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I think that the default look of common CTabCtrl is not cool enough (for the year 2000) when the control is used with scrolling tabs:

The CLBTabCtrl class uses my CLBSpinButtonCtrl class (see "Owner drawn spin button control with autodisabling arrow buttons" article) and completly draw itself to look like this.

Beside that, my CLBTabCtrl class has "autoraising items" feature. It means, that when mouse is over inactive item, that item is drawn higher then other inactive items and its right border became darker. This feature also persist when tab control is used in stacked mode:

How to use CLBTabCtrl

1. Add LBTabCtrl.h and LBTabCtrl.cpp to your project.

2. Create a new class derived from CPropertySheet and add it to project.

3. Include LBTabCtrl.h file in the header file of just created CPropertySheet-derived class.

   #include "LBTabCtrl.h"; 

4. Add a member variable to that CPropertySheet-derived class.

    CLBTabCtrl m_LBTabCtrl; 

5. Subclass the common tab control to CLBTabCtrl. The good place to do this - in the virtual member function OnInitDialog() of CPropertySheet-derived class:

   BOOL CLBTabDemoPropSheet::OnInitDialog() 
   {
   	BOOL bResult =CPropertySheet::OnInitDialog(); 
   	
   	//Subclass default CTabCtrl to CLBTabCtrl
   	CTabCtrl *pTab =GetTabControl();
   	m_LBTabCtrl.SubclassWindow(pTab->m_hWnd);
   
   	return bResult;
   }
     

   After that you can use that CPropertySheet-derived class everywhere as usual CPropertySheet. For instance:

   CLBTabDemoPropSheet sheet("Any Title");
   CPropertyPage page1(IDD_PROPPAGE1),page2(IDD_PROPPAGE2),page3(IDD_PROPPAGE3);
   
   sheet.AddPage(&page1);
   sheet.AddPage(&page2);
   sheet.AddPage(&page3);
   
   // The following line is required if you wish to switch on 
   // the scrolling mode,since stacked mode is default 
   // for tab controls.
   sheet.EnableStackedTabs(FALSE); 
   
   sheet.DoModal();
   

   Note: Certainly you also can subclass any tab control, which does not lives within CPropertySheet.

How it works

1. Overview

2. How autoraising items work

 
TRACKMOUSEEVENT stTRACKMOUSEEVENT;
stTRACKMOUSEEVENT.cbSize = sizeof(stTRACKMOUSEEVENT);
stTRACKMOUSEEVENT.hwndTrack=m_hWnd;
stTRACKMOUSEEVENT.dwFlags=TME_LEAVE;
_TrackMouseEvent(&stTRACKMOUSEEVENT);

3. How CLBSpinButtonCtrl is involved

	CWnd* pWnd = GetWindow(GW_CHILD);
	while(pWnd)
	{
	  char buf[]="msctls_updown32";
	  intnRet= ::GetClassName(pWnd->m_hWnd,
	  buf,sizeof(buf)/sizeof(buf[0]));
	  if(nRet&&strcmp(buf,"msctls_updown32"))
	  {
	    pWnd=pWnd->GetWindow(GW_HWNDNEXT);
	  }
	  else
	  { 
	    //The msctls_updown32 control isfound.
	    //
	    pWnd->GetWindowRect(&m_rectUpDn);
	    ScreenToClient(&m_rectUpDn);
	    //Update size and position of msctls_updown32 control
	    m_rectUpDn.DeflateRect(3,2);
	    m_rectUpDn.OffsetRect(3,5);
		
	    pWnd->MoveWindow(&m_rectUpDn); 
	    //Subclass common msctls_updown32 control to
	    //my CLBSpinButtonCtrl, which have autodisabling arrow
	    buttons.m_Spin.SubclassWindow(pWnd->m_hWnd);
	    pWnd=0;
	  }
	}

4. Handling the TCN_SELCHANGING and TCN_SELCHANGE messages

 DWORD dwStyle = ::GetWindowLong(m_hWnd,GWL_STYLE);
if (dwStyle & WS_VISIBLE)
  ::SetWindowLong(m_hWnd, GWL_STYLE, (dwStyle & ~ WS_VISIBLE));//switch off WS_VISIBLE

5. Handling the WM_PAINT message

1. First of all to get rid of flickering I'm drawing to memory DC (dc). So I have to create compatible memory DC and select bitmap into it.

    	CPaintDC RealDC(this);
   	CDC dc;
   	CBitmap bmpMem,*pOldMemBmp;
   	rctPnt=dcReal.m_ps.rcPaint;
   	dc.CreateCompatibleDC(&RealDC);
   	bmpMem.CreateCompatibleBitmap(&RealDC,
   		rctPaint.Width(),rctPaint.Height());
   	pOldMemBmp=dc.SelectObject(&bmpMem);
   	
   	// Since we are bypassing WM_ERASEBCKGND, by returning TRUE from its 
   	//handler - let's do its job here 
   	dc.FillSolidRect(&rctPaint,::GetSysColor(COLOR_BTNFACE));
         

2. After that I check if current repaint has happened due to autoraised item. If so, I repaint only raised item. Otherwise I repaint parts of border of CLBTabCtrl which overlapped by update region. After that I draw all inactive items which intersects the update region. And in the last turn the active item is drawn, in case if it also intersects the update region.

   For drawing of items I've used virtual member function DrawItem of CTabCtrl and virtual member function DrawItemRect, added to CLBTabCtrl.

    

3. At the final step I copy the resulting bitmap from memory DC to the screen, using BitBlt with SRCCOPY ROP.