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Summary

The SetCursor API

C# Signature:

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    static extern IntPtr LoadCursorFromFile(string lpFileName);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    static extern IntPtr SetCursor(IntPtr hCursor);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    static extern bool SetSystemCursor(IntPtr hcur, uint id);

    private const uint OCR_NORMAL = 32512;

    static Cursor ColoredCursor;

VB Signature:

<DllImport("user32.dll")> _
Public Shared Function SetCursor(ByVal hCursor As IntPtr) As IntPtr
End Function

User-Defined Types:

None.

Notes:

None.

Tips & Tricks:

Go Here For Even More!! Look at the second post.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/winforms/thread/9ea0bf74-760f-4f40-b64c-0cf7b0a56939/

Sample Code:

//==========C# Only

//========SET WINDOWS CURSOR========================================

        IntPtr cursor = LoadCursorFromFile("example.cur");
        bool ret_val = SetSystemCursor(cursor, OCR_NORMAL);

//========SET WINDOWS CURSOR========================================

//========SET FORM CURSOR========================================

        IntPtr cursor = LoadCursorFromFile("example.cur");
        ColoredCursor = new Cursor(cursor);
        this.Cursor = ColoredCursor;

//========SET FORM CURSOR========================================

//========SET FORM CURSOR FROM IMAGE========================================

        Bitmap hh = (Bitmap)System.Drawing.Bitmap.FromFile("example.png");
        IntPtr ptr = hh.GetHicon();
        Cursor c = new Cursor(ptr);
        this.Cursor = c;

//========SET FORM CURSOR FROM IMAGE========================================

//========CONVERT System.Windows.Forms.Cursor TO System.Windows.Input.Cursor FOR WPF ========

        using System.Drawing;
        using Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles;

        public static Cursor CursorFromImage()  // this returns a System.Windows.Input.Cursor
        {
            Bitmap image = (Bitmap)Bitmap.FromFile(@"c:\cursorImage.bmp");
            IntPtr ptr = image.GetHicon();
            System.Windows.Forms.Cursor c = new System.Windows.Forms.Cursor(ptr);
            SafeFileHandle handle = new SafeFileHandle(c.Handle, false);
            return yourCursor = System.Windows.Interop.CursorInteropHelper.Create(handle);
        }

//===========================================================================================

//========USE AN IMAGE AS A RESOURCE IN WPF FROM AN "IMAGES" FOLDER (casts a PNG file to a Bitmap) =========================

        using System.Drawing;
        using Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles;
        using System.Windows.Resources;

        public static Cursor CursorFromImage()  // this returns a System.Windows.Input.Cursor
        {
            StreamResourceInfo sri = Application.GetResourceStream(new Uri("pack://application:,,,/Images/cursorImage.png"));
            Bitmap image = (Bitmap)Bitmap.FromStream(sri.Stream);
            IntPtr ptr = image.GetHicon();
            System.Windows.Forms.Cursor c = new System.Windows.Forms.Cursor(ptr);
            SafeFileHandle handle = new SafeFileHandle(c.Handle, false);
            return yourCursor = System.Windows.Interop.CursorInteropHelper.Create(handle);
        }

//=============================================================================================================================

Apply a custom cursor using the WPF examples like this:

    this.Cursor = CursorFromImage();  // whole page

    txtMyTextBox.Cursor = CursorFromImage();   // individual controls on mouse over

Alternative Managed API:

System.Windows.Forms.Cursor.Current

Documentation

SetCursor on MSDN