Use the HasButtonsCustom property to assign custom icons to the +/- signs on the parent items. The HasButtonsCustom property has effect only if the HasButtons property is exCustom. Use the Images, ReplaceIcon methods to add new icons to the control. The ImageSize property defines the size (width/height) of the expand/collapse glyphs.

The following VB sample assigns different icons for +/- buttons:

With Grid1
    .BeginUpdate
        .Images "gBJJgBAICAAGAAEAAQhYAf8Pf4hh0QihCJo2AEZjQAjEZFEaIEaEEaAIAkcbk0olUrlktl0vmExmUzmk1m03nE5nU7nk9n0/oFBoVDolFo1HpFJpVLplNp1PqFRqVTqlVq1XrFZrVbrldr1fsFhsVjslls1ntFptVrtltt1vuFxuVzul1u13vF5vV7vl9v1/wGBwWDwmFw2HxGJxWLxmNx2PyGRyWTymVy2XzGZzWbzmdz2f0Gh0WjwEWH0r08ekEikgAkso184iGkicPjcU2+zjW4jTnZ++jbv4Tvjbu4fF48adAv5fI4XO4ka4fRjO+4G73UZ3na7IAgI="
        .LinesAtRoot = exLinesAtRoot
        .HeaderVisible = False
        .HasButtons = exCustom
        .HasButtonsCustom(False) = 1
        .HasButtonsCustom(True) = 2
        .FullRowSelect = False
        .Columns.Add "Column 1"
        With .Items
            Dim h As HITEM
            h = .AddItem("Item 1")
            .InsertItem .InsertItem(h, , "SubItem 1.1"), , "SubItem 1"
            .InsertItem h, , "SubItem 2"
        End With
    .EndUpdate
End With

The following C++ sample specifies different ( as in the screen shot ) +/- signs for the control:

#include "Items.h"
#include "Columns.h"
#include "Column.h"
m_grid.BeginUpdate();
m_grid.Images( COleVariant( "gBJJgBAICAAGAAEAAQhYAf8Pf4hh0QihCJo2AEZjQAjEZFEaIEaEEaAIAkcbk0olUrlktl0vmExmUzmk1m03nE5nU7nk9n0/oFBoVDolFo1HpFJpVLplNp1PqFRqVTqlVq1XrFZrVbrldr1fsFhsVjslls1ntFptVrtltt1vuFxuVzul1u13vF5vV7vl9v1/wGBwWDwmFw2HxGJxWLxmNx2PyGRyWTymVy2XzGZzWbzmdz2f0Gh0WjwEWH0r08ekEikgAkso184iGkicPjcU2+zjW4jTnZ++jbv4Tvjbu4fF48adAv5fI4XO4ka4fRjO+4G73UZ3na7IAgI=" ) );
m_grid.SetLinesAtRoot( -1 );
m_grid.SetHeaderVisible( FALSE );
m_grid.SetHasButtons( 4 /*exCustom*/ );
m_grid.SetHasButtonsCustom( FALSE, 1 );
m_grid.SetHasButtonsCustom( TRUE, 2 );
m_grid.GetColumns().Add( "Column 1" );
COleVariant vtMissing; V_VT( &vtMissing ) = VT_ERROR;
CItems items = m_grid.GetItems();
long h = items.AddItem( COleVariant( "Item 1" ) );
items.InsertItem( h, vtMissing, COleVariant( "SubItem 1" ) );
items.InsertItem( h, vtMissing, COleVariant( "SubItem 2" ) );
m_grid.EndUpdate();

The following VB.NET sample specifies different ( as in the screen shot ) +/- signs for the control:

With AxGrid1
    .BeginUpdate()
    .Images("gBJJgBAICAAGAAEAAQhYAf8Pf4hh0QihCJo2AEZjQAjEZFEaIEaEEaAIAkcbk0olUrlktl0vmExmUzmk1m03nE5nU7nk9n0/oFBoVDolFo1HpFJpVLplNp1PqFRqVTqlVq1XrFZrVbrldr1fsFhsVjslls1ntFptVrtltt1vuFxuVzul1u13vF5vV7vl9v1/wGBwWDwmFw2HxGJxWLxmNx2PyGRyWTymVy2XzGZzWbzmdz2f0Gh0WjwEWH0r08ekEikgAkso184iGkicPjcU2+zjW4jTnZ++jbv4Tvjbu4fF48adAv5fI4XO4ka4fRjO+4G73UZ3na7IAgI=")
    .LinesAtRoot = EXGRIDLib.LinesAtRootEnum.exLinesAtRoot
    .HeaderVisible = False
    .HasButtons = EXGRIDLib.ExpandButtonEnum.exCustom
    .set_HasButtonsCustom(False, 1)
    .set_HasButtonsCustom(True, 2)
    .Columns.Add("Column 1")
    With .Items
        Dim h As Long
        h = .AddItem("Item 1")
        .InsertItem(h, , "SubItem 1")
        .InsertItem(h, , "SubItem 2")
    End With
    .EndUpdate()
End With

The following C# sample specifies different ( as in the screen shot ) +/- signs for the control:

axGrid1.BeginUpdate();
axGrid1.Images("gBJJgBAICAAGAAEAAQhYAf8Pf4hh0QihCJo2AEZjQAjEZFEaIEaEEaAIAkcbk0olUrlktl0vmExmUzmk1m03nE5nU7nk9n0/oFBoVDolFo1HpFJpVLplNp1PqFRqVTqlVq1XrFZrVbrldr1fsFhsVjslls1ntFptVrtltt1vuFxuVzul1u13vF5vV7vl9v1/wGBwWDwmFw2HxGJxWLxmNx2PyGRyWTymVy2XzGZzWbzmdz2f0Gh0WjwEWH0r08ekEikgAkso184iGkicPjcU2+zjW4jTnZ++jbv4Tvjbu4fF48adAv5fI4XO4ka4fRjO+4G73UZ3na7IAgI=");
axGrid1.LinesAtRoot = EXGRIDLib.LinesAtRootEnum.exLinesAtRoot;
axGrid1.HeaderVisible = false;
axGrid1.HasButtons = EXGRIDLib.ExpandButtonEnum.exCustom;
axGrid1.set_HasButtonsCustom(false, 1);
axGrid1.set_HasButtonsCustom(true, 2);
axGrid1.Columns.Add("Column 1");
int h = axGrid1.Items.AddItem("Item 1");
axGrid1.Items.InsertItem(h, "", "SubItem 1");
axGrid1.Items.InsertItem(h, "", "SubItem 2");
axGrid1.EndUpdate();

The following VFP sample specifies different ( as in the screen shot ) +/- signs for the control:

with thisform.Grid1
	.BeginUpdate()
		local s
		s = "gBJJgBAICAAGAAEAAQhYAf8Pf4hh0QihCJo2AEZjQAjEZFEaIEaEEaAIAkcbk0olUrlktl0vmExmUzmk1m03nE5nU7nk9n0/oFBoVDolFo1HpFJpVLplNp1PqFRqVTqlVq1XrFZrVbrldr1fsFhsVjslls"
		s = s + "1ntFptVrtltt1vuFxuVzul1u13vF5vV7vl9v1/wGBwWDwmFw2HxGJxWLxmNx2PyGRyWTymVy2XzGZzWbzmdz2f0Gh0WjwEWH0r08ekEikgAkso184iGkicPjcU2+zjW4jTnZ++jbv4Tvjbu4fF48adAv5fI4XO4ka4fRjO+4G73UZ3na7IAgI="
        .Images(s)
        .LinesAtRoot = -1
        .HeaderVisible = .f.
        .HasButtons = 4 &&exCustom
        local sT, sCR
        sCR = chr(13) + chr(10)
        sT = "HasButtonsCustom(True) = 2"+ sCR
        sT = sT + "HasButtonsCustom(False) = 1"+ sCR
        .Template = sT
        .Columns.Add("Column 1")
        With .Items
        	local h
            h = .AddItem("Item 1")
            .InsertItem(h, , "SubItem 1")
            .InsertItem(h, , "SubItem 2")
        EndWith
	.EndUpdate()
endwith