Sorry if this has been asked before.
I was working on a simple connect 4 game in C# windows forms as I haven't done any work involving graphics before. To do this I need the program to draw circles when a button is pressed however I don't know how to call the function to do so.
public void printToken(PaintEventArgs pe, int x)
{
Graphics g = pe.Graphics;
Pen blue = new Pen(Color.Blue);
Pen red = new Pen(Color.Red);
Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(50 + ((x-1) * 100), 50, 50, 50);
g.DrawEllipse(blue, rect);
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
printToken(null, 1);
}
The null in place is just a placeholder as obviously that will not work.
Any and all help is appreciated.
Typically in a Windows Forms application where you want to do custom drawing, you either draw directly on a Form or PictureBox in the Paint event handler or create a subclass of Control in which you override the OnPaint method. In the Paint event handler or OnPaint, you draw everything (i.e. not just one circle, but all the circles). Then when your underlying data structure changes, indicating that you need a repaint, you call Invalidate() on the control, which marks it as needing redraw, and on the next pass through the event loop, your Paint event handler will run or your OnPaint method will be called. Within that method, you'll have the PaintEventArgs object you need to get a Graphics object with which to do your drawing. You don't want to "draw once and forget" (e.g. when a button is clicked) because there are all sorts of things that can cause your control to need to repaint itself. See this question and answer for more details on that.
Edit: here's some hand-holding in response to your comment. (It was going to be a comment but it got too long.)
If I assume for the moment that you're starting with a blank Form in Visual Studio's Windows Forms Designer, the quickest way to get going would just be to select the Form, and in VS's Properties pane, click the lightning bolt toolbar button to view the form's events. Scroll down to the Paint event and double-click anywhere in the blank space to the right of the label. That will wire up a Paint event handler for the form and take you to the newly added method in the form's code file. Use the PaintEventArgs object called e to do your drawing. Then, if you need to change what gets drawn upon some button click, in your click handler change the data that determine what gets drawn (e.g. positions and colors of of the playing pieces) and, when you're done, call Invalidate().
If you add a UserControl representing a single chip to your form, and override the OnPaint method and put the coloring code into that event, then the Graphics object will not be null when the Paint event fires.
To kick off the paint of the UserControl, either call the Refresh method or InvalidateRectangle method - either will fire the OnPaint method.
Make sure to call up the class hierarchy to the OnPaint first, to make sure that the background of the object is drawn first:
protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e) {
base.OnPaint(e);
Graphics g = e.Graphics;
Pen blue = new Pen(Color.Blue);
Pen red = new Pen(Color.Red);
Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(50 + ((x-1) * 100), 50, 50, 50);
g.DrawEllipse(blue, rect);
}
Related
I am using Visual Studio 2013 to write a Windows Forms C# application. I want to draw game board on Form1_Load and draw pawns on button click. I have written two methods: InitDraw() and Draw(). When both method are in Form1_Load() or button1_Click() it's OK, but if InitDraw() is in Form1_Load() and Draw() is in button1_Click() - it draws only if I press Alt or move windows out of screen and move back to screen. I added Invalidate() but this does not help.
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
Bitmap drawBitmap;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
InitDraw();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Draw();
}
private void InitDraw()
{
drawBitmap = new Bitmap(500, 500);
pictureBox1.Image = drawBitmap;
}
private void Draw()
{
Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(pictureBox1.Image);
Pen myPen = new Pen(Color.Black);
g.DrawLine(myPen, 0, 0, 100, 100);
myPen.Dispose();
g.Dispose();
Invalidate();
}
}
}
Nobody's stopping you from drawing wherever you want, the thing to remember is to do it on a bitmap image instead of trying to force it to screen. By this I mean you need to create your own Bitmap object, and any draw functions you call you call them on this.
To actually get this to show on screen, call the Invalidate function on the host control -- not a PictureBox by the way. Something lightweight like a panel will do. And in that control's Paint event simply draw your image.
You were sort of close, but you calling Invalidate on the form, besides the fact that it's horribly inefficient to redraw everything when you know exactly what needs to be redrawn, simply won't do anything. You don't rely on the Paint event, but on the intrinsic binding a PictureBox has with a Bitmap -- Bitmap who's handle you never change. As far as the PictureBox is concerned, everything is the same so it won't actually paint itself again. When you actually force it to paint itself by dragging the window outside the screen bounds and then back in it will read the bitmap and draw what you expect.
You must draw in the Paint event of the picture box. Windows might trigger the Paint event at any moment, e.g. if a window in front of it is removed or the form containing the picturebox is moved.
What you draw on the screen is volatile; therefore, let Windows decide when to (re-)draw. You can also trigger redrawing with
picturebox1.Invalidate();
or
picturebox1.Refresh();
Difference: Invalidate waits until the window is idle. Refresh draws immediately.
If you only draw in Form_Load or Button_Click, your drawing might get lost, when windows triggers a paint on its own. Try calling picturebox1.Invalidate in these events instead.
I've written a Windows Forms app where I do custom drawing on a Panel using Control.CreateGraphics(). Here's what my Form looks like at startup:
The custom drawing is performed on the top panel in the Click event handler of the "Draw!" button. Here's my button click handler:
private void drawButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
using (Graphics g = drawPanel.CreateGraphics())
{
g.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
g.Clear(Color.White);
Size size = drawPanel.ClientSize;
Rectangle bounds = drawPanel.ClientRectangle;
bounds.Inflate(-10, -10);
g.FillEllipse(Brushes.LightGreen, bounds);
g.DrawEllipse(Pens.Black, bounds);
}
}
After a click on drawButton, the form looks like this:
Success!
But when I shrink the form by dragging a corner...
...and expand it back to its original size,
part of what I drew is gone!
This also happens when I drag part of the window offscreen...
...and drag it back onscreen:
If I minimize the window and restore it, the whole image is erased:
What is causing this? How can I make it so the graphics I draw are persistent?
Note: I've created this self-answered question so I have a canonical Q/A to direct users to, as this is a common scenario that's hard to search for if you don't already know the cause of the problem.
TL;DR:
Don't do your drawing in response to a one-time UI event with Control.CreateGraphics. Instead, register a Paint event handler for the control on which you want to paint, and do your drawing with the Graphics object passed via the PaintEventArgs.
If you want to paint only after a button click (for example), in your Click handler, set a boolean flag indicating that the button has been clicked and then call Control.Invalidate(). Then do your rendering conditionally in the Paint handler.
Finally, if your control's contents should change with the size of the control, register a Resize event handler and call Invalidate() there too.
Example code:
private bool _doCustomDrawing = false;
private void drawPanel_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
if (_doCustomDrawing)
{
Graphics g = e.Graphics;
g.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
g.Clear(Color.White);
Size size = drawPanel.ClientSize;
Rectangle bounds = drawPanel.ClientRectangle;
bounds.Inflate(-10, -10);
g.FillEllipse(Brushes.LightGreen, bounds);
g.DrawEllipse(Pens.Black, bounds);
}
}
private void drawButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
_doCustomDrawing = true;
drawPanel.Invalidate();
}
private void drawPanel_Resize(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
drawPanel.Invalidate();
}
But why? What was I doing wrong, and how does this fix it?
Take a look at the documentation for Control.CreateGraphics:
The Graphics object that you retrieve through the CreateGraphics method should not normally be retained after the current Windows message has been processed, because anything painted with that object will be erased with the next WM_PAINT message.
Windows doesn't take responsibility for retaining the graphics you draw to your Control. Rather, it identifies situations in which your control will require a repaint and informs it with a WM_PAINT message. Then it's up to your control to repaint itself. This happens in the OnPaint method, which you can override if you subclass Control or one of its subclasses. If you're not subclassing, you can still do custom drawing by handling the public Paint event, which a control will fire near the end of its OnPaint method. This is where you want to hook in, to make sure your graphics get redrawn every time the Control is told to repaint. Otherwise, part or all of your control will be painted over to the control's default appearance.
Repainting happens when all or part of a control is invalidated. You can invalidate the entire control, requesting a full repaint, by calling Control.Invalidate(). Other situations may require only a partial repaint. If Windows determines that only part of a Control needs to be repainted, the PaintEventArgs you receive will have a non-empty ClipRegion. In this situation, your drawing will only affect the area in the ClipRegion, even if you try to draw to areas outside that region. This is why the call to drawPanel.Invalidate() was required in the above example. Because the appearance of drawPanel needs to change with the size of the control and only the new parts of the control are invalidated when the window is expanded, it's necessary to request a full repaint with each resize.
I have a custom user control which displays waveform of an audio file. I've put two instances of controls on a form. The second instance works as expected while the first instance causes the problem mentioned.
What I am doing is drawing a vertical (red) line, indicating current position. The problem is best seen in a youtube video.
This is the code of my custom controller (OnPaint() - notice that I invalidate only the region affected by the red vertical line):
protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
{
[...]
Invalidate(new Rectangle(x_pos-5, 0, x_pos, this.Height));
using (Pen linePen = new Pen(Color.Red, 1.5f))
{
e.Graphics.DrawLine(linePen, x_pos, 0, x_pos, this.Height);
Invalidate(new Rectangle(x_pos-2,0,x_pos+2,this.Height));
}
base.OnPaint(e);
}
Q: Since the OnPaint method is equivalent for both controls why do I need to move the window to repaint the first control (waveform)?
The problem with OnPaint is that it's only called when it's necessary, for example when the window is moved, resized, after it's brought back from minimized state, or when another window is moved on top of it.
In order to periodically repaint the window (or parts of it), you'll need to add a Timer to the form and implement its Tick event.
private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.Invalidate();
}
By default, Timer.Interval is set to 100 (100 ms). If you only want to update your rectangle every second, you can increase that value to 1000 if you want.
I have a windows form which contains a user control. This user control has the following code:
protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs pe)
{
base.OnPaint(pe);
pe.Graphics.DrawRectangle(
new Pen(Color.Red, 5 + laenge),
new Rectangle(
new Point(50 + leerzeichen, hoehe),
new Size(laenge + 20, 20)));
}
and some more code, which is probably not important now. So when I start the programm it draws the red rectangle. All the variables (laenge, leerzeichen, hoehe) are set to 0 at the beginning of the program. Now, when I press a button the variables are changing, but OnPaint does not draw the new rectangle? What could be the problem? Do I have to call OnPaint in some way?
You need to call Invalidate(), after changing variables (it calls OnPaint internaly)
You do not call OnPaint directly.
Rather, as inherited from Win32 (InvalidateRect()), the control's region needs to be invalidated (e.g. by calling Invalidate()) to cause Windows to call the control's OnPaint method during refresh. (see this question)
Be aware that the OS can process paint/refresh requests only when the application waits for the Windows message queue (i.e. it is done processing user requests, or calls Application.DoEvents()).
I have drawn a circle in windows form
Pen pen = new Pen(Color.Black, 3);
Graphics gr = this.CreateGraphics();
gr.DrawEllipse(pen, 5,5,20,20);
How to delete it...
You have to clear your Graphic:
Graphics.Clear();
But all drawn figures will be cleared. Simply, you will then need to redraw all figures except that circle.
Also, you can use the Invalidate method:
Control.Invalidate()
It indicates a region to be redrawn inside your Graphics. But if you have intersecting figures you will have to redraw the figures you want visible inside the region except the circle.
This can become messy, you may want to check out how to design a control graph or use any graph layout library.
You can invalidate the draw region you want to refresh for example:
this.Invalidate();
on the form...
Assuming you're subscribing to the Paint event or overriding the protected OnPaint routine, then you will need to perform something like this:
bool paint = false;
protected override void OnPaint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
if (paint)
{
// Draw circle.
}
}
Then when you want to stop painting a circle:
paint = false;
this.Invalidate(); // Forces a redraw
You can make a figure of same dimensions using the backColor of your control in which you are drawing
use after your code to clear your figure.
Pen p = new Pen(this.BackColor);
gr.DrawEllipse(p, 5,5,20,20);
In fact, you can delete your circle and nothing but your circle.
Everything you need is something like a screenshot of the "before state" of the area you want to clear, to make a TextureBrush from it. You can achieve that step by something like this:
Bitmap _Background = new Bitmap(this.Width, this.Height);
Graphics.FromImage(_Background).CopyFromScreen(this.Left, this.Top, 0, 0, this.Size);
The first line will give you a bitmap in your windows forms size. The second line will save a screenshot of it in the _Background-bitmap.
Now you create a TextureBrush out of it:
Brush brsBackground = new TextureBrush(_Background);
The next thing you need are the dimensions of your circle, so you should save them into a variable, if they are not a fix value. When you got them at hand, you can clear the specific area like this:
Graphics gr = this.CreateGraphics();
gr.FillEllipse(brsBackground, 5, 5, 20, 20); // values referred to your example
Done!
Even complex figures are able to be deleted by this, like a GraphicsPath for example:
GraphicsPath gp = new GraphicsPath(); // any kind of GraphicsPath
gr.FillRegion(brsBackground, new Region(gp));
You don't "delete" it per se, there's nothing to delete. It's a drawing, you draw something else over it or you can call the Graphics.Clear() method.
If u are using Invalidate() and is not working, make a panel.Refresh().
That will work on you.
just make another control with the attributes etc. that you want, make the visibility to false and set the region of the control to the other control like this:
pen.Region = pen2.Region;
It is very simple to delete a drawn circle from c.
There is only four steps:-
Open turbo app
go to the command where you had drawn the circle
drag the command
click on delete button