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Thread: [RESOLVED] Apply text to PictureBoxes

  1. #1

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    Resolved [RESOLVED] Apply text to PictureBoxes

    Using : Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2019 - Version 16.9.4

    I have a problem adding text to PictureBoxes in my application. The Form contains a grid formed by PictureBoxes inside a GroupBox. When a PictureBox is clicked, the background colour of that PictureBox is changed. Currently I have the grid reference of the PictureBox (e.g. 0-3) written to each PictureBox. This will change in later development.
    My Form design only contains a single button 'btnClear' to change the background colour to white on all PictureBoxes.

    The problems are :
    - The text is not immediately visible. If the Form is moved a lot or dragged off the screen and back the text will appear.
    - When the text does appear it can look thick and blurry as if the text has been redrawn a number of times.
    - When a PictureBox is clicked, the background colour is changed. This removes the text from the PictureBox.
    - When 'btnClear' is clicked the background colour of all PictureBoxes is changed to white. This removes the text on all PictureBoxes.

    From what I have found looking into this it seems I need to use System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs, but I am not sure how and where to implement that in my app.

    Also, how can the colour of the text be changed on a PictureBox in a PictureBox_Click event?

    There is another thing I would like help with. I could not find a way to loop through all PictureBoxes in the GroupBox directly from a Sub so I found a workaround - see Subs UpdateBoxText and btnClear_Click. My workaround loops through all Form Controls, and if it is a GroupBox, it then loops through all ChildControls (in this case PictureBoxes). It works, but it seams the wrong way to go about it. Also, I plan on using another GroupBox containing PictureBoxes to the same form in later development which will break my workaround. Can someone show me a better way to do this please?

    Can you help make the text persistent, change the colour of the text on a single PictureBox on click event, and advise a better way to loop through my PictureBoxes please?

    Thanks for taking the time to look at this.

    My code is below:


    Code:
    Public Class Form1
    
        Private Sub UpdateBoxText()
    
            Dim PBx As Integer
            Dim PBy As Integer
            Dim PBTextGraphics As Graphics
            Dim PBTextString As String = ""
    
            For Each Control As Control In Me.Controls 'Loop through all controls in Form1
                If TypeOf Control Is GroupBox Then 'If control is GroupBox
                    For Each ChildControl As Control In Control.Controls 'Loop through controls within GroupBox (PictureBoxes)
                        PBx = ChildControl.Location.X \ ChildControl.Size.Width 'Get current PictureBox grid reference X
                        PBy = ChildControl.Location.Y \ ChildControl.Size.Height 'Get current PictureBox grid reference Y
                        PBTextString = PBx & "-" & PBy 'Create text string to display in PictureBox
    
                        'Draw text string to current PictureBox
                        PBTextGraphics = ChildControl.CreateGraphics
                        PBTextGraphics.DrawString(PBTextString, New Font("Arial", 10), New SolidBrush(Color.Black), 3, 3)
                        PBTextGraphics.Dispose()
                    Next
                End If
            Next
    
        End Sub
    
        Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Paint, MyBase.Load
    
            ' Create GroupBox
            Dim GBox As New GroupBox
            GBox.Location = New Point(13, 6)
            GBox.Width = 255
            GBox.Height = 262
            GBox.BackColor = Color.White
            Me.Controls.Add(GBox)
    
            ' Create grid of picture boxes and add to groupbox
            For PBRow As Integer = 0 To 4
                For PBCol As Integer = 0 To 4
                    Dim PBox As New PictureBox
                    PBox.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle
                    PBox.BackColor = Color.White
                    PBox.Size = New Size(50, 50)
                    PBox.Location = New Point((PBCol * PBox.Size.Width) + 2, (PBRow * PBox.Size.Height) + 9)
                    AddHandler PBox.Click, AddressOf PictureBox_Click
                    GBox.Controls.Add(PBox)
                Next
            Next
    
            UpdateBoxText()
    
        End Sub
    
        Private Sub PictureBox_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
    
            Dim PBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)
            PBox.BackColor = Color.LightCyan 'Colour clicked PictureBox
    
        End Sub
    
        Private Sub btnClear_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnClear.Click
    
            For Each Control As Control In Me.Controls 'Loop through all controls in Form1
                If TypeOf Control Is GroupBox Then 'If control is GroupBox
                    For Each ChildControl As Control In Control.Controls 'Loop through controls within GroupBox (PictureBoxes)
                        ChildControl.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 255)  'Set PictureBox background colour to white
                    Next
                End If
            Next
    
        End Sub
    
    End Class

  2. #2
    eXtreme Programmer .paul.'s Avatar
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    Re: Apply text to PictureBoxes

    You need to write the text using e.graphics in the picturebox’ paint event, if you really are drawing text on a PictureBox. Looks to me that you’re using textboxes above pictureboxes

  3. #3

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    Re: Apply text to PictureBoxes

    Quote Originally Posted by .paul. View Post
    You need to write the text using e.graphics in the picturebox’ paint event, if you really are drawing text on a PictureBox. Looks to me that you’re using textboxes above pictureboxes

    If it looks like I am using textboxes, then it is only due to my bad attempt at implementing this.

    I've commented out the UpdateBoxText Sub and tried to create a paint event for my pictureboxes :

    Code:
        Private Sub PBox_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs) Handles Me.Paint
    
            Dim PBTextString As String = "ABC"
    
            e.Graphics.DrawString(PBTextString, New Font("Arial", 10), New SolidBrush(Color.Black), 3, 3)
            e.Graphics.Dispose()
    
        End Sub
    I get a letter 'A' only displayed outside of my group box in the top left corner. I assume it is using the '3, 3' co-ordinates in context with the form for this.

    I'll keep trying. Any further hints would be appreciated in the meantime.

  4. #4
    eXtreme Programmer .paul.'s Avatar
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    Re: Apply text to PictureBoxes

    Code:
    Handles Me.Paint
    ???

    Code:
    For Each Control As Control In Me.Controls 'Loop through all controls in Form1
        If TypeOf Control Is GroupBox Then 'If control is GroupBox
            For Each ChildControl As Control In Control.Controls 'Loop through controls within GroupBox (PictureBoxes)
                PBx = ChildControl.Location.X \ ChildControl.Size.Width 'Get current PictureBox grid reference X
                PBy = ChildControl.Location.Y \ ChildControl.Size.Height 'Get current PictureBox grid reference Y
                ChildControl.Tag = PBx & "-" & PBy 'Create text string to display in PictureBox
                AddHandler DirectCast(ChildControl, PictureBox).Paint, Addressof PictureBoxes_Paint
            Next
        End If
    Next
    Code:
    Private Sub PictureBoxes_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs)
        e.Graphics.DrawString(sender.Tag.ToString, New Font("Arial", 10), New SolidBrush(Color.Black), 3, 3)
    End Sub

  5. #5
    eXtreme Programmer .paul.'s Avatar
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    Re: Apply text to PictureBoxes

    Quote Originally Posted by BlueCheese View Post
    Code:
        Private Sub PBox_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs) Handles Me.Paint
    
            Dim PBTextString As String = "ABC"
    
            e.Graphics.DrawString(PBTextString, New Font("Arial", 10), New SolidBrush(Color.Black), 3, 3)
            e.Graphics.Dispose()
    
        End Sub
    I get a letter 'A' only displayed outside of my group box in the top left corner. I assume it is using the '3, 3' co-ordinates in context with the form for this.
    It's drawing on the form - behind the controls

  6. #6

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    Re: Apply text to PictureBoxes

    Quote Originally Posted by .paul. View Post
    Code:
    Handles Me.Paint
    ???

    Code:
    For Each Control As Control In Me.Controls 'Loop through all controls in Form1
        If TypeOf Control Is GroupBox Then 'If control is GroupBox
            For Each ChildControl As Control In Control.Controls 'Loop through controls within GroupBox (PictureBoxes)
                PBx = ChildControl.Location.X \ ChildControl.Size.Width 'Get current PictureBox grid reference X
                PBy = ChildControl.Location.Y \ ChildControl.Size.Height 'Get current PictureBox grid reference Y
                ChildControl.Tag = PBx & "-" & PBy 'Create text string to display in PictureBox
                AddHandler DirectCast(ChildControl, PictureBox).Paint, Addressof PictureBoxes_Paint
            Next
        End If
    Next
    Code:
    Private Sub PictureBoxes_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs)
        e.Graphics.DrawString(sender.Tag.ToString, New Font("Arial", 10), New SolidBrush(Color.Black), 3, 3)
    End Sub

    Thank you Paul for your help. My biggest issues are resolved now.

  7. #7

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    Resolved Re: Apply text to PictureBoxes

    The text issue is resolved.

    By removing the code to create the GroupBox and adding a GroupBox to the Form design instead, I was able to loop through my PictureBoxes the way I intended.

    Code :

    Code:
    Public Class Form1
    
        Private Sub PictureBoxes_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs)
    
            Dim PBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)
            Dim PBFont As New Font("Arial", 10)
            Dim PBString As String = sender.Tag.ToString
    
            If PBox.BackColor.Equals(Color.White) Then : e.Graphics.DrawString(PBString, PBFont, New SolidBrush(Color.Gray), 2, 2) 'Draw gray text to PictureBox with white BackColor
            Else : e.Graphics.DrawString(PBString, PBFont, New SolidBrush(Color.Black), 2, 2) 'Draw black text to PictureBox with any other BackColor
            End If
    
        End Sub
    
        Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Paint, MyBase.Load
    
            ' Create grid of PictureBoxes and add to GroupBox
            For PBRow As Integer = 0 To 4
                For PBCol As Integer = 0 To 4
                    Dim PBox As New PictureBox
                    PBox.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle
                    PBox.BackColor = Color.White
                    PBox.Size = New Size(50, 50)
                    PBox.Location = New Point((PBCol * PBox.Size.Width) + 2, (PBRow * PBox.Size.Height) + 9)
                    PBox.Tag = PBRow & "-" & PBCol 'Add grid reference to PictureBox Tag
                    AddHandler PBox.Click, AddressOf PictureBox_Click
                    AddHandler DirectCast(PBox, PictureBox).Paint, AddressOf PictureBoxes_Paint
                    GBox.Controls.Add(PBox) 'Add PictureBox to GroupBox
                Next
            Next
    
        End Sub
    
        Private Sub PictureBox_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
    
            Dim PBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)
            PBox.BackColor = Color.LightCyan 'Colour clicked PictureBox
    
        End Sub
    
        Private Sub btnClear_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnClear.Click
    
            'Loop though all PictureBoxes in GroupBox and change BackColor to white
            For Each PBox As PictureBox In Me.GBox.Controls.OfType(Of PictureBox)()
                PBox.BackColor = Color.White
            Next
    
        End Sub
    
    End Class
    Last edited by BlueCheese; May 2nd, 2021 at 04:09 PM.

  8. #8
    eXtreme Programmer .paul.'s Avatar
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    Re: Apply text to PictureBoxes

    As PBox Is already a PictureBox, there is no need for the DirectCast in the AddHandler line. You can just use...

    PBox.Paint, as you did PBox.Click for the click Addhandler line

  9. #9

  10. #10

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    Re: Apply text to PictureBoxes

    I see. I've amended my code. Thanks again.

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