Getting Started with Windows Forms Rating Control

18 Nov 20186 minutes to read

This section explains how to get started with the Windows Forms Rating control and display ratings using different shapes.

Assembly Deployment

Refer to the Control Dependencies section for the list of assemblies and NuGet packages required to use the RatingControl.

Refer to NuGet Packages to learn how to install NuGet packages in a Windows Forms application.

To install the required NuGet package using the NuGet Package Manager Console, run the following command:

Install-Package Syncfusion.Tools.Windows

Adding Rating control via Designer

  1. Create a new Windows Forms project in Visual Studio to display the Rating control.

  2. Drag the Rating control from the Toolbox and drop it onto the Windows Form designer. The following dependent assemblies are added automatically:

  • Syncfusion.Grid.Base
  • Syncfusion.Grid.Windows
  • Syncfusion.Shared.Base
  • Syncfusion.Shared.Windows
  • Syncfusion.Tools.Base
  • Syncfusion.Tools.Windows

Search Rating Control in toolbox

Adding Rating control via Code

To add the Rating control programmatically, follow these steps:

  1. Create a C# or VB.NET Windows Forms application in Visual Studio.

  2. Add the following assembly references to the project:

  • Syncfusion.Grid.Base
  • Syncfusion.Grid.Windows
  • Syncfusion.Shared.Base
  • Syncfusion.Shared.Windows
  • Syncfusion.Tools.Base
  • Syncfusion.Tools.Windows

  1. Include the required namespaces.

    using Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools;
    Imports Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools

  2. Create an instance of the Rating control and add it to the form.

    RatingControl ratingControl1 = new RatingControl ();
this.Controls.Add(ratingControl1);
    Dim  ratingControl1 As RatingControl = New RatingControl
Me.Controls.Add(ratingControl1)

Windows Forms showing rating control

  1. Set the rating value using the Value property.

    ratingControl1.Value = 3;
    ratingControl1.Value = 3

Windows Forms Rating control shows rating value

Built-in Shapes for Rating

The Rating control provides the following predefined shapes:

  • Star
  • Circle
  • Triangle
  • Heart
  • Diamond
  • Kite

Use the Shape property to customize the appearance of the rating items.

//Setting shape
this.ratingControl1.Shape = Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools.Shapes.Heart;
' Setting shape

Me.ratingControl1.Shape = Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools.Shapes.Heart

RatingControls shapes

Complete code example

The following example demonstrates how to add a Rating control to a Windows Forms application, set its rating value, and apply a built-in shape.

using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools;

namespace RatingControlGettingStarted
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        private Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools.RatingControl ratingControl1;

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            this.ClientSize = new Size(400, 200);
            ratingControl1 = new RatingControl();
            ratingControl1.Location = new Point(20, 20);
            ratingControl1.Size = new Size(200, 40);
            ratingControl1.Value = 3;            // Set the rating value.
            ratingControl1.Shape = Shapes.Heart; // Apply the Heart shape.
            ratingControl1.ItemsCount = 5;        // Number of items (default is 5).
            this.Controls.Add(ratingControl1);
        }
    }
}
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Tools

Public Class Form1

    Private ratingControl1 As RatingControl

    Public Sub New()
        InitializeComponent()
        Me.ClientSize = New Size(400, 200)
        ratingControl1 = New RatingControl()
        ratingControl1.Location = New Point(20, 20)
        ratingControl1.Size = New Size(200, 40)
        ratingControl1.Value = 3            ' Set the rating value.
        ratingControl1.Shape = Shapes.Heart ' Apply the Heart shape.
        ratingControl1.ItemsCount = 5        ' Number of items (default is 5).
        Me.Controls.Add(ratingControl1)
    End Sub
End Class