Extended Label

What it is for

Use it where a plain Label is too flat: a section heading on a settings page, a caption tile on a dashboard ("Open orders: 42"), or a vertical title down the edge of a panel. It is drawn entirely by the control, so the background, border, shadow and text can be styled independently.

The parts

• Background – a gradient from StartLinearGradientBackgroundColor to EndLinearGradientBackgroundColor at BackgroundGradientFloatAngle; give both the same colour for a solid fill. IsBackgroundTransparent shows the parent through instead.
• Shadow – drawn below and to the right, DropShadowMargin deep: soft and blurred by default (ShouldDrawSoftDropShadow), or a gradient block.
• Border – BorderColor in BorderDashStyle, its weight chosen by BorderDrawingStyle.
• Text – Text in the control's Control.Font and Control.ForeColor, placed by TextAlignment inside Control.Padding, horizontal or vertical (Orientation, VerticalTextDirection). Line breaks in the text start new lines.

The shadow and the border are on by default, so a new label shows a black one-pixel border with a soft grey shadow. Set ShouldDrawDropShadow and ShouldDrawBorder to false for a flat caption. The label is left out of the tab order.

using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Binarymission.WinForms.Controls.Containers;

public class SalesDashboard : Form
{
    public SalesDashboard()
    {
        Text = "Today's sales";
        ClientSize = new Size(360, 260);

        // A caption tile with a blue gradient and a soft shadow.
        var openOrders = new ExtendedLabel
        {
            Text = "Open orders\n42",
            Location = new Point(60, 20),
            Size = new Size(200, 80),
            Font = new Font("Segoe UI", 12f, FontStyle.Bold),
            ForeColor = Color.White,
            StartLinearGradientBackgroundColor = Color.SteelBlue,
            EndLinearGradientBackgroundColor = Color.MidnightBlue,
            BackgroundGradientFloatAngle = 90f,
            TextAlignment = ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter,
            BorderColor = Color.MidnightBlue,
            DropShadowMargin = 5
        };

        // A vertical title down the left edge, with no shadow or border.
        var sideTitle = new ExtendedLabel
        {
            Text = "Northern region",
            Location = new Point(12, 20),
            Size = new Size(220, 32),
            ShouldDrawDropShadow = false,
            ShouldDrawBorder = false,
            Orientation = ExtendedLabel.DrawingOrientation.Vertical,   // swaps Width and Height
            VerticalTextDirection = ExtendedLabel.TextDirection.BottomTop
        };

        Controls.Add(openOrders);
        Controls.Add(sideTitle);
    }
}