When it comes to developing enterprise level, visually stunning and immersive Windows applications, the NOV UI Framework will do the job right.
NOV comes with WinForm Example Solution including hundreds of examples with source code. You can integrate NOV WinForms UI Controls to existing Windows Forms application. It will help with your desktop application development, whether you are working on a new or extending an existing WinForm project.
The NOV Framework will not only help with your WinForm application development, it will also allow you to start with your cross-platform .NET development and target multiple platforms and devices.
That is correct - when you start developing with NOV, you will be able to build cross-platform applications and User Interfaces using single code base.
Currently NOV includes the following UI Widgets for WinForms:
 | Backgrounds |
 | Borders |
 | Clipboard |
 | Cursor |
 | Date Time Box |
 | Dock Panel |
 | Document Box |
 | Drag And Drop |
 | File Dialogs |
 | Flow Panel |
 | Group Box |
 | Image Box |
 | Label Box |
 | Layout Panels |
 | List Box |
 | Menu Bar |
 | Message Box |
 | Meta Image Box |
 | Numeric Up Down |
 | Pair Box |
 | Print Dialog |
 | Progress Bar |
 | Radio Button |
 | Range Slider |
 | Scroll Content |
 | Split Buttons |
 | Splitter |
 | Stack Panel |
 | Symbols |
 | Tab |
 | Table Panel |
 | Text Box |
 | Tool Bar |
 | Tooltip |
 | Tree View |
 | User Panels |
 | Windows |
The WinForms Ribbon is a widget that lets developers easily enrich their WinForms applications with Microsoft Office-like Ribbon UI. NOV WinForms Ribbon is fully customizable and scales its child widgets automatically based on the available area. The resizing of the Ribbon is fully customizable as well.
The WinForms Ribbon consists of the following main elements: - Application Menu
- Ribbon Tab
- Collapse Button
- Additional Content
- Ribbon Group
- Dialog Launcher
- Ribbon Wrap Flow Panel
- Ribbon Stack Panel
- Ribbon Button
- Ribbon Split Button
- Ribbon Menu
- Ribbon Gallery
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The WinForms Buttons are widgets, which are typically used to perform a certain action, when clicked. NOV features a complete set of buttons that can contain arbitrary content (i.e. other widgets). Main types of buttons include:
- Standard buttons
- Repeat buttons
- Toggle buttons
- Check boxes
- Radio buttons
- Split buttons
- Other buttons
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The WinForms Color pickers are widgets that allow the user pick a color by modifying one or all of its color components through a visual interface.
- Palette Color Picker
- Luminance Color Bar
- Hue Color Bar
- Saturation-Brightness Color Box
- HSB Box Color Picker
- HSB Wheel Color Picker
- Color Box
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NOV implements advanced WinForms command bars that mimic the commanding logic of Microsoft Office 2003, Visual Studio etc. NOV WinForms command bars can contain any other widget, and have support for many advanced features. Specific subtypes of commands bars include:
- Menu Bar
- Tool Bar
- Status Bar
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The WinForms Container widgets are used to contain other widgets and provide different adorner features to their content.
- Group Box
- Pair Box
- Uni Size Box
- Splitter
- Tab
- Document Box
- Scroll Content
- And many other...
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The WinForms context popups are Popup Windows opened that are opened in a context fashion. Context popups are usually used for:
- Context Menus
- Custom Context Popups
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The WinForms drop down edits consist of a specific editing area and a drop down button located at the right side. When the drop down button is clicked the drop down edit opens popup window, which assists the user with the editing. Notable drop-down edits are:
- Combo Box
- Date Time Box
- Color Box
- Split Buttons
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The WinForms layout panels are used to arrange content. The layout panels included in NOV have unique features that are a product of our long term dedication to automatic layouts.
- Panel
- Single Visible Panel
- Dock Panel
- Stack Panel
- Wrap Flow Panel
- Table Flow Panel
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The WinForms range based widgets are widgets, which display a range and a current value. Notable range based widgets are:
- Scrollbars
- Slider
- Numeric Up Down
- Progress Bar
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The NOV WinForms Label and WinForms Text Box widgets allow for the visualization and editing of Unicode text. They are based on our proprietary managed Typography and as such are the only Label and Text Box in the .NET world that can guarantee you 100% identical text quality and speed in all environments.
- Label
- Text Box
- Auto Complete Text Box
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The WinForms List Box is used to present the user with a list of items he can choose from. The items of the NOV WinForms List Box can be any other widgets. Supported are single and multiple selection modes. |
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The WinForms Tree View is used to visualize a tree hierarchy. Users can navigate the hierarchy visually by expanding and collapsing certain tree branches. The items of the NOV WinForms Tree View can be any other widgets. |
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The WinForms top level windows are windows that are opened on top of other windows in the specific presentation layer windows stack. The Top Level Windows of NOV UI for WinForms are virtualized. The NOV WinForms Top Level Windows feature full control over the window frame and title bar, and can be opened in modal fashion. Top level windows are usually used for:
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NOV WinForms widgets are styled with CSS. NOV initially comes with the following themes:
- Windows 8
- Windows 7
- Windows XP Blue
- Windows Classic (with all color scheme variations)
- macOS Lion
- macOS El Capitan
- Nevron Dark
- Nevron Light
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Miscellaneous WinForms UI features that apply to all types of widgets include:
- Borders – an implementation of the W3C borders specification, with many additional enhancements.
- Commanding – an extensive framework for implementing diverse commanding logic in Enterprise applications.
- Tooltips – virtualized support for tooltips with many advanced features.
- Cursors – virtualized support for cursors.
- Clipboard – virtualized support for clipboard.
- Drag and Drop– virtualized support for drag and drop.
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I really like the fact that standard windows icons are provided with the NOV Ribbon example, avoiding the need to recreate the wheel and giving a more professional appearance. Using the provided Visual Studio NOV solution, it is fairly straightforward to add custom icons with a few extra simple steps. The gallery of C# examples for all controls makes it easy to create custom layouts. For the handful of customizations I could not find in the examples or user forums, the tech support responses got me going within a day.
