Reconvert from Color.ToString() back to a Color

You can use the ColorTranslator.ToHtml method http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.drawing.colortranslator.tohtml.aspx to save the Color object to the ini file and the ColorTranslator.FromHtml method http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.drawing.colortranslator.fromhtml.aspx to recreate the Color object after reading the value from the ini file

You will need: using System.Drawing;

This article might be useful as well http://devintelligence.com/blogs/netadventures/archive/2005/11/28/1124.aspx

This seems wierd.

1) There is no HTML anything in my program.  Why would I have to use an HTML method?  (I was just getting to like C#).

2) I'm using MS, VS C# 2008 Express.  The Properties > Application > Target Framework = ".Net Framework 3.5"  Yet, in my program, System.Environment.Version returns "2.0.50727.1433".  And the help for "ColorTranslator.ToHtml" says it works for .NET 3.5.  What's up here?

(I do have .NET 3.5 installed, I think)

Thanks,
Phil

ColorTranslator object's ToHtml is just a means to serialize the Color object to a string and FromHtml to deserialize and reconstruct the Color object, think of it as ToString and FromString if you like. It will work with .NET Framework versions below 3.5 as well, below is sample code that worked on my end and I don't have .NET Framework 3.5 installed:

Color myColor = new Color();
 
myColor = Color.AliceBlue;
 
string myColorSerialized = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.ToHtml(myColor);
 
MessageBox.Show("Color serialized is: " + myColorSerialized);
 
Color deserializedColor = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml(myColorSerialized);
 
MessageBox.Show("Deserialized color is" + deserializedColor.ToString());

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I am getting the error:  (on your code above and on my code)
Error      1      'System.Drawing.Color' does not contain a definition for 'ToHtml' and no extension method 'ToHtml' accepting a first argument of type 'System.Drawing.Color' could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)      C:\Personal\Projects\Utilities\Tele\TelConfig.cs      407      61      Tele

And, yes, I have
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Data;

At the top of your file, do you have the following line?

using System.Drawing;

I am not certain, the error states 'System.Drawing.Color' does not contain a definition, just to confirm you are using 'System.Drawing.ColorTranslator' i.e. ColorTranslator and not Color followed by .ToHtml?

using System.Drawing.ColorTranslator;
produces
Error      1      A using namespace directive can only be applied to namespaces; 'System.Drawing.ColorTranslator' is a type not a namespace      C:\Personal\Projects\Utilities\Tele\TelConfig.cs      7      7      Tele

The actual code is:
    private void btnColor_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
      int iX;
      if (colorDialog1.ShowDialog() != DialogResult.Cancel)
      {
        iX = listBoxFont.FindString("BackColor=");
        listBoxFont.Items.RemoveAt(iX);

        Color myColor = new Color();

        //myColor = Color.AliceBlue;
        //string myColorSerialized = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.ToHtml(myColor);
        //MessageBox.Show("Color serialized is: " + myColorSerialized);
        //Color deserializedColor = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml(myColorSerialized);
        //MessageBox.Show("Deserialized color is" + deserializedColor.ToString());

        myColor = colorDialog1.Color();
        listBoxFont.Items.Insert(iX, "BackColor=" + myColor.ToHtml());       //?? .ToHTML / .ToString ??
        //if (colorDialog1.Color.IsKnownColor)
        //  listBoxFont.Items.Insert(iX,"BackColor=" + colorDialog1.Color.ToKnownColor());
        //else
        //  listBoxFont.Items.Insert(iX,"BackColor=" + colorDialog1.Color.ToArgb());
        listBoxFont.Tag = "Yes";                          // indicates Changed
        listBoxFont.BackColor = colorDialog1.Color;
      }
    }

One the line:
myColor = colorDialog1.Color();

I get:
Error      1      Non-invocable member 'System.Windows.Forms.ColorDialog.Color' cannot be used like a method.      C:\Personal\Projects\Utilities\Tele\TelConfig.cs      401      32      Tele

And on the next line (with ToHMTL) the Error is:
Error      1      Non-invocable member 'System.Windows.Forms.ColorDialog.Color' cannot be used like a method.      C:\Personal\Projects\Utilities\Tele\TelConfig.cs      401      32      Tele

My problem here is that I do not want to restrict the colors to "Known Colors"

Hi PHenningsen;

Instead of saving the color the way you did, "colorDialog1.Color.ToString()", save it as a string this way

String BackColor = colorDialog1.Color.ToArgb().ToString();

This will result in a signed integer value that represents the ARGB of the color selected. then to get it back to a color object you can do this

Color ArgbColor = Color.FromArgb(Int32.Parse(BackColor));

Fernando

It will not limit you to selecting just known colors, below are example screenshots, you can define a custom color and save it.
SelectCustomColor.png
CustomColorApplied.png

Not your fault, I guess, but I do not consider this solution as "elegant".

Is #FFFF80 better than -128 or [R=FF, G=FF, B=80].  Frankly, I prefer the latter.

Why is System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.ToHtml(myColor); different syntax than Color.ToHtml()?

Oh, well, nothing is perfect.