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Customizing default inputs? – Photoshop

I wonder if it’s possible to customize my C# application (winforms) to get a better design, I made a PSD (photoshop document) so I can generate png jpeg… pictures if I need them.

Example of a form like the one I want :

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  1. 0

    If you need a lot of special graphics effects learning WPF will indeed be a sound investement.

    If all you want is that login screen, it is trivial in Winforms and doesn’t take any horrible hacks as you’ve been told..

    this.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None;
this.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.LavenderBlush;
this.TransparencyKey = System.Drawing.Color.LavenderBlush;
this.ControlBox = false;
this.MaximizeBox = false;
this.MinimizeBox = false;
this.Text= "";

    These seven lines are all it takes for a form to be transparent. I copied them from the Designer code; you can simply set the 7 Properties in the property grid.

    Now add a panel, dock it to the bottom and give it the right color; add a picturebox and your other controls and you are set.

    To create the two input groups you also need just a few regular controls and only a few simple lines of code:

    You place one Panel, BorderStyle = FixedSingle; and add a Label and a TextBox to it. The Label has AutoSize = False; and both ImageAlign and TextAlign are set to MiddleLeft. You assign an image to the Label’s Image and prefix the Text with enough blanks to not overlap. Obviously you should define a PasswordChar for the 2nd TextBox. Now all you need is to script the Enter and Leave events to change the BackColor of the respective Panels between, say SystemColors.Control and SystemColors.MenuHighlight. Size the Labels to almost fill the Panels and you are done. Less code than the WPF version, I’d bet.

    If you need such input an controls again and again, simply create Usercontrols for each type you need!

    Here is an example of the limits you will hit: Wouldn’t it be nice to add a dropshadow effect to the image? It is doable in Winforms. But it would involve painting that effect; this would take at least 15 or 20 lines of involved code instead of simply turning the effect on with (estimated) 1-3 simple lines.

    Do you need any nice hover effects? Not easy, to say the least..

    These limits will be all over the place, so it really depends on how fancy your requirements will get.

    Maybe you should use this example as a starter to compare the two techniques and to warm you up to WPF?

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  2. 0

    Indeed as it was pointed out in the comments, it is easy to use WPF (indows Presentation Foundation) to achieve that result, but if you really need that it must be made in windows forms I can help you with that…

    ControlBox and Border

    It seens that your form does not have a control box (minimize, maximize and close buttons)
    to achieve that you can set

    form.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None

    I’m not sure if that galaxy behind your form is part of the application so i’ll be considering that it is not
    To achieve that irregular shape of the form we have to do a workaround here

    Irregular Shape of the Form

    we are going to set a Color to TransparentKey, so everything in the form in that specific color will be transparent, like it does not exists (if you click in that part it will go into de desktop or whatever application you have behind in your form)
    So let’s use a specific color which we will probably dont use in the form

    form.TransparencyKey = Color.FromArgb(111, 111, 111); //You can do it by the editor

    So in order to make that white part we are going to use an Panel and a PictureBox outsite of the Panel trying to copy the shape of your image

    Stylized Inputs

    To make it easier and reusable I’m going to make a userControl in this one
    the usercontrol will have

    • a Panel called HighLightPanel, its dock property will be set to Fill
    • a Panel called BackColorPanel, it will be inside the HighLightPanel
    • a PictureBox called InputPicture, its dock property will be set to Left, it will be inside BackColorPanel and its acessor will be public
    • a TextBox called TextBox, its dock property wil be set to fill, it will be inside BackColorPanel, the BorderStyle Property set to None, you should set the size and font you most desize in this one, I’m going to use Segoe UI; 15,75pt and its acessor will be public

    Now we have to make some properties in our UserControl to make it work without work in other controls

    First in the SizeChanged event of the HighLightPanel we will make the BackColorPanel be exacly two points smaller in every direction and its position to 1;1 so we can see the HighLightPanel

     private void HighlightPanel_SizeChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
 {
         this.BackColorPanel.Size = new Size(
              HighlightPanel.Width - 2, 
              HighlightPanel.Height - 2);
 }

    Now we will create two propertys to handle the Highlight Color

    public Color HighlightBorderColor { get; set; }
public Color NonHighlightBorderColor { get; set; }

    And in the Enter and Leave Property of our TextBox we are going to change the HighlightPanel

    private void TextBox_Enter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    HighlightPanel.BackColor = HighlightBorderColor;
}
private void TextBox_Leave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    HighlightPanel.BackColor = NonHighlightBorderColor;
}

    So now every time the user enter the Input it will appear that the Input has an Border in the specified Color
    Now to enhance its usability to developers we will make some wrappers in its controls to be easier change property of child controls in the editor

    public Image InputImage
{
    get { return InputPicture.Image; }
    set { InputPicture.Image = value; }
}
public PictureBoxSizeMode InputImageLayout
{
    get { return InputPicture.SizeMode; }
    set { InputPicture.SizeMode = value; }
}
public char PasswordCharacter
{
    get { return TextBox.PasswordChar; }
    set { TextBox.PasswordChar = value; }
}
public bool ShowInputImage
{
    get { return InputPicture.Visible; }
    set { InputPicture.Visible = value; }
}

    In the InputImage set the picture you want for the User and the Key
    Insert the two controls in the position you like

    Position of the Form

    if you want your form to be moveable without the border you will have to use this snippet, it is more easy in WPF

    #region MoveForm
Point LastPoint;
bool ShouldMove;
private void form_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    LastPoint = e.Location;
    ShouldMove = true;
    this.TransparencyKey = Color.FromArgb(111, 111, 111);
}
private void form_MouseUp(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    ShouldMove = false;
}
private void form_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    if (ShouldMove)
    {
        this.Location = new Point(
             this.Location.X - LastPoint.X + e.X, 
             this.Location.Y - LastPoint.Y + e.Y);
    }
}
#endregion
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