VB.NET Draw Button Over Another Button - vb.net

Question

Is it possible to draw a button on top of another button (besides just having a second button and moving it relative to the first button's Left and Top position)? I'm trying to make a little small optional question mark (button) appear in the corner of the main button that will take various actions if clicked.
Otherwise I was toying with the idea of just drawing the question mark on top of the button and getting the relative position of the mouse OnClick, then taking the action if the HasLink property is true and the mouse is in a specific area.
These will be dynamically created as well.
Public Class clsButton
Inherits Button
Private Property HasLink As Boolean = False
Public Sub New(ByVal Image As Image, ByVal ShowLink As Boolean)
Me.BackgroundImage = Image
Me.BackgroundImageLayout = ImageLayout.Center
Me.Height = 100
Me.Width = 200
If ShowLink Then DrawLink()
End Sub
Public Sub DrawLink()
Dim bmpBitmap As New Bitmap(Me.Width, Me.Height)
Dim graGraphic As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bmpBitmap)
Dim i As New Bitmap("c:\temp\question_mark.png")
graGraphic.DrawImage(i, (Me.Width - i.Width) - 5, 5)
Me.Image = bmpBitmap
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub OnClick(e As EventArgs)
MyBase.OnClick(e)
Debug.WriteLine("X: " & MousePosition.X & " Y: " & MousePosition.Y)
Debug.WriteLine(Me.PointToClient(MousePosition))
End Sub
End Class

Answer 1

I think drawing that on top is a good idea and easily accomplished. The entire idea as such may be debatable, but I don't think it's necessarily bad.
Here is a quick example how the event flow can be set up.
Public Class SpecialButton
Inherits Button
Private flagIsHovering As Boolean = False
Private ReadOnly Property r As Rectangle
Get
Return New Rectangle(Me.Width - 20, 5, 15, 15)
End Get
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property clickInSpecialArea(p As Point) As Boolean
Get
Return (Me.r.Contains(p))
End Get
End Property
Private iconBG_normal As Color = Color.White
Private iconBG_hover As Color = Color.DarkOrange
Protected Overrides Sub OnPaint(pevent As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs)
MyBase.OnPaint(pevent)
With pevent.Graphics
.FillRectangle(New SolidBrush(If(Me.flagIsHovering, iconBG_hover, iconBG_normal)), r)
.DrawRectangle(Pens.Blue, r)
.DrawString("?", New Font("Verdana", 8), Brushes.Blue, r.Location)
End With
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub OnMouseMove(mevent As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs)
MyBase.OnMouseMove(mevent)
Dim oldState As Boolean = Me.flagIsHovering
Me.flagIsHovering = (r.Contains(mevent.Location))
If oldState <> Me.flagIsHovering Then Me.Invalidate()
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub OnMouseLeave(e As System.EventArgs)
MyBase.OnMouseLeave(e)
If Me.flagIsHovering Then
Me.flagIsHovering = False
Me.Invalidate()
End If
End Sub
End Class
Form test code:
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim ct As New SpecialButton
ct.Text = "Text"
ct.Location = New Point(200, 20)
ct.Size = New Size(100, 30)
Me.Controls.Add(ct)
AddHandler ct.MouseClick, Sub(sender_ As Object, e_ As MouseEventArgs)
MessageBox.Show(
"Special click: " &
DirectCast(sender_, SpecialButton).clickInSpecialArea(e_.Location).ToString)
End Sub
End Sub
End Class

Answer 2

You can just position a small button with a question mark on it in the corner of your main button, lets say the small question mark button is called butq , now use the code below:
butq.BringToFront