.NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell

Name

Cursor

Synopsis

This class wraps a Win32 cursor—the image that represents the mouse pointer. Cursor is a slightly curious class in that it wraps up both GDI-like functionality and global system cursor/pointer behavior.

Unlike Win32, .NET cursors are static images—you cannot create them from animations. You can, however, create cursors from COM IPicture objects, files and streams, and Win32 cursor handles. You can also retrieve a Win32 handle using the Handle property, or get a copy of the underlying Win32 object with the CopyHandle() method. Predefined cursors are available as static properties on the Cursors class.

Similar to most of the System.Drawing objects, Cursor objects are a scarce system resource, and therefore you should manage their lifetimes carefully, calling Dispose() when you are finished to release the resources back to the OS. Also in keeping with the drawing objects, you can paint the cursor imagery on a System.Drawing.Graphics surface using the Draw( ) and DrawStretched() methods. The object’s dimensions can be obtained from the Size property.

Each Control object has a Cursor property, which you can use to the set the default cursor shown while the mouse is over the control. You can also temporarily set the cursor to something else (such as the Cursors.WaitCursor) by using the static Current property. This overrides any other settings until you either set the Current value back to Cursors.Default or call the DoEvents() method.

You can find the screen coordinates ...