Cursors Class

Definition

Provides a collection of Cursor objects for use by a Windows Forms application.

public sealed class Cursors
public static class Cursors
Inheritance
Cursors

Examples

The following example demonstrates changing the mouse cursor using the Control.Cursor property, the Cursor class, and the Cursors class. The example creates a form that contains a ComboBox control, a Panel control, and a ListView control. The ComboBox contains all cursors provided by the Cursors class. When the user selects a mouse cursor in the ComboBox, the Control.Cursor property is set to the selected cursor, which updates the cursor for the Panel. The ListView is updated every time the Control.CursorChanged event occurs.

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace MCursor
{
    public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
    {
        private System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox cursorSelectionComboBox;

        private System.Windows.Forms.Panel testPanel;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Label label1;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Label label2;
        private System.Windows.Forms.ListView cursorEventViewer;
        private System.Windows.Forms.Label label3;
        
        [STAThread]
        static void Main() 
        {
            Application.Run(new Form1());
        }

        public Form1()
        {
            this.cursorSelectionComboBox = new System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox();
            this.testPanel = new System.Windows.Forms.Panel();
            this.label1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
            this.label2 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
            this.cursorEventViewer = new System.Windows.Forms.ListView();
            this.label3 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();

            // Select Cursor Label
            this.label2.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(24, 16);
            this.label2.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(80, 16);
            this.label2.Text = "Select cursor:";

            // Cursor Testing Panel Label
            this.label1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(24, 80);
            this.label1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(144, 23);
            this.label1.Text = "Cursor testing panel:";

            // Cursor Changed Events Label
            this.label3.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(184, 16);
            this.label3.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(128, 16);
            this.label3.Text = "Cursor changed events:";
            
            // Cursor Selection ComboBox
            this.cursorSelectionComboBox.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(24, 40);
            this.cursorSelectionComboBox.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(152, 21);
            this.cursorSelectionComboBox.TabIndex = 0;
            this.cursorSelectionComboBox.SelectedIndexChanged += 
                 new System.EventHandler(this.cursorSelectionComboBox_SelectedIndexChanged);

            // Cursor Test Panel
            this.testPanel.BackColor = System.Drawing.SystemColors.ControlDark;
            this.testPanel.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(24, 104);
            this.testPanel.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(152, 160);
            this.testPanel.CursorChanged += new System.EventHandler(this.testPanel_CursorChanged);

            // Cursor Event ListView
            this.cursorEventViewer.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(184, 40);
            this.cursorEventViewer.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(256, 224);
            this.cursorEventViewer.TabIndex = 4;
            this.cursorEventViewer.View = System.Windows.Forms.View.List;

            // Set up how the form should be displayed and add the controls to the form.
            this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(456, 286);
            this.Controls.AddRange(new System.Windows.Forms.Control[] {
                                        this.label3, this.cursorEventViewer,
                                        this.label2, this.label1,
                                        this.testPanel, this.cursorSelectionComboBox});

            this.Text = "Cursors Example";

            // Add all the cursor types to the combobox.
            foreach (Cursor cursor in CursorList())
            {
                cursorSelectionComboBox.Items.Add(cursor);
            }
        }

        private Cursor [] CursorList()
        {

            // Make an array of all the types of cursors in Windows Forms.
            return new Cursor [] {
                                     Cursors.AppStarting, Cursors.Arrow, Cursors.Cross,
                                     Cursors.Default, Cursors.Hand, Cursors.Help,
                                     Cursors.HSplit, Cursors.IBeam, Cursors.No,
                                     Cursors.NoMove2D, Cursors.NoMoveHoriz, Cursors.NoMoveVert,
                                     Cursors.PanEast, Cursors.PanNE, Cursors.PanNorth,
                                     Cursors.PanNW, Cursors.PanSE, Cursors.PanSouth,
                                     Cursors.PanSW, Cursors.PanWest, Cursors.SizeAll,
                                     Cursors.SizeNESW, Cursors.SizeNS, Cursors.SizeNWSE,
                                     Cursors.SizeWE, Cursors.UpArrow, Cursors.VSplit, Cursors.WaitCursor};
        }

        private void cursorSelectionComboBox_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
            // Set the cursor in the test panel to be the selected cursor style.
            testPanel.Cursor = (Cursor)cursorSelectionComboBox.SelectedItem;
        }

        private void testPanel_CursorChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
            // Build up a string containing the type of object sending the event, and the event.
            string cursorEvent = string.Format("[{0}]: {1}", sender.GetType().ToString(), "Cursor changed");                
        
            // Record this event in the list view.
            this.cursorEventViewer.Items.Add(cursorEvent);
        }
    }
}

The following example draws the specified cursor on the form in its normal size, and in stretched mode, twice its size. This example assumes that you have a Form and a Cursor object to pass into the method when it is called.

private void DrawCursorsOnForm(Cursor cursor)
{
   // If the form's cursor is not the Hand cursor and the 
   // Current cursor is the Default, Draw the specified 
   // cursor on the form in normal size and twice normal size.
   if(this.Cursor != Cursors.Hand & 
     Cursor.Current == Cursors.Default)
   {
      // Draw the cursor stretched.
      Graphics graphics = this.CreateGraphics();
      Rectangle rectangle = new Rectangle(
        new Point(10,10), new Size(cursor.Size.Width * 2, 
        cursor.Size.Height * 2));
      cursor.DrawStretched(graphics, rectangle);
        
      // Draw the cursor in normal size.
      rectangle.Location = new Point(
      rectangle.Width + rectangle.Location.X, 
        rectangle.Height + rectangle.Location.Y);
      rectangle.Size = cursor.Size;
      cursor.Draw(graphics, rectangle);

      // Dispose of the cursor.
      cursor.Dispose();
   }
}

Remarks

Some of the Cursor objects in this class can take on a different appearance than those described. The user can change the cursor appearance by adjusting the mouse pointer settings in their operating system. The panning and no move cursors are static and cannot be changed by the operating system.

The panning and no move cursors are used during mouse wheel operations. Depending on the direction the window can be scrolled, the cursor changes to the appropriate no move cursor when the mouse wheel is clicked. The cursor then changes to the appropriate panning cursor as the mouse is moved.

Properties

AppStarting

Gets the cursor that appears when an application starts.

Arrow

Gets the arrow cursor.

Cross

Gets the crosshair cursor.

Default

Gets the default cursor, which is usually an arrow cursor.

Hand

Gets the hand cursor, typically used when hovering over a Web link.

Help

Gets the Help cursor, which is a combination of an arrow and a question mark.

HSplit

Gets the cursor that appears when the mouse is positioned over a horizontal splitter bar.

IBeam

Gets the I-beam cursor, which is used to show where the text cursor appears when the mouse is clicked.

No

Gets the cursor that indicates that a particular region is invalid for the current operation.

NoMove2D

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is not moving, but the window can be scrolled in both a horizontal and vertical direction.

NoMoveHoriz

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is not moving, but the window can be scrolled in a horizontal direction.

NoMoveVert

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is not moving, but the window can be scrolled in a vertical direction.

PanEast

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is moving and the window is scrolling horizontally to the right.

PanNE

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is moving and the window is scrolling horizontally and vertically upward and to the right.

PanNorth

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is moving and the window is scrolling vertically in an upward direction.

PanNW

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is moving and the window is scrolling horizontally and vertically upward and to the left.

PanSE

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is moving and the window is scrolling horizontally and vertically downward and to the right.

PanSouth

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is moving and the window is scrolling vertically in a downward direction.

PanSW

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is moving and the window is scrolling horizontally and vertically downward and to the left.

PanWest

Gets the cursor that appears during wheel operations when the mouse is moving and the window is scrolling horizontally to the left.

SizeAll

Gets the four-headed sizing cursor, which consists of four joined arrows that point north, south, east, and west.

SizeNESW

Gets the two-headed diagonal (northeast/southwest) sizing cursor.

SizeNS

Gets the two-headed vertical (north/south) sizing cursor.

SizeNWSE

Gets the two-headed diagonal (northwest/southeast) sizing cursor.

SizeWE

Gets the two-headed horizontal (west/east) sizing cursor.

UpArrow

Gets the up arrow cursor, typically used to identify an insertion point.

VSplit

Gets the cursor that appears when the mouse is positioned over a vertical splitter bar.

WaitCursor

Gets the wait cursor, typically an hourglass shape.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
Windows Desktop 3.0, 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

See also