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How to display an image on a control (Windows Forms .NET)

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Several Windows Forms controls can display images. These images can be icons that clarify the purpose of the control, such as a diskette icon on a button denoting the Save command. Alternatively, the icons can be background images to give the control the appearance and behavior you want.

Display an image - designer

In Visual Studio, use the Visual Designer to display an image.

  1. Open the Visual Designer of the form containing the control to change.

  2. Select the control.

  3. In the Properties pane, select the Image or BackgroundImage property of the control.

  4. Select the ellipsis ( ) to display the Select Resource dialog box and then select the image you want to display.

    Properties dialog with image property selected

Display an image - code

Set the control's Image or BackgroundImage property to an object of type Image. Generally, you'll load the image from a file by using the FromFile method.

In the following code example, the path set for the location of the image is the My Pictures folder. Most computers running the Windows operating system include this directory. This also enables users with minimal system access levels to run the application safely. The following code example requires that you already have a form with a PictureBox control added.

// Replace the image named below with your own icon.
// Note the escape character used (@) when specifying the path.
pictureBox1.Image = Image.FromFile
   (System.Environment.GetFolderPath
   (System.Environment.SpecialFolder.MyPictures)
   + @"\Image.gif");

' Replace the image named below with your own icon.
PictureBox1.Image = Image.FromFile _
   (System.Environment.GetFolderPath _
   (System.Environment.SpecialFolder.MyPictures) _
   & "\Image.gif")

See also