How can I remove the double form title bar? - vb.net

Question

I have a mdi container form that when it opens a child inside I get this double title bar with another set of close/minimize/maximize buttons and the form icon. How can I get rid of it? I've tried setting Control to false but it does not work. FormBorderStyle to none also does not work and it deforms the child form.
Also, I have a toolstrip that contains some buttons and it has this annoying border looking line at the bottom (check out the blue arrow I drew). How can I disable that aswell?

Answer 1

First Part
For the first part of your question, the workaround posted here by Mr. #RezaAghaei could be the answer. Here's the VB.NET version:
Public Class YourParentForm
'Or drop one in the designer...
Private ReadOnly ContainerPanel As Panel
Sub New()
InitializeComponent()
IsMdiContainer = False
ContainerPanel = New Panel With {.Dock = DockStyle.Fill}
Controls.Add(ContainerPanel)
End Sub
End Class
And where you create the child Form:
Dim f As New ChildForm With
{
.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None,
.TopLevel = False,
.ControlBox = False,
.Dock = DockStyle.Fill,
}
ContainerPanel.Controls.Add(f)
f.Show()
Since the last inserted control into the collection is docked first, you need to explicitly set the order of the controls to avoid any possible dock overlapping. So as you noticed and mentioned in your comment, the Dock.Fill Form is overlapping the Dock.Top Label. To fix that:
Dim f As New ChildForm With
{
.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None,
.TopLevel = False,
.ControlBox = False,
.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
}
ContainerPanel.Controls.Add(f)
Controls.SetChildIndex(ContainerPanel, 0)
Controls.SetChildIndex(Label1, 1)
f.Show()
In fact you can omit Controls.SetChildIndex(Label1, 1), just added to clear up the idea.
If you'r using the designer to add the ContainerPanel, select it and right click, you will see in the context menu Bring to Front and Send to Back which are used to do the same thing. Also, you can use the Document Outline window (Ctrl + T to show it) to change the order of the controls using the up/down arrows and the left/right arrows to move controls to different containers.
Second Part
As for the second part, you need to create a new class that inherits the ProfessionalColorTable and override the ToolStripBorder property to prevent it from returning the default color when rendering the ToolStrip:
Public Class CustomColorTable
Inherits ProfessionalColorTable
Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ToolStripBorder As Color
Get
Return Color.Empty
End Get
End Property
End Class
Then, pass the custom color table to a new instance of the ToolStripProfessionalRenderer class and assign it to the ToolStrip.Renderer or the ToolStripManager.Renderer properties.
Revisiting the constructor of the parent Form:
Sub New()
InitializeComponent()
ContainerPanel = New Panel With {.Dock = DockStyle.Fill}
Controls.Add(ContainerPanel)
ToolStrip1.Renderer = New ToolStripProfessionalRenderer(New CustomColorTable) With {
.RoundedEdges = False
}
'Or
'ToolStripManager.Renderer = New ToolStripProfessionalRenderer(New CustomColorTable) With {
' .RoundedEdges = False
'}
End Sub