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Contents of a panel won't visually update within a given time, but will clear completely afterwards

I have a form with a picturebox docked to fill the whole thing. On this form, I have a panel that is normally invisible and another picturebox; on the panel, I have a label and another panel with a label.
Here is what SHOULD happen when the user hovers over the second picturebox:
The picturebox's image changes and the first panel becomes visible, making the second panel and both labels visible too
The user clicks on the second label
The second label's OnClick handler makes the first label's text change and the second panel becomes invisible
A timer ticks for a few seconds
A code segment in the timer's OnTick handler causes the image in the second picturebox to change and the first panel to become invisible
Here is what DOES happen:
The picturebox's image changes and the first panel becomes visible, making the second panel and both labels visible too
The user clicks on the second label
The second label's OnClick handler sets the first label's text to a new string and sets the second panel's Visible property to false, BUT the second panel stays visible (although you can't interact with it) and the first label's text gets written on top of the old text
A timer ticks for a few seconds
A code segment in the timer's OnTick handler causes the image in the second picturebox to change and the first panel to become invisible
I've tried everything I can think of. I've called Invalidate, Update, and Refresh on every control in the form, I've called Application.DoEvents, I've reset the image in the background PictureBox to itself, nothing. The REALLY weird part is that in step 5, when the front picturebox resets itself and all panels are set invisible, nothing gets left behind - it's just for that brief few seconds between the OnClick handler terminating and the timer's OnTick cleaning up that there are problems. I can edit this for more information if needed, but does anyone have any ideas of what to do?
Edit: It's been pointed out to me that I should probably upload the code for this. Well, that code is a hacked-together mess, but okay. Also: there are some weird extra bits (in the enum types among others), they're for later parts of the project and irrelevant right now.
bool CountingHoverTime = false;
int HoverTime = 0;
int MasterTick = 0;
enum GhostState { Stand, Speak, Pet, Ask };
GhostState curState;
public enum TalkType { HoverGen, Petted, Spont, TimerMsg, Response };
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
ShowInTaskbar = false;
TopMost = true;
ControlBox = false;
Text = String.Empty;
WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
SetStyle(ControlStyles.SupportsTransparentBackColor, true);
this.BackColor = Color.Transparent;
this.TransparencyKey = Color.Transparent;
}
protected override void OnPaintBackground(PaintEventArgs e)
{
//base.OnPaintBackground(e);
}
private void pictureBox2_MouseHover(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if(curState == GhostState.Stand)
{
CountingHoverTime = true;
}
}
private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if((curState != GhostState.Ask) && (curState != GhostState.Stand))
{
MasterTick++;
if(MasterTick > 10)
{
SetToBasic();
}
}
else
{
MasterTick = 0;
}
if (CountingHoverTime)
{
HoverTime++;
if (HoverTime > 4)
{
HoverTime = 0;
curState = GhostState.Ask;
Say("What can I do for you?", TalkType.HoverGen);
}
}
}
public void SetToBasic()
{
curState = GhostState.Stand;
ghostBox.Image = Properties.Resources.stickStand1;
TalkPanel.Visible = false;
}
public void Say(String speak, TalkType type)
{
mainText.Text = speak;
if(type == TalkType.Response || type == TalkType.Spont)
{
curState = GhostState.Speak;
}
else
{
curState = GhostState.Ask;
}
ghostBox.Image = Properties.Resources.stickTalk;
if (type == TalkType.HoverGen)
OptionPanel.Visible = true;
else
OptionPanel.Visible = false;
TalkPanel.Visible = true;
backBox.Image = Properties.Resources.background;
ghostBox.Invalidate();
TalkPanel.Invalidate();
mainText.Invalidate();
backBox.Invalidate();
ghostBox.Update();
TalkPanel.Update();
mainText.Update();
backBox.Update();
Application.DoEvents();
}
private void op1label_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
curState = GhostState.Speak;
OptionPanel.Visible = false;
Say("No can do yet.", TalkType.Response);
}
Edit 2: I've put together a gif visualization of what's happening, thank you HandbagCrab.

I've approached this from a different direction. I think the issue is to do with the picturebox you have docked on the form causing some issues.
To fix it and still keep the transparency, get rid of the backBox. Set the background colour of the form to a colour you're not going to use then set the transparency key to that colour. This will make those areas of the form transparent. Now you just need your hidden panel and your labels and whatever control it is that hosts your stick man image.
I've left the backgrounds of the labels as pink here but you should change them to your background colour so that they're not transparent.
When I run the form I get the transparency still and when clicking on the grey panel (I've used a panel to simulate your stick man) shows the hidden panel with the labels. Clicking label2 updates the text on label1 (the one that contains the text "longish text"), completely replacing the text.
Here it is in use (I've not done a gif as I wanted each step to be clearly visible)
Here's the application when open:
Here it is after clicking the grey box:
Here's the updated text when clicking label2:
I've left the application border style as Sizeable just so you can see where the border lies. I also took the screenshots over a black background so there was no visual clutter.
Here's me right clicking the desktop through the transparent section:

Hide cursor over image while using QueryCursor event in WPF

I have an image in my application and I need to draw a line according to the mouse position. What I tried to do is use QueryCursor event to get the mouse position and draw the line, which works as planned.
However, now I wish to hide the cursor while over the image so that only the line is visible. I tried to change the cursor to 'None' but then the event stopped working. What should I do?

You should be able to set the Cursor property to Cursors.None in the QueryCursor event handler and then set it back to null when the MouseLeave event fires.
This works fine for me:
<Image ... QueryCursor="Button_QueryCursor" MouseLeave="Button_MouseLeave" />
private void Image_QueryCursor(object sender, QueryCursorEventArgs e)
{
Cursor = Cursors.None;
//...
}
private void Image_MouseLeave(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
Cursor = null;
}

Please set the Cursors.None to the Windows' Cursor property
i.e this.Cursor = Cursors.None;
Hope this helps.

How to set tooltip at current mouse location?

I registered Hotkey: Ctrl + Space. Hotkey message is sent to:
private void Hotkey_press()
{
... // I want to show tooltip "Hello" at current mouse location.
}
Is there any way to show this tooltip even the mouse doesnt point to any control and it is outside my Window.Form1?
Edit: That ToolTip can show even the form lost focus or hide

You want something like
ToolTip tt = new ToolTip();
IWin32Window win = this;
tt.Show("String", win, mousePosition);
Where the MousePosition can be obtained from the MouseEventArgs via
private SomeMouseEventHandler(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
System.Drawing.Point mousePosition = e.Location;
...
}
or using
System.Drawing.Point mousePosition = Cursor.Position;
also, you may want to set a longer duration for which the ToolTip is displayed, well just use the overloads available for the Show method, tt.Show("String", win, mousePosition, 5000); will display the tool tip for 5 seconds.
I hope this helps.

Tooltip tip = new ToolTip();
tip.ShowAlways = true;
tip.Show("My tooltip",this,Cursor.Position.X,Cursor.Position.Y);
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.tooltip.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.tooltip.showalways.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.cursor.aspx

As this answer suggests, there is no managed way to accomplish this. If you want to show a tool tip control when your program is not in focus then the "right" way to do it is to PInvoke Win32 and use CreateWindowEx. The answer linked above given by gideon shows some pointers on how to do it, but nonetheless it is very complicated.
If you don't mind using thrid party libraries, AutoIt provides a way to create tool tips easily without having to deal with Win32 yourself.
Here is a very simple example demonstrating use:
//make sure AutoItX3.dll is referenced in your project
using AutoItX3Lib;
private AutoItX3 myAutoIt = new AutoItX3();
private async void ShowToolTipAtMouse(string message)
{
//default position is bottom right of mouse pointer,
//but you can set the x and y positions yourself
myAutoIt.ToolTip(message);
//call the function again with an empty argument to close
await Task.Delay(1000);
myAutoIt.ToolTip(String.Empty);
}
This will work as long as your program is running; doesn't matter if it is in/out of focus or even hidden. Downside is you don't get the regular fade out animation (it just vanishes). Also, if you need multiple tool tips at once you need to have multiple AutoItX3 objects.

You need Show/Hide it in the mouse events, also converting mouse location from Screen coordinate to your control coordinate. the little problem is if you put tooltip exactly on mous pointer location toolTip will catch mouseEnter event and unintended mouseLeave event on your control will be triggered so my solution was adding a little offset to final location.
private void pictureBox1_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
Point p = pictureBox3.PointToClient(Cursor.Position);
p.X += 5;
p.Y += 5;
toolTip1.Show("My tooltip" ,
pictureBox1, p);
}
private void pictureBox1_MouseLeave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
toolTip1.ShowAlways = false;
Text = ("Leave");
}
private void pictureBox1_MouseEnter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
toolTip1.ShowAlways = true;
Text=("Enter");
}

It is a shame Winforms does not have a position property for tooltips.
The easiest thing I found is to add your own mouse-over and mouse-leave handlers and then use the Show() function to set the location (x and y), in pixels, relative to the upper left corner of the second argument of the Show() function.
The second argument can be any control, but probably makes most sense to use the control containing the tooltip itself (this), the parent the control, or a child control inside the control.
You can use a Point instead of two arguments (x and y) for the position, but remember Show() will take the point's x coordinate and y coordinate and add them to the x and y coordinates of the upper left corner of the control you chose as the second argument.
private void UserControl1_MouseHover(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
toolTip1.Show("this text is so new", this, 10, 10);
}
private void UserControl1_MouseLeave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
toolTip1.Hide(this);
}

Drawing in C# winform is fairly slow

I'm creating a custom DataGridView, in which the CheckBox Shows a border when MouseHover is raised.
Here is what I've done so far.
void checkBox_MouseLeave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//showBorder defines whether the border is drawn.
this.showBorder = false;
this.DataGridView.InvalidateCell(this);
}
void CheckBoxMouseHover(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.showBorder = true;
this.CheckBox.BringToFront();
this.DataGridView.InvalidateCell(this);
}
protected override void Paint(...........)
{
..........
if (showBorder)
{
GraphicsPath border=new GraphicsPath();
border.AddRectangle(new Rectangle(checkBoxPosition.X-1,checkBoxPosition.Y-1,checkBoxSize.Width+1,checkBoxSize.Height+1));
graphics.DrawPath(new Pen(borderColor,1),border);
}
}
But is comes so slow that I have to wait for about half a second to see do border show.
Anyway, MouseLeave works fine.
So how can I improve the performance here?
In addition, how can I customize the checkbox? for example, the background color, etc.

You're using MouseHover event for the Mouse going over the control. Try MouseEnter instead. MouseHover is triggered after the mouse stays over the control for a little bit of time. MouseEnter is instant

.NET C# MouseEnter listener on a Control WITH Scrollbar

As long as the mouse is over a specific control, we show some form. When the mouse leaves the control, we hide the control after a small timeout. This is standard hover behavior.
However, when a control (for example a Treeview) has a scrollbar, and the mouse is ON or OVER the scrollbar, the events don't fire ...
If we could get a reference to the scrollbar control, this would solve our problem, as we would add the same listener events to the scrollbar. However, the scrollbar isn't accessible as far as I know ...
How can we solve this problem ?

The scrollbar is in the tree view's non-client area. When the mouse moves there, it starts generating non-client messages like WM_NCMOUSEMOVE and WM_NCMOUSELEAVE. You would have to sub-class the TreeView and override WndProc() to detect these message.
This doesn't really solve your problem though, you'll still have a hard time with edge cases. A low-tech approach with a Timer always works:
private Form frmPopup;
private void treeView1_MouseEnter(object sender, EventArgs e) {
timer1.Enabled = true;
if (frmPopup == null) {
frmPopup = new Form2();
frmPopup.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.Manual;
frmPopup.Location = PointToScreen(new Point(treeView1.Right + 20, treeView1.Top));
frmPopup.FormClosed += (o, ea) => frmPopup = null;
frmPopup.Show();
}
}
private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e) {
Rectangle rc = treeView1.RectangleToScreen(new Rectangle(0, 0, treeView1.Width, treeView1.Height));
if (!rc.Contains(Control.MousePosition)) {
timer1.Enabled = false;
if (frmPopup != null) frmPopup.Close();
}
}

I think there are several different ways to do this, but the key is your desire to have a timeout on the action. I think a combination of two techniques might work:
Put the control on a panel, docked to fill, and use the MouseEnter of the panel to turn on your behavior -- this will include the control's scrollbar. You can use the MouseLeave event of the panel as well, but you'll have to check the cursor's position to ensure it hasn't moved into the contained control. This method is mostly reliable, but moving the mouse quickly can confuse it.
If you combine this with a timer that starts when your shown/hidden control is shown and check the cursor position periodically. This will work, but your timeout before hiding the control won't necessarily be consistent (because the timer starts when they enter the control). You could stop/start the timer on mousemoves in the control to alleviate this somewhat.
I put together a project of the different methods I tried here: http://lovethedot.s3.amazonaws.com/100609StackoverflowScrollbarQuestion.zip
By docking the control you want to track in the panel, it essentially wraps it and you'll get MouseEnter at the very edge of the tracked control:
private void panel1_MouseEnter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.Text = "in";
}
private void panel1_MouseLeave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!new Rectangle(new Point(0, 0), panel1.Size).Contains(panel1.PointToClient(Control.MousePosition)))
this.Text = "out";
}
You're tracking entry into the panel surrounding the control, and exit from that panel provided the cursor isn't inside the tracked control.
To get a better "leave" experience, it's combined with a Timer that checks to see where the cursor is as well:
private void listBox3_MouseEnter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
button1.Visible = true;
visibleTimer.Stop();
visibleTimer.Start();
}
void visibleTimer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!new Rectangle(new Point(0, 0), listBox3.Size).Contains(listBox3.PointToClient(Control.MousePosition)))
{
visibleTimer.Stop();
button1.Visible = false;
}
}