Move controls when Drag and drop on panel in C#

Question

I want to drag controls on panel and when dragging I want to move the control and get its location to drop on to panel. I have tried out mouseUp, mouseDown, MouseMove events of control.But that is not what I am looking for. I want to fire DragDrop event on panel and move control. Can I do this? If you can give me an idea it will be great. Below is part of my code. Please correct me. Thanks a lot.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace DragnDrop
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
        Control mycontrol;
        int x, y;
        //Form1 f = new Form1();
        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

            foreach (Control c in this.panel1.Controls)
            {
                c.MouseMove += new MouseEventHandler(lblDragger_MouseMove);
                c.MouseUp += new MouseEventHandler(lblDragger_MouseUp);
                c.MouseDown += new MouseEventHandler(pictureBox1_MouseDown);
                c.MouseDoubleClick += new MouseEventHandler(pictureBox1_MouseDown);
            }
            panel2.AllowDrop = true;
            foreach (Control c in this.panel2.Controls)
            {
                c.MouseDown += new MouseEventHandler(pictureBox1_MouseDown);
            }
            panel2.DragOver += new DragEventHandler(panel2_DragOver);
            panel2.DragDrop += new DragEventHandler(panel2_DragDrop);  
        }

        bool isDragging ;
        int  clickOffsetX ;
        int  clickOffsetY ;

        private void pictureBox1_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            //  this.Cursor = Cursors.SizeAll;
            //pictureBox1 = (PictureBox)sender;
            Control c = sender as Control;

            //DoDragDrop(pictureBox1.Image, DragDropEffects.Copy);
            // validation = true;
            isDragging = true;
            clickOffsetX = e.X;
            clickOffsetY = e.Y;
            //  c.DoDragDrop(c, DragDropEffects.Move);  
        }

        private void lblDragger_MouseUp(System.Object sender, System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            isDragging = false;
        }

        private void panel2_DragEnter(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.Data.GetDataPresent(typeof(Bitmap)))
            {
                e.Effect = DragDropEffects.Copy;
            }
            else
            {
                e.Effect = DragDropEffects.None;
            }
        }

        private void panel2_DragOver(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
        {
            e.Effect = DragDropEffects.Move;  
        }

        private void panel2_DragDrop(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
        {
            Control c = e.Data.GetData(e.Data.GetFormats()[0]) as Control;
            mycontrol = c;
            if (c != null)
            {
                c.Location = this.panel2.PointToClient(new Point(e.X, e.Y));
                this.panel2.Controls.Add(c);
            }  
        }

        private void lblDragger_MouseMove(System.Object sender,
          System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            Control c = sender as Control;
            // bool isDragging = true;
            if (isDragging == true)
            {
                c.Left = e.X + c.Left - clickOffsetX;
                c.Top = e.Y + c.Top - clickOffsetY;
            }
        }

        private void panel1_MouseLeave(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Control c = sender as Control;

            c.DoDragDrop(c, DragDropEffects.Move); 
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

If your control is already on the panel and you're simply moving it within the same panel, then using the Mouse events is probably the easiest way to do this. My understanding is that Drag and Drop is more about conveying data between controls or even applications. Drag and drop would be a good fit if you're trying to allow a control to transfer between panels, for example.

---

If you want to do both, then here's one possible idea:

1. Perform move dragging within the same panel using your Mouse events.

2. When you get a MouseLeave event on the panel, begin a DragDrop operation (some examples here) You can either remove the control from the panel or add some sort of 'gray out' effect to indicate that the control may be leaving.

3. Handle the DragDrop on your target panel and place the control at the mouse location of the drop.

This combines the intuitive feel of dragging the control around, while also providing a way to drag 'past' the panel and on to a new surface.