Customizing default inputs?

Question

I wonder if it's possible to customize my C# application (winforms) to get a better design, I made a PSD (photoshop document) so I can generate png jpeg... pictures if I need them.

Example of a form like the one I want :

Answer 1

Indeed as it was pointed out in the comments, it is easy to use WPF (indows Presentation Foundation) to achieve that result, but if you really need that it must be made in windows forms I can help you with that...

ControlBox and Border

It seens that your form does not have a control box (minimize, maximize and close buttons) to achieve that you can set

form.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None

I'm not sure if that galaxy behind your form is part of the application so i'll be considering that it is not To achieve that irregular shape of the form we have to do a workaround here

Irregular Shape of the Form

we are going to set a Color to TransparentKey, so everything in the form in that specific color will be transparent, like it does not exists (if you click in that part it will go into de desktop or whatever application you have behind in your form) So let's use a specific color which we will probably dont use in the form

form.TransparencyKey = Color.FromArgb(111, 111, 111); //You can do it by the editor

So in order to make that white part we are going to use an Panel and a PictureBox outsite of the Panel trying to copy the shape of your image

Stylized Inputs

To make it easier and reusable I'm going to make a userControl in this one the usercontrol will have

• a Panel called HighLightPanel, its dock property will be set to Fill
• a Panel called BackColorPanel, it will be inside the HighLightPanel
• a PictureBox called InputPicture, its dock property will be set to Left, it will be inside BackColorPanel and its acessor will be public
• a TextBox called TextBox, its dock property wil be set to fill, it will be inside BackColorPanel, the BorderStyle Property set to None, you should set the size and font you most desize in this one, I'm going to use Segoe UI; 15,75pt and its acessor will be public

Now we have to make some properties in our UserControl to make it work without work in other controls

First in the SizeChanged event of the HighLightPanel we will make the BackColorPanel be exacly two points smaller in every direction and its position to 1;1 so we can see the HighLightPanel

 private void HighlightPanel_SizeChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
 {
         this.BackColorPanel.Size = new Size(
              HighlightPanel.Width - 2, 
              HighlightPanel.Height - 2);
 }

Now we will create two propertys to handle the Highlight Color

public Color HighlightBorderColor { get; set; }
public Color NonHighlightBorderColor { get; set; }

And in the Enter and Leave Property of our TextBox we are going to change the HighlightPanel

private void TextBox_Enter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    HighlightPanel.BackColor = HighlightBorderColor;
}
private void TextBox_Leave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    HighlightPanel.BackColor = NonHighlightBorderColor;
}

So now every time the user enter the Input it will appear that the Input has an Border in the specified Color Now to enhance its usability to developers we will make some wrappers in its controls to be easier change property of child controls in the editor

public Image InputImage
{
    get { return InputPicture.Image; }
    set { InputPicture.Image = value; }
}
public PictureBoxSizeMode InputImageLayout
{
    get { return InputPicture.SizeMode; }
    set { InputPicture.SizeMode = value; }
}
public char PasswordCharacter
{
    get { return TextBox.PasswordChar; }
    set { TextBox.PasswordChar = value; }
}
public bool ShowInputImage
{
    get { return InputPicture.Visible; }
    set { InputPicture.Visible = value; }
}

In the InputImage set the picture you want for the User and the Key Insert the two controls in the position you like

Position of the Form

if you want your form to be moveable without the border you will have to use this snippet, it is more easy in WPF

#region MoveForm
Point LastPoint;
bool ShouldMove;
private void form_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    LastPoint = e.Location;
    ShouldMove = true;
    this.TransparencyKey = Color.FromArgb(111, 111, 111);
}
private void form_MouseUp(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    ShouldMove = false;
}
private void form_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    if (ShouldMove)
    {
        this.Location = new Point(
             this.Location.X - LastPoint.X + e.X, 
             this.Location.Y - LastPoint.Y + e.Y);
    }
}
#endregion