.NET (Core and Framework)

29-Jul-07 23:11

My query is something as under:
1) I have a .ico file
2) Now I have a "System.Windows.Forms.Cursor" constructor which accepts a Stream object
containing a file of the type ".cur".
3) Now, putting the ".ico" file in a Stream and passing it to
the "System.Windows.Forms.Cursor" constructor
gives an argument exception.

So, is there is any way we can provide a ".ico" file to the "System.Windows.Forms.Cursor" constructor in a Stream?

Dave Kreskowiak30-Jul-07 9:28

30-Jul-07 9:28

No, not really. The problem is that there is information missing from an icon file that is needed to create a cursor, namely the click hotspot. You can't tell it exactly which pixel in the picture is used to determine where the user clicked.

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Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007

p_s_i_2007073030-Jul-07 19:58

30-Jul-07 19:58

thanks dave.

p_s_i_2007073031-Jul-07 0:46

31-Jul-07 0:46

thanks once again dave. the detailed scenario is as under:

My requirement description is as under:
1) I have a ".ico" file in the solution explorer that I created.
2) Now I have a "System.Windows.Forms.Cursor" constructor which accepts a Stream object. This is one of the ways we can instantiate a System.Windows.Forms.Cursor object by passing it a Stream object.
3) I also have a ".ico" file in the solution explorer with me. Now, putting the ".ico" file in a Stream and passing it to "System.Windows.Forms.Cursor" constructor gives an argument exception.

My queries are:

1) Does .Net support the process of providing ".ico" file to the
"System.Windows.Forms.Cursor" constructor in a Stream?

2) Does .net provide a way to take the ".ico" file in a MemoryStream
and convert it to some format acceptable by System.Windows.Forms.Cursor" constructor?

Luc Pattyn31-Jul-07 1:20

Luc Pattyn

31-Jul-07 1:20

Hi,

it will not work.

read up MSDN on the Cursor Constructor (Stream)
and you will see the remark: The data stream specified by stream must contain a cursor (.cur) file.

So you can't just give it any stream you would like (ICO file, some image, whatever).

Conclusion: you must interactively create your cursor, I guess either using
Visual Studio or some other tool.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn

try { [Search CP Articles] [Search CP Forums] [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] }
catch { [Google] }

p_s_i_2007073031-Jul-07 1:58

31-Jul-07 1:58

thanks a lot Luc. there is one last question I have in this context Smile | :)

.
If I take the ".ico" file in a MemoryStream. Then can I convert this MemoryStream to contain the cursor result? I am sorry to bother you on this again and again Smile | :)

. But your reply will really be useful. Then finally I can decide which way to select.

Luc Pattyn31-Jul-07 2:09

Luc Pattyn

31-Jul-07 2:09

p_s_i_20070730 wrote:
If I take the ".ico" file in a MemoryStream. Then can I convert this MemoryStream to contain the cursor result?

No.

I dont know ANY way to programmatically convert from or to cursor format.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn

try { [Search CP Articles] [Search CP Forums] [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] }
catch { [Google] }

Dave Kreskowiak31-Jul-07 2:56

31-Jul-07 2:56

The point your missing is that the data expected by the Stream constructor requires that it contains certion information and is formmated exactly how it expects as a stream of bytes. The data you're giving this constructor is not formatted for a cursor file and is not in the proper format. You simply cannot use the Stream constructor how you want.

You have to build an array of bytes, or write to a MemoryStream and write the data from the .ico file, massaged and reformatted for the .cur format. You must also place the bytes describing the click hotspot into this array in the place that the .cur file format expects. THen you can pass the MemoryStream to the Stream constructor of the Cursor class.

In order to do what you want, you have to be familiar with the file formats of both .ico and .cur files, down to the byte.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007

Luc Pattyn31-Jul-07 3:48

Luc Pattyn

31-Jul-07 3:48

Hi Dave,

seems we are missing a Cursor constructor that takes an image
plus some extra parameters as arguments.

We can convert an image to an icon without knowing the icon format,
it takes say 5 lines of code using a stream. We would like to be able
to do something similar for image-to-cursor.

Do you have the code available to do it at the byte level ?

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn

try { [Search CP Articles] [Search CP Forums] [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] }
catch { [Google] }

Dave Kreskowiak31-Jul-07 4:33

31-Jul-07 4:33

I don't have any code for it and don't know of any. I just posted how I would approach the problem.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007

p_s_i_2007073031-Jul-07 4:00

31-Jul-07 4:00

thanks dave.
Can you please let me know if there is any code where the same has been implemented? it'll be of great help. some piece of code to convert the ico stream to cur stream

Dave Kreskowiak31-Jul-07 4:34

31-Jul-07 4:34

I don't have any code for it and don't know of any. I just posted how I would approach the problem.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007

icon to cursor conversion

Vasudevan Deepak Kumar30-Jul-07 18:42

Vasudevan Deepak Kumar

30-Jul-07 18:42

You seem to have a very similar post just a minute back. Smile | :)

Vasudevan Deepak Kumar
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p_s_i_2007073029-Jul-07 22:12