System windows controls label

Label Control [System.Windows.Forms.Label]

Creates a clickable text box in a GUI application. Use a label to display text strings.

• MSDN Page: System.Windows.Forms.Label
• Default Event: Click

Tip: To display multiple lines of text, use a Textbox or RichTextBox control.

Important properties of the Label object

• Text
• Font
• ForeColor
• BackColor
• BorderStyle
• Image
• TextAlign
• Enabled
• AutoSize

Important Events:

• Click

Important properties of the Label object

Text property: Determines the text in the label

Use the Text property to set, get, or change the text that is displayed on the label.

Value type: System.String
Default value: (None)

To set the initial value of Text property, that is, the value that appears when the GUI app starts, use the Properties pane. On the Text row, type the text that appears on the Label.

NOTE: When you change the value of the Text property of a Label in the Properties pane, PowerShell Studio changes the name of the variable that stores the Label object in your script. For example, if you change the Text property value to ‘Close’, PowerShell Studio changes all references of the Label variable to $LabelClose.

To get or change the label text while the GUI app is running, use the Text property in the event handlers in your script.

To get the text in the label:

To set the text in the label use an assignment statement. You can include variables and expressions in the assigned string value.

$Name = 'PowerShell'
$LabelMain.Text = "Hello, $Name"

To change the text in the label:

$LabelMain_click = {
 
    # Get the text currently in the label and evaluate it.
    If ($LabelMain.Text -eq 'Click')
    {
        $LabelMain.Text = 'Clicked' # Change the text in the label.
    }
    Else
    {
        $LabelMain.Text = 'Click'
    }
}

Tip: To direct Windows PowerShell to evaluate an expression before inserting the result in a string, use a subexpression. The syntax is $( <expression ).

For example:

Without subexpression:

$LabelMain.Text = "Building automation on (Get-Process 'PowerShell Studio').MainWindowTitle"

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With subexpression:

$LabelMain.Text = "Building automation on $((Get-Process 'PowerShell Studio').MainWindowTitle)"

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Font property: Determines the style and size of the label text

Use the Font property to get, set, or change the font of the label text.

Value Type: System.Drawing.Font
Default: Microsoft Sans Serif 8.25.

To set the font easily, in the Properties pane for the Label, in the Font row, click the ellipsis (…) and then use the Font selector.

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To display the properties of the Font object, in the Properties pane, click the Font group arrow.

To script a font change, set the Font property to a string with the Font name, size, and style.

$labelMain.Font = 'Segoe UI, 15.75pt, style=Bold, Italic'

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To determine other properties of the font, create a System.Drawing.Font object.

$ClickFont = [System.Drawing.Font]::new('Microsoft Sans Serif', 8.25, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular)
$ClickedFont = [System.Drawing.Font]::new('Segoe UI', 16, [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Italic)
 
$labelMain_Click={
    if ($labelMain.Text -eq 'Click')
    {
        $labelMain.Text = 'Clicked'
        $labelMain.Font = $ClickedFont
    }
    else
    {
        $labelMain.Text = 'Click'
        $labelMain.Font = $ClickFont
    }
}

Tips:

• To enlarge the label automatically to fit its contents, set the AutoSize property of the Label to $True.
• When scripting a font, be sure to set the Font property of the Label. The Text property of the Label does not have a Font property.

ForeColor property: Determines the color of the label text.

Use the ForeColor property to get, set, and change the color of the text in the label.

Values: Any [System.Drawing.Color] type
Default: ControlText (Black)

To set the ForeColor property in the Properties pane.

To set ForeColor property in a script:

$Label1.ForeColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::Red

-or-

$Label1.ForeColor = "Red"

BackColor property: Determines the color of the background in the label

Use the BackColor property to get, set, and change the color of the label background.

Value Type: [System.Drawing.Color]
Default: (Determined by the operating system. Typically ‘Control’)

To set the BackColor property in a script:

If ($Label1.BackColor -eq 'Control')
{
    $Label1.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::ControlDark
}

-or-

$Label1.BackColor = "ControlDark"

TextAlign property: Determines the position of the text in the label

Use the TextAlign property to get, set, or change the alignment of the text relative to the label border.

Value Type: [System.Drawing.ContentAlignment] enumeration
Values: TopLeft, TopCenter, TopRight, MiddleLeft, MiddleCenter, MiddleRight, BottomLeft, BottomCenter, BottomRight
Default: MiddleCenter
To set the TextAlign property in the Property pane:

To set the TextAlign property in a script:

$label1.TextAlign = 'TopRight'

BorderStyle property: Determines the style and thickness of the label border.

Use the BorderStyle property to get, set, or change the label border. Label borders are fixed. The end-user cannot resize any label border style.

Value Type: [System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle] enumerator.
Values: None, FixedSingle, Fixed3D
Default: None

$label1.BorderStyle = 'None'

-or-

$label1.BorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.BorderStyle]'None'

$label1.BorderStyle = 'FixedSingle'

$label1.BorderStyle = 'Fixed3D'

Image property: Determines that image that appears on the label

Use this property to display an icon, bitmap, or image of any type on the label.

Value Type: [System.Drawing.Image]
Default: (None; Same as Form.BackgroundImage)

To add an image from a file to a label, use Image property in the Property pane. Click the ellipsis and, in File Explorer, select a file. PowerShell Studio converts the file into a bitmap string (64-bit byte array) so it is independent of the local system.

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On the label:

Tip: If you are using a label to display an image without text, consider using a PictureBox object.

Note: To add an image to a label, PowerShell Studio converts the image to a 64-bit string and then uses the FromBase64String static method to pass a byte array as the System.Drawing.Image type. It does not pass a path or use any local system values.

Enabled property: Determines whether the label can be clicked

Use the Enabled property to temporarily enable or disable the click feature of the label. For example, use Enabled = $false to disable the click feature after the label has been clicked or while a function is running.

Value Type: [System.Boolean] ($True, $False).
Default: $True

To completely disable the click feature of the label, omit the Click event handler or enter an empty script block.

To set the Enabled property in the script:

For example:

If ($Label1.Text -eq 'Click')
{
    $Label1.Text -eq 'Clicked'
    $Label1.Enabled = $false
}

AutoSize property: Adjusts the label length to enclose its contents

The AutoSize property automatically adjusts the length of the label (horizontally) to enclose the string in the value of its Text property.

Use an AutoSize value of $True when the contents of the label are not predetermined, such as when the label displays a value that is returned at runtime or the label can display text in multiple languages. To resize the label or set a fixed size, use $False.

Value Type: [System.Boolean] ($True, $False).
Default: $True  (PowerShell Studio 5.2.124 and later. Otherwise, $False)

When the value of AutoSize is $True, Windows automatically resizes the label at runtime to display the text within the label borders.

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The size of the label in the designer might not indicate its actual size when the form is displayed.

When the value of AutoSize is $False, you determine the label size, which is fixed, regardless of its content. To resize the label, the value of AutoSize must be $False.

AutoSize extends only the length of the label (horizontally) and the Label control does not have a MultiLine property. If the text exceeds the length of the form, the label and its text are truncated.

To use an ellipsis to prevent truncated text, set the value of AutoEllipsis to $True and AutoSize to $False.

To wrap the text in a Label to the next line, set AutoSize to $False and then increase the height of the label (vertically).

Important Events:

Click event: Determines how the label responds when a user clicks it.

The event handler for the Click event is called when the label is clicked.

IMPORTANT:  The Click event is included because it’s the default event for the Label control. However, because the Label is static, not obviously clickable, and provides no user feedback when clicked, best practice guidelines recommend using a Button or LinkLabel control for most clicking actions.

$label1_Click={
    $label1.Enabled = $false
    $label1.Text = "Disabled"
}

Before Click event:

After Click event:

Note about events:

To discover which control called the event script block, use the $this automatic variable. The $this variable is particularly useful when you have multiple controls calling the same event script block. The $this variable tells which control triggered the event, so you can respond in a control-specific way.

For example, this Click event script block disables the control that called it:

$Disable_Click={ 
    $this.Enabled = $false
}

Looking for more Spotlight articles? In PowerShell Studio, in the Toolbox or in the Properties pane, right-click a control and then click ‘View Spotlight Article’.

June Blender is a technology evangelist at SAPIEN Technologies, Inc. You can reach her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or follow her on Twitter at @juneb_get_help.

Example markup: XAML

<Window x:Class=»WpfApplication4.MainWindow»
xmlns=»http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation»
xmlns:x=»http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml»
Title=»MainWindow» Height=»350″ Width=»525″>
<Grid>
<Label
Content=»Label»
HorizontalAlignment=»Stretch»
Margin=»10,10,10,10″
VerticalAlignment=»Center»
Background=»Beige»
Padding=»5″
FontSize=»30″

Loaded=»Label_Loaded»

/>
</Grid>
</Window>

Example code: C#

using System;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;

namespace WpfApplication4
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}

private void Label_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// … Get label.
var label = sender as

Label

;
// … Set date in content.
label.Content = DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString();
}
}
}

Last Updated :
20 Mar, 2025

In Windows Forms, Label control is used to display text on the form. It does not interact with user input or handle mouse or keyboard events. Labels are used to provide information to the user within the form such as description, message, or details. These are the key points about labels.

• Display Text or Image: It is mainly used to show the text or image in form.
• Non-Interactive: It is non-interactive and just shows the text not like buttons and textbox.
• Positioning: Labels can be placed anywhere on the form we can use drag and drop and also specify their coordinates using code.
• Auto-Size: Labels can automatically adjust their size and fit according to the content when we set the AutoSize property as true.

Ways To Create Labels in Windows Forms

There are mainly two ways to create labels in the Windows Forms:

• Design Time (Drag and drop)
• Run Time (Custom code)

Design Time ( Drag and drop)

This is the easiest way to create labels in Windows Forms using Visual Studio we just have to open the toolbox and drag and drop the label on the form in the designer and further we can change the appearance of the label using the properties. Follow these steps to create a label.

Step 1: Now locate the project with the name here we are using the default name which is Form1 and it will open a form in the editor that we can further modify.

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In the image, we have two files that are open one Design and there is Form1.cs these two play a major role. We use the Form 1.cs file for the custom logic.

Step 2: Now open a Toolbox go to the view > Toolbox or ctrl + alt + x.

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Step 3: Choose labels from the common controls in Toolbox as shown below:

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And then drag-and-drop in the form:

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Step 4. Now open the properties of the label, press right-click on the label and go to properties it will open Solution Explorer now we can change the appearance and behaviour of the label in properties.

Now we can change the appearance and behaviour of the label such as background and text color or font size. These are the changes we made to the label

Similarly, we can create different labels here is the output

Output:

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Run Time (Custom Code)

In this method, we are going to modify the Form1.cs file and add custom code modification in C# to change the appearance of the button according to our requirements. Follow these step-by-step processes.

Step 1: Create a label using the Label() constructor provided by the Label class.

// Creating label using Label class

Label mylab = new Label();

Step 2: After creating the Label, set the properties of the Label provided by the Label class.

// Set the text in Label

mylab.Text = “GeeksforGeeks”;

// Set the location of the Label

mylab.Location = new Point(222, 90);

// Set the AutoSize property of the Label control

mylab.AutoSize = true;

// Set the font of the content present in the Label Control

mylab.Font = new Font(“Calibri”, 18);

// Set the foreground color of the Label control

mylab.ForeColor = Color.Green;

// Set the padding in the Label control

mylab.Padding = new Padding(6);

Step 3: And last add this Label control to form using the Add() method.

// Add this label to the form

this.Controls.Add(mylab);

Step 4: Now double-click on the form in Design and it will open the Form.cs file where code is written in C#. Here the program file is Form 1.cs Now write this code in Form1.cs file

Form1.cs file:

C#

namespace WinFormsApp1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Creating and setting the label 
            Label mylab = new Label();
            mylab.Text = "GeeksforGeeks";
            mylab.Location = new Point(222, 90);
            mylab.AutoSize = true;
            mylab.Font = new Font("Calibri", 18);
            mylab.ForeColor = Color.Green;
            mylab.Padding = new Padding(6);

            // Adding this control to the form 
            this.Controls.Add(mylab);
        }
    }
}

Output:

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Properties of Label Control