This file contains some additional information regarding the 
folder custom control.

This control is designed to provide a facility within Visual 
Basic to create a selection mechanism which serves as an 
alternative to menus or buttons and provides a more intuitive 
'look and feel' by creating a 'virtual folder' effect. This 
type of interface can be seen on several recent commercial 
products such as Symantec C++ and the latest versions of 
Microsoft Word, Excel and Access. The control is very flexible 
in this sense as it allows the creation of several different 
styles of virtual folders ranging from a set of horizontally 
aligned tabs with a three dimensional appearance to a set of 
tabs, which when given incremented positions on the y-axis 
together with a diminishing width dimension, can create a 
three-dimensional perspective effect. Further programming in 
visual basic to respond to tab events and change the styles of 
the controls can enhance the basic features of the control. 
Some such features are demonstrated in the accompanying example 
application, such as giving the selected tab bolded text and a 
three-d appearance compared with the plain text and flat 
appearance of an unselected tab. Similarly, a selected and 
unselected colour property are provided which can be used for 
further highlighting of the selected tab.

The main consideration in using the folder custom control is to 
place the number of tabs which you wish to function as a 
group,  in a distinct container. So, for example, if you wish 
to provide several tabs on a main menu and to have submenus 
which also have tabs, then it will be necessary to place the 
submenu tabs in a different container to the main menu tabs. 
All tabs which are in the same distinct container, for 
instance, a form, a panel or a frame, will interact as a group. 
For internal reasons, the maximum number of controls which may 
occupy a distinct container is limited to twenty. In the above 
example, if the main menu tabs were put on the form, the 
submenu tabs would have to be placed on a frame or panel which  
could also be placed on a form. In this respect, the control 
functions in a similar manner to the radio button control.

The example given makes use of the three-d panel control, from 
Sheridan Software Systems, Inc., which is provided with the 
Visual Basic Professional Toolkit. However, the frame control 
which is provided with the standard version of Visual Basic can 
also function as a container for folder controls.

A help file is provided with the folder control and gives 
online access to help by pressing F1 when the control is 
selected. Help on custom events and properties is available by 
selecting the appropriate property or event and pressing F1. 
When installing the folder control, place the help file in the 
Windows directory.

This Folder control is Shareware. If you find it useful, please 
register it by sending a cheque or bank draft for the amount 
specified, and by all means distribute to other developers who 
may also find it useful. In return, I will send an enhanced 
version of the control which provides the ability to create a 
folder with a vertical orientation and which can host bitmaps 
and icons. Your generousity would be much appreciated.  For 
details of registration, see the about box of the folder 
control. 

I have done my best to ensure that this program is bug free.  
However, as with any software it is impossible to be completely 
certain that this is so.  In this respect, it is the 
responsibility of the developer to ensure that any programs 
that use the folder control are fully tested before being 
relied upon.  However, if any bugs are noticed, I would be 
grateful if such were reported.