How can i build an expandable and collapsible panel in VB.net? - vb.net

Question

I am looking for a way to make a panel which can be expanded and collapsed with a little arrow or button. I tried to find some examples, nothing worked so far. I tried to resize a group to 0px but the problem was when i did that the panel below it stayed in a same place, and I wanted it to slide upside, to save screen real estate.
I have a bunch of labels and text boxes which provides me data, but takes up a lot of space, and i grouped them together.
All help would be appreciated.
David

Answer 1

Simple in window Form
Insert a button and write code
Simple Example:
Public Class Form1
Dim panelshow As Boolean = False
Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
If panelshow = False Then
panelshow = True
Panel1.Show()
Else
Panel1.Hide()
panelshow = False
End If
End Sub
End Class
You can change name of variables, buttons and panels.
Set the panelshow to false if on application start your panel is collapsed otherwise to true if your panel is visible on startup and want to hide later by user.

Answer 2

Most people have answered the question about the collapse and expand, but to answer your question about "animation" so that it really has a good slide feel. For winforms i recommend this library on github DotNet Transitions
you can then write very simple code to give it animated transition.
using the transitions library, this code would collapse the panel in half a second:
Transitions.Transition.run(pnl, "Height",
initialValue:=pnl.Height,
destinationValue:=0,
transitionMethod:=New TransitionType_EaseInEaseOut(500)
)

Answer 3

If you want to use animation in win forms like when panel collapsed and the additional space should be covered with content then you can use
Control.Top() And Control.Left() Property ' control = your control name on which content is written like label, textbox etc.
Or second choice
To resize your content (like increasing the size etc).
Depend on your choice as I can't see your form presentation but advise you on the base of my imagination.
For example my panel height is 100 and when i collapsed I want my next control should move upward by 100 (Just suppose)
Suppose, my next control is RichTextBox
Then, you can do change here :
Public Class Form1
Dim panelshow As Boolean = True
Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
If panelshow = False Then
panelshow = True
Panel1.Show()
RichTextBox1.Top = RichTextBox1.Top + 100
RichTextBox1.Height = RichTextBox1.Height - 100
Else
Panel1.Hide()
panelshow = False
RichTextBox1.Top = RichTextBox1.Top - 100
RichTextBox1.Height = RichTextBox1.Height + 100
End If
End Sub
End Class
Just add a method in addition to our previous code to do this thing.
Don't mind my grammar mistakes.
I am not perfect in English.
For more help comment or post your code (if you have any kind of problem)