Question

so right now I need to make a custom control for a c# project, The main point is I would like to make one control where i can change the text-color using the control properties via a drop-down. So I would like to limit what colors can be choosen. Right now, i have Four separate color labels,, but I need one with an option to change the color from a single property. The colors are predefined using RGB values. Here is the existing label code, how can I make it into one label with multiple color options?

That is the existing label code.
http://pastebin.com/mezTBMxN
Thank you for all help.

Answer 1

You can define your own custom property using a public enum containing the four colors you want. Then, when you render your control, you can set the ForeColor accordingly.

Enum:

public enum LabelColor
{
    Gray,
    Green,
    Blue,
    Red,
    None
}

Custom Property:

[Bindable(true)]
[DefaultValue(LabelColor.None)]
[Category("Appearance")]
public LabelColor TextColor
{
    get
    {
        EnsureChildControls();
        return (ViewState["TextColor"] != null) ?
            (LabelColor)Enum.Parse(typeof(LabelColor), ViewState["TextColor"].ToString()) :
            LabelColor.None;
    }

    set
    {
        EnsureChildControls();
        ViewState["TextColor"] = value;
    }
}

Set color in constructor or override RenderControl(). Note, you can use Color.FromArgb() if you like, however, I would recommend assigning CSS classes to keep your presentation separated.

switch (this.TextColor)
{
    case LabelColor.Gray:
        this.CssClass = "label-gray";
        break;
    case LabelColor.Blue:
        this.CssClass = "label-blue";
        break;
    case LabelColor.Green:
        this.CssClass = "label-green";
        break;
    case LabelColor.Red:
        this.CssClass = "label-red";
        break;
}