C# DateTimePicker Control
Hi Guys! We always aspire to make yourself equipped with useful information so you can excel and grow in your relevant field. Today, I am going to uncover the details on
C# DateTimePicker Control. It allows you to select date and time and show it in specific format. It is extremely useful when you develop any application where you want date of birth of user in a specified format or where you want to display date and time explicitly. I'll try to discuss each and every feature of
C# DateTimePicker Control, so you don't have to go anywhere else for finding the information regarding this specific control. Let's get started.
C# DateTimePicker Control
- C# DateTimePicker Control allows you to select date and time and show in specified format.
- It is very useful in developing the applications where you want user data in the form of date of birth.
- It behaves like an interface where user can change the date and time information.
- The display of this control contains fields that are defined by the format string of the control.
- Creating a DateTimePicker control is very easy. Open your windows form application and drag and drop the DateTimePicker control from Toolbar that is appeared on the left side to your Form1.
- Or simply double click the DateTimePicker control, it will automatically be placed on your Form1 displayed on the screen.
- You can play with it and change its location in the given space of Form1 or resize it with the help of mouse.
- When you run the application, monthly calendar will be displayed on the screen, where you can see date, month year and day.
- You can select any date of your own choice. It will appear like the figure below.
- You can also change the format of the DateTimePicker control in the code. As you double click the Form1, following figure will appear.
- Simply put the following code under the Form1_Load function if you want to appear the date in this format i.e year/month/date.
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
dateTimePicker1.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Custom;
dateTimePicker1.CustomFormat = "yyyy/MM/dd";
}
Similarly, if you want the date to be appeared in this format i.e date/month/year. You can use the following code.
dateTimePicker1.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Custom;
dateTimePicker1.CustomFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy";
- You can make your own custom time format by doing minor changing in code.
- Similarly, if you want the format where you want to show both date and time, you can use the following code.
dateTimePicker1.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Custom;
dateTimePicker1.CustomFormat = "yyyy/MM/dd hh:mm:ss";
DateTimePicker Properties
- Setting the properties of DateTimePicker control is very easy. In order to open the properties of the DateTimePicker control just right click on the DateTimePicker control and select properties.
- Properties window will appear on the right side of the screen and it will appear like the figure below.
Name
- Name property defines the specific name of the DateTimePicker control which is user to access the control in the main code.
- In the figure above name of the DateTimePicker control is set as dateTimePicker1.
Location and Size Properties
- Location property defines the location of the DateTimePicker control with respect to x axis and y axis on the Form1.
- You can set values of your own choice by simply putting the values in the Location property box or you can move around the DateTimePicker control on the Form with the help of mouse.
- Size property defines the size of the DateTimePicker control. You can simply put the values of your own choice in the size property box or you can increase the size with the mouse by simply putting the cursor of the mouse of the right border of the control and expanding it towards right side or lower side.
Font and Format Properties
- Font property defines the text style of the DateTimePicker control.
- Go to the properties window and select the Font property.
- It will show font size with different font style. You can choose any style of your own choice.
- Similarly you can change the format of the DateTimePicker control. This control comes with four format including long, short, time and custom.
ShowChekBox and ShowUpDown Properties
- ShowCheckBox property allows the the control to be editable without using the calendar.
- This can be achieved by setting the ShowCheckBox as true.
- ShowUpDown property in the property window allows you to change the date and time by showing up and down value where you can increase and decrease the value of date and time.
- Set the ShowUpDown as true and modify the date and time of your own choice.
- When you set both ShowCheckBox and ShowUpDown as true and run the application, following figure will appear.
Value
- Value property of DateTimePicker control is widely used in C#.
- It stores the current value of date and current in the control.
Example 1
Now we build a code where it will show the date and time in the specific format and when button is clicked, then code will show the current date and time stored in the DateTimePicker control. Check following code to understand this process.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication10
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
}
private void dateTimePicker1_ValueChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
dateTimePicker1.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Custom;
dateTimePicker1.CustomFormat = "yyyy/MM/dd hh:mm:ss";
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DateTime iDate;
iDate = dateTimePicker1.Value;
MessageBox.Show("Current date is " + iDate);
}
}
}
- When you run the application, and click the button, output will show in the following form.
How to Show Null Value in DateTimePicker Control
- It is important to note that we can not use null value in DateTimePicker control by default because it is a value type like int, bool, and float and it returns some value.
- You can make DateTimePicker control empty or it will show null value.
- First drag and drop one DateTimePicker control on the Form. Then right click on the DateTimePicker control and go to properties. Properties will appear on the right side of the screen.
- In the property window find the property "Format" and set it as Custom. Then find the property "CustomFormat" and simply add a space in the box. After you run the application it will show the empty box of DateTimePicker control.
- Or you can show DateTimePicker control empty by the following code.
private void dateTimePicker1_ValueChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
dateTimePicker1.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Custom;
if (dateTimePicker1.Checked == false)
{
dateTimePicker1.CustomFormat = " ";
}
else
{
dateTimePicker1.CustomFormat = "yyyy/MM/dd hh:mm:ss";
}
- Before applying this code first we set ShowCheckBox as true in the property window of the DateTimePicker control. Then we apply this code.
- We are playing a trick here, we first set the format of the DateTimePicker as custom, then set the format text of the DateTimePicker as black space.
- This will do the trick and will set the DateTimePicker as blank when the box will be unchecked otherwise it will return some value.
- When you run this code output will appear like the figure below when ShowCheckBox is unchecked.
That's all for today. I have tried my best to give you valuable information in simple steps so you can get an easy grip on C# sharp language. However, if still you feel skeptical or have any doubt you can ask me in the comment section below. I'll go extra mile to help you solve your questions and queries as soon as possible. Stay Tuned!
C# CheckBox Control
Hi Guys! I hope you are doing great and having fun with your lives. Today, I am going to unlock the details on the
C# CheckBox Control. A CheckBox control is used to select the single or multiple options from the given list of options. I'll give you a brief detail how you can create CheckBox in the Windows form application. Also, I will discuss the properties and methods used in CheckBox control. You can also have a look at
C# Button Control. which we discussed in previous article. Let's hop on the board and dive in the details of CheckBox control.
C# CheckBox Control
- C# CheckBox Control is used to select the single or multiple options from the given list of options.
- In order to create CheckBox in design time, drag the CheckBox from the ToolBox located at the left side and drop it to the form1 main screen.
- As you create the CheckBox, it will look like the figure below.
- You can also create CheckBox in design time by simply double clicking on the CheckBox control.
- As you double click on the CheckBox control, it will create a CheckBox on the form1.
CheckBox Properties
- As you drag and drop the CheckBox on Form1, next step is to check the properties of the CheckBox.
- You can check the properties of the CheckBox by right clicking on the CheckBox then go to properties option.
- Properties Window will look like below figure.
Location and Size Properties
- Location property defines the starting point of check box with respect to x axis and y axis on the form1.
- You can simply click on the CheckBox and change the location of the box.
- Similarly, size property defines the size of the CheckBox control.
BackColor, BackgroundImage, ForeColor Properties
- BackColor is used to define the background color of the CheckBox.
- You can simply go to BackColor property in the property menu of the CheckBox and choose the color of your own choice.
- BackgroundImage is used to select the background image of the CheckBox.
- Go to the BackgroundImage property and choose the image of your own choice.
- ForeColor defines the foreground color of the checkbox.
- In the first figure forecolor of the checkBox1 is black.
- You can go to the ForeColor property of the properties list and choose the color of your own choice.
Name, Font, Appearance Properties
- Name defines the unique name of the CheckBox control which is used to access the CheckBox control in the main code.
- In the first figure, name of the CheckBox is checkBox1.
- Font property is used to select the font of the text the appears on the CheckBox control. As you click on the Font property, you can choose the desired font from the available list of font styles.
- From appearance property, you can select between two appearance options i.e. normal or button. Normal checkbox will look like as shown in the first figure. While button option will appear like the figure below.
Text, TextAlign and CheckAlign Properties
- Text property of the CheckBox is used to change the text that appears on the CheckBox.
- In the first figure, text that appears on the CheckBox is checkBox1.
- The TextAlign property defines the text alignment of the text that can be from TopLeft to BottomRight.
- CheckAlign property represents the alignment of the check mark in the CheckBox control.
- In the first figure the alignment of the check mark is MiddleLeft.
CheckState and Checked Properties
- CheckState define the state of the checkbox which can be checked, unchecked and intermediate.
- CheckBox control will be checked if check mark on the CheckBox control is checked and it will be unchecked if the check mark of the CheckBox control is unchecked.
- CheckState is directly connected with the Checked property of the CheckBox control.
- If CheckState is Checked or Intermediate then Checked property will be true and if CheckState is Unchecked then Checked property will be false.
Example 1
- This example will clearly elaborate the use of check box.
- Simply open the windows form application in C#.
- Then drag and drop a button and four check boxes from the Toolbar to Form1.
- Change the name of each check box by right clicking on each checkbox separately and then go to the properties of the checkbox and find "text" property. And change the name of the button to "Combine" by similar process.
- In next step, change the Checked property of both L and T checkboxes and set it to true.
- As you set the Checked property to true it will automatically change the CheckState and set it to as Checked.
- Now double click on the combine button it will take you to the window like below.
- In the figure above button1_Click function which will be get called when the button will be clicked in Windows form application.
- Now copy and paste the code below in your button function.
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
String last = "this is check box ";
if (checkBox1.CheckState == CheckState.Checked)
{
last += "L";
}
if (checkBox2.CheckState == CheckState.Checked)
{
last += "A";
}
if (checkBox3.CheckState == CheckState.Checked)
{
last += "S";
}
if (checkBox4.CheckState == CheckState.Checked)
{
last += "T";
}
MessageBox.Show(last);
}
- There are four condition of this code.
- If first condition will be true i.e. CheckState of the checkBox1 is checked and it will go to next step and call the word last with addition of "L" which is a string and is equal to "this is a check box".
- So when first condition will be true, output of the code will be shown like below.
When all four CheckBoxes are checked then it will show an output like below.
That's all for today. I hope you have got a clear idea about checkbox. However, if still you feel skeptical or have any doubt, you can ask me in the comment section below. I'll help you according to best of my expertise. Your suggestions and feedback will be highly appreciated. We always love when we are able to meet your needs and expectations. Stay tuned!