Drawing on top of controls inside a panel (C# WinForms)

Question

I know this question had been asked more than a few times, but so far I haven\'t been able to find a good solution for it.

I\'ve got a panel with other control on it

Answer 1

Make a new LineControl : Control like this:

then call BringToFront() after the InitializeComponent

public partial class MainForm : Form
    {
        public MainForm()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            this.simpleLine1.BringToFront();
        }
    }



using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public class SimpleLine : Control
{
    private Control parentHooked;   
    private List controlsHooked;

    public enum LineType
    {
        Horizontal,
        Vertical,
        ForwardsDiagonal,
        BackwardsDiagonal
    }

    public event EventHandler AppearanceChanged;
    private LineType appearance;
    public virtual LineType Appearance
    {
        get
        {
            return appearance;
        }
        set
        {
            if (appearance != value)
            {
                this.SuspendLayout();
                switch (appearance)
                {
                    case LineType.Horizontal:
                        if (value == LineType.Vertical)
                        {
                            this.Height = this.Width;
                        }

                        break;
                    case LineType.Vertical:
                        if (value == LineType.Horizontal)
                        {
                            this.Width = this.Height;
                        }
                        break;
                }
                this.ResumeLayout(false);

                appearance = value;
                this.PerformLayout();
                this.Invalidate();
            }
        }
    }
    protected virtual void OnAppearanceChanged(EventArgs e)
    {
        if (AppearanceChanged != null) AppearanceChanged(this, e);
    }

    public event EventHandler LineColorChanged;
    private Color lineColor;
    public virtual Color LineColor
    {
        get
        {
            return lineColor;
        }
        set
        {
            if (lineColor != value)
            {
                lineColor = value;
                this.Invalidate();
            }
        }
    }
    protected virtual void OnLineColorChanged(EventArgs e)
    {
        if (LineColorChanged != null) LineColorChanged(this, e);
    }

    public event EventHandler LineWidthChanged;
    private float lineWidth;
    public virtual float LineWidth
    {
        get
        {
            return lineWidth;
        }
        set
        {
            if (lineWidth != value)
            {
                if (0 >= value)
                {
                    lineWidth = 1;
                }
                lineWidth = value;
                this.PerformLayout();
            }
        }
    }
    protected virtual void OnLineWidthChanged(EventArgs e)
    {
        if (LineWidthChanged != null) LineWidthChanged(this, e);
    }

    public SimpleLine()
    {
        base.SetStyle(ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint | ControlStyles.Selectable, false);
        base.SetStyle(ControlStyles.SupportsTransparentBackColor, true);
        base.BackColor = Color.Transparent;

        InitializeComponent();

        appearance = LineType.Vertical;
        LineColor = Color.Black;
        LineWidth = 1;
        controlsHooked = new List();

        this.ParentChanged += new EventHandler(OnSimpleLineParentChanged);
    }

    private void RemoveControl(Control control)
    {
        if (controlsHooked.Contains(control))
        {
            control.Paint -= new PaintEventHandler(OnControlPaint);
            if (control is TextboxX)
            {
                TextboxX text = (TextboxX)control;
                text.DoingAPaint -= new EventHandler(text_DoingAPaint);
            }
            controlsHooked.Remove(control);
        }
    }

    void text_DoingAPaint(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        this.Invalidate();
    }

    private void AddControl(Control control)
    {
        if (!controlsHooked.Contains(control))
        {
            control.Paint += new PaintEventHandler(OnControlPaint);
            if (control is TextboxX)
            {
                TextboxX text = (TextboxX)control;
                text.DoingAPaint += new EventHandler(text_DoingAPaint);
            }
            controlsHooked.Add(control);
        }
    }

    private void OnSimpleLineParentChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        UnhookParent();

        if (Parent != null)
        {

            foreach (Control c in Parent.Controls)
            {
                AddControl(c);
            }
            Parent.ControlAdded += new ControlEventHandler(OnParentControlAdded);
            Parent.ControlRemoved += new ControlEventHandler(OnParentControlRemoved);
            parentHooked = this.Parent;
        }
    }

    private void UnhookParent()
    {
            if (parentHooked != null)
            {
                foreach (Control c in parentHooked.Controls)
                {
                    RemoveControl(c);
                }
                parentHooked.ControlAdded -= new ControlEventHandler(OnParentControlAdded);
                parentHooked.ControlRemoved -= new ControlEventHandler(OnParentControlRemoved);
                parentHooked = null;
            }
    }

    private void OnParentControlRemoved(object sender, ControlEventArgs e)
    {
        RemoveControl(e.Control);
    }   

    private void OnControlPaint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
    {
        int indexa =Parent.Controls.IndexOf(this) , indexb = Parent.Controls.IndexOf((Control)sender);
        //if above invalidate on paint
        if(indexa < indexb)
        {
            Invalidate();
        }
    }

    private void OnParentControlAdded(object sender, ControlEventArgs e)
    {
        AddControl(e.Control);
    }

    private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;
    private void InitializeComponent()
    {
        components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();
    }
    protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
        if (disposing && (components != null))
        {
            components.Dispose();
        }
        base.Dispose(disposing);
    }

    protected override CreateParams CreateParams
    {
        get
        {
            CreateParams cp = base.CreateParams;
            cp.ExStyle |= 0x20;  // Turn on WS_EX_TRANSPARENT
            return cp;
        }
    }

    protected override void OnLayout(LayoutEventArgs levent)
    {
        switch (this.Appearance)
        {
            case LineType.Horizontal:
                this.Height = (int)LineWidth;
                this.Invalidate();
                break;
            case LineType.Vertical:
                this.Width = (int)LineWidth;
                this.Invalidate();
                break;
        }

        base.OnLayout(levent);
    }

    protected override void OnPaintBackground(PaintEventArgs pevent)
    {
        //disable background paint
    }

    protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs pe)
    {
        switch (Appearance)
        {
            case LineType.Horizontal:
                DrawHorizontalLine(pe);
                break;
            case LineType.Vertical:
                DrawVerticalLine(pe);
                break;
            case LineType.ForwardsDiagonal:
                DrawFDiagonalLine(pe);
                break;
            case LineType.BackwardsDiagonal:
                DrawBDiagonalLine(pe);
                break;
        }
    }

    private void DrawFDiagonalLine(PaintEventArgs pe)
    {
        using (Pen p = new Pen(this.LineColor, this.LineWidth))
        {
            pe.Graphics.DrawLine(p, this.ClientRectangle.X, this.ClientRectangle.Bottom,
                                    this.ClientRectangle.Right, this.ClientRectangle.Y);
        }
    }

    private void DrawBDiagonalLine(PaintEventArgs pe)
    {
        using (Pen p = new Pen(this.LineColor, this.LineWidth))
        {
            pe.Graphics.DrawLine(p, this.ClientRectangle.X, this.ClientRectangle.Y,
                                    this.ClientRectangle.Right, this.ClientRectangle.Bottom);
        }
    }

    private void DrawHorizontalLine(PaintEventArgs pe)
    {
        int  y = this.ClientRectangle.Height / 2;
        using (Pen p = new Pen(this.LineColor, this.LineWidth))
        {
            pe.Graphics.DrawLine(p, this.ClientRectangle.X, y,
                                    this.ClientRectangle.Width, y);
        }
    }

    private void DrawVerticalLine(PaintEventArgs pe)
    {
        int x = this.ClientRectangle.Width / 2;
        using (Pen p = new Pen(this.LineColor, this.LineWidth))
        {
            pe.Graphics.DrawLine(p,x, this.ClientRectangle.Y,
                                   x, this.ClientRectangle.Height);
        }
    }
}

Edit: Added diagonal support

I've added some support for controls that repaint when they get the focus.

textboxes and comboboxs wont work as is you will need to make your own and hook there paintish commands like so:

public class TextboxX : TextBox
{
    public event EventHandler DoingAPaint;
    protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)
    {
        switch ((int)m.Msg)
        {
            case (int)NativeMethods.WindowMessages.WM_PAINT:
            case (int)NativeMethods.WindowMessages.WM_ERASEBKGND:
            case (int)NativeMethods.WindowMessages.WM_NCPAINT:
            case 8465: //not sure what this is WM_COMMAND?
                if(DoingAPaint!=null)DoingAPaint(this,EventArgs.Empty);
                break;
        }           
        base.WndProc(ref m);
    }
}

Its not tested and i'm sure you can improve on it