Thread: Question About Using WM_PAINT

Easiest way is to declare the variables in the scope of the windows procedure itself....you have the option of making them static so they wont go out of scope with each message that's processed.


A more fiddly way of doing this without resorting to globals is via the last parameter of the CreateWindow() API.........you can cast a pointer to an object or struct to (LPVOID)....then in your windows procedure, pick up the lParam of the WM_CREATE message and cast it to LPCREATESTRUCT.....then copy this pointer to a static LPCREATESTRUCT (say "s_lpcs" for instance)....then whenever you need access to the object pointer it can be found from s_lpcs->lpCreateParams....dont forget to cast back to the pointer you require........

All in all its easier to declare locally, or keep the vars global......... this is where MFC (and other C++ wrappers) shines as least privilage & class scope keep things real neat and controllable....

>>You're supposed to do all your drawing in there right?

No. You should only copy your DC to the DC returned (or in the paintstruct) with a BitBlt().
All other drawing should be finished and only then the result displayed with a WM_PAINT msg call.
This gives a smooth update without flickering.

Create your drawing objects, CompatibleDC's, CompatibleBitmap's on your WM_CREATE or WM_INIT msg. Thus keeping them in the callback. Remember any variable in the callback must be static (as Fordy said).

Try a search for paint functions here as there is plenty of code posted.