brought over from the c++ board... windows graphics help.

[uvacow]

hey, i am working on a dialog based mfc app, and am starting to get into graphics for the first time. I have never used them, and can not find any good tutorials around. Here is what i have done so far and what i think i need to do.

I have made a picture control, assigned it a member variable and all. I imagine i will have to somehow iniatiate a image object, assign it to the control, then i will have to draw it into the box. But how?

And i am going to add a twist or 2 to it.

The filename is going to come from an editbox elsewhere on the dialog. I can't imagine this will be hard to do, just open up a variable name, not a hard coded name, but it means the image will have to be somehow dynamic. Will this be different for me?

And finally, i will be wanting to do more then bitmaps. JPegs and Gifs are all in my sights. I understand that by default, mfc only supports bitmaps, but have been looking around the net and found a good msdn article that claims to take all the trouble out of using different formats. However, again with my lack of graphics knowledge, i still feel lost.

I am using c++ to do this (in case you did not know by now, ms vc6.0) . Any help anyone can give me would be GREAT. thanks again.

cow

[Cat]

It's quite easy. I suggest you do the following:

1) Use a static frame for the picture

2) Derive a child class thusly:

class CImageWnd : public CStatic{
public:
  // Constructors, destructor, copy constructor and assignment op
  // Remember, your assignment op should call the base version.
  // If you don't want copy or assignment, make them protected
  OnPaint();
  // OnPaint() is where you do the magic
private:
  // Data members.
};

3) Create a member of the child class, and do this in the dialog's DoDataExchange:

DDX_Control(pDX, IDC_NAME, m_name);

4) Implement the child class' OnPaint. I usually start off with something that just fills the paint area blue. You can do what you like.

5) I recommend using either MFC's CImage, or a good third party graphics library like http://www.paintlib.de/paintlib/ . Paintlib has more power, and it's got a pretty decent interface.