Windows Vista Style Glass Buttons in .Net FormsA Windows Form component source code which will add a Windows Vista Style Glass Buttons to your projects. This will appear under controls.
This downloadable class lets you add Windows Vista Style Glass Buttons to your Windows Forms projects. You can change the colours and add rounded corners, the font is nicely anti-aliased as well.
Apart from looking good, this tutorial is aimed at demonstrating graphics using C# as well as a practical example of creating a custom control. You can also see how to manipulate the colours of the Vista-style glass button by making them lighter or darker and drawing shapes and gradients.
You can download the code for Vista-style glass buttons at the bottom of the page.
Vista Style Glass Buttons Source
C#
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;
using System.ComponentModel;
namespace SpinnyFlashyShinyControls
{
[DefaultEvent("Click")]
public class GlassButton : Button
{
#region properties
private Bitmap _bmpBackBuffer;
private State _status;
private State ButtonStatus
{
get { return _status; }
set
{
_status = value;
_bmpBackBuffer = null;
this.Refresh();
}
}
private enum State
{
Normal,
Hover,
Click
}
private enum RectangleCorners
{
None = 0, TopLeft = 1, TopRight = 2,
BottomLeft = 4, BottomRight = 8,
All = TopLeft | TopRight | BottomLeft | BottomRight
}
private int _radius = 6;
public int RoundedCornerRadius
{
get { return _radius; }
set { _radius = value; ButtonStatus = _status; }
}
private bool _antialias = true;
public bool FontAntiAlias
{
get { return _antialias; }
set { _antialias = value; ButtonStatus = _status; }
}
public override ContentAlignment TextAlign
{
get
{
return base.TextAlign;
}
set
{
base.TextAlign = value;
ButtonStatus = _status;
}
}
public override Color BackColor
{
get
{
return base.BackColor;
}
set
{
base.BackColor = value;
ButtonStatus = _status;
}
}
public override string Text
{
get
{
return base.Text;
}
set
{
base.Text = value;
ButtonStatus = _status;
}
}
public override Font Font
{
get
{
return base.Font;
}
set
{
base.Font = value;
ButtonStatus = _status;
}
}
public override Color ForeColor
{
get
{
return base.ForeColor;
}
set
{
base.ForeColor = value;
ButtonStatus = _status;
}
}
#endregion
public GlassButton()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint, true);
this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.DoubleBuffer, true);
this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.ResizeRedraw, true);
this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.Selectable, true);
this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.UserPaint, true);
}
private void InitializeComponent()
{
this.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(100, 32);
this.Font = new Font("Calibri", 12, FontStyle.Bold);
this.ForeColor = Color.White;
this.MouseEnter += new System.EventHandler(this.GlassButton_MouseEnter);
this.MouseLeave += new System.EventHandler(this.GlassButton_MouseLeave);
this.MouseDown += new MouseEventHandler(GlassButton_MouseDown);
this.MouseUp += new MouseEventHandler(GlassButton_MouseUp);
this.Resize += new EventHandler(GlassButton_Resize);
}
void GlassButton_Resize(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ButtonStatus = State.Normal;
}
private void GlassButton_MouseUp(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
ButtonStatus = State.Hover;
}
private void GlassButton_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
ButtonStatus = State.Click;
}
private void GlassButton_MouseLeave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ButtonStatus = State.Normal;
}
private void GlassButton_MouseEnter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ButtonStatus = State.Hover;
}
protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
{
base.OnPaint(e);
e.Graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
e.Graphics.InterpolationMode = InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic;
if (_bmpBackBuffer == null)
{
DrawButton(ref _bmpBackBuffer);
}
if (_bmpBackBuffer != null)
{
e.Graphics.DrawImage(_bmpBackBuffer, e.ClipRectangle, e.ClipRectangle, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
}
}
private void DrawButton(ref Bitmap bmp)
{
if (bmp == null)
{
bmp = new Bitmap(this.ClientSize.Width, this.ClientSize.Height);
}
using (Graphics gr = Graphics.FromImage(bmp))
{
DrawGlass(gr, new Rectangle(0, 0, this.Width, this.Height));
}
}
private void DrawGlass(Graphics gr, Rectangle rectBar)
{
/ Some calculations
if (rectBar.Height <= 0) rectBar.Height = 1;
int nAlphaStart = (int)(185 + 5 * rectBar.Width / 24),
nAlphaEnd = (int)(10 + 4 * rectBar.Width / 24);
if (nAlphaStart > 255) nAlphaStart = 255;
else if (nAlphaStart < 0) nAlphaStart = 0;
if (nAlphaEnd > 255) nAlphaEnd = 255;
else if (nAlphaEnd < 0) nAlphaEnd = 0;
Color ColorBacklight;
Color ColorFillBK;
Color ColorBorder;
switch (_status)
{
case State.Click:
ColorBacklight = GetDarkerColor(this.BackColor, 20);
ColorFillBK = GetDarkerColor(this.BackColor, 40);
ColorBorder = GetDarkerColor(this.BackColor, 60);
break;
case State.Hover:
ColorBacklight = GetLighterColor(this.BackColor, 5);
ColorFillBK = GetLighterColor(this.BackColor, 10);
ColorBorder = GetDarkerColor(this.BackColor, 100);
break;
case State.Normal:
default:
ColorBacklight = this.BackColor;
ColorFillBK = GetDarkerColor(this.BackColor, 85);
ColorBorder = GetDarkerColor(this.BackColor, 100);
break;
}
Color ColorBacklightEnd = Color.FromArgb(50, 0, 0, 0);
Color ColorGlowStart = Color.FromArgb(nAlphaEnd, 255, 255, 255);
Color ColorGlowEnd = Color.FromArgb(nAlphaStart, 255, 255, 255);
/ Create gradient path
RectangleF er = new RectangleF(rectBar.Left - (rectBar.Width), rectBar.Top - (rectBar.Height / 2), rectBar.Width * 3, rectBar.Height * 4);
GraphicsPath rctPath = new GraphicsPath();
rctPath.AddEllipse(er);
/ Create gradient
PathGradientBrush pgr = new PathGradientBrush(rctPath);
pgr.CenterPoint = new PointF(rectBar.Width / 2, rectBar.Height);
pgr.CenterColor = ColorBacklight;
pgr.SurroundColors = new Color[] { ColorBacklightEnd };
/ Create glow
GraphicsPath rectBarPath = CreateRoundedPath(rectBar.X, rectBar.Y, rectBar.Width - 1, rectBar.Height - 1, _radius, RectangleCorners.All);
GraphicsPath rectBarPathHalf = CreateRoundedPath(rectBar.X, rectBar.Y, rectBar.Width - 1, (rectBar.Height - 1) / 2, _radius, RectangleCorners.TopRight | RectangleCorners.TopLeft);
Rectangle rectGlow = new Rectangle(rectBar.Left, rectBar.Top, rectBar.Width, rectBar.Height / 2);
LinearGradientBrush brGlow = new LinearGradientBrush(
new PointF(rectGlow.Left, rectGlow.Height + 1), new PointF(rectGlow.Left, rectGlow.Top - 1),
ColorGlowStart, ColorGlowEnd);
/ Draw the button
gr.FillRectangle(new SolidBrush(this.Parent.BackColor), rectBar);
gr.FillPath(new SolidBrush(ColorFillBK), rectBarPath);
gr.FillPath(pgr, rectBarPath);
gr.FillPath(brGlow, rectBarPathHalf);
gr.DrawPath(new Pen(ColorBorder, 1), rectBarPath);
StringFormat stringFormat = new StringFormat();
switch (this.TextAlign)
{
case ContentAlignment.TopLeft:
stringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Near;
stringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Near;
break;
case ContentAlignment.TopCenter:
stringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center;
stringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Near;
break;
case ContentAlignment.TopRight:
stringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Far;
stringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Near;
break;
case ContentAlignment.MiddleLeft:
stringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Near;
stringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center;
break;
case ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter:
stringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center;
stringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center;
break;
case ContentAlignment.MiddleRight:
stringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Far;
stringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center;
break;
case ContentAlignment.BottomLeft:
stringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Near;
stringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Far;
break;
case ContentAlignment.BottomCenter:
stringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center;
stringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Far;
break;
case ContentAlignment.BottomRight:
stringFormat.Alignment = StringAlignment.Far;
stringFormat.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Far;
break;
}
SolidBrush drawBrush = new SolidBrush(this.ForeColor);
if (_antialias)
gr.TextRenderingHint = System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias;
gr.DrawString(this.Text, this.Font, drawBrush, rectBar, stringFormat);
}
private Color GetDarkerColor(Color color, byte intensity)
{
int r, g, b;
r = color.R - intensity;
g = color.G - intensity;
b = color.B - intensity;
if (r > 255 || r < 0) r *= -1;
if (g > 255 || g < 0) g *= -1;
if (b > 255 || b < 0) b *= -1;
return Color.FromArgb(255, (byte)r, (byte)g, (byte)b);
}
private Color GetLighterColor(Color color, byte intensity)
{
int r, g, b;
r = color.R + intensity;
g = color.G + intensity;
b = color.B + intensity;
if (r > 255 || r < 0) r *= -1;
if (g > 255 || g < 0) g *= -1;
if (b > 255 || b < 0) b *= -1;
return Color.FromArgb(255, (byte)r, (byte)g, (byte)b);
}
private GraphicsPath CreateRoundedPath(int x, int y, int width, int height, int radius, RectangleCorners corners)
{
int xw = x + width - 1;
int yh = y + height - 1;
int xwr = xw - radius;
int yhr = yh - radius;
int xr = x + radius;
int yr = y + radius;
int r2 = radius * 2;
int xwr2 = xw - r2;
int yhr2 = yh - r2;
GraphicsPath p = new GraphicsPath();
p.StartFigure();
/Top Left Corner
if ((RectangleCorners.TopLeft & corners) == RectangleCorners.TopLeft)
{
p.AddArc(x, y, r2, r2, 180, 90);
}
else
{
p.AddLine(x, yr, x, y);
p.AddLine(x, y, xr, y);
}
/Top Edge
p.AddLine(xr, y, xwr, y);
/Top Right Corner
if ((RectangleCorners.TopRight & corners) == RectangleCorners.TopRight)
{
p.AddArc(xwr2, y, r2, r2, 270, 90);
}
else
{
p.AddLine(xwr, y, xw, y);
p.AddLine(xw, y, xw, yr);
}
/Right Edge
p.AddLine(xw, yr, xw, yhr);
/Bottom Right Corner
if ((RectangleCorners.BottomRight & corners) == RectangleCorners.BottomRight)
{
p.AddArc(xwr2, yhr2, r2, r2, 0, 90);
}
else
{
p.AddLine(xw, yhr, xw, yh);
p.AddLine(xw, yh, xwr, yh);
}
/Bottom Edge
p.AddLine(xwr, yh, xr, yh);
/Bottom Left Corner
if ((RectangleCorners.BottomLeft & corners) == RectangleCorners.BottomLeft)
{
p.AddArc(x, yhr2, r2, r2, 90, 90);
}
else
{
p.AddLine(xr, yh, x, yh);
p.AddLine(x, yh, x, yhr);
}
/Left Edge
p.AddLine(x, yhr, x, yr);
p.CloseFigure();
return p;
}
}
} 
