WinForms.ColorDialog in WPF

• Download source code - 18.1 KB

Introduction

This article demonstrates how to use System.Windows.Forms.ColorDialog in a WPF project. Why you may ask, simply because one can and must try...

Background

For not wanting to design a UserControl nor an extra project for my solution, I started an extensive search for a simplistic solution and thus I created the following. It also demonstrates how to use WinForms components in a WPF solution.

Using the code

To demonstrate, I've made a small TextEditor. I'll show how to change the foreground / background color of the selected text within a RichTextBox.

1. Create a new solution with a WPF project named TextEditor



[Solution Explorer]
2. Add references System.Windows.Forms.dll and System.Drawing.dll. Both can be found in the following directory: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framwork\v2.0.50727\.
3. Images

Add a folder to the project and name it Images, then add the images needed for the toolbar.

4. Document Manager

Add a class to the project and name it DocumentManager.cs, then add a few methods.

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using Microsoft.Win32;
 
namespace TextEditor
{
    class DocumentManager
    {
        private string _currentFile;
        private RichTextBox _textBox;

        public DocumentManager(RichTextBox textBox)
        {
            _textBox = textBox;
        }

        public void ApplyToSelection(DependencyProperty property, object value)
        {
            _textBox.Selection.ApplyPropertyValue(property, value);
        }

        public bool OpenDocument()
        {
            OpenFileDialog dlg = new OpenFileDialog();
            if (dlg.ShowDialog() == true)
            {
                _currentFile = dlg.FileName;
                using (Stream stream = dlg.OpenFile())
                {
                    TextRange range = new TextRange(
                        _textBox.Document.ContentStart,
                        _textBox.Document.ContentEnd);
                    range.Load(stream, DataFormats.Rtf);
                }
                return true;
            }
            return false;
        }

        public bool SaveDocument()
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(_currentFile)) return SaveDocumentAs();
            else
            {
                using (Stream stream = new FileStream(_currentFile, FileMode.Create))
                {
                    TextRange range = new TextRange(
                        _textBox.Document.ContentStart,
                        _textBox.Document.ContentEnd);
                    range.Save(stream, DataFormats.Rtf);
                }
                return true;
            }
        }

        public bool SaveDocumentAs()
        {
            SaveFileDialog dlg = new SaveFileDialog();
            if (dlg.ShowDialog() == true)
            {
                _currentFile = dlg.FileName;
                return SaveDocument();
            }
            return false;
        }

        public void NewDocument()
        {
            _currentFile = null;
            _textBox.Document = new FlowDocument();
        }
    }
}

5. MainWindow.xml
XML

<Window x:Class="TextEditor.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="MainWindow" 
        Height="350" 
        Width="525">
    <DockPanel>
        <ToolBarTray DockPanel.Dock="top">
            <ToolBar >
                <Button x:Name="highlight" Click="Highlight_Click">
                    <Image Source="Images\text_highlight.png" />
                </Button>
                <Button x:Name="color" Click="Color_Click">
                    <Image Source="Images\text_Color.png" />
                </Button>
            </ToolBar>
        </ToolBarTray>
        <RichTextBox x:Name="body"
                     SelectionChanged="body_SelctionChanged"
                     SpellCheck.IsEnabled="True"
                     AcceptsReturn="True"
                     AcceptsTab="True"
                     BorderThickness="0 2 0 0" />
    </DockPanel>
</Window>

6. MainWindow.xaml.cs
C#

usisng System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;

namespace TextEditor
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class MainWindow : Window
    {
        private DocumentManager _documentManager;
        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            // Insert code required on object creation below this point.
            _documentManager = new DocumentManager(body);
        }

        private void body_SelctionChanged(object seder, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            //update the tool bar
        }

        private void Highlight_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            SolidColorBrush scb = new SolidColorBrush();
            _documentManager.ApplyToSelection(
                                  TextBlock.ForegroundProperty, 
                                  new SolidColorBrush(colorPicker())
                                  );
        }
        private void Color_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            _documentManager.ApplyToSelection(
                                  TextBlock.BackgroundProperty, 
                                  new SolidColorBrush(colorPicker())
                                  );
        }

        private System.Windows.Media.Color colorPicker()
        {
            System.Windows.Forms.ColorDialog colorDialog = 
                       new System.Windows.Forms.ColorDialog();
            colorDialog.AllowFullOpen = true;
            colorDialog.ShowDialog();

            System.Windows.Media.Color col = new System.Windows.Media.Color();
            col.A = colorDialog.Color.A;
            col.B = colorDialog.Color.B;
            col.G = colorDialog.Color.G;
            col.R = colorDialog.Color.R;
            return col;
        }
    }
}

Points of Interest

I've learned that one doesn't need to discard old libraries.