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RichTextBox not showing the text

I am trying to create a Bitmap from a RichTextBox and set it as the background image for a panel, but unfortunately the text is not shown.
Bitmap l_bitmap = new Bitmap(m_control.Width, m_control.Height);
m_control.DrawToBitmap(l_bitmap, new Rectangle(0, 0, l_bitmap.Width, l_bitmap.Height));
m_panel.BackgroundImage = l_bitmap;
m_panel.Refresh();
m_control is my RichTextBox. When I debug, I can see that the control contains the text I wrote, but the bitmap just shows an empty RichTextBox.
I use the same code for other types of controls (Button, CheckBox, TextBox...). The text is shown with no problems.

Well you are trying to create a bitmap from the control. The text you put in there isn't the control, so it won't bother to chow it as bitmap. Try to create a picture from screen (like a screenshot).
Example:
Graphics gr = Graphics.FromImage(l_bitmap);
gr.CopyFromScreen(m_control.PointToScreen(Point.Empty), point.Empty, m_control.Size);
This will make a bitmap from your given points. This will additional show you the text.
EDIT
Maybe you can use this instead. In addition to your idea, I simply put a label onto my panel. (L for Label and P for Panel)
As you can see, the label is empty because I cleared the Text property. Now, when you click one of the buttons below the panel, it will update the label.Text propertie and there will be the text you gave the control.
Here is some example:
As you can see, the label shows the Name of the control. Completly custom as you can see on my source code:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public RichTextBox tmpRtf = new RichTextBox();
//Poor button name incoming...
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (tmpRtf == null)
tmpRtf = new RichTextBox();
//You can add any text here and it will be shown on the label.
this.tmpRtf.Text = "Richtextbox";
this.UpdatePanel(this.tmpRtf);
}
//Custom method to update the panel for any control. Can pobably be done way better than this, but hey.
private void UpdatePanel(object pControl)
{
//Checks if control is a rtf
if(pControl is RichTextBox)
{
//This is your code! Ay.
Bitmap l_bitmap = new Bitmap(this.panel1.Width / 2, this.panel1.Height / 2);
(pControl as RichTextBox).DrawToBitmap(l_bitmap, new Rectangle(0, 0, l_bitmap.Width, l_bitmap.Height));
this.tmpRtf.BackColor = Color.LightGray;
this.panel1.BackgroundImage = l_bitmap;
this.panel1.BackgroundImageLayout = ImageLayout.Center;
this.labelControlName.Text = this.tmpRtf.Text;
this.panel1.Refresh();
}
}
}
Its not possible to show text on a control thats not visualized. But you can build a workaround! Or, instead of taking a picture you can simply create the control on top of it, that will also show the Text and maybe the user can test it (e.g. click on buttons, look at the control behaviour).
Hopefully this is something to get you inspired that there are always more ways to accomplish.

How to add a picturebox above a button control

I have a picturebox1 -> Button -> picturebox2 all three are in a consecutive layer so which I want is that picturebox2 should be appear within the button when I debug the program.
My code is,
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
picturebox2.parent = button;
picturebox.backcolor = color.transparent;
}
I am using .jpg for picturebox1 and a .png for picturebox2 but its not appearing. I mean the picture of picturebox2 should appear above the button.

You need to nest all 3 controls.
You also need to correct the Location of the nested controls or else they keep the original location, which are relative to their original parents, probably to the form, and not to their new parents!!
This should work better:
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
button.Parent = picturebox;
picturebox2.Parent = button;
picturebox.BackColor = Color.Transparent;
button.Location = new Point(1,2); // or whatever you want!!
picturebox2.Location = new Point(3,4); // or whatever you want!!
}
You may also want to consider simply using the Image and/or the BackGroundImage properties of the Button..
Note: If you want your Button to let the bottom PictureBox shine through you need to not only set its Color but also it's FlatStyle to Flat!

Windows Forms Transparent TextBox C# Existing solutions don't work

I am creating my textbox programmatically in a console application that builds a form window on the fly. I am trying to get Input boxes such as the textbox to show up invisible but still allow the user to input data such as username and password or any other customisation fields I provide. This is for a game launcher and I am attempting to make it NOT look like a windows component.
I have tried some of the solutions on the post below.
Transparency for windows forms textbox
EDIT: As you can see above I have already cited that this does not solve my issue. I do not use the form designer as it has a nasty habit of deleting my code because I presume "It knows better".
The Accepted answer for that does not work for me as I do not use the form designer and InitializeComponent();
Does not work it just tells me that it is not a function of the component.
I have gotten as far as this.
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace Launcher_Namespace
{
public class TransparentTextBox : TextBox
{
public TransparentTextBox()
{
this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.SupportsTransparentBackColor, true);
}
}
}
And in the main body of code that initialises fields
//Initialise Inputs
_username = new TransparentTextBox();
_username.Bounds = new Rectangle(120, 10, 120, 21);
_username.BackColor = Color.Transparent;
_username.BorderStyle = 0;
_username.Visible = false;
But all this has achieved is allow me to set _username.BackColor = Color.Transparent; Without throwing an error. The Input box remains White with no border. I just want to make the background transparent. Even MSDN recomends this solution but It does not work for me. My only solution left is to build a custom Label class that grabs the inputs and reads the key inputs and adds them to the .Text property but I don't want to do this.

The solution in your linked answer works fine. If you're not using the designer it doesn't matter... you can still use the same solution. InitializeComponent() is simply a method that's created by the code generator in the designer file. If you ever want to know what it does to create controls (it can be very informational to have a look) then create a control using the designer and then inspect the .Designer.cs file.
EDIT: It acts a little funny. You can override OnPaint to fix the white background and disappearing text, see below. Not a "finished" implementation, the cursor doesn't seem to know where to go, but this should get you in the right direction.
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
var x = new UserControl1 {Location = new Point(0, i*20)};
this.Controls.Add(x);
}
}
}
public class UserControl1 : TextBox
{
public UserControl1()
{
SetStyle(ControlStyles.SupportsTransparentBackColor |
ControlStyles.OptimizedDoubleBuffer |
ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint |
ControlStyles.ResizeRedraw |
ControlStyles.UserPaint, true);
BackColor = Color.Transparent;
TextChanged += UserControl2_OnTextChanged;
}
protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
{
var backgroundBrush = new SolidBrush(Color.Transparent);
Graphics g = e.Graphics;
g.FillRectangle(backgroundBrush, 0, 0, this.Width, this.Height);
g.DrawString(Text, Font, new SolidBrush(ForeColor), new PointF(0,0), StringFormat.GenericDefault);
}
public void UserControl2_OnTextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Invalidate();
}
}
}

When we use SetStyle(ControlStyles.UserPaint,true) Control Border Doesn't paint. I did this in Textbox. My textbox border style is FixedSingle but after using setstyle with UserPaint Textbox border is not drawn. Textbox appears like border is set to None.

Why are Anchor properties not being honored within dynamically created nested components?

Let me begin by saying that I have not done a lot of Windows Forms development -- if there is an obvious mistake that I may be making, please don't hesitate to mention it.
Steps to reproduce my issue:
Create a new C# Windows Forms Project using VS 2010 or VS 2012
Using the VS Form Designer, add three FlowLayoutPanel components to the form
Set each FlowLayoutPanel to have the same height as the form and approximately 1/3 the width of the form
Position each FlowLayoutPanel so that they do not overlap each other horizontally and collectively consume approximately the entire area of the Form.
The leftmost FlowLayoutPanel is configured to have an Anchor of Top, Bottom, Left
The middle FlowLayoutPanel is configured to have an Anchor of Top, Bottom
The rightmost FlowLayoutPanel is configured to have an Anchor of Top, Bottom, Right
Add an event for Form_Shown:
private void Form1_Shown(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Panel p = new Panel();
p.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle;
p.Width = 200;
p.Height = 100;
Label label1 = new Label();
label1.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle;
label1.Text = "Hello";
label1.Anchor = AnchorStyles.Top;
Label label2 = new Label();
label2.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle;
label2.Text = "World!";
label2.Anchor = AnchorStyles.Bottom;
p.Controls.Add(label1);
p.Controls.Add(label2);
middleFlow.Controls.Add(p); // add to the center most FlowLayoutPanel on Form1
}
The result seems to be that label1 is placed on top of label2, despite label2 being added second. Moreover, the anchor values seem to be ignored (as label1 is covering label2 when I intend for them to be anchored to the top and bottom of the Panel component, respectively)
If I use the Dock property instead of the Anchor property, the behavior is as desired. Why does the Anchor property not work in this situation?
Also, is there a way to anchor components to other components? I notice as I increase the size of my Form at runtime, horizontal "gaps" between panels appear. Ideally, I would like the panels to grow together, preventing any gaps/whitespace between them horizontally?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or tips.

I'm still starting to learn c# and winforms, so the following may not be optimal but it does what you required.
Handled the labels with Dock=Top. Note that the labels are switched so that label1 is on top of label2, i.e., registering label1 last pushes down the already registered label2.
The positioning of the three panels is done without anchors and docks with an event handler for resize. Setting the size of the form after that raises a resize event. Colored to see the components.
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
public class ThreePanel : Form {
FlowLayoutPanel leftFlow;
FlowLayoutPanel middleFlow;
FlowLayoutPanel rightFlow;
public ThreePanel(){
leftFlow = new FlowLayoutPanel() {
BackColor = Color.Yellow
};
middleFlow = new FlowLayoutPanel() {
BackColor = Color.LightGreen
};
rightFlow = new FlowLayoutPanel() {
BackColor = Color.LightBlue
};
this.Controls.Add(rightFlow);
this.Controls.Add(middleFlow);
this.Controls.Add(leftFlow);
this.Load += (s,e)=>Form1_Shown(s,e);
this.Resize += (s,e)=>{
int w=this.Width/3;
leftFlow.Width=middleFlow.Width
=rightFlow.Width=w;
leftFlow.Height=middleFlow.Height
=rightFlow.Height=this.Height;
leftFlow.Location=new Point(0,0);
middleFlow.Location=new Point(w,0);
rightFlow.Location=new Point(2*w,0);
};
this.Size = new Size(750,450);
}
private void Form1_Shown(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Panel p = new Panel() {
BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle,
Width = 200,
Height = 100,
BackColor = Color.Fuchsia,
};
Label label1 = new Label() {
BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle,
Text = "Hello",
Dock = DockStyle.Top
};
Label label2 = new Label() {
BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle,
Text = "World!",
Dock = DockStyle.Top
};
p.Controls.Add(label2);
p.Controls.Add(label1);
// add to the center most FlowLayoutPanel on Form1
middleFlow.Controls.Add(p);
}
public static void Main()
{
Application.Run(new ThreePanel());
}
}

I would expect exactly the behaviour that you mentioned.
The Anchor property only tells the parent container that the label should be sticked
to the parent. In your case AnchorStyles.Top means stick the label to the top and leave it there if the parent moves or resizes.
You did not specify dimensions or positions for the labels, so both overlapp.
The z-order of the controls is created implicitly from the order when added to middleFlow.Controls. You can check this using VS forms designer. Select "Bring to Front" or "Send to Back" and watch how the x.designer.cs changes.
Why it is in reverse order is one of the little .net secrets. The workaround is to change the order. Sometimes it is easier to do it manually than in the designer.

Transparent control over PictureBox

In my C# Form I have a Label that displays a download percentage in the download event:
this.lblprg.Text = overallpercent.ToString("#0") + "%";
The Label control's BackColor property is set to be transparent and I want it to be displayed over a PictureBox. But that doesn't appear to work correctly, I see a gray background, it doesn't look transparent on top of the picture box. How can I fix this?

The Label control supports transparency well. It is just that the designer won't let you place the label correctly. The PictureBox control is not a container control so the Form becomes the parent of the label. So you see the form's background.
It is easy to fix by adding a bit of code to the form constructor. You'll need to change the label's Parent property and recalculate it's Location since it is now relative to the picture box instead of the form. Like this:
public Form1() {
InitializeComponent();
var pos = label1.Parent.PointToScreen(label1.Location);
pos = pictureBox1.PointToClient(pos);
label1.Parent = pictureBox1;
label1.Location = pos;
label1.BackColor = Color.Transparent;
}
Looks like this at runtime:
Another approach is to solve the design-time problem. That just takes an attribute. Add a reference to System.Design and add a class to your project, paste this code:
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Windows.Forms.Design; // Add reference to System.Design
[Designer(typeof(ParentControlDesigner))]
class PictureContainer : PictureBox {}

You can just use
label1.Parent = pictureBox1;
label1.BackColor = Color.Transparent; // You can also set this in the designer, as stated by ElDoRado1239

You can draw text using TextRenderer which will draw it without background:
private void pictureBox1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics,
overallpercent.ToString("#0") + "%",
this.Font,
new Point(10, 10),
Color.Red);
}
When overallpercent value changes, refresh pictureBox:
pictureBox1.Refresh();
You can also use Graphics.DrawString but TextRenderer.DrawText (using GDI) is faster than DrawString (GDI+)
Also look at another answer here and DrawText reference here

For easy for your design.
You can place your label inside a panel. and set background image of panel is what every image you want. set label background is transparent

After trying most of the provided solutions without success, the following worked for me:
label1.FlatStyle = FlatStyle.Standard
label1.Parent = pictureBox1
label1.BackColor = Color.Transparent

You most likely not putting the code in the load function. the objects aren't drawn yet if you put in the form initialize section hence nothing happens.
Once the objects are drawn then the load function runs and that will make the form transparents.
private void ScreenSaverForm_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
label2.FlatStyle = FlatStyle.Standard;
label2.Parent = pictureBox1;
label2.BackColor = Color.Transparent;
}

One way which works for everything, but you need to handle the position, on resize, on move etc.. is using a transparent form:
Form form = new Form();
form.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
form.BackColor = Color.Black;
form.TransparencyKey = Color.Black;
form.Owner = this;
form.Controls.Add(new Label() { Text = "Hello", Left = 0, Top = 0, Font = new Font(FontFamily.GenericSerif, 20), ForeColor = Color.White });
form.Show();

Using Visual Studio with Windows Form you may apply transparency to labels or other elements by adding using System.Drawing; into Form1.Designer.cs This way you will have Transparency available from the Properties panel ( in Appearance at BackColor ). Or just edit code in Designer.cs this.label1.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;