Develop Reference

Dynamically creating dots/squares inside picturebox

I would like to be able to create X x Y number of boxes / circles / buttons inside a picturebox. EXACTLY like Windows Defrag tool.
I tried to create a layout and keep adding buttons or pictureboxes to it, but its extremely slow and after 200 or so pictureboxes it crashes, runs out of window handles or memory.
What's the alternative? Can you show me a simple piece of code to add boxes just like Defrag tool where I can easily access them like
box[x,y].Color = Green as my app makes progress?
Currently I have this:
private void ResetTableStyles()
{
boardPanel.Controls.Clear();
boardPanel.RowStyles.Clear();
boardPanel.ColumnStyles.Clear();
boardPanel.RowCount = Rows;
boardPanel.ColumnCount = Columns;
for (int i = 0; i < Rows; i++)
{
boardPanel.RowStyles.Add(new RowStyle(SizeType.Percent, 100f));
}
for (int j = 0; j < Columns; j++)
{
boardPanel.ColumnStyles.Add(new ColumnStyle(SizeType.Percent, 100f));
}
}
private void CreateButtons()
{
for (int i = 0; i < Rows; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < Columns; j++)
{
var button = new PictureBox
{
BackColor = Color.White,
Dock = DockStyle.Fill,
Margin = Padding.Empty,
Tag = new Point(i, j),
BackgroundImageLayout = ImageLayout.Stretch
};
//button.MouseDown += button_MouseDown;
boardPanel.Controls.Add(button, j, i);
}
}
}
which as I said doesn't work, after sometime it just crashes and it takes very long time.

Perhaps someone has a better answer, but you could use a Panel as the canvas and handle the Paint event to draw colored rectangles onto the Panel. You could then use the mouse events, such as MouseMove, to figure out which cell you're on.
Here is a super-simple proof of concept.
// Data.cs
namespace WindowsFormsApplication
{
public class Data
{
public int State { get; set; }
public string Tip { get; set; }
}
}
// Form1.cs
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
var rng = new Random();
_data = new Data[30 * 30];
for (int i = 0; i < _data.Length; i++)
{
_data[i] = new Data
{
State = rng.Next(0, 3),
Tip = $"Data at index: {i}"
};
}
}
private Data[] _data;
private void panel1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
using (var brush = new SolidBrush(Color.Gray))
using (var buffer = BufferedGraphicsManager.Current.Allocate(e.Graphics,
new Rectangle(0, 0, 450, 450)))
{
for (int x = 0; x < 30; x++)
{
for (int y = 0; y < 30; y++)
{
int dataIdx = (y * 30) + x;
Data data = _data[dataIdx];
if (data.State == 1)
{
brush.Color = Color.Blue;
}
else if (data.State == 2)
{
brush.Color = Color.Red;
}
else
{
brush.Color = Color.Gray;
}
buffer.Graphics.FillRectangle(brush, x * 15, y * 15, 15, 15);
buffer.Graphics.DrawLine(Pens.Black, 0, y * 15, 450, y * 15); //Gridline
}
buffer.Graphics.DrawLine(Pens.Black, x * 15, 0, x * 15, 450); //Gridline
}
buffer.Render(e.Graphics);
}
}
private void panel1_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
var point = e.Location;
int x = point.X / 15;
int y = point.Y / 15;
int dataIdx = (y * 30) + x;
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(_data[dataIdx].Tip);
}
}
}
The Data class represents the model behind each segment on the panel and is pretty straight forward.
Form1 has a single control placed on it: a Panel named panel1 with a size of 450 x 450. Each cell on the panel will be 15 x 15, so we have 30 columns and 30 rows. In Form1's constructor, we initialize the Data that will be used to draw the panel.
Inside of Form1.panel1_Paint we iterate through the cells and look up the instance of Data for the given cell. Then, based on the State, set a color for the cell and draw a rectangle of that color. This is done on a buffer so the panel doesn't flicker when painting.
Inside of Form1.panel1_MouseMove we use the location of the mouse pointer relative to panel1 to figure out which cell the mouse is over, get the instance of Data for that cell, and display the Tip in the debug window.
You might be able to take this and build upon it, perhaps with a custom UserControl so you can easily access each individual cell with the column and row... your box[x, y].Color = Colors.Green example above.

Winforms FlowLayoutPanel remove unneeded spaces with autosize controls

I have FlowLayoutPanel with
AutoScroll = True
FlowDirection = LeftToRight
WrapContents = True
Added controls dynamically have same Width but AutoSize in Height. So the panel will be like this, which has vertical spaces between items. As the height of row managed by the greatest height of controls. So I want to remove these unneeded spaces, and the final result will be like this.
If there's no way to do it with FlowLayoutPanel, What's the proper idea to done it perfectly ?

Its a matrix and should be treated like a matrix.
my opinion is that Panel is more appropriate than a FlowLayoutpanel here.
please see my suggestion and output to achieve such a behavior.
clarification: this code needs improvements to be adapted to all possible cases but you can learn from it the basic idea how to deal with such problem.
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Example();
}
// space beetween controls (top and right)
public int MarginSpace = 8;
// first element location
public Point StartPoint = new Point(10, 10);
private void Example()
{
var fixesWidth = 70;
List<Label> randomLables = new List<Label>();
Random rand = new Random();
// generate lables with random heights
for (int i = 1; i < 10; i++)
{
Label lr = new Label();
var randheight = rand.Next(60, 120);
lr.Size = new Size(fixesWidth, randheight);
lr.Text = i.ToString();
lr.BackColor = Color.Black;
lr.ForeColor = Color.White;
randomLables.Add(lr);
}
// check how many elements in one "column" (possible also to add right+left margin)
var cols = panel1.Width / fixesWidth;
// create matrix object to get locations of each label
MyMatrix m = new MyMatrix(cols, randomLables.Count, 15, 70, StartPoint);
m.SetMatrix(randomLables);
int counter = 0;
// pupulate all lables with the points from MyMatrix object
foreach (Point p in m.pointsMatrix)
{
randomLables[counter].Location = p;
panel1.Controls.Add(randomLables[counter]);
counter++;
}
}
}
class MyMatrix
{
private int Rows;
private int TotalElements;
private int Cols;
private int Margin;
private int ElementWidth;
private Point StartPoint;
public MyMatrix(int cols, int totalelements, int margin, int elementwidth, Point startingpoint)
{
this.Cols = cols;
this.TotalElements = totalelements;
this.Margin = margin;
this.ElementWidth = elementwidth;
this.StartPoint = startingpoint;
// calculate number of rows
Rows = totalelements / cols;
}
public List<Point> pointsMatrix = new List<Point>();
int cellCounter = 0;
public void SetMatrix(List<Label> Labels)
{
for (int i = 0; i < Rows; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < Cols; j++)
{
var x = StartPoint.X + j * (Margin + ElementWidth);
var y = StartPoint.Y;
if (cellCounter >= Cols)
{
// find the parallel cell in the row above
y = pointsMatrix[cellCounter - Cols].Y + Labels[cellCounter - Cols].Height + Margin;
}
else
{
// do nothing it is first row
}
Point p = new Point(x, y);
pointsMatrix.Add(p);
cellCounter += 1;
}
}
}
}
Output:

c# gomoku game label array

I am trying to make a simple five in a row (gomoku) game for two players using windows forms and c#. I put a picturebox with a picture and stretched it out on the form. Now I want to put labels at all the intersections on the picture board so a user can click them and change their background color to black or white.
How can I make the labels created clickable on the form?
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
int labelCount = 0;
int iteration = 0;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
Label[] board = new Label[361];
for (int i = 0; i < 361; i++)
{
board[i] = new Label
{
Name = "label" + i,
Height = 55,
Width = 55,
MinimumSize = new Size(55, 55),
Text = "label " + i
};
}
int x = 0;
int y = 0;
foreach (var Label in board)
{
if (x >= 580)
{
x = 0;
y = y + Label.Height + 55;
}
Label.Location = new Point(x, y);
this.Controls.Add(Label);
x += Label.Width;
}
}
}
Should I make a one-dimensional [361] or two-dimensional array[{A,1}, {A,2}....{D,1}] to easily check for a winner? How can I connect it to the created labels so the array data corresponds to the objects on the board?

Well Sorry If don`t understand your question. For the Q.1 to add 361 labels you can try the code below. I hope it will help you.
public int x = 0;
public int y = 0;
private Label[] moku = new Label[361];
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
for (int i = 0; i < 361; i++)
{
moku[i] = new Label();
moku[i].Parent = pictureBox1;//make the picturebox parent
moku[i].Location = new Point(x, y);
moku[i].Text = "O";
moku[i].Name = "moku" + i;
moku[i].BackColor = Color.Transparent;
pictureBox1.Controls.Add(moku[i]);
y += 55;
if (y >= 361) { x += 55; y = 0; x+=55; }
}
}catch(Exception er)
{
MessageBox.Show(er.ToString());
}
}

I prefer using a 2D array because it's easier if you want to check the surrounding boxes.
Form design:
Full source:
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication6
{
public enum Player
{
Empty = 0,
White,
Black
}
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
// initialize board of 5x5
private Player[,] board = new Player[5, 5];
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DrawBoard();
}
private void DrawBoard()
{
for (var i = 0; i <= board.GetUpperBound(0); i++)
{
for (var j = 0; j <= board.GetUpperBound(1); j++)
{
// for name and text
var name = string.Format("{0}, {1}", i, j);
var label = new Label()
{
Name = name, // name of label
Size = new Size(55, 55),
BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle,
Location = new Point(i * 55, j * 55), // location depends on iteration
Text = name
};
label.Click += ClickLabel; // subscribe the Click event handler
pictureBox1.Controls.Add(label); // add label to a container
}
}
}
// this event handler will handle all the labels click event
private void ClickLabel(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var label = (Label)sender; // this is the label that you click
var x = Convert.ToInt32(label.Name.Split(',')[0]);
var y = Convert.ToInt32(label.Name.Split(',')[1]);
// change the color
if (radPlayerBlack.Checked)
{
// Player Black
label.ForeColor = Color.White;
label.BackColor = Color.Black;
board[x, y] = Player.Black;
}
else
{
// Player White
label.ForeColor = Color.Black;
label.BackColor = Color.White;
board[x, y] = Player.White;
}
}
}
}
You can check the value of the 2D array for black or white. Here's the value when I QuickWatch it in Visual Studio.

Drawing Line Arrays WPF

I'm trying to move my project from WinForms to WPF, but i couldn't succeed in this. I had a picture box, with a full of lines one after another and i could just use DrawLine(pen,point,point) in a loop. But when i tried to do this by using WPF, i couldn't menage.
This is the code snippet that i've used in WinForms :
for (x = 0; x < X_COORD_END - X_COORD_START; x += 1)
{
System.Drawing.Point point1 = new System.Drawing.Point(x, 30);
System.Drawing.Point point2 = new System.Drawing.Point(x, 60);
e.Graphics.DrawLine(myPen, point1, point2);
}
And the result was :
I've tried to use Line array on WPF, but i gave an error on canvas.Children.Add line. Now i'm trying to use collection of points, but i can't arrange points as i want to. Here is what i've tried :
private void DrawLine(Point[] points)
{
Polyline line = new Polyline();
PointCollection collection = new PointCollection();
foreach (Point p in points)
{
collection.Add(p);
}
line.Points = collection;
line.Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black);
line.StrokeThickness = 20;
scanCanvas.Children.Add(line);
}
for (int counter = 0; counter < 1000; counter++ )
{
points[counter] = new Point(counter, 30);
}
DrawLine(points);

Use Stackpanel for your scenario. I have used a line array, which is similar to the thing which you have done in winforms.
MainWindow.xaml
<Window x:Class="SO.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<StackPanel x:Name="stackGraphicsArea" Orientation="Horizontal"/>
</Window>
MainWindow.xaml.cs
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
Line[] lines = new Line[1000];
for(int i=0; i<1000;i++)
{
lines[i] = new Line();
lines[i].Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Red);
lines[i].StrokeThickness = 5;
lines[i].X1 = 0;
lines[i].X2 = 0;
lines[i].Y1 = 30;
lines[i].Y2 = 20;
}
DrawLines(lines);
}
private void DrawLines(Line[] _lines)
{
foreach (Line _line in _lines)
{
stackGraphicsArea.Children.Add(_line);
}
}
}

Sriman Reddy has answered my question already but i think i should post my own solution too :
private void DrawLine(int x_coord_start, int y_coord_start, int x_coord_end, int thickness, Color color)
{
Random rand = new Random();
for (int x = 0; x < x_coord_end - x_coord_start; x++)
{
double newTop = rand.Next();
Line top = new Line();
top.Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(color);
top.StrokeThickness = x + 1;
top.X1 = x_coord_start + x;
top.Y1 = y_coord_start;
top.X2 = x_coord_start + x;
top.Y2 = y_coord_start + thickness;
Canvas.SetTop(top, 0);
Canvas.SetLeft(top, 0 /*x * top.Width*/);
scanCanvas.Children.Add(top);
}
}

Drawing Multiple Rectangles c#

What would be the best way to draw 25 rectangles (5*5) in c#?
I later need to be able to reach a specific rectangle and change its color, for instance change the color to red if the user inputs the incorrect word.
Would it be more suitable to create an array of rectangles in this case?
This is what i have so far
Graphics g = pictureBox1.CreateGraphics();
int x =0;
int y= 0;
int width = 20;
int height = 20;
for (int i = 0; i < 25; i++)
{
if (i <= 4)
{
g.FillRectangle(Brushes.Blue, x, y, width, height);
x += 50;
}
else if (i > 4)
{
y = 50;
g.FillRectangle(Brushes.Blue, x, y, width, height);
x += 50;
}
}

This should get you started, not the complete code. You will need to add a PictureBox control and use the default name (picurebox1). EDIT: Need to add a button too :)
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public List<Rectangle> listRec = new List<Rectangle>();
Graphics g;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Rectangle rect = new Rectangle();
rect.Size = new Size(100,20);
for (int x = 0; x < 5; x++)
{
rect.X = x * rect.Width;
for (int y = 0; y < 5; y++)
{
rect.Y = y * rect.Height;
listRec.Add(rect);
}
}
foreach (Rectangle rec in listRec)
{
g = pictureBox1.CreateGraphics();
Pen p = new Pen(Color.Blue);
g.DrawRectangle(p, rec);
}
}
public void ChangeColor(Rectangle target, Color targetColor)
{
Pen p = new Pen(targetColor);
g.DrawRectangle(p, target.X, target.Y, target.Width, target.Height);
}
private void Form1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
switch (e.KeyCode)
{
case Keys.D0: ChangeColor(listRec[0], Color.Red);
break;
case Keys.D1: ChangeColor(listRec[1], Color.Red);
break;
//..more code to handle all keys..
}
}
}

If you're not concerned with performance or the looks, then the easiest approach would be to create a List of Lists of Panels in your Form_Load event as one of the comments mentions.
List<List<Panel>> panelGrid = new List<List<Panel>>();
for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
var panelRow = new List<Panel>();
for (var j = 0; j < 5; j++)
{
panelRow.Add(new Panel());
// add positioning logic here
}
panelGrid.Add(panelRow);
}
Then you will be able to reference each individual one at a later stage...
If you have to use Graphics class (which is the better approach), then you should setup something similar however replacing Panel with a class of your own. Then in Form_Paint event you would iterate through the list of objects and render them.
class MyPanel
{
public Size size;
public Color color;
}
...
foreach (var myPanelRow in myPanelGrid)
foreach (var myPanel in myPanelRow)
g.FillRectangle(myPanel.color, myPanel.size); // this obviously won't work as is, but you get the idea
Then when you need to change a color, you do something like:
myPanelsGrid[0][0].color = Color.Blue;
myForm.Invalidate();
The second line will result in Paint in event being called again.