Graphic overlay on a form...

[wired2work]

I have a user control that basicly has a picturebox that display an image and some other info, no biggy. I would like to punch it up a little by putting a nice graphic overlay on it, to make it appear like the corners are rounded, pretty it up a little. Can this be done?

Thanks

TW

 

[kulrom]

I'm afraid it can be done ... hahahaha JK
Of course it can be done ... just don't ask what else can be done my friend. Everything !!!
Do you have any specific question maybe?

Regards

p.s. Wellcome to the forum

 

[wired2work]

Ya how?

Programming for many years never really played with GDI stuff. I have search around and many have said that it is not a simple task, but no one can even point me in the right direction or even a sample.

Basicly I have a custom picture box control and I would like to put a graphic frame over to make it look better. But not sure how to do it in VB.net in VB you could do it with other controls because you could set them to transparent backgrounds, but in .net it doesn't quite work the same.

Can you provide any direction or samples to overlaying controls with the top on having a type of alpha channel of sorts?

Thanks

TW

 

[kulrom]

Ok let's str8 something ... you can do that with VB.NET without doubt but the question is whether it is worthy for the time and effort.
Take a look at this ScreenShot (taken of the project i have made last year)
Well, to achive something even close to this without PS or any other image editor would be nightmare trust me. Why you don't make a good looking pic and simply add around PictureBox? It would be best in your case i beleive.


Regards

 

[wired2work]

Not quite what I was looking for.

Think of a 9 x 9 set of picture controls that are dynamic. I want a frame to be over each on one of these, and the 9 x 9 is just an example, it could be 9 X 100. The application downloads images from digital cameras, memory cards, or floppies. Then displays them on the screen and allows the user to print them annotate them, email them, etc. I am just trying to make it look nicer for the list of images.

Thanks

TW

 

[kulrom]

All what i said in my previous reply is still valid ... it is far better to put good looking image there instead using GDI+ for the purpose i assure you

Regards

 

[wired2work]

We are going around and circles here.....

I understand how to do what you are showing, but that is down behind the image, I want to overlay something on top of the picture control and have a portion transparent. Can you point me in a direction to do this?

If you use two picture controls, the top one doesn't show a transparent layer, like in VB6.

TW

 

[kulrom]

I have a user control that basicly has a picturebox that display an image and some other info, no biggy. I would like to punch it up a little by putting a nice graphic overlay on it, to make it appear like the corners are rounded, pretty it up a little. Can this be done?

Thanks

TW

Excuse me, are these your words, TW? If so i don't think we are going around and circles here as you did say a new stuff here ... that wasn't there in your first two posts.
Nevermind let's forget this and back to the question: Can you point me in a direction to do this?

Ok, you will need to make your own control that derives from the picturebox class to acheive transparency. btw, some controls do not allow transparent backgrounds. Fortunately, the PictureBox does and all you need is to set its style

SetStyle(SupportsTransparentBackColor, True)

http://www.codeproject.com/cs/miscctrl/alphablendtextbox.asp?df=100&forumid=15959&exp=0&select=1048201#xx1048201xx
the trick is pretty same

HTH
Regards

 

[wired2work]

ok, now we are getting somewhere....

I have tried the custom control on the picture control, but when you set background to transparent it doesn't apply to the graphic it holds, the control will have the transparent background. So, if I have the control loaded with a gif that has a indexed alpha channel that should be transparent it is not support by the transparent background of the picture control. At least this is the way it was in my testing and in other info that I have found on the web.

Any other suggestions?

TW