Fade between Tab Pages in a Tab Control

Question

I have a Tab Control with multiple Tab Pages. I want to be able to fade the tabs back and forth. I don\'t see an opacity option on the Tab Controls. Is there a way to cause a fa

Answer 1

I decided to post what I did to get my solution working. GvS had the closest answer and sent me on my quest in the right direction so I gave him (might be a her, but come on) the correct answer check mark since I can't give it to myself. I never did figure out how to "crossfade" from one tab to another (bring opacity down on one and bring opacity up on the other) but I found a wait to paint a grey box over a bitmap with more and more grey giving it the effect of fading into my background which is also grey. Then I start the second tab as a bitmap of grey that I slowly add less grey combined with the tab image each iteration giving it a fade up effect.

This solution leads to a nice fade effect (even if I do say so myself) but it is very linear. I am going to play a little with a Random Number Generator for the alphablend variable and see if that might make it a little less linear, but then again the users might appreciate the predictability. Btw, I fire the switch tab event with a button_click.

using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;

public int alphablend;
public Bitmap myBitmap;

    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        alphablend = 0;
        pictureBox1.Visible = true;
        myBitmap = new Bitmap(tabControl1.Width, tabControl1.Height);
        while (alphablend <= 246)
        {
            tabControl1.DrawToBitmap(myBitmap, new Rectangle(0, 0, tabControl1.Width, tabControl1.Height));
            alphablend = alphablend + 10;
            pictureBox1.Refresh();//this calls the paint action
        }
        tabControl1.SelectTab("tabPage2");
        while (alphablend >= 0)
        {
            tabControl1.DrawToBitmap(myBitmap, new Rectangle(0, 0, tabControl1.Width, tabControl1.Height));
            alphablend = alphablend - 10;               
            pictureBox1.Refresh();//this calls the paint action
        }
        pictureBox1.Visible = false;
    }

    private void pictureBox1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
    {
        Graphics bitmapGraphics = Graphics.FromImage(myBitmap);

        SolidBrush greyBrush = new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(alphablend, 240, 240, 240));

        bitmapGraphics.CompositingMode = CompositingMode.SourceOver;

        bitmapGraphics.FillRectangle(greyBrush, new Rectangle(0, 0, tabControl1.Width, tabControl1.Height));

        e.Graphics.CompositingQuality = CompositingQuality.GammaCorrected;

        e.Graphics.DrawImage(myBitmap, 0, 0);

    }