Results 1 to 1 of 1

Thread: Set Forecolor to black or white based on background color of control

Threaded View

  1. #1

    Thread Starter
    PowerPoster
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    2,437

    Set Forecolor to black or white based on background color of control

    This is sort of connected to an earlier post I made about get the average background color of a control or image. You can find that post here. This one selects the Foreground color (black or white) based on the background color.

    When getting the average background color (in my case the background color of the wallpaper under a control), once in a while the foreground color was difficult to read because of the two color combinations (foreground and background color). So I searched on the net and found the code posted below...
    If you would like to see the original post for the code below, you can view it here

    Code:
        Public Function IdealTextColor(ByVal bg As Color) As Color
    
            Dim nThreshold As Integer = 105
            Dim bgDelta As Integer = Convert.ToInt32((bg.R * 0.299) + (bg.G * 0.587) + (bg.B * 0.114))
    
            Dim foreColor As Color = If((255 - bgDelta < nThreshold), Color.Black, Color.White)
    
            Return foreColor
    
        End Function
    I have a small clock I wrote as part of a larger program and it sits on the desktop. And as I mentioned, sometimes it's hard to read. But using the code below solved the issue. When the background color of the control becomes light enough, the forecolor will switch to black. And I thought I would share it because I think it's pretty neat

    Below is the sub that calls all the other code.

    Code:
     Public Sub ListviewForm_BackgroundImageChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.BackgroundImageChanged
            If LittleTime.Visible Then
                rk.SetValue("ClockAutoBackground", True)
                Dim NewBmp As Object = rk.GetValue("LastWallpaper") ' get current wallpaper from the registry
    
                If CStr(NewBmp) <> "" Then
                    Dim bmp As Bitmap = New Bitmap(CStr(NewBmp))
                    bmp = CropBitmap(bmp)
    
                    If bmp IsNot Nothing Then
                        bmp = ConvertTo24bpp(bmp)
                        Dim clr As Color = GetAverageColor1(bmp)
                        LittleTime.BackColor = clr
                       
                        LittleTime.MyTime.ForeColor = IdealTextColor(clr)
                        rk.SetValue("ClockAutoBackground", True)
                       
                        bmp.Dispose()
                    End If
                End If
            End If
        End Sub
    Convert the bitmap to 24bpp so it will work with the Get Average Color function

    Code:
       Public Shared Function ConvertTo24bpp(ByVal img As Bitmap) As Bitmap
    
            Dim bmp As Bitmap = New Bitmap(img.Width, img.Height, System.Drawing.Imaging.PixelFormat.Format24bppRgb)
    
            Using gr As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
                gr.DrawImage(img, New Rectangle(0, 0, img.Width, img.Height))
            End Using
    
            Return bmp
        End Function
    And finally the cropping of the bitmap so I only get the color of the wallpaper underneath the clock. You can do it without cropping, but you will get back the Average Color of the whole wallpaper and that's not as good of a color match for what's under the control

    Code:
        Private MyRect As Rectangle
        Private Function CropBitmap(ByRef bmp As Bitmap) As Bitmap
    
            MyRect.X = ScreenWidth - LittleTime.Width
            MyRect.Y = LittleTime.Height
    
            MyRect.Width = LittleTime.Width
            MyRect.Height = LittleTime.Height
            
            Dim cropped As Bitmap = bmp.Clone(MyRect, bmp.PixelFormat)
            Return cropped
        End Function
    Last edited by jumper77; Apr 15th, 2019 at 11:04 AM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  



Click Here to Expand Forum to Full Width