.NET Controls: Link Labels

In the pass, to add an internet or email link to a form, there were many steps to follow. As the internet and email had become an integral part of the culture, it was also time to have an appropriate control adapted for this need. To address this issue, a control called LinkLabel was added to the .NET Framework.

As its name indicates, the LinkLabel control allows you to create a link. If you have done web development, you would know that a link can be made fancy by varying its colors. A link typically uses three different colors (actually, if you use cascading style sheet, you can add a fourth color as hover):

• Link: This is the general color used on a link that a user has not clicked before. The LinkLabel class defines this color through the LinkColor property.
• Active Link: When the user clicks a link, its target typically opens if everything is alright. This causes the link to change its color status. The color of an active link is represented in the LinkLabel class with the ActiveLinkColor property.
• Visited: When a user comes to a page or the document that provides a link, you can indicate that the link was previously accessed or not. This is done by displaying a color other than the link color. The color of a previously visited link is represented in the LinkLabel class by the VisitedLinkColor property.

After creating a link, when the user accesses it, you can define some behavior the link would exhibit to the user, such as getting underlined or not underlined. when the mouse passes over the link. The behaviors of a link can be controlled through the LinkBehavior property whose values are AlwaysUnderline, HoverUnderline, NeverUnderline, or the application would refer to Internet Options dialog box of Control Panel.

A link is typically meant to help the user switch to a different page or document when clicked. In some cases and at a particular time, you can not want the user to be able to click a link. In this case you can disable it. If you decide to disable a link, you can change its color using the DisabledLinkColor property. On the other hand, if the user is not able to access a link, that is, if a link is disabled, you can find out the color of that link using the DisabledLinkColor property.