How to rotate button in vb.net

In Windows Forms it's a giant pain in the ass. In WPF, it's incredibly easy!

I think you're using the wrong application type...

The best idea so far is the Solution 4.

The right solution for System.Windows.Forms is: create a custom control which behaves like a button and implement rotation property. If you want to rotate to an arbitrary angle, you should also set the property System.Windows.Forms.Control.Region:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.control.region.aspx[^].

[EDIT #2]

As Maciej expressed his concerns about first solution, I'll provide some mode detail.

In case of arbitrary angle, it's a bit complicated, and I didn't want to spend so much time for more complicated code at first.

Basically, you need to have a bigger control which fits the full set of buttons at all angles; it would be a round area, and you should draw a rectangle around the round. Can you picture such figure? Inside this area, you can draw a rectangular button at any angle. Now, you render the whole button in all the detail, including borders, using System.Drawing.Graphics.Transform, depending on the current angle.

Now, you need to cut out unused part of the control. To do so, you calculate the rectangular Region representing the tilted button and assign this region to Region property of the control.

Now, how to change the angle? The Angle property should have a setter to do all the side effects of changing the value. If the value is different from the previous value, you should to two things 1) create a rectangular region at different angle and re-assign the property Region of the control; 2) call Invalidate to cause re-drawing of the control.

[END EDIT #2]

[EDIT #1]

If you only want to allow only 90°, the problem is especially simple. Derive the button class from System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase. First, switch from horizontal to vertical position is done view swapping Width and Height values. It will correctly render non-client area of the button.

Render the client area in the overridden method System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnPaint. You need to render the text rotated. For rotation, use System.Drawing.Graphics.Transform (you will get the instance of Graphics from an event arguments parameter):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.buttonbase.aspx[^],
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.control.aspx[^],
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.control.onpaint.aspx[^],
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.painteventargs.graphics.aspx[^],
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.drawing.graphics.aspx[^],
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.drawing.graphics.transform.aspx[^],
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.drawing.drawing2d.matrix.aspx[^].

—SA

Here is an answer of similar qestion:
How do I rotate a label in C#?[^]

[Edit]
Animator for WinForms[^]
[/Edit]

--Amit

this will rotate a button....
but dont know how you want..

Public Class Form1
    Dim Poss As Integer = 0
    Dim OrigSize As System.Drawing.Size
    Dim orgLoc As System.Drawing.Point

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        OrigSize = Button1.Size
        orgLoc = Button1.Location
        Button1.Text = "T e x t"
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click

        If Poss = 0 Then
            Button1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(OrigSize.Width - 50, OrigSize.Height + 40)
            Poss += 1
        ElseIf Poss = 1 Then
            Button1.Size = OrigSize
            Button1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(orgLoc.X - 77, orgLoc.Y)
            Button1.Text = "t x e T"
            Poss += 1
        ElseIf Poss = 2 Then
            Button1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(orgLoc.X, orgLoc.Y - 38)
            Button1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(OrigSize.Width - 50, OrigSize.Height + 40)
            Poss += 1
        ElseIf Poss = 3 Then
            Button1.Location = orgLoc
            Button1.Size = OrigSize
            Button1.Text = "T e x t"
            Poss = 0
        End If

    End Sub
End Class