BeepNotificationWidget

Overview

BeepNotificationWidget is a paint-based WinForms widget that inherits from BaseControl. It uses an IWidgetPainter pipeline to render rich visuals without child controls. The Style property selects one of 10 built-in render modes; changing it at runtime immediately swaps the painter and triggers a repaint.

Toolbox icon: 🔔
Category: Beep Widgets → Alerts / Notifications
Default size: 350 × 80
Namespace: TheTechIdea.Beep.Winform.Controls.Widgets

Key Features

🔔 Ten Notification Styles

Toast, banner, badge, validation — every common alert pattern covered.

🎨 Type-Driven Colors

NotificationType drives accent colour automatically (green=success, red=error…).

📊 Progress Integration

ProgressAlert style shows live progress for background operation feedback.

✅ Validation Feedback

ValidationMessage style targets form field validation use-cases.

🚫 Dismissible

IsDismissible toggles the × button; DismissClicked fires when pressed.

⚡ Action Button

ShowAction + ActionText expose a one-click CTA directly in the notification.

Style Variants (10)

Style Value	Description
`ToastNotification`	Floating toast message with icon and optional dismiss button.
`AlertBanner`	Full-width coloured banner for important messages.
`ProgressAlert`	Banner with integrated progress bar and status text.
`StatusCard`	Card with large status icon, title, and detail message.
`MessageCenter`	Compact message centre showing notification count and preview.
`SystemAlert`	High-priority system status alert with severity colour.
`ValidationMessage`	Form validation feedback with field-level error/warning/success.
`InfoPanel`	Informational panel with expandable detail area.
`WarningBadge`	Small badge/chip suitable for inline warning indicators.
`SuccessBanner`	Compact success confirmation strip.

Properties

Property	Type	Default	Description
`Style`	NotificationWidgetStyle	ToastNotification	Selects the notification painter.
`NotificationType`	NotificationType	Info	Info, Success, Warning, Error, or Progress — drives icon and colour.
`Title`	string	"Notification"	Heading text.
`Message`	string	"This is a notification message"	Body/detail text.
`ActionText`	string	"Action"	Label on the optional action button.
`IsDismissible`	bool	true	Show/hide the dismiss (×) button.
`ShowIcon`	bool	true	Show/hide the type icon.
`ShowAction`	bool	false	Show/hide the action button.
`Progress`	int	0	0–100 progress value used by ProgressAlert style.
`Timestamp`	DateTime	DateTime.Now	Timestamp rendered in MessageCenter and ActivityStream styles.

Inherits all BaseControl properties (Border, Padding, Theme colors, etc.).

Events

Event	Args Type	Description
`NotificationClicked`	BeepEventDataArgs	Fired when the notification body is clicked.
`ActionClicked`	BeepEventDataArgs	Fired when the action button is clicked.
`DismissClicked`	BeepEventDataArgs	Fired when the dismiss (×) button is clicked.

Basic Usage

// Inline error for a form field
var validation = new BeepNotificationWidget
{
    Style            = NotificationWidgetStyle.ValidationMessage,
    NotificationType = NotificationType.Error,
    Title            = "Email Invalid",
    Message          = "Please enter a valid email address.",
    IsDismissible    = false,
    ShowIcon         = true,
    Size             = new Size(380, 50)
};
emailPanel.Controls.Add(validation);

// Progress alert during a long operation
var progress = new BeepNotificationWidget
{
    Style            = NotificationWidgetStyle.ProgressAlert,
    NotificationType = NotificationType.Progress,
    Title            = "Importing data...",
    Progress         = 0,
    IsDismissible    = false
};
statusPanel.Controls.Add(progress);
// Update in background worker:
progress.Progress = 45;
progress.Invalidate();

Event Handling

notification.ActionClicked += (s, e) => OpenNotificationCenter();
notification.DismissClicked += (s, e) =>
{
    notification.Visible = false;
};

Best Practices

Set Style before adding the widget to the form to avoid double repaints.
Adjust Size to fit your layout — defaults are minimum comfortable sizes.
Read BeepEventDataArgs.Data in event handlers for context-specific click data.
Call Invalidate() after updating data properties to trigger a repaint.
Let theme colors flow from BeepStyling.CurrentTheme — avoid overriding color properties unless customization is explicitly desired.