TextBox.BackgroudImage

[georgepatotk]

I was wondering how to create this method for Textbox. You guys have any ideas or not?

[snarfblam]

I don't really see a background image working so swell in a textbox. It would probably become difficult to read the text unless the image is very light. Textbox does inherit the .BackgroundImage property from the Control class, however it does not do anything.

[DiverDan]

Hi George,

 

Would a panel and a label work instead?

[georgepatotk]

I wanted to make the textbox works as what label do.

 

The reason I do so is:

1. If I use label, my Chinese Character will not be displayed when I deploy my system to Windows 98 and Windows ME.

2. The amazing thing is, textbox could view the Chinese Characters. So, I was thinking on adding a backgroundImage to textBox. Then, my problem can be easily solved.

 

If you have any idea, please share it with me. Thanks a lot.

[snarfblam]

Why is it that a textbox will support chinese characters but not a label (under 98/ME)? They both use unicode, right? Same fonts, same character sets?

 

[Edit]Have you tried drawing your own text with the Graphics.DrawString() method to see if that worked for chinese chars?[/Edit]

[georgepatotk]

I have anoher idea of doing this.

 

How can we make the background of the textbox transparent. If I could do so, I could just place a panel with the picture under the textbox.

 

And with this approach, I need to make the textbox, transparentable, which it is not able to set to transparent by default. I went thru MSDN and found out the codes as below:

 

Public Class MyTextBox
   Inherits System.Windows.Forms.TextBox

   Public Sub New()
       SetStyle(ControlStyles.SupportsTransparentBackColor, True)
       UpdateStyles()
   End Sub
End Class

 

However, it doesn't seems to work... :confused:

[georgepatotk]

Edit: Have you tried drawing your own text with the Graphics.DrawString() method to see if that worked for chinese chars?

 

This is cool, but I don't know how to do this. Can teach me?

[georgepatotk]

Why is it that a textbox will support chinese characters but not a label (under 98/ME)? They both use unicode, right? Same fonts, same character sets?

 

Tell you what? I am confuse with this as well. Whhy it works in Textbox but not Label. Can anyone from Microsoft tell me why?????/

[DiverDan]

Hi George...You'll need to sub class a text box control and over ride the WndProc to get a back ground image in the text box.

 

I knocked this up for you. It has two public properities for BackImage and ImageAlign and supports all other textbox properities. I hope it helps.

 

Imports System
Imports System.Drawing

Public Class ImageTextBox
   Inherits System.Windows.Forms.TextBox

#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "

   Public Sub New()
       MyBase.New()

       'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
       InitializeComponent()

       'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
       SetStyle(ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint, True)
       SetStyle(ControlStyles.DoubleBuffer, True)
       SetStyle(ControlStyles.ResizeRedraw, True)

   End Sub

   'UserControl overrides dispose to clean up the component list.
   Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
       If disposing Then
           If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
               components.Dispose()
           End If
       End If
       MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
   End Sub

   'Required by the Windows Form Designer
   Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer

   'NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer
   'It can be modified using the Windows Form Designer.  
   'Do not modify it using the code editor.
   <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()
       components = New System.ComponentModel.Container()
   End Sub

#End Region

   Private _backImage As Image = Nothing
   Private _imageAlign As ContentAlignment = ContentAlignment.TopLeft


#Region " Public Properties"

   Public Property BackImage() As System.Drawing.Image
       Get
           Return _backImage
       End Get
       Set(ByVal Value As Image)
           _backImage = Value
           If Me.DesignMode = True Then
               Me.Invalidate()
           End If
       End Set
   End Property

   Public Property ImageAlign() As ContentAlignment
       Get
           Return _imageAlign
       End Get
       Set(ByVal Value As ContentAlignment)
           _imageAlign = Value
           If Me.DesignMode = True Then
               Me.Invalidate()
           End If
       End Set
   End Property
#End Region

#Region " WndProc Overrides Sub"

   Protected Overrides Sub WndProc(ByRef m As Message)
       MyBase.WndProc(m)

       Dim g As Graphics = MyBase.CreateGraphics

       If m.Msg = &HF Then
           g.FillRectangle(New SolidBrush(MyBase.BackColor), 0, 0, MyBase.Width, MyBase.Height)
           If Not _backImage Is Nothing Then
               Dim rect As New Rectangle()

               'find rect.X
               Select Case ImageAlign
                   Case ContentAlignment.BottomLeft, ContentAlignment.MiddleLeft, ContentAlignment.TopLeft
                       rect.X = 0
                   Case ContentAlignment.BottomCenter, ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter, ContentAlignment.TopCenter
                       rect.X = CInt((MyBase.Width - _backImage.Width) / 2)
                   Case ContentAlignment.BottomRight, ContentAlignment.MiddleRight, ContentAlignment.TopRight
                       rect.X = MyBase.Width - _backImage.Width
               End Select

               'find rect.Y
               Select Case ImageAlign
                   Case ContentAlignment.TopCenter, ContentAlignment.TopLeft, ContentAlignment.TopRight
                       rect.Y = 0
                   Case ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter, ContentAlignment.MiddleLeft, ContentAlignment.MiddleRight
                       rect.Y = CInt((MyBase.Height - _backImage.Height) / 2)
                   Case ContentAlignment.BottomCenter, ContentAlignment.BottomLeft, ContentAlignment.BottomRight
                       rect.Y = MyBase.Height - _backImage.Height
               End Select
               rect.Width = _backImage.Width
               rect.Height = _backImage.Height

               g.DrawImage(_backImage, rect)
           End If

           If Not MyBase.Text Is Nothing Then

               Dim sFmt As New StringFormat()
               Select Case MyBase.TextAlign
                   Case HorizontalAlignment.Left
                       sFmt.Alignment = StringAlignment.Near
                   Case HorizontalAlignment.Center
                       sFmt.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
                   Case HorizontalAlignment.Right
                       sFmt.Alignment = StringAlignment.Far
               End Select

               Dim rectF As New RectangleF()
               rectF.Width = MyBase.Width
               rectF.Height = MyBase.Height

               g.DrawString(MyBase.Text, MyBase.Font, New SolidBrush(MyBase.ForeColor), rectF, sFmt)
               sFmt.Dispose()
           End If

       End If

       If Not g Is Nothing Then g.Dispose()
   End Sub
#End Region

#Region " OnTextChanged Overrides Sub"

   Protected Overrides Sub OnTextChanged(ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
       MyBase.OnTextChanged(New EventArgs())
       Me.Invalidate()
   End Sub
#End Region

#Region " OnTextAlignChanged Sub"

   Protected Overrides Sub OnTextAlignChanged(ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
       MyBase.OnTextAlignChanged(New EventArgs())
       Me.Invalidate()
   End Sub
#End Region

End Class

Edited March 21, 2005 by DiverDan

[georgepatotk]

The first word came to my mind was "Damn cool man....."

 

Thanks a lot.... I don't know how could I express my thanks. But, really I really want to say thanks to you.... I am from Malaysia, if you wish to come here, I am willing to spend you a trip....