Thread: How redrawing works

  1. #1
    Chad Johnson
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    May 2004
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    Question How redrawing works

    Hi,

    I've been wondering ever since I started programming - how does windows redraw windows? Like when you drag a window across the screen, how does it redraw the stuff that's 'behind' that window?

  2. #2
    Registered User kryptkat's Avatar
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    look in to wm_paint and the message que

    edit

    also look up dib.

  3. #3
    Magically delicious LuckY's Avatar
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    Essentially, the "behind" windows are notified by Windows that some portion of it has been invalidated (the portion that has become "uncovered" as a result of the foreground window moving to reveal it), then the "behind" window repaints itself so it doesn't appear blank where the foreground window moved from. A perfect example of this is when an app stops responding and you drag other apps across it; it is hanging and, thus, no longer responding to messages and the dragged over parts just turn white.

  4. #4
    train spotter
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    How the screen 'looks' is contained in a BMP.

    A Device Context (DC) contains the BMP and the other current Graphical Device Interface objects (GDI) used. (pen, brush and font ect)

    Your app (or the OS) sends a paint msg to the window that needs repainting. It does this by 'invaldating' the area (usually a rectangle).

    In the paint handler (WM_PAINT) you call BeginPaint().
    BeginPaint() gets the section of the DC for the current window that is invalid (needs painting) and redaws it based on the window class (background colour, font ect) or your code (image you have stored in a seperate DC). The BeginPaint() sets the area to valid again.

    EndPaint() cleans up the GDI reources.
    "Man alone suffers so excruciatingly in the world that he was compelled to invent laughter."
    Friedrich Nietzsche

    "I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars......the rest I squandered."
    George Best

    "If you are going through hell....keep going."
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  5. #5
    Chad Johnson
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    hmmm...that's pretty interesting how they do all that. I'll look into those links you posted, Lucky.

    What kind of data structures in memory are the graphics for windows stored in?

  6. #6
    train spotter
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    >>What kind of data structures in memory are the graphics for windows stored in?

    Device Contexts
    "Man alone suffers so excruciatingly in the world that he was compelled to invent laughter."
    Friedrich Nietzsche

    "I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars......the rest I squandered."
    George Best

    "If you are going through hell....keep going."
    Winston Churchill

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