InformIT: Visual C++ 6 Unleashed

Table of Contents

Summary

In this chapter, you saw how Windows maintains a common interface to applications to produce consistent output across a range of devices, such as screens, printers, and plotters.

You saw how the CDC class wraps an HDC device-context handle and provides member functions for the vast majority of API functions that use the device context.

You learned how device-context objects can be created directly for various devices, such as screens and printers, or obtained directly from windows to give you access to the client or entire rendering area of the window.

You looked at how to use the special CDC-derived classes that are used to get access to client areas, to handle window painting, or to play metafiles.

You saw how to create the basic GDI-rendering objects, such as pens and brushes, to perform a wide range of graphical drawing operations using a variety of line-drawing and area-filling styles and techniques. You also saw how to use the various coordinate storing classes and regions with the drawing functions to perform coordinate manipulation and clipping of the rendered output.

You saw how to draw text in a number of fonts using the various text-drawing functions of the device context. You also looked at how to create fonts, as well as the role of the font mapper in the creation of fonts.

Finally, you learned how to load device-dependent bitmaps from the application's resources or create and use them with memory-device contexts. You examined the limitations of device-dependent bitmaps and how to overcome these limitations with device-independent bitmaps with their additional information structures.

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