Time to refresh a GUI is too long ! I see the flickering. [SOLVED]

[Jikoo]

Hello,

Today, I will be critical !

I would like to talk about the time to refresh a window is too long when I resize it (using mouse on bottom right corner). Why ?

I tested MSpaint and Notepad on XP SP2, it's the same thing !... but not with Wordpad, Internet Explorer, VLC, Mozilla Firefox and most of programs.

Why AutoIt use an "old" method to refresh GUI when I resize it ?

Why AutoIt redraw all controls after each resizing ?

Is it the same thing on VISTA ?

A basic script. Use mouse on bottom right corner to resize the GUI and play with the resizing GUI.

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>

Opt('MustDeclareVars', 1)

Local $msg

GUICreate("My GUI", 200, 200, -1, -1, $WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW)

GUICtrlCreateListView("Demo", 10, 10, 180, 160)

GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

While 1
    $msg = GUIGetMsg()
    If $msg = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE Then ExitLoop
WEnd

GUIDelete()

Edited November 19, 2008 by Jikoo

[Airwolf]

I just tested your script on my XP SP3 box, and resizing was instantaneous.

[Jikoo]

Thanks Airwolf,

Not for me. For example, I see a difference between Notepad and Worpad resizing on XP SP2 ! Same difference between AutoIt compiled script and VLC !

It's not instantaneous for Notepad and AutoIt compiled script because all controls are redraw, not on Wordpad and VLC. Sure, methods of resizing are different.

Edited November 19, 2008 by Jikoo

[youknowwho4eva]

I notice slightly more flicker with notepad then wordpad, and I have SP3. I'm wondering if there's a pause redraw function?

[Jikoo]

Yes youknowwho4eva,

That's what I am talking about : the flickering. Add Sleep(100) in the main loop is not the best solution ! ...And using of @SW_LOCK/@SW_UNLOCK is not easy for GUI resizing.

Edited November 19, 2008 by Jikoo

[youknowwho4eva]

What about checking to see if the window size is changing, locking the gui, then when the changes stop unlock it.

[Jikoo]

The problem is known long time ago. Look at here

A good example of this problem

Edited November 19, 2008 by Jikoo

[Jikoo]

youknowwho4eva,

It could be a solution. Do you think it's possible to use this method with Opt("GUIOnEventMode", 0) ;0=disabled, 1=OnEvent mode enabled because my program have more than 2000 lines !!!

Edited November 19, 2008 by Jikoo

[Jikoo]

I found the solution here.

Use the extended window style $WS_EX_COMPOSITED and the flickering will go away.

Const $WS_EX_COMPOSITED = 0x2000000

[Jikoo]

A simple example done by myself : (No disco-club flickering ! )

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include <GuiListView.au3>

Opt('MustDeclareVars', 1)

Global Const $WS_EX_COMPOSITED = 0x2000000
Global $msg
Global $GUI = GUICreate("My GUI", 200, 200, -1, -1, $WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, $WS_EX_COMPOSITED)
Global $lv = GUICtrlCreateListView("Demo", 10, 10, 180, 160, BitOR($GUI_SS_DEFAULT_LISTVIEW, $LVS_NOCOLUMNHEADER))
Global $hLV = ControlGetHandle($GUI, "", $lv)

For $y = 0 to 10
    _GUICtrlListView_AddItem($hLV, "Item : " & $y)
Next

_GUICtrlListView_SetColumnWidth($hLV, 0, $LVSCW_AUTOSIZE)

GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

While 1
    $msg = GUIGetMsg()
    If $msg = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE Then ExitLoop
WEnd

GUIDelete()

Edited November 19, 2008 by Jikoo