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How to: Change the Cursor Type

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This example shows how to change the Cursor of the mouse pointer for a specific element and for the application.

This example consists of a Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) file and a code behind file.

Example

The user interface is created, which consists of a ComboBox to select the desired Cursor, a pair of RadioButton objects to determine if the cursor change applies to only a single element or applies to the entire application, and a Border which is the element that the new cursor is applied to.

<StackPanel>
  <Border Width="300">
    <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal"
                HorizontalAlignment="Center">
      <StackPanel Margin="10">
        <Label HorizontalAlignment="Left">Cursor Type</Label>
        <ComboBox Width="100"
                  SelectionChanged="CursorTypeChanged"
                  HorizontalAlignment="Left"
                  Name="CursorSelector">
          <ComboBoxItem Content="AppStarting" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="ArrowCD" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="Arrow" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="Cross" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="HandCursor" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="Help" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="IBeam" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="No" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="None" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="Pen" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="ScrollSE" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="ScrollWE" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="SizeAll" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="SizeNESW" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="SizeNS" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="SizeNWSE" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="SizeWE" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="UpArrow" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="WaitCursor" />
          <ComboBoxItem Content="Custom" />
        </ComboBox>
      </StackPanel>
      <!-- The user can select different cursor types using this ComboBox -->
      <StackPanel Margin="10">
        <Label HorizontalAlignment="Left">Scope of Cursor</Label>
        <StackPanel>
          <RadioButton Name="rbScopeElement" IsChecked="True"
                       Checked="CursorScopeSelected">Display Area Only</RadioButton>
          <RadioButton Name="rbScopeApplication"
                       Checked="CursorScopeSelected">Entire Appliation</RadioButton>
        </StackPanel>
      </StackPanel>
    </StackPanel>
  </Border>
  <!-- When the mouse pointer is over this Border -->
  <!-- the selected cursor type is shown -->
  <Border Name="DisplayArea" Height="250" Width="400"
          Margin="20" Background="AliceBlue">
    <Label HorizontalAlignment="Center">
      Move Mouse Pointer Over This Area
    </Label>
  </Border>
</StackPanel>

The following code behind creates a SelectionChanged event handler which is called when the cursor type is changed in the ComboBox. A switch statement filters on the cursor name and sets the Cursor property on the Border which is named DisplayArea.

If the cursor change is set to "Entire Application", the OverrideCursor property is set to the Cursor property of the Border control. This forces the cursor to change for the whole application.

private void CursorTypeChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
    ComboBox source = e.Source as ComboBox;

    if (source != null)
    {
        ComboBoxItem selectedCursor = source.SelectedItem as ComboBoxItem;

        // Changing the cursor of the Border control
        // by setting the Cursor property
        switch (selectedCursor.Content.ToString())
        {
            case "AppStarting":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.AppStarting;
                break;
            case "ArrowCD":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.ArrowCD;
                break;
            case "Arrow":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Arrow;
                break;
            case "Cross":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Cross;
                break;
            case "HandCursor":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Hand;
                break;
            case "Help":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Help;
                break;
            case "IBeam":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.IBeam;
                break;
            case "No":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.No;
                break;
            case "None":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.None;
                break;
            case "Pen":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Pen;
                break;
            case "ScrollSE":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.ScrollSE;
                break;
            case "ScrollWE":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.ScrollWE;
                break;
            case "SizeAll":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.SizeAll;
                break;
            case "SizeNESW":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.SizeNESW;
                break;
            case "SizeNS":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.SizeNS;
                break;
            case "SizeNWSE":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.SizeNWSE;
                break;
            case "SizeWE":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.SizeWE;
                break;
            case "UpArrow":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.UpArrow;
                break;
            case "WaitCursor":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Wait;
                break;
            case "Custom":
                DisplayArea.Cursor = CustomCursor;
                break;
            default:
                break;
        }

        // If the cursor scope is set to the entire application
        // Use OverrideCursor to force the cursor for all elements
        if (cursorScopeElementOnly == false)
        {
            Mouse.OverrideCursor = DisplayArea.Cursor;
        }
    }
}

' When the Radiobox changes, a new cursor type is set
Private Sub CursorTypeChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As SelectionChangedEventArgs)

    Dim item As String = CType(e.Source, ComboBox).SelectedItem.Content.ToString()

    Select Case item
        Case "AppStarting"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.AppStarting
        Case "ArrowCD"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.ArrowCD
        Case "Arrow"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Arrow
        Case "Cross"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Cross
        Case "HandCursor"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Hand
        Case "Help"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Help
        Case "IBeam"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.IBeam
        Case "No"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.No
        Case "None"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.None
        Case "Pen"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Pen
        Case "ScrollSE"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.ScrollSE
        Case "ScrollWE"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.ScrollWE
        Case "SizeAll"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.SizeAll
        Case "SizeNESW"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.SizeNESW
        Case "SizeNS"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.SizeNS
        Case "SizeNWSE"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.SizeNWSE
        Case "SizeWE"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.SizeWE
        Case "UpArrow"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.UpArrow
        Case "WaitCursor"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = Cursors.Wait
        Case "Custom"
            DisplayArea.Cursor = CustomCursor
    End Select

    ' if the cursor scope is set to the entire application
    ' use OverrideCursor to force the cursor for all elements
    If (cursorScopeElementOnly = False) Then
        Mouse.OverrideCursor = DisplayArea.Cursor
    End If


End Sub

See also