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Working with Pictures

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This topic describes how to adjust pictures using the System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox.SizeMode property, and how to display pictures in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.

The SizeMode Property

You can specify how an image fits in the control with the SizeMode property. The SizeMode property is available in both the Managed Library and in the Automation Library. With SizeMode you can:

  • Resize the control borders to fit an image.
  • Stretch an image to fit the control borders.
  • Center an image within the control borders.
  • Anchor an image to the upper-left area of the control without resizing the image or control (some of the image may not be viewable if you do not resize the image or control).

Working with Pictures in Visual Studio .NET

To display an image at design time in Visual Studio .NET:

  1. Drag an InkPicture control on a form, or double-click the InkPicture control in the Toolbox.
  2. In the Properties window, select the Image property, and then click the ellipsis button to open the Open dialog box.
  3. If you are looking for a specific file type (for example, .jpg files), select it in the Files of type box.
  4. Select the file you want to display.

To clear the picture at design time:

  1. In the Properties window, select the Image property and right-click the thumbnail image.
  2. Click Reset.

The InkPicture control is displayed by default without any borders. You can provide a standard or three-dimensional border using the BorderStyle property to distinguish the InkPicture box from the rest of the form, even if it contains no image.

You can display an image at run time with the System.Drawing.Image object's FromFile method:

ctlInkPicture.Image = Image.FromFile("c:\myImageFile")

You can also include a background image with the inherited Image object's BackgroundImage property; however, that image cannot be resized.