Shapes and Custom Drawing in WPF/Silverlight

Introduction 

In this article I will tell you how to create shapes and create a custom drawing using the Path property.

Using the code

There are three common properties for shapes, listed below:

1. Fill: This property is used to fill shape with color.
2. Stroke: This property describes border color for the shape.
3. StokeThickness: This property set shape border thickness.

Now we will discuss the various shapes into details.

1. Line

The Line element of XAML draws a line between two points.

There are four attributes to draw a line, (X1,Y1,X2,Y2) represents the start point and end point for the X and Y co-ordinates of a line:

<Line Stroke="#000fff" StrokeThickness="2" X1="100"Y1="100" X2="300" Y2="100" />

2. Rectangle

The Rectangle element of XAML draws a rectangle.

<Rectangle Width="300" Height="100" Fill="Black" Stroke="red" StrokeThickness="5">
</Rectangle>
    <Rectangle Width="120" Height="100" RadiusX="40" RadiusY="40" Stroke="Green" StrokeThickness="5" Fill="Black">
</Rectangle>

In the above figure, first is a simple rectangle and the second figure indicates a rounded rectangle. For drawing a rounded rectangle we have to set two more properties: RadiusX and RadiusY for a round corner.

Ellipse

This shape creates an ellipse to a circle in the specified width and height.

<Ellipse Height="100" Width="300" StrokeThickness="0.4" 
   Opacity="0.5" Stroke="Black"  Fill="Gold"/>

Polyline

This shape is used draw a series of connected straight lines.

<Polyline Points="0,50 20,0 40,50 60,0 80,50 100,0 120,50 -4,50"
                      Stroke="Black"
                      StrokeThickness="10"
                      Canvas.Left="75"
                      Canvas.Top="50" />

Polygon

This shape is used for drawing a polygon, which is a connected series of lines that form a closed shape. The following example shows how to create different types of shapes using a polygon.

Example

<Polygon Points="100,0 75,75 100,100 125,75"
                 Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="2" Fill="AliceBlue"/> 
<Polygon Points="100,100 125,125 100,200 75,125"
                 Stroke="Yellow" StrokeThickness="2" Fill="Black"/>
<Polygon Points="100,100 125,75 200,100 125,125"
                 Stroke="Red" StrokeThickness="2" Fill="Azure"/>
<Polygon Points="100,100 75,125 0,100 75,75"
                 Stroke="Blue" StrokeThickness="2" Fill="BlanchedAlmond"/>

Custom shape using Path

Now I will tell you how to create custom shapes using Path and the Data property of the Path element. The Path class is used to draw curves and complex shapes. It is described using the Geometry object. There are a various types of Geometry objects that describe shapes: LineGeometry, RectangleGeometry, and EllipseGeometry.

Example 1: Draw Triangle

<Path Data="M50.0000011012083,0.5L99.5000021617096,99.5L0.500000040707015,99.5z" Stroke="Black"
  StrokeThickness="4" Fill="Yellow"/>

Example 2: Draw Arc

<Path Data="M25,0.5C38.5309753417969,0.5,49.5,9.23044681549072,49.5,20" Stroke="Black"
 StrokeThickness="5" Fill="Yellow" Margin="0,33,0,0"/>

Example 3: Draw Arrow

<Path Data="M20.125,32L0.5,12.375L10.3125,12.375L10.3125,0.5L29.9375,0.5L29.9375,12.375L39.75,12.375z" 
  Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="5" Fill="Yellow" Margin="162,33,0,0" />

In the above example we gave the path data from Microsoft Expression Blend.

Happy programming!!

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If you have any queries, mail me at Sujeet.bhujbal@gmail.com.