Red-Green light indicators in C# .NET Form

Question

What's the quickest way to show a red/green light indicator on a C# form?

I originally thought about using radio buttons, but not sure how to set the color of the dot, only the foreground/background text.

Then I thought about drawing a circle. Couldn't find a toolbox shape for that, and didn't want to write code just to draw the circle.

Basically, I'm writing a little application specific monitor, that shows a red light if certain services are down, or certain web services are not responding.

Thanks,

Neal Walters

This is what I have so far using a square button instead of a circle. The code is just what I want, I just want a round shape.

        if (allGood)
        {
            btnIISIndicator.BackColor = Color.Green; 
        }
        else
        {
            btnIISIndicator.BackColor = Color.Red; 
        }

Answer 1

I would just make a panel or PictureBox and set the Background image to that of a red/green light. Either make the images in PhotoShop/PaintShop/MS Paint or download some stock images off the web.

Whenever the status changes, just swap the image out.

Answer 2

I just use some standard images and put them in a picturebox. works great on our apps.

Answer 3

Create red and green bitmaps and use the PictureBox control to show the bitmaps.

Answer 4

There are some excellent icons and graphics for this sort of thing... Here's a link here. Plenty more available for free or for some small charge.

Answer 5

Use an image, but theres some great icons available here so you dont have to actually make some.

Answer 6

Not exactly related to the question at hand, but your code could be shortened somewhat using the ternary operator as such:

btnIISIndicator.BackColor = allGood ? Color.Green : Color.Red;

But that all depends on your (or your organization's) definition of readability and maintainability.