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Getting the rectangle to draw a reversible frame around a panel

I have a user control with 4 panels around a panel in the center.

See http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/4454/dockingstation1lt.png how it looks like.

Each of the 4 surrounding panels has a "drag handle" on the side towards the center panel. The drag handle works like a splitter and allows to resize the panel. It appears whenever the mouse is over the border between two panels.

To indicate the selected area I wanted to draw a dashed reversible rectangle around the whole panel on mouse down over the drag handle. I tried to do this using ControlPaint.DrawReversibleFrame(rect, Color.DimGray, FrameStyle.Dashed);

I have no problems using this in simple constructs on a form following the examples on:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfsystemwindowsformscontrolclasspointtoscreentopic.asp

However, I have problems in getting the correct absolute positions to draw the reversible frame for each of my four rectangles if I use my control on a form with a menue.

What ever I tried to do, it looks to me that something like reversibleFrame.Location = control.PointToScreen(control.Parent.Location) does not calculate the correct location. My reversibleFrame appears somewhere on the screen but never exactly on my panels.

What are your suggestions?

Peter

vo1d

could you post a screenshot of that please?

Mike Tomlinson

You need to use the container of the Panel...if this is the Form itself then:

private void panel1_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Button == MouseButtons.Left)
{
// draw the reversible frame
Rectangle panelRect = this.RectangleToScreen(new Rectangle(panel1.Location, panel1.Size));
ControlPaint.DrawReversibleFrame(panelRect, Color.DimGray, FrameStyle.Dashed);
}
}

private void panel1_MouseUp(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Button == MouseButtons.Left)
{
// erase the reversible frame
Rectangle panelRect = this.RectangleToScreen(new Rectangle(panel1.Location, panel1.Size));
ControlPaint.DrawReversibleFrame(panelRect, Color.DimGray, FrameStyle.Dashed);
}
}

If the Form is not the container, then replace "this" with the name of the Panels container.

pgloor

ASKER

Sorry, I still don't get it.

Please note:
1) I have 4 panels, called topPanel, leftPanel, bottomPanel, rightPanel.
2) The 4 panels are arranged around a fifth panel, the centerPanel (not interesting for the problem).
3) Inside each panel, at the border to the centerPanel, there is a small invisible component. I call this DragHandle.
4) The DragHandle appears as a gray line with a HSplit or VSplit cursor whenever the mouse is moved over it.
5) If the mouse button is pressed over the drag handle a reversible frame should be drawn around the enclosing panel.

To make the problem better visible I slightly changed the code to draw the reversible frame with a thick black line.

The following screenshot shows what happens if the mouse is down over the drag handle on the topPanel.
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/1395/dockingtop6vc.png

The following screenshot shows what happens if the mouse is down over the drag handle on the leftPanel.
http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/5873/dockingleft4my.png

I hope this helps to better understand the problem.

Peter

pgloor

ASKER

Sorry I forgot to mention: on the screenshots mentioned above you can also see the code I used to get the rectangle and to draw the reversible frame.

Peter

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Mike Tomlinson

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pgloor

ASKER

You are great!

ctlGrandParent.RectangleToScreen(new Rectangle(ctlParent.Location, ctlParent.Size)); did the trick!

So far I only tried:
ctlParent.RectangleToScreen(new Rectangle(ctlParent.Location, ctlParent.Size))
ctl.RectangleToScreen(new Rectangle(ctlParent.Location, ctlParent.Size))
this.RectangleToScreen(new Rectangle(ctlParent.Location, ctlParent.Size))
and variations of them with different parameters.

I didn't realize the relation between the object where I'm calling the method from and the rectangle passed as the parameter. Now it's clear.

Mike Tomlinson

Glad I was able to write the code in a more understandable way. =)