Appearance in WPF TabControl (TabControlExt)

18 Feb 20254 minutes to read

This section explains different UI customization and theming options available in TabControl.

Change flow direction

You can change the flow direction of the TabControl layout from right to left by setting the FlowDirection property value as RightToLeft. The default value of FlowDirection property is LeftToRight.

<syncfusion:TabControlExt FlowDirection="RightToLeft"
                          Name="tabControlExt">
    <syncfusion:TabItemExt Content="This is the first tab item"
                           Header="tabItem1"/>
</syncfusion:TabControlExt>
tabControlExt.FlowDirection = FlowDirection.RightToLeft;

TabControl with RightToLeft flow direction

NOTE

View Sample in GitHub

TabItemHeaderStyle

The tab header style can be customized using the TabItemHeaderStyle property in ThemeStudio themes. The default value of TabItemHeaderStyle is Underline.
The available header styes are,

  • Underline

  • Curve

  • Fill

Underline

The following example demonstrates the UI of the Underline header style.

<syncfusion:TabControlExt x:Name="tabControlExt" TabItemHeaderStyle="Underline">
    <syncfusion:TabItemExt Header="tabItem1">
        <TextBlock Name="textBlock" Text="This is the first tab item." />
    </syncfusion:TabItemExt>
    <syncfusion:TabItemExt Header="tabItem2">
        <TextBlock Name="textBlock1" Text="This is the second tab item." />
    </syncfusion:TabItemExt>
    <syncfusion:TabItemExt Header="tabItem3">
        <TextBlock Name="textBlock2" Text="This is the third tab item." />
    </syncfusion:TabItemExt>
</syncfusion:TabControlExt>
tabControlExt.TabItemHeaderStyle = TabItemHeaderStyle.Underline;

TabItem with Underline header style

Curve

The following example demonstrates the UI of the Curve header style.

<syncfusion:TabControlExt x:Name="tabControlExt" TabItemHeaderStyle="Curve">
    <syncfusion:TabItemExt Header="tabItem1">
        <TextBlock Name="textBlock" Text="This is the first tab item." />
    </syncfusion:TabItemExt>
    <syncfusion:TabItemExt Header="tabItem2">
        <TextBlock Name="textBlock1" Text="This is the second tab item." />
    </syncfusion:TabItemExt>
    <syncfusion:TabItemExt Header="tabItem3">
        <TextBlock Name="textBlock2" Text="This is the third tab item." />
    </syncfusion:TabItemExt>
</syncfusion:TabControlExt>
tabControlExt.TabItemHeaderStyle = TabItemHeaderStyle.Curve;

TabItem with Curve header style

Fill

The following example demonstrates the UI of the Fill header style.

<syncfusion:TabControlExt x:Name="tabControlExt" TabItemHeaderStyle="Fill">
    <syncfusion:TabItemExt Header="tabItem1">
        <TextBlock Name="textBlock" Text="This is the first tab item." />
    </syncfusion:TabItemExt>
    <syncfusion:TabItemExt Header="tabItem2">
        <TextBlock Name="textBlock1" Text="This is the second tab item." />
    </syncfusion:TabItemExt>
    <syncfusion:TabItemExt Header="tabItem3">
        <TextBlock Name="textBlock2" Text="This is the third tab item." />
    </syncfusion:TabItemExt>
</syncfusion:TabControlExt>
tabControlExt.TabItemHeaderStyle = TabItemHeaderStyle.Fill;

TabItem with Fill header style

Theme

TabControl supports various built-in themes. Refer to the below links to apply themes for the TabControl,

Setting theme in WPF TabControl