If you've talked to me recently about Windows Forms, you've probably heard me voice my displeasure at the fact that there are no longer any kind of rich GUI controls that you can use for free.  For example, SandBar, SandDock, and EyeFinder by DivElements are no longer free to use for non-commercial applications.  Now, I've downloaded them and they are bound to the free noncommercial license they granted me then, but I can no longer, for example, distribute it with an SDK for my open-source bot project for people who want to develop rich GUI plugins.  The most inexpensive project I could get, with source code, that would encompass most of this, is about $280.

I'm not experienced in customizing controls much beyond a ListBox I turned into a really cool details-mode ListView.  And it really wasn't even that cool.

So, because I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel, I found some cool projects on CodeProject that I'd like to look into integrating into one package and releasing it under the FreeBSD license for non-commercial projects (other licensing considerations may come in later, but if any do, it will be like MySQL -- free and open-source to nonprofit).

The first major consideration is a docking control.  A project called DockManager is fairly effective, although it has some logic issues (it doesn't work quite right).  However, I believe that this component will be the central component to other controls such as floating/dockable menus and toolbars.

The DockManager contains an MDI tab control interface, but I found a project called cwTab that I hope will shed some light on the custom painting involved in drawing and using the tabs.

Another project called XPTaskBar simulates an Explorer-bar-like control (you know, when you're in Explorer, and it has those tasks on the left?)  That's not that impressive to me, but what I *am* interested in is its custom support for XP themes, even outside of Windows XP.

There's a TaskbarNotifier which may or may not be cool to people.

A custom ToolBox.

Toolbar items with drop-down menus.

There's this semi-cool circular icon menu, which is okay in and of itself, but it gives me some insight into a menu project that I've wanted to work with, something simulating an OS X menu bar.

There are Balloon tooltips, but these aren't implemented as tooltips in the Common Controls, they're Forms that look like balloons.  Not my first choice, but they give cross-platform compatibility and allow you to add other Windows Forms controls.

Then there are two kinds of flat menu items: this one and this one.  Both of them seem iffy to me, but despite several attempts, I've never gotten this to remotely work.  So I want to review it.

Oh -- and my skinning framework, which I want to upgrade with the XP Theme support.

In any case, I want to put together some controls and put them in such a way as there is some consistent way of working with them.  Maybe it'll be some kind of custom rendering framework (like you see in the DivElements controls), or something else.  Who knows?

If anyone wants to work on this, I'm accepting applications at this time.  ;)