storing and retrieving colors with database, C# windows forms application

Question

I'm making a windows application with C#. I'm using the color dialog box for the user to select a color. I'd like to store that color in a database, and be able to retrieve it later on, and be able to use that color in the user interface.

What approach would you suggest to me?

Answer 1

Store the hex color in a database field nvarchar(7) ... the input would be #ffffff as an example.

EDIT: varchar(7) would work just as well, and take up less space in your DB.

You could also do varchar(6) if you're super concerned about db size and append the # symbol in code.

EDIT: if you need to convert it to a control color, you can use System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml("")

Dim MyColor as string = '[retrieve from database]
MyControlColor = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml(MyColor)

Now, this is untested but you could try the following function to convert the System.Drawing.Color TO a Hex code.

Private Function GetHexColor(colorObj as System.Drawing.Color) as String
    return "#" & Hex(colorObj.R) & Hex(colorObj.G) & Hex(colorObj.B)
End function

Answer 2

I use the functions System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb() and System.Drawing.Color.ToArgb() to convert the color from and to integer, and save it as int on the database

Answer 3

i found a way to get the hex code of a selected color with ColorDialog

ColorDialog col = new ColorDialog();

col.ShowDialog();

string color = col.Color.ToArgb().ToString("x");

color = color.Substring(2, 6);

color = "#" + color;

MessageBox.Show(color);

button1.BackColor = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml(color);