The Control.RightToLeft property is an ambient property. An ambient property is a control property that, if not set, is retrieved from the parent control. For example, a System.Windows.Forms.Button will have the same Control.BackColor as its parent System.Windows.Forms.Form by default. For more information about ambient properties, see the System.Windows.Forms.AmbientProperties class or the System.Windows.Forms.Control class overview.

The Control.RightToLeft property is used for international applications where the language is written from right to left, such as Hebrew or Arabic. When this property is set to RightToLeft.Yes, control elements that include text are displayed from right to left.

The following are a few examples of how control elements are affected by the Control.RightToLeft property value of RightToLeft.Yes :

• Vertical scroll bars are displayed on the left side rather than right side of scrollable controls (for example, System.Windows.Forms.Form, System.Windows.Forms.Panel, multiline System.Windows.Forms.TextBox, and System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox).

• Horizontal scroll bars start with the scroll box (thumb) right-aligned.

• The check box element alignment, controlled by the CheckAlign property, is reversed for System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox and System.Windows.Forms.RadioButton controls.

• Items in list box, combo box, and up-down controls are right aligned.

• Up and down buttons are left-aligned on System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown and System.Windows.Forms.DomainUpDown controls.

• Menus (System.Windows.Forms.MainMenu, System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem, and System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu) are displayed right-aligned.

• The alignment of toolbar buttons on a System.Windows.Forms.ToolBar control or the alignment of text on a System.Windows.Forms.ToolBarButton is not affected by the Control.RightToLeft property.

• System.Windows.Forms.AxHost supports right-to-left alignment; however, the effect on an ActiveX control depends on the extent to which the control author implemented support for right-to-left display.