GDI+ Buffers

[nomadicwolf]

Hello All; can someone explain and/or help me with GDI+ buffering:

If I write GDI+ text direct to a graphic it looks nice:
(this code is the _GDIPlus_GraphicsDrawString example:)

#include <GDIPlus.au3>
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>

Example()

Func Example()
    Local $hGUI, $hGraphic

    ; Create GUI
    $hGUI = GUICreate("GDI+", 400, 300)
    GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

    ; Draw a string
    _GDIPlus_Startup()
    $hGraphic = _GDIPlus_GraphicsCreateFromHWND($hGUI)
    _GDIPlus_GraphicsDrawString($hGraphic, "Hello world", 140, 110)

    ; Loop until the user exits.
    Do
    Until GUIGetMsg() = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE

    ; Clean up resources
    _GDIPlus_GraphicsDispose($hGraphic)
    _GDIPlus_Shutdown()
EndFunc   ;==>Example

Now, If I draw it to a Buffer first, as per the _GDIPlus_BitmapCreateFromGraphics code example, the text looks like crap:

#include <GDIPlus.au3>
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>

Example()

Func Example()
    Local $hGUI, $hGraphic

    ; Create GUI
    $g_hGUI = GUICreate("GDI+", 400, 300)
    GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

    ; Draw a string
    _GDIPlus_Startup()


    ;create buffer (from _GDIPlus_BitmapCreateFromGraphics example:)
    $g_hGfx = _GDIPlus_GraphicsCreateFromHWND($g_hGUI) ;create a graphics object from a window handle
    $g_hBitmap = _GDIPlus_BitmapCreateFromGraphics(400, 300, $g_hGfx) ;create a Bitmap object based on a graphics object
    $g_hGfxCtxt = _GDIPlus_ImageGetGraphicsContext($g_hBitmap) ;get the graphics context of the image to draw on image


    _GDIPlus_GraphicsDrawString($g_hGfxCtxt, "Hello world", 140, 110)
    _GDIPlus_GraphicsDrawImage($g_hGfx, $g_hBitmap, 0, 0)

    ; Loop until the user exits.
    Do
    Until GUIGetMsg() = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE

    ; Clean up resources
    _GDIPlus_GraphicsDispose($hGraphic)
    _GDIPlus_Shutdown()
EndFunc   ;==>Example

But, doing some experimenting, I found that if I add the following line before the drawString, that sets the bitmap to white and alpha channel to 100% opaque, then the text looks good again, but then it defeats my purpose as the text is suppose to be draw on top of other graphics.

_GDIPlus_GraphicsClear($g_hGfxCtxt, 0xFF000000  + 0xFFFFFF )


So, 1. what is going on here with the drawing of the text, i.e. was does it look like crap in the buffer, and

2. how do I write "nice" text to a buffer to put it ontop of something else?.

Thank you.
 

P.S. I just atatched pics of what the text looks like on my system in case it is system dependant.

Edited October 9, 2014 by nomadicwolf

[UEZ]

1. use _GDIPlus_GraphicsSetSmoothingMode($g_hGfxCtxt, 4) and _GDIPlus_GraphicsSetTextRenderingHint($g_hGfxCtxt, 4)

2. use an empty bitmap (_GDIPlus_BitmapCreateFromScan0), draw the string to that bitmap and copy this bitmap to the main graphics

3. dispose all GDI+ resources

Br,

UEZ

[nomadicwolf]

Thanks UEZ, that helped a lot.

Notes to others that come across this:

1. _GDIPlus_GraphicsSetSmoothingMode also has smoothing modes 3,4 & 5 that are not listed in the online or downloaded help files but are listed in GDIPlusConstants.au3

2. I found that the smoothing mode made no difference to text rendering and I ended up not using it.

3. _GDIPlus_GraphicsSetTextRenderingHint DID make quite a difference on the rendering of the text. I ended up using mode 3 or $GDIP_TEXTRENDERINGHINT_ANTIALIASGRIDFIT

4. The explanations of these modes for both functions are truncated in the help files but are full in GDIPlusConstants.au3