Label Painting

[ALX]

In a User Control I have about a dozen labels. On just a few of these labels I want to be able to produce some graphics. I can create graphics anywhere on this user control except on top of the labels. I can set the entire user control to 'userpaint' with the 'setstyle' method but not the labels. If I try to set the labels to 'userpaint'...

Label1.SetStyle(ControlStyles.UserPaint, True)

I get the following error:
'System.Windows.Forms.Control.Protected Sub SetStyle(flag As System.Windows.Forms.ControlStyles, value As Boolean)' is not accessible in this context because it is 'Protected'.
Can anyone enlighten me on how to put graphics on top of a label ?

 

[JohnH]

You can use the paint event, but that also paint on top of the text, so you would have to draw the label text back on top. Not very difficult, but you have to calculate the text alignments if necessary. Here is an example:

[SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Private [/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Sub[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] Label1_Paint([/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]ByVal[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] sender [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]As [/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Object[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2], [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]ByVal[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] e [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]As[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs) _
[/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Handles[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] Label1.Paint
e.Graphics.FillEllipse(Brushes.LightBlue, 0, 0, Label1.Width - 1, Label1.Height - 1)
e.Graphics.DrawString(Label1.Text, Label1.Font, [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]New[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] SolidBrush(Label1.ForeColor), 0, 0)
[/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]End [/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Sub
[/COLOR][/SIZE]

Another option could be to create a UserControl, change its inheritance to Label and for instance draw graphics in the overrided OnPaintBackground method. This will be placed behind text, so you don't have to overlay this here. Sample:

[SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Public [/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Class[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] myLabel
[/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Inherits[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] System.Windows.Forms.Label
[/SIZE]'[SIZE=2]#[/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Region[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] " Windows Form Designer generated code " unchanged
[/SIZE][SIZE=2][/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff][/COLOR][/SIZE] 
[SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Protected [/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Overrides [/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Sub[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] OnPaintBackground([/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]ByVal[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] pevent [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]As[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs)
pevent.Graphics.Clear([/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Me[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2].BackColor)
pevent.Graphics.FillEllipse(Brushes.LightGreen, 0, 0, [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Me[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2].Width - 1, [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Me[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2].Height - 1)
[/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]End [/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Sub
[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2]
[/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]End [/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2] [/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0000ff]Class
[/COLOR][/SIZE]

 

[ALX]

Excellent !!!
Thank You JohnH