<p>I am looking for a way to create or implement a collapsible side panel inside of a form. Similar in the way a ToolStripContainer works I would like the same general concept except using panels that I can fill with controls. Does anyone know of a simple way to do this with the provided .Net controls or is this a total custom job. Either way I would appreciate some suggestions.</p>

Try this it's in c# but I am sure it can be easily translated
Start a new Project and add a panel.
Dock that panel to the left of the Form. 
Add a button to the Panel dock it to the right
Set the Button Text to "<" and Width to 20.
in the button1_Click event add this
```
```
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (button1.Text == ">")
        {
            panel1.Width = 200;
            button1.Text = "<";
        }
        else
        {
            panel1.Width = button1.Width;
            button1.Text = ">";
        }
    }
```
```
What happens here is when the button is clicked the form is shrunk off to the left, leaving only the button visible.  When the button is clicked again, it expands back out.