Is there an existing PropertyGrid UITypeEditor for type "ChartColorPalette"?

Question

I am trying to write a simple property grid so that users can change the colors of the chart. By default, the chart has the Palette property, which is of the ChartColorPalette enumeration type. If the object that lies in my property grid also has the Palette property of the same type, I get a drop-down list of possible values. However, what I am not getting is the small striped images to the left of the value names.

Now I can write the derived class UITypeEditor and have “PaintValue” draw small bitmap images of the resources that I selected on the screen using “Paint” or something like that, but it seems pretty tedious.

Does anyone know if there is a type editor for enumerating "ChartColorPalette" that I can use to get small bitmaps?

Answer 1

as it happens, writing a UITypeEditor is not so difficult, and there is not much code. First, I created a type editor that looked like this:

private class ChartColorPaletteEditor : UITypeEditor
{
    public override bool GetPaintValueSupported(ITypeDescriptorContext context)
    {
        return true;
    }

    public override void PaintValue(PaintValueEventArgs e)
    {
        String paletteName = e.Value.ToString();
        String baseName = this.GetType().Namespace + ".MyChart";
        ResourceManager mgr = new ResourceManager(baseName, this.GetType().Assembly);
        Bitmap bmp = mgr.GetObject(paletteName) as Bitmap;
        if (bmp != null)
        {
            e.Graphics.DrawImage(bmp, e.Bounds);
            bmp.Dispose();
        }
    }
}

I attached this to the control property in the usual way:

[DefaultValue(typeof(ChartColorPalette), "BrightPastel")]
[Editor(typeof(ChartColorPaletteEditor), typeof(System.Drawing.Design.UITypeEditor))]
[Category("Appearance")]
[Description("The named palette to use when choosing the colour scheme for the chart series lines.")]
public ChartColorPalette Palette { get; set; }

PNG . "MyChart", "Chart", (, "Persistance" "Embedded in.resx", PNG), PNG ChartColorPalette.

, 20 x 14 . Paint.exe, , . , , Charting. , , 12 , . :

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting;

namespace ConsoleApplication10
{
class Program
{
  static void Main(string[] args)
  {
     Enum.GetValues(typeof(ChartColorPalette)).OfType<ChartColorPalette>().ToList().ForEach(GeneratePNG);
  }

  static void GeneratePNG(ChartColorPalette palette)
  {
     if (palette == ChartColorPalette.None) return;

     Color[] colours = palette.GetColors();

     if (colours.Length >= 12)
     {
        colours = new Color[] { colours[0], colours[2], colours[4], colours[6], colours[8], colours[10] };
     }
     else
     {
        colours = new Color[] { colours[0], colours[1], colours[2], colours[3], colours[4], colours[5] };
     }

     using (Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(20, 14))
     {
        using (Graphics gr = Graphics.FromImage(bmp))
        {
           using (SolidBrush b1 = new SolidBrush(colours[0]),
                             b2 = new SolidBrush(colours[1]),
                             b3 = new SolidBrush(colours[2]),
                             b4 = new SolidBrush(colours[3]),
                             b5 = new SolidBrush(colours[4]),
                             b6 = new SolidBrush(colours[5]))
           {
              int height = bmp.Height - 2;
              gr.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, 0, 0, bmp.Width - 1, bmp.Height - 1);
              gr.FillRectangle(b1, new Rectangle(1, 1, 3, height));
              gr.FillRectangle(b2, new Rectangle(4, 1, 3, height));
              gr.FillRectangle(b3, new Rectangle(7, 1, 3, height));
              gr.FillRectangle(b4, new Rectangle(10, 1, 3, height));
              gr.FillRectangle(b5, new Rectangle(13, 1, 3, height));
              gr.FillRectangle(b6, new Rectangle(16, 1, 3, height));
           }
        }

        String path = System.Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
        path = Path.Combine(path, @"Visual Studio 2010\Projects\DataVisualization.Charting\Palette Bitmaps");

        String filename = palette.ToString() + ".png";
        bmp.Save(Path.Combine(path, filename), ImageFormat.Png);
     }
  }
}

public static class Extensions
{
  public static Color[] GetColors(this ChartColorPalette value)
  {
     switch (value)
     {
        case ChartColorPalette.Berry:
           return GetColors(0x8a2be2, 0xba55d3, 0x4169e1, 0xc71585, 0x0000ff, 0x8a2be2, 0xda70d6, 0x7b68ee, 0xc000c0, 0x0000cd, 0x800080);
        case ChartColorPalette.Bright:
           return GetColors(0x008000, 0x0000ff, 0x800080, 0x00ff00, 0xff00ff, 0x008080, 0xffff00, 0x808080, 0x00ffff, 0x000080, 0x800000, 0xff0000, 0x808000, 0xc0c0c0, 0xff6347, 0xffe4b5);
        case ChartColorPalette.BrightPastel:
           return GetColors(0x418cf0, 0xfcb441, 0xe0400a, 0x056492, 0xbfbfbf, 0x1a3b69, 0xffe382, 0x129cdd, 0xca6b4b, 0x005cdb, 0xf3d288, 0x506381, 0xf1b9a8, 0xe0830a, 0x7893be);
        case ChartColorPalette.Chocolate:
           return GetColors(0xa0522d, 0xd2691e, 0x8b0000, 0xcd853f, 0xa52a2a, 0xf4a460, 0x8b4513, 0xc04000, 0xb22222, 0xb65c3a);
        case ChartColorPalette.EarthTones:
           return GetColors(0xff8000, 0xb8860b, 0xc04000, 0x6b8e23, 0xcd853f, 0xc0c000, 0x228b22, 0xd2691e, 0x808000, 0x20b2aa, 0xf4a460, 0x00c000, 0x8fbc8b, 0xb22222, 0x8b4513, 0xc00000);
        case ChartColorPalette.Excel:
           return GetColors(0x9999ff, 0x993366, 0xffffcc, 0xccffff, 0x660066, 0xff8080, 0x0066cc, 0xccccff, 0x000080, 0xff00ff, 0xffff00, 0x00ffff, 0x800080, 0x800000, 0x008080, 0x0000ff);
        case ChartColorPalette.Fire:
           return GetColors(0xffd700, 0xff0000, 0xff1493, 0xdc143c, 0xff8c00, 0xff00ff, 0xffff00, 0xff4500, 0xc71585, 0xdde221);
        case ChartColorPalette.Grayscale:
           return GetColors(0xc8c8c8, 0xbdbdbd, 0xb2b2b2, 0xa7a7a7, 0x9c9c9c, 0x919191, 0x868686, 0x7b7b7b, 0x707070, 0x656565, 0x5a5a5a, 0x4f4f4f, 0x444444, 0x393939, 0x2e2e2e, 0x232323);
        case ChartColorPalette.Light:
           return GetColors(0xe6e6fa, 0xfff0f5, 0xffdab9, 0xfffacd, 0xffe4e1, 0xf0fff0, 0xf0f8ff, 0xf5f5f5, 0xfaebd7, 0xe0ffff);
        case ChartColorPalette.Pastel:
           return GetColors(0x87ceeb, 0x32cd32, 0xba55d3, 0xf08080, 0x4682b4, 0x9acd32, 0x40e0d0, 0xff69b4, 0xf0e68c, 0xd2b48c, 0x8fbc8b, 0x6495ed, 0xdda0dd, 0x5f9ea0, 0xffdab9, 0xffa07a);
        case ChartColorPalette.SeaGreen:
           return GetColors(0x2e8b57, 0x66cdaa, 0x4682b4, 0x008b8b, 0x5f9ea0, 0x3cb371, 0x48d1cc, 0xb0c4de, 0xffffff, 0x87ceeb);
        case ChartColorPalette.SemiTransparent:
           return GetColors(0xff6969, 0x69ff69, 0x6969ff, 0xffff69, 0x69ffff, 0xff69ff, 0xcdb075, 0xffafaf, 0xafffaf, 0xafafff, 0xffffaf, 0xafffff, 0xffafff, 0xe4d5b5, 0xa4b086, 0x819ec1);
        case ChartColorPalette.None:
        default:
           return GetColors(0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000);
     }
  }

  private static Color[] GetColors(params Int32[] values)
  {
     return values.Select(value => Color.FromArgb(255, Color.FromArgb(value))).ToArray(); // alpha channel of 255 for fully opaque
  }
 }
}

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