#712 – Showing a Custom Mouse Cursor While Dragging

You can use a non-default cursor while a drag-and-drop operation is in process by handling the GiveFeedback event.

In the example below, we load a custom cursor from a .cur file located in the same directory as the executing application.

        private void Label_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            DataObject data = new DataObject(DataFormats.Text, ((Label)e.Source).Content);

            DragDrop.DoDragDrop((DependencyObject)e.Source, data, DragDropEffects.Copy);
        }

        private void Label_Drop(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
        {
            ((Label)e.Source).Content = (string)e.Data.GetData(DataFormats.Text);
        }

        private Cursor customCursor = null;

        private void Label_GiveFeedback(object sender, GiveFeedbackEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.Effects == DragDropEffects.Copy)
            {
                if (customCursor == null)
                    customCursor = new Cursor(new FileStream("Earth.cur", FileMode.Open));

                e.UseDefaultCursors = false;
                Mouse.SetCursor(customCursor);
            }
            else
                e.UseDefaultCursors = true;

            e.Handled = true;
        }