Creating Custom Buttons in Visual Studio

A short YouTube video tutorial on creating custom graphical buttons for your .NET applications



In this tutorial you will learn how to use a PictureBox to work as a button in your application. By changing the PictureBox image you can achieve a graphical effects that are only limited by your creativity and graphic design skills. We also provide here full source code used in this demo.

FORM SOURCE CODE

Public Class grphButton

    Private Sub lbMsg_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles lbMsg.Click

        lbMsg.Text = ""

    End Sub

    Private Sub picHome_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles picHome.Click

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnDemoHome30_MOver

            lbMsg.Text = "HOME BUTTON CLICKED"

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picHome_MouseDown(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles picHome.MouseDown

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnDemoHome30_MClick

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picHome_MouseEnter(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles picHome.MouseEnter

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnDemoHome30_MOver

            lbMsg.Text = "MOUSE OVER HOME BUTTON"

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picHome_MouseLeave(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles picHome.MouseLeave

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnDemoHome30

            lbMsg.Text = ""

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picOK_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles picOK.Click

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnOK_CheckGreen30_MOver

            lbMsg.Text = "OK BUTTON CLICKED" 

       Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picOK_MouseDown(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles picOK.MouseDown

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnOK_CheckGreen30_MClick

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picOK_MouseEnter(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles picOK.MouseEnter

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnOK_CheckGreen30_MOver

            lbMsg.Text = "MOUSE OVER OK BUTTON"

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picOK_MouseLeave(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles picOK.MouseLeave

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnOK_CheckGreen30

            lbMsg.Text = ""

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picCancel_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles picCancel.Click

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnCancel_XRed30_MOver

            lbMsg.Text = "CANCEL BUTTON CLICKED" 

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picCancel_MouseDown(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles picCancel.MouseDown

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnCancel_XRed30_MClick

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picCancel_MouseEnter(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles picCancel.MouseEnter

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnCancel_XRed30_MOver

            lbMsg.Text = "MOUSE OVER CANCEL BUTTON"

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

    Private Sub picCancel_MouseLeave(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles picCancel.MouseLeave

        Try

            Dim tPic As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

            If Not IsNothing(tPic.Image) Then

                tPic.Image.Dispose()

                tPic.Image = Nothing

            End If

            tPic.Image = Global.CustomButton.My.Resources.btnCancel_XRed30

            lbMsg.Text = ""

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

End Class

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