I have a grid already drawn to a picturebox and I wish to draw a rectangle in the cell the mouse is clicked in. I'm trying to do this by drawing a rectangle in the top left corner of the cell and having it fill the entire cell.
However when I click the grid disappears.
How do I make it so the grid stays?
and is there an obvious better method for doing this?
The only way to redraw the grid is by pressing the button again but I want it to stay there.
Thanks.
You need to create a Graphics
Image bm;// Or Bitmap
using (var graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bm))
{
Draw(rects, graphics);
}
private static void Draw(List<Rectangle> rectangles, Graphics graphics)
{
Pen redPen = new Pen(Color.Red, 1);
foreach (var rect in rectangles)
{
graphics.DrawRectangle(redPen, rect);
}
}
At every mouse click in the mouse_click event at first you dispose the image of the picture box and then again assign the bitmap to the picturebox image otherwise you might face out of memory exception if you click on the grid too many times
private void InitializePictureBoxImage(PictureBox pictureBox)
{
if(pictureBox.Image != null)
{
var image = pictureBox.Image; // cache it to dispose
pictureBox.Image = null; // don't dispose an used object
image.Dispose(); // and dispose of it
}
Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(pictureBox.Width, pictureBox.Height);
pictureBox.Image = bitmap; // assign bitmap to image
}
Then call the method in the mouse_click event which you used to draw the picture box when you press the Generate Grid button in your form. Afterwards use graphics inside the mouse_click event to colour the grid which you pressed taking the X-Y coordinate from MouseEventArgs.
Altogether I think it will be something like this
private void Mouse_ClickEvent(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
InitializePictureBoxImage(pictureBox);
DrawThePictureBoxImage(pictureBox);
using (Graphics graphics = Graphics.FromImage(pictureBox.Image))
{
Color color = Color.Blue;
color = Color.FromArgb(150, color.R, color.G, color.B); // lower the opacity so the writing in the grid is visible
var brush = new SolidBrush(color);
// Calculate the starting X-Y coordinate and Width,Height of the grid to color
graphics.FillRectangle(brush, startX, startY,
width, height);
}
Related
I want to create 2 transparent overlays for pictureBox in WinFrom application so I can separately draw on both and I can also clear it when I want to blank transparent overlay.
On one overlay I draw rectangles. I want these rectangles there all time.
On second overlay I draw circles but I just want to draw 1 circle and after user input clear this circle and draw another.
For now I'm using
var transparentOverlay = pictureBox.createGraphics();
But I don't know how to clear an overlay to blank transparent graphics.
I tried
transparentOverlay.Clear(Color.Transparent) which turned all overlay to black
pictureBox.Invalidate() which cleared all graphics from both overlays so my rectangles remain where they were
use some backup graphics which I created before any drawing and clear my overlay by assigning this graphics to it transparentOverlay = transparentOverlayBackup but this did nothing, all rectangles and all circles remain at their places
Is there a way to create clearable transparent graphics sticked to pictureBox?
EDIT:
I have a picture with text in that picture box. And what I want to do is to draw rectangles around words of the text and this rectangles should remain all the time over the picture.
Than I want to draw a single circle and wait for user to click on a screen. This is all ok but when user click on a screen, I want to clear that circle and draw another.
//this method I call by click on a button to start annotation
private void ExpertAnnotate(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var pen = new Pen(Color.Black, 1);
if (!annotationIsRunning) //check if annotation is in process or not
{
annotationIsRunning = true;
annotationOverlay = pictureBox.CreateGraphics(); //create transparent overlay for drawing
//draw rectangles around all words in text (AOIs)
annotationAOIs.ForEach(a =>
{
annotationOverlay.DrawRectangle(pen, a.Start.X, a.Start.Y, (a.End.X - a.Start.X), (a.End.Y - a.Start.Y));
});
//subscribe mouseMove and mouseClick events on pictureBox
pictureBox.MouseMove += HighlightAOI;
pictureBox.MouseClick += SelectAOI;
}
//define brushes for drawing circles (fixations)
var brush = new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(128, Color.BlueViolet));
var dotBrush = new SolidBrush(Color.DarkBlue);
pen.Color = Color.Blue;
long sizeOfFixation;
var f = Fixations[fixationCounter - 1]; //get current fixation to draw
sizeOfFixation = (int)f.Length / FIX_SIZE_COEFICIENT; //compute size of circle
annotationOverlay.FillEllipse(dotBrush, f.PosX - 1, f.PosY - 1, 3, 3);
//draw fixation on overlay
annotationOverlay.FillEllipse(brush, (f.PosX - sizeOfFixation), (f.PosY - sizeOfFixation), sizeOfFixation * 2, sizeOfFixation * 2);
}
//eventHandler for mouseMove - this method color rectangle over which mouse hover to red border
private void HighlightAOI(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//this just draw last highlighted rect to black when we not yet hover mouse above it
if (lastHighlightedAOI != null)
{
annotationOverlay.DrawRectangle(new Pen(Color.Black, 1), lastHighlightedAOI.Start.X, lastHighlightedAOI.Start.Y, (lastHighlightedAOI.End.X - lastHighlightedAOI.Start.X), (lastHighlightedAOI.End.Y - lastHighlightedAOI.Start.Y));
}
//get position of mouse sursor
var x = pictureBox.PointToClient(Cursor.Position).X;
var y = pictureBox.PointToClient(Cursor.Position).Y;
var tempFix = new Fixation() { PosX = x, PosY = y };
//get rectangle over which mouse hover
lastHighlightedAOI = tempFix.LiesIn(annotationAOIs).FirstOrDefault();
if (lastHighlightedAOI != null)
{
//highlight rectangle by painting red border
annotationOverlay.DrawRectangle(new Pen(Color.Red, 1), lastHighlightedAOI.Start.X, lastHighlightedAOI.Start.Y, (lastHighlightedAOI.End.X - lastHighlightedAOI.Start.X), (lastHighlightedAOI.End.Y - lastHighlightedAOI.Start.Y));
}
}
//eventHandler for mouse click
private void SelectAOI(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//get position of cursor
var x = MousePosition.X;
var y = MousePosition.Y;
var tempFix = new Fixation() { PosX = x, PosY = y };
//get rectangle which we selected by a mouse click
var aoi = tempFix.LiesIn(annotationAOIs).FirstOrDefault();
//assign last shown fixation to selected rectangle
if (aoi != null)
{
aoi.AssignedFixations.Add(Fixations[fixationCounter - 1]);
}
//if it wasn't last fixation again call ExpertAnnotation function to draw another Fixation over image (!!! here I need to clear last drawn fixation (circle) disappear and draw next fixation in ExpertAnnotate method)
if (fixationCounter != Fixations.Count)
{
ExpertAnnotate(sender, e);
}
else
{
TerminateExpertAnnotation("regular");
}
}
Thanks to #Reza Aghaei who guided me in chat to solution.
For me acceptable solution was in building multilayer image and assigning it to pictureBox.Image attribute.
I built image by loading image from file:
Image im = new Bitmap(path); // loads image from file
Then create graphics from this image:
var g = Graphics.FromImage(im); // creates graphics from loaded image
Draw all needed rectangles to this image and backup this image to some global Image instance:
var pen = new Pen(Color.Black, 1);
// draws all rectangles on the image
annotationAOIs.ForEach(a =>
{
g.DrawRectangle(pen, a.Start.X, a.Start.Y, (a.End.X - a.Start.X), (a.End.Y - a.Start.Y));
});
g.Dispose(); // disposes used graphics
ImageBackup = new Bitmap(im); // backup image with rectangles
In above part I created a static part of an image, which will not change and I backed it up so next time I will just create new Image instance from backup without any rectangle drawing.
Then when I want to show up new circle over this image I just:
var image = new Bitmap(ImageBackup); // creates new instance of image with rectangles from backup
var g = Graphics.FromImage(image); // creates graphics from image
// in this part draw circle at specific point
var f = Fixations[fixationIndex];
sizeOfFixation = (int)f.Length / FIX_SIZE_COEFICIENT;
g.FillEllipse(dotBrush, f.PosX - 1, f.PosY - 1, 3, 3);
g.FillEllipse(brush, (f.PosX - sizeOfFixation), (f.PosY - sizeOfFixation), sizeOfFixation * 2, sizeOfFixation * 2);
pictureBox.Image.Dispose(); // dispose old pictureBox image
pictureBox.Image = image; // set new image
imageOverlay = pictureBox.CreateGraphics(); // get transparent graphics overlay for pictureBox so we can draw anything else over picture (in my case highlighting rectangles over which I hover a mouse)
g.Dispose(); // dispose used graphics
Your best approach would be to use the OnPaint event handler for the PictureBox control and place all your drawing calls in there.
You can use the Graphics object passed to the event handler to get the surface you want to draw on (i.e. the Picture box) and then use the various methods to draw the shapes that you are after.
To draw a 'transparent' shape simply draw an outline rather than a filled shape.
i have a four text boxes for draw rectangle which is x,y,height and width and i want to draw rectangle on text change but the Rectangle is not drawn when i reset a image ( `picturebox1.Image = bkp ) what i am doing wrong help me guyz?
if (txtHeight.Text != "" && txtLeftMargin.Text != "" && txtTopMargin.Text != "" && txtWidth.Text != "")
{
pictureBox1.Image = bkp;
Pen pen = new Pen(Color.Red);
Graphics g = pictureBox1.CreateGraphics();
g.DrawRectangle(pen, Convert.ToInt16(txtLeftMargin.Text), Convert.ToInt16(txtTopMargin.Text), Convert.ToInt16(txtHeight.Text), Convert.ToInt16(txtWidth.Text));
}
Try using this code:
Image backgroundImage = (Image)bkp.Clone();
using (Graphics gfx = Graphics.FromImage(backgroundImage))
using (Pen pen = new Pen(Color.Red))
{
gfx.DrawRectangle(pen,
Convert.ToInt16(txtLeftMargin.Text),
Convert.ToInt16(txtTopMargin.Text),
Convert.ToInt16(txtHeight.Text),
Convert.ToInt16(txtWidth.Text));
}
pictureBox1.Image = backgroundImage;
Check that the "bkp" -image isn't empty and that it's bigger than 1x1, or you can't see a thing. Otherwise it should work. I tested it with "Image.FromFile()", where I loaded an image from my HDD to "backgroundImage"-variable. The dimensions of the image set the maximum draw area.
As so many others you don't draw the right way:
Everything you draw in winforms must either be drawn in the control's paint event or be triggered from there. So you must:
keep the geometry data for your Rectangle from the textchange event somewhere (if that is what you are doing),
put the drawing in the paint event (using the e.Graphics from the event argument) and
trigger it by invalidating the control..
I'm developing a program to get all the pixels inside a rectangle. There is an image control and the user can click on a part inside it. When the user clicks on a particular location, a rectangle is drawn. I would like to get all the pixels inside that rectangle. I'm getting to draw the rectangle now. But i'm not able to get all the pixel values. Please find the code snippet for drawing the rectangle below.
private void panel1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
foreach (var rectKey in rectangles.Keys)
{
using (var pen = new Pen(rectKey)) //Create the pen used to draw the rectangle (using statement makes sure the pen is disposed)
{
//Draws all rectangles for the current color
//Note that we're using the Graphics object that is passed into the event handler.
e.Graphics.DrawRectangles(pen, rectangles[rectKey].ToArray());
}
}
}
private void panel1_MouseUp(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Button == System.Windows.Forms.MouseButtons.Left)
{
Color c = System.Drawing.Color.GreenYellow ; //Gets a color for which to draw the rectangle
//Adds the rectangle using the color as the key for the dictionary
if (!rectangles.ContainsKey(c))
{
rectangles.Add(c, new List<Rectangle>());
}
rectangles[c].Add(new Rectangle(e.Location.X - 12, e.Location.Y - 12, 25, 25)); //Adds the rectangle to the collection
}
//Make the panel repaint itself.
panel1.Refresh();// Directs to panel1_Paint() event
rectangles.Clear();
}
You would have to work with the Bitmap not the graphics object in this case.
Bitmap has a method to get pixels at a position
Bitmap bmp = Bitmap.FromFile("");
// Get the color of a pixel within myBitmap.
Color pixelColor = bmp.GetPixel(50, 50);
To read all pixels within a rectangle you could use the bmp.LockBits method.
I've a WinForms application on wich i have to draw some lines between controls. These lines need to be persistent, so i override the form OnPaint() event.
The problem is that, the re-draw of the lines aren't very smooth.
I'm creating the graphics as follows:
Graphics g;
g = this.CreateGraphics();
g.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
g.FillRectangle(Brushes.White, this.ClientRectangle);
And drawing the lines as follows:
public void lineDraw(Control L1, Control L2) {
using (Pen pen = new Pen(Color.Black, 4)) {
pen.StartCap = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.LineCap.Flat;
pen.EndCap = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.LineCap.ArrowAnchor;
int x1, x2, y1, y2;
//choose x/y coordinates
g.DrawLine(pen, x1, y1, x2, y2);
}
}
Is there any property i can set to improve the smoothness of the drawn graphics?
Goal
An image is shown on a control (or form).
Invalidation
Any time the control (or form) is resized, minimalized/maximalized, partically obscured or moved around, it must be (partially) redrawn. When this happens the part of the control that must be redrawn is said to be invalidated.
When invalidated the control does something like this:
Call OnPaintBackground: this fills the invalidated region with the background color.
Call OnPaint: this draws the text and graphics on top of the background.
Why OnPaint causes flickering
You have overridden the OnPaint method of the control. Every time the control is redrawn you see a flash of the control with only its background color drawn in it. That is after OnPaintBackground has been called and before OnPaint has been called.
The solutions
If you have a static image (i.e. it never changes):
In the Load event: create a new Bitmap object.
Fill it with the background color and draw the lines and shapes on it.
Assign this Bitmap object to the control's BackgroundImage property.
If you have a static image that must resize when the control resizes:
Override the OnResize method and create the new Bitmap in there. Use the control's ClientSize property for the size of the Bitmap.
Fill it with the background color and draw the lines and shapes on it.
Assign this Bitmap object to the control's BackgroundImage property.
If you have an animated image:
In the Load event set the DoubleBuffered property of the control to true. Setting this prevents the flicker you saw as it uses an invisible buffer to draw the control.
Override the control's OnPaint method. Get the Graphics context of the control and draw the lines and shapes directly on the control.
Create and enable a new Timer object and in its callback method call the control's Invalidate method followed by the Update method (as shown here). Set the timer to fire, for example, every 40 ms.
You probably shouldn't use CreateGraphics here, and more importantly, don't use a local variable to store the graphic object. Use the graphic object obtained from the paint event and invalidate as needed.
protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e) {
e.Graphics.Clear(Color.White);
e.Graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
using (Pen pen = new Pen(Color.Black, 4)) {
pen.StartCap = Drawing2D.LineCap.Flat;
pen.EndCap = Drawing2D.LineCap.ArrowAnchor;
int x1, x2, y1, y2;
//choose x/y coordinates
e.Graphics.DrawLine(pen, x1, y1, x2, y2);
}
base.OnPaint(e);
}
This's my way, its works for me
//FormMain.cs
private const float DisplayRatio = 6;
private Bitmap _bmpDisp; //use an in-memory bitmap to Persistent graphics
private Graphics _grpDisp4Ctl;
private Graphics _grpDisp4Bmp;
private Point _ptOldDsp;
private void FormMain_Shown(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
_grpDisp4Ctl = CreateGraphics();
_grpDisp4Ctl.SetHighQulity();
_bmpDisp = new Bitmap(ClientSize.Width, ClientSize.Height);
_grpDisp4Bmp = Graphics.FromImage(_bmpDisp);
_grpDisp4Bmp.SetHighQulity();
_ptOldDsp = new Point(
(int)((MousePosition.X - SystemInformation.VirtualScreen.Left) / DisplayRatio),
(int)((MousePosition.Y - SystemInformation.VirtualScreen.Top) / DisplayRatio)
);
}
private void UpdateDisplay(MouseHookEvent mhep) //your implement
{
var ptNew = mhep.Position;
ptNew.Offset(new Point(-SystemInformation.VirtualScreen.Left, -SystemInformation.VirtualScreen.Top));
ptNew.X = (int)(ptNew.X / DisplayRatio);
ptNew.Y = (int)(ptNew.Y / DisplayRatio);
_grpDisp4Ctl.DrawLine(Pens.White, _ptOldDsp, ptNew); //draw smooth lines to mem and ui
_grpDisp4Bmp.DrawLine(Pens.White, _ptOldDsp, ptNew);
_ptOldDsp = ptNew;
}
private void FormMain_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
// like vb6's auto redraw :)
e.Graphics.DrawImage(_bmpDisp, e.ClipRectangle, e.ClipRectangle, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
}
//common.cs
internal static void SetHighQulity(this Graphics g)
{
g.CompositingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.CompositingMode.SourceOver;
g.InterpolationMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic;
g.PixelOffsetMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.PixelOffsetMode.HighQuality;
g.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighQuality;
g.TextRenderingHint = System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.ClearTypeGridFit;
}
I know it's an older post, but you can also try setting DoubleBuffered property of the form to TRUE, read the following:
"Buffered graphics can reduce or eliminate flicker that is caused by
progressive redrawing of parts of a displayed surface. Buffered
graphics require that the updated graphics data is first written to a
buffer. The data in the graphics buffer is then quickly written to
displayed surface memory. The relatively quick switch of the displayed
graphics memory typically reduces the flicker that can otherwise
occur."
I have two panels on top of each other. The one below is a bit larger than the one on top. I am painting an image by using CreateGraphics() method on the top most panel. (To be clear this image is a connect four grid with transparent holes). Now what I need to do is to add a picture box to the bottom panel and have it show from behind this grid.
I am adding controls of picture box to the bottom grid. And I'm using the BringToFront() method too. What can I do to have the picture box show underneath the grid?
In the following code: chipHolder is the bottom panel, grid is the topmost panel and picBox is the picture box respectively
public void addControl()
{
chipHolder.Controls.Add(picBox);
picBox.BringToFront();
}
// This piece of code is in a mouse_click event of grid
Graphics g = grid.CreateGraphics();
addControl();
// to make the picture move downwards
for (int i = 0; i < newYloc; i++)
{
picBox.Location = new Point(newXloc, picBox.Top + 1);
picBox.Show();
}
// drawing the grid image on the grid panel
protected virtual void grid_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
Image img = Properties.Resources.grid_fw;
gridGraphics = grid.CreateGraphics();
gridGraphics.DrawImage(img, 0, 0, 650, 550);
}
To have a better picture this is how my panels are. the one selected is the chipHolder panel.
You could try a different approach: don't use a Panel and use a single PictureBox, this way you draw everything in that PictureBox. Thus, you use PictureBox's MouseDown event handler to calculate the (virtual) cell the user has clicked (you need to perform a simple division) and then you draw the chip on the PictureBox. If you want to show the chip falling, you'd need to save a copy of the current Bitmap (the Image property of the PictureBox) and draw the chip on different y coordinates (from 0 to its final position on the grid), this would be just like the double-buffer technique.
Here is a small example (you need a Form with a PictureBox, in this example it's named "pictureBox2"):
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
Bitmap chip = new Bitmap(40, 40, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(chip))
{
g.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
g.FillEllipse(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(128, 255, 80, 0)), 1, 1, 38, 38);
}
pictureBox2.Image = new Bitmap(pictureBox2.Width, pictureBox2.Height, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(pictureBox2.Image))
{
g.Clear(Color.Yellow);
}
}
private void pictureBox2_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Button == MouseButtons.Left)
{
Text = e.Location.ToString();
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(pictureBox2.Image))
{
g.DrawImage(chip, e.Location.X - 20, e.Location.Y - 20);
}
pictureBox2.Invalidate();
}
}
}
If you want controls with real transparency, you should use WPF (it provides better graphics and uses hardware acceleration).