Can a PictureBox show animated GIF in Windows Application?

Question

I would like to show a animated gif in .Net Winform. How to do this?

I previously used VB 6.0.

Answer 1

1. Put a PictureBox on a form and then specify a picture file with a Gif extension. Or:

2. Programatically animate a gif Image loading frames into a PictureBox with code, here's the Gif class:

VB.NET

 Imports System.Drawing.Imaging
 Imports System.Drawing

 Public Class GifImage
    Private gifImage As Image
    Private dimension As FrameDimension
    Private frameCount As Integer
    Private currentFrame As Integer = -1
    Private reverse As Boolean
    Private [step] As Integer = 1

    Public Sub New(path As String)
        gifImage = Image.FromFile(path)
        'initialize
        dimension = New FrameDimension(gifImage.FrameDimensionsList(0))
        'gets the GUID
            'total frames in the animation
        frameCount = gifImage.GetFrameCount(dimension)
    End Sub

    Public Property ReverseAtEnd() As Boolean
        'whether the gif should play backwards when it reaches the end
        Get
            Return reverse
        End Get
        Set
            reverse = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Function GetNextFrame() As Image

        currentFrame += [step]

        'if the animation reaches a boundary...
        If currentFrame >= frameCount OrElse currentFrame < 0 Then
            If reverse Then
                [step] *= -1
                '...reverse the count
                    'apply it
                currentFrame += [step]
            Else
                currentFrame = 0
                '...or start over
            End If
        End If
        Return GetFrame(currentFrame)
    End Function

    Public Function GetFrame(index As Integer) As Image
        gifImage.SelectActiveFrame(dimension, index)
        'find the frame
        Return DirectCast(gifImage.Clone(), Image)
        'return a copy of it
    End Function
End Class

C#

using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.Drawing;

public class GifImage
{
    private Image gifImage;
    private FrameDimension dimension;
    private int frameCount;
    private int currentFrame = -1;
    private bool reverse;
    private int step = 1;

    public GifImage(string path)
    {
        gifImage = Image.FromFile(path);
        //initialize
        dimension = new FrameDimension(gifImage.FrameDimensionsList[0]);
        //gets the GUID
        //total frames in the animation
        frameCount = gifImage.GetFrameCount(dimension);
    }

    public bool ReverseAtEnd {
        //whether the gif should play backwards when it reaches the end
        get { return reverse; }
        set { reverse = value; }
    }

    public Image GetNextFrame()
    {

        currentFrame += step;

        //if the animation reaches a boundary...
        if (currentFrame >= frameCount || currentFrame < 0) {
            if (reverse) {
                step *= -1;
                //...reverse the count
                //apply it
                currentFrame += step;
            }
            else {
                currentFrame = 0;
                //...or start over
            }
        }
        return GetFrame(currentFrame);
    }

    public Image GetFrame(int index)
    {
        gifImage.SelectActiveFrame(dimension, index);
        //find the frame
        return (Image)gifImage.Clone();
        //return a copy of it
    }
}

C# usage:

Open a Winform project drag and drop in a PictureBox, a Timer and a Button, with the GifImage.cs the class is shown above.

public partial class Form1: Form
{
    private GifImage gifImage = null;
    private string filePath = @"C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\ExampleAnimation.gif";
     
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        //a) Normal way
        //pictureBox1.Image = Image.FromFile(filePath);

        //b) We control the animation
        gifImage = new GifImage(filePath);
        gifImage.ReverseAtEnd = false; //dont reverse at end
    }

    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        //Start the time/animation
        timer1.Enabled = true;
    }

    //The event that is animating the Frames
    private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        pictureBox1.Image = gifImage.GetNextFrame();
    }
}