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Custom Button with Color and Shape

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3.25/5 (32 votes)

Apr 29, 2004

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Another simple custom button control with color and shape.

Introduction

This is my first C# custom control. Please download the demo program and have a click.

Features

Users are able to define the:

  • Color
    • Border color
    • Normal color A
    • Normal color B
    • Hover color A
    • Hover color B
  • GradientStyle
    • Horizontal
    • Vertical
    • ForwardDiagonal
    • BackwardDiagonal
  • ButtonStyle
    • Rectangle
    • Ellipse
  • SmoothingQuality
    • None(crispy)
    • HighSpeed
    • AntiAlias
    • HighQuality

You can actually feel the clicks with its flat style!

Key Techniques Used in OnPaint()

SmoothingMode

//
// set SmoothingMode
//
switch (_SmoothingQuality)
{
    case SmoothingQualities.None:
        e.Graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.Default;
        break;
    case SmoothingQualities.HighSpeed:
        e.Graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.HighSpeed;
        break;
    case SmoothingQualities.AntiAlias:
        e.Graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
        break;
    case SmoothingQualities.HighQuality:
        e.Graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.HighQuality;
        break;
}

LinearGradientMode

//
// mode declaration
//
LinearGradientMode mode;
//
// set LinearGradientMode
//
switch (_GradientStyle)
{
    case GradientStyles.Horizontal:
        mode = LinearGradientMode.Horizontal;
        break;
    case GradientStyles.Vertical:
        mode = LinearGradientMode.Vertical;
        break;
    case GradientStyles.ForwardDiagonal:
        mode = LinearGradientMode.ForwardDiagonal;
        break;
    case GradientStyles.BackwardDiagonal:
        mode = LinearGradientMode.BackwardDiagonal;
        break;
    default:
        mode = LinearGradientMode.Vertical;
        break;
}

LinearGradientBrush

//
// brush declaration
//
LinearGradientBrush brush;
switch (_State)
{
    case _States.Normal:
        brush = new LinearGradientBrush(newRect, 
                _NormalColorA, _NormalColorB, mode);
        switch (_ButtonStyle)
        {
            case ButtonStyles.Rectangle:
                e.Graphics.FillRectangle(brush, newRect);
                e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(new 
                    Pen(_NormalBorderColor, 1), newRect);
                break;
            case ButtonStyles.Ellipse:
                e.Graphics.FillEllipse(brush, newRect);
                e.Graphics.DrawEllipse(new 
                  Pen(_NormalBorderColor, 1), newRect);
                break;

        }
        e.Graphics.DrawString(this.Text, base.Font, 
           new SolidBrush(base.ForeColor), textX, textY);
        break;

    case _States.MouseOver:
        brush = new LinearGradientBrush(newRect, 
              _HoverColorA, _HoverColorB, mode);
        switch (_ButtonStyle)
        {
            case ButtonStyles.Rectangle:
                e.Graphics.FillRectangle(brush, newRect);
                e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(new 
                     Pen(_HoverBorderColor, 1), newRect);
                break;
            case ButtonStyles.Ellipse:
                e.Graphics.FillEllipse(brush, newRect);
                e.Graphics.DrawEllipse(new 
                   Pen(_HoverBorderColor, 1), newRect);
                break;

        }
        e.Graphics.DrawString(this.Text, base.Font, 
          new SolidBrush(base.ForeColor), textX, textY);
        break;

    case _States.Clicked:
        brush = new LinearGradientBrush(newRect, 
              _HoverColorA, _HoverColorB, mode);
        switch (_ButtonStyle)
        {
            case ButtonStyles.Rectangle:
                e.Graphics.FillRectangle(brush, newRect);
                e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(new 
                     Pen(_HoverBorderColor, 2), newRect);
                break;
            case ButtonStyles.Ellipse:
                e.Graphics.FillEllipse(brush, newRect);
                e.Graphics.DrawEllipse(new 
                   Pen(_HoverBorderColor, 2), newRect);
                break;

        }
        e.Graphics.DrawString(this.Text, base.Font, 
          new SolidBrush(base.ForeColor), 
          textX + 1, textY + 1);
        break;
}

My Other Control Project

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  • bug reports
  • code improvements
  • any comments or suggestions.