ImageList1.Object). The ImageList1.Object returns the object of MSComctlLib.ImageList type. The Microsoft ImageList object is available for /COM on x86 and x64 machines (starting from Access 2016)
*Fixed: The "Do you want to save changes to the design of form ''? Yes, No, Cancel" message occurs in MS Access, every time the form is closed in design mode

15.0.0.1 Feb 24, 2020
*Fixed: Prevents showing the "This application is about to initialize ActiveX controls that might be unsafe. If you trust the source of this file, select OK and the controls will be initialized using your current workspace settings." warning message while the control is running into MS Office forms or user-forms.

14.0.0.1 Jul 30, 2018
*NEW:   Ability to executes x-script code ( including events ), from a string, file or a safe array of bytes. This feature allows you to load the control's visual appearance and behavior, without having to write any line of code. The x-script code can save EBNs, icons, pictures into BASE64 encoded strings, and so everything can be put into a single file, that should be invoked by AttachTemplate method. This feature allows you to run any x-script code for any configuration of the component (/COM, /NET or /WPF). 
*Added: AttachTemplate method executes the giving x-script code, and attach events if found. The x-script code can contain handle keyword that defines a handler for the specified event. For instance, the AttachTemplate("handle Click() { print(Version) }") sends the control's Version property to the debugger for display. All you need is to open the DebugView tool, and click the control.
*Added: The control's Template page supports AttachTemplate so you can assign x-script code ( including events )  in design mode, and so the control's visual appearance and behavior is changed once the control is created at runtime (/COM version only). 

13.0.0.1 Oct 09, 2017
*NEW:   Display a placeholder for missing icons, images in HTML captions.
*Added: The Key parameter of the HTMLPicture property is case insensitive, so you can display the picture using the insensitive key. For instance, <img>picA</img> is equivalent with <img>pica</img>, or <img>PICA</img> and so on.
*Added: The HTML caption shows a missing image placeholder for images whose source is missing. The missing placeholder displays the index of the icon being missing, or the key of the HTML picture being missing. 
*Added: The Version property includes the SpecialBuild number of the assembly so it provides information like Major.Minor.Build.Revison.SpecialBuild.Type...

12.0.0.4 May 15, 2017
*Fixed: Prevents a memory leak when loading icons, pictures, from BASE64 encoded strings (Images method, HTMLPicture picture).
*Fixed: A GPF occurs if the application is started from design mode ( demo / evaluation / trial version only )

12.0.0.3 Mar 06, 2017
*Added: exontrol.EXTABLib.extab.RuntimeKey property
*Fixed: Removes the reference/dependency to System.Design, from exontrol.extab.dl, so it can be used on /NET Framework Profile Client.
*Fixed: The Visual Studion 2015 freezes if the user removes the extab component, in design mode ( /NET version ).

12.0.0.2 Jan 20, 2017
*Added: The CustomStyle property returns or sets a string expression that indicates the control's custom style as a file name to a ETB file, or encoded BASE64 string of the ETB file. For instance, the CustomStyle = "C:\Program Files\Exontrol\ExTab\Sample\ETB\xp.etb" changes the tab's appearance to xp.etb style.
*Added: exChrome new style
*Fixed: The Focus/Normal page get shown in the same place in the internal WYSIWYG ETB editor.

12.0.0.1 Dec 12, 2016
*NEW:   /NET Version
*Added: ExETB tool to create, edit or view any ETB file ( TAB skin files )
*Added: Multiple improvements to the TABBuilder object
*Fixed: Prevents showing the control's view in design mode, while running on FORTH system ( /COM version )

11.0.0.1 Oc 03, 2016
*Added: DPI-Aware Support
*Added: The Handle parameter of Images method can be a string that specifies the ICO file to be loaded. The ICO file format is an image file format for computer icons in Microsoft Windows. ICO files contain one or more small images at multiple sizes and color depths, such that they may be scaled appropriately. For instance, Images("e:\working\sync.ico") method  adds the sync.ico file to the control's Images collection.
*Added: The X, Y, CX, CY fields of the object that composes the EBT file, supports DPI values, if the number is followed by a D character. For instance, if the DPI scaling is 100%, the 16d is 16, while for a 150% DPI scaling, the 16d is 24.


10.0.0.1 Sep 25, 2014
*Added: 64-bit support
 for /COM version

*Fixed: The element's tooltip is not shown if the user hovers again the object, if previously its tooltip was automatically hidden by elapsing the time specified by the ToolTipPopDelay property.
*Fixed: The show message is shown on the debugger ( dbgview ), when the tooltip is about to be shown.

9.0.0.1 May 12, 2014
*NEW:   Windows 8.1 64-bit compatibility
*Added: The /COM 64-bit version is compatible with Microsoft Office Applications: Excel 2013, Access 2013,...
*Fixed: "Visual C++ Runtime Error!" occurs if using the <fgcolor> or <bgcolor> with no indicating the color. Correct is <fgcolor RRGGBB>, instead <fgcolor>

8.0.0.1 Oct 23, 2013
*NEW:   Support for EBN 1002 version.
*Added: The EBN 1002 allows using skin objects with horizontal, vertical stretch and colorable/not-colorable parts of the EBNs.
*Added: The HTML tags are case insensitive, so the < b > is equivalent with < B >

7.0.0.2 Jul 15, 2013
*Added: ShowToolTip method shows programatically the control's tooltip.
*Added: Ability to use and show a custom tooltip using the ShowToolTip property even if any of the mouse buttons is pressed or not.
*Fixed: Prevents showing the tooltip's shadow if the current theme is applied on the tooltip

7.0.0.1 May 06, 2013
*Added: The Template or ExecuteTemplate properties may contain several commands separated by ; not only cariage returns. For instance the Template = "dim p;p=CreateObject(`Exontrol.Print`);p.PrintExt=Me;p.Preview()" calls the exontrol's eXPrint to open the contrl's print and print preview.
*Added: The /COM version can be dropped to the eXPropertiesList control as an object.
*Fixed: The pages of the control can not display array of controls.
*Fixed: Removes the tooltip's shadow if time to show the tooltip is less than 250 ms, as on Windows 7, the tooltip may be displayed slower.

6.0.0.1 Mar 25, 2013
*NEW:   Subscript and Superscript implementation in HTML captions, using the <off> HTML tag
*Added: < off >, < /off > built-in HTML tags defines the vertical offset to display the element, relative to the current position. This tag is inheritable. The <off pixels>, where, pixels indicates the vertical offset to be applied ). For instance, the following text displays a text with Subscript and Superscript such as: "Text <off 4>with subscript</off> <off -4>and superscript</off> support"
*Added: The <fgcolor=0000FF> and <fgcolor FF>, or <bgcolor=00FF00> and <bgcolor FF00>, so no = or full 6 hexa-digits are required to define the color to be applied
*Fixed: The <font> HTML tag is not overwritten when using inside another <font> tag
*Fixed: The parts of the line with different fonts in the HTML caption are vertically aligned ( instead aligning to the font's baseline ) if the line displays a picture or an icon using the <img> HTML tag.

5.0.0.2 Nov 14, 2012
*Added: Increases the performance of parsing HTML captions.
*Fixed: In MS Access, the control loses its data once the Visible property is set on False or when the control is hosted to a tab control, and user changes the pages.
*Fixed: Changing the ShowImageList property in design mode fails, if the component is hosted in a VC++ 2005, 2008 and 2010 application ( available for /COM only ).
*Fixed: On terminal-servers (citrix), CPU-consumption varying from 1-4%, if multiple instances of the control is opened in the same time ( Exontrol.CommentWindow )

5.0.0.1 Aug 16, 2012
*NEW:   New text decorations support for HTML captions, like outlined characters, shadow, ....
*Added: <gra>, </gra> built-in HTML tags define a gradient text ( the <gra> supports color, mode and blending, like <gra rrggbb;mode;blend>, where, rr/gg/bb represents the red/green/blue values of the ending color, 808080 if missing as gray, mode a value between 0 and 4, 1 if missing, and blend 0 or 1, 0 if missing )
*Added: <out>, </out> built-in HTML tags define a text to show with outlined characters ( the <out> supports color and width, like <out rrggbb;width>, where rr/gg/bb represents the red/green/blue values of the outline color, 808080 if missing as gray, width indicates the size of outline, 1 if missing.
*Added: <sha>, </sha> built-in HTML tags define a text with a shadow ( the <sha> supports color, width and offset, like <out rrggbb;width;offset>, where rr/gg/bb represents the red/green/blue values of the shadow color, 808080 if missing as gray, width indicates the size of shadow, 4 if missing, and offset indicates the offset from the origin to display the text's shadow, 2 if missing.

4.0.0.3 Nov 16, 2011
*Added: Shows the pictures in the pages as grayed, if the Page.Enabled property is False ( HTMLPicture property )
*Added: The < c > HTML tag centers the line. Similar with < r > HTML tag.
*Fixed: Ignores the ending HTML tags, if they are not used previously ( for instance, the < /b > is not displayed in the sequence "ABC< /b >" )
*Fixed: The control's tooltip does not display the icons or images.

4.0.0.2 Oct 05, 2011
*NEW:   Inheritance for HTML attributes on multiple line ( for instance, the < b > is inherited on multiple lines, until the < /b > tag is found)
*NEW:   The < font > or < img > can change the height of the HTML line, so HTML captions can display lines with different heights.
*Added: The HTML captions allow using not-nested elements to be used. (for instance the sequence "< b >1< s >23< /b >4< /s>" displays 123 in bold while the 234 are shown in strikeout )
*Fixed: Extra characters are inserted in the next line if the breaking element is a picture that does not fit the current line.

4.0.0.1 Aug 15, 2011
*NEW:   PNG support for picture properties.
*Added: PNG, TIFF, EXIF or WMF image format support.
*Added: Updates the control's tooltip's visual appearance according to the current visual theme.
*Added: The caption of the page displays & if the caption includes &&, while &a displays an underlined a ( mnemonics )

3.0.0.3 Mar 30, 2011
*NEW:   Ability to display a HTML text on the pages part of the control ( with no pages, the control may acts as an frame control ).
*Added: Caption property specifies the HTML text to be displayed on the pages part of the control.
*Added: Alignment property specifies horizontal and vertical alignment of the caption to be shown.

3.0.0.2 Aug 03, 2010
*NEW:   Ability to change the parameters passed by reference of the control's events for environments that does not support events with parameters by reference, such as uniPaas 1.5 (formerly known as eDeveloper), DBase, and so on
*Added: EventParam() property accesses a specified parameter of the current event. This property has effect only during an event, and can be used to change or retrieve a specified parameter of the current event
*Added: EventParam(-1) retrieves the number of parameters that can be accessed.

3.0.0.1 Apr 19, 2010
*Added: Compatible with the Data Execution Prevention (DEP). (SpecialBuild:5000)
*Fixed: The application fails if clicking the control's spin when control displays multiple pages.
*Fixed: The path to load pictures from, is limited to 127 characters.
*Fixed: The IDE flickers when the component is placed on a form, due ShowImageList property that creates a hidden top-most window, to store the icons.

2.0.0.2 Oct 19, 2009
*Added: The Load method may load etb files from BASE64 encoded strings. 
*Added: The Template feature supports hexa values being specified using format 0x prefix.
*Fixed: The MDI form requires an extra click to activate it, once a modeless dialog is closed. The dialog contains a VB6 UserControl that hosts the control. ATL3.0 BUG

2.0.0.1 August 22, 2007
*Added: Multiple improvements in selecting picture panel, in builder, including zooming.
*Fixed: Accessing the Template page fails in design mode, for .COM environments

1.0.2.2 July 10, 2007
*NEW:   Ability to use the control in .NET forms.
*Added: CContainer property specifies the container that hosts the controls being displayed in the pages of the control.
*Added: Page.Controls property. Specifies the list of controls in the page when the environment doesn't support ISimpleFrameSite interface.
*Added: LeftPictureRoot property specifies the indent of the picture on the root object.
*Added: TopPictureRoot property specifies the indent of the picture on the root object.

1.0.2.1 April 20, 2007
*Added: Adds more accurate icons when you drag files to the control's images panel
*Added: <font face;size> built-in HTML tag that specifies the font and the size to draw a portion of text until </font> is found. 
*Added: ExecuteTemplate property retrieves a Variant value, instead of a String, so it can returns Objects too.
*Added: ToolTipFont property specifies the tooltip's font.
*Added: ToolTipWidth property specifies the width of the tooltip, in pixels.
*Fixed: Tab characters display square characters.

1.0.2.0 December 29, 2006
*NEW:   Ability to load and display custom size pictures to HTML captions.
*Added: Displays the pages in design mode, for enviroments like eDeveloper or Visual C++.
*Added: HTMLPicture property. Adds or replaces a picture being used in the HTML captions.
*Added: <img> built-in tag supports pictures. For instance, the <img>pic1</img> displays the pic1 picture being loaded using the HTMLPicture("pic1")

1.0.1.9 November 20, 2006
*NEW:   The Template supports CreateObject method to create new objects. This feature can be used by programming environments ( such as eDeveloper ) that do not accept working with particular objects.
*Added: ExecuteTemplate property, runs a template and retrieves a value of the variable in the template.
*Added: The "Add Picture From Clipboard" option of the control's Builder adds a picture from the clipboard to the properties browser, so it can be used in the current object.

1.0.1.8 July 31, 2006
*Added: Page.Controls property. Specifies the list if controls in the page when the environment doesn't support ISimpleFrameSite interface.
*Added: MS Access sample

1.0.1.7 April 10, 2006
*NEW:   The Template supports calling multiple properties in the same line using the . (dot) separator. For instance, the 'Pages.Add("Page 1",1).Image = 1' statement adds a new page to the control.
*Fixed: when a webpage with eXthe Tab control embedded is opened in Internet Explorer running Google Toolbar, it causes the IE to shut down.

1.0.1.6 March 10, 2006
*NEW:   Ability to insert icons anywhere in the page's caption
*Added: Improvements to the Template editor.

1.0.1.5 December 17, 2005
*NEW:   Ability to scroll the pages.
*Added: AllowSroll property. Specifies whether the control displays or hides the scroll buttons.
*Added: Improvements to Template editor

1.0.1.4 May 04, 2005
*Help:  Updated
*Added: Ability to host the exTab inside the VB UserControl, by implementing the ICLeft property

1.0.1.3 February 02, 2005
*Added: Support for ALT keys.
*Added: The KeyCode parameter of KeyDown, KeyUp events passed by reference.
*Added: The KeyAscii parameter of KeyPress event passed by reference.
*Fixed: Small adjustment for the XP style, when TabAutoResize property is True.

1.0.1.2 November 08, 2004
*Added: VB\UNICODE sample

1.0.1.1 April 30, 2004
*NEW: Ability to display the hierarchy of objects that composes a skin in the control's WYSWYG designer.

1.0.1.0 January 15, 2004
*NEW:   Ability to load the control's Images collection using BASE64 encoded strings.
*Added: The Images method supports BASE64 encoded strings that holds a list of icons. 

1.0.0.9 December 02, 2003
*Fixed: The MS Access fails to close a form when it contains an exTab instance.

1.0.0.8 October 01, 2003
*Help:  Updated
*Added: By default, The ShowImageList property is False.

1.0.0.7 June 30, 2003
*Added: SelectEnablePageIfDisable property. Specifies a value that indicates whether the control selects an enabled page if the focused page is disabled.
*Added: Popup method. Floats the tab control to a popup window. 
*Added: PopupVisible Property. Specifies whether the floating TAB control is visible or hidden.
*Added: ClosePopup Property. Closes the floating TAB control.
*Added: IsPopup Property. Specifies whether the TAB control is hosted by a popup window.

1.0.0.6 June 23, 2003
*Added: TabAutoResize property. Specifies whether the pages are auto arranged to fit the control's client area.

1.0.0.5 June 17, 2003
*NEW:	Multiple HTML lines Tooltip support.
*Added: Page.Enabled property. Enables or disables a page.
*Added: Page.ToolTip property. Specifies the description of the page's tooltip.
*Added: Page.ToolTipTitle property. Specifies the title of the page's tooltip.
*Added: ToolTipDelay property. Specifies the time in ms that passes before the ToolTip appears.
*Added: ToolTipPopDelay property. Specifies the period in ms of time the ToolTip remains visible if the mouse pointer is stationary within a control.

1.0.0.4 April 13, 2003
*Fixed: Tooltip window size.
*Chang: The tooltip's delay before showing up sets to 500 mili seconds.

1.0.0.3 January 29, 2003
*Fixed: The label control is not displayed if it is contained by the control.

1.0.0.2 January 27, 2003
*Added: TabStyleEnum.exRound2 new style.

1.0.0.1 January 24, 2003
* Initial Release