WPF: A Simple Color Picker With Preview

January 3, 2010 · 1 min read

I am working on my first significant WPF application and found myself in need of a simple visual color picker.  I quick trip to Bing linked me to a Sacha Barber CodeProject project that met most of my requirements.  His associated blog post is.

My biggest unfilled need was the ability to set the initial color, so I set about adding that to the original code.  I made a few changes along the way.  The revised code can be downloaded here.

I made the following changes to the ColorPicker control:

  • Set the tab behavior so that the focus moves only to controls that can actually be changed
  • Set an initial color via constructor or property (note that the search to set the cursor ellipse delays the initial display; there may be a better method)
  • Fix single digit hex displays to show two digits
  • Add left click to select the color with no mouse move
  • Add Mouse Wheel support to change the Alpha value
  • Modify color select dragging behavior to handle clicks and mouse movement outside the selection area

I changed the following in the ColorDialog:

  • Added ability to set ColorDialog initial color via constructor or property
  • Use of Button's IsDefault and IsCancel properties
  • Set tab behavior to match standards

I changed the base demo code in Window1 to use the last selected color.

There are many other small changes too numerous to mention.  Enjoy.

This article is part of the GWB Archives. Original Author: Mark Treadwell

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