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Flicker Free Drawing In MFC

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25 Mar 2002CPOL1 min read 1.1M   18K   314   234
A simple animation example which is used to show CMemDC in several modes

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A simple animation example which is used to show CMemDC in several mode

Introduction

Removing flicker from an MFC application is well-covered territory. You can find the topic addressed in books, and on-line. However, the techniques presented are somewhat complicated and are usually difficult to add to an existing application. One often-presented technique is called double buffering. Double buffering allows the new screen to be drawn in off-screen memory, and then the completed screen is bit-blited back onto the physical screen.

This article presents a class called CMemDC that encapsulates most of the issues associated with writing to off-screen buffers. Adding CMemDC to an existing application or MFC Active X control is nearly trivial.

Modifying an MFC Application to Use CMemDC

  • Add the file memdc.h in your project.
  • Add the line #include "memdc.h" to stdafx.h.
  • Add a windows message handler for WM_ERASEBKGND.
  • Change the code in the message handler as follows:
    C++
    // Change this code
    BOOL CExampleView::OnEraseBkgnd(CDC* pDC) 
    {
          // TODO: Add your message handler code here and/or call default
          return CView::OnEraseBkgnd(pDC);
    }
     
    // To this code
    BOOL CExampleView::OnEraseBkgnd(CDC* pDC) 
    {
          return FALSE;
    }
  • Change your OnDraw code to the following:
    C++
    void CExampleView::OnDraw(CDC* dc)
    {
        CMemDC pDC(dc);
        CExampleDoc* pDoc = GetDocument();
        ASSERT_VALID(pDoc);
        // TODO: add draw code for native data here - use pDC 
         //as the device context to draw to
    }

Compile your code after you've made these changes and you will notice that the flicker you had seen before is gone.

Modifying a MFC Active X Control to Use CMemDC

To add CMemDC support, you follow the instruction for adding the support to an application, however you make one small change in the OnDraw function.

C++
void CParticleTestCtlCtrl::OnDraw(CDC* pdc, const CRect& rcBounds, 
                                  const CRect& rcInvalid)
{
    CMemDC pDC(pdc, &rcBounds);
    // TODO: add draw code for native data here
    // - use pDC as the device context to draw 
}

The only substantial difference is that the rcBounds is passed to the CMemDC constructor.

Source Code

C++
#ifndef _MEMDC_H_
#define _MEMDC_H_
 
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
// CMemDC - memory DC
//
// Author: Keith Rule
// Email:  keithr@europa.com
// Copyright 1996-2002, Keith Rule
//
// You may freely use or modify this code provided this
// Copyright is included in all derived versions.
//
// History - 10/3/97 Fixed scrolling bug.
//               Added print support. - KR
//
//       11/3/99 Fixed most common complaint. Added
//            background color fill. - KR
//
//       11/3/99 Added support for mapping modes other than
//            MM_TEXT as suggested by Lee Sang Hun. - KR
//
//       02/11/02 Added support for CScrollView as supplied
//             by Gary Kirkham. - KR
//
// This class implements a memory Device Context which allows
// flicker free drawing.
 
class CMemDC : public CDC {
private:       
    CBitmap    m_bitmap;        // Offscreen bitmap
    CBitmap*       m_oldBitmap; // bitmap originally found in CMemDC
    CDC*       m_pDC;           // Saves CDC passed in constructor
    CRect      m_rect;          // Rectangle of drawing area.
    BOOL       m_bMemDC;        // TRUE if CDC really is a Memory DC.
public:
    
    CMemDC(CDC* pDC, const CRect* pRect = NULL) : CDC()
    {
        ASSERT(pDC != NULL); 
 
        // Some initialization
        m_pDC = pDC;
        m_oldBitmap = NULL;
        m_bMemDC = !pDC->IsPrinting();
 
        // Get the rectangle to draw
        if (pRect == NULL) {
             pDC->GetClipBox(&m_rect);
        } else {
             m_rect = *pRect;
        }
 
        if (m_bMemDC) {
             // Create a Memory DC
             CreateCompatibleDC(pDC);
             pDC->LPtoDP(&m_rect);
 
             m_bitmap.CreateCompatibleBitmap(pDC, m_rect.Width(), 
                                                  m_rect.Height());
             m_oldBitmap = SelectObject(&m_bitmap);
 
             SetMapMode(pDC->GetMapMode());
 
             SetWindowExt(pDC->GetWindowExt());
             SetViewportExt(pDC->GetViewportExt());
 
             pDC->DPtoLP(&m_rect);
             SetWindowOrg(m_rect.left, m_rect.top);
        } else {
             // Make a copy of the relevant parts of the current 
             // DC for printing
             m_bPrinting = pDC->m_bPrinting;
             m_hDC       = pDC->m_hDC;
             m_hAttribDC = pDC->m_hAttribDC;
        }
 
        // Fill background 
        FillSolidRect(m_rect, pDC->GetBkColor());
    }
    
    ~CMemDC()      
    {          
        if (m_bMemDC) {
             // Copy the offscreen bitmap onto the screen.
             m_pDC->BitBlt(m_rect.left, m_rect.top, 
                           m_rect.Width(),  m_rect.Height(),
                  this, m_rect.left, m_rect.top, SRCCOPY);            
             
             //Swap back the original bitmap.
             SelectObject(m_oldBitmap);        
        } else {
             // All we need to do is replace the DC with an illegal
             // value, this keeps us from accidentally deleting the 
             // handles associated with the CDC that was passed to 
             // the constructor.              
             m_hDC = m_hAttribDC = NULL;
        }       
    }
    
    // Allow usage as a pointer    
    CMemDC* operator->() 
    {
        return this;
    }       
 
    // Allow usage as a pointer    
    operator CMemDC*() 
    {
        return this;
    }
};
 
#endif

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer (Senior)
United States United States
I work at Tektronix in Beaverton OR. I've been programming for fun since 1975 (I started while in a Computer Explorer Scout group in Spokane WA). I've been programming in C since 1979 and I've been working professionally since 1983.

I really enjoy www.codeproject.com. It has saved me an incredible amount of time. I only hope my small contributions have given back some of what I've taken.

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralEllipse over Bitmap in mem DC Pin
JackSIL4-Aug-04 8:46
JackSIL4-Aug-04 8:46 
GeneralThankyou! Pin
TheChad11013-Jul-04 7:58
TheChad11013-Jul-04 7:58 
GeneralImplementing a flicker-free CStatic ticker-tape Pin
amit_wtf15-May-04 4:06
sussamit_wtf15-May-04 4:06 
QuestionDoes this work to CFormView? Pin
lily0lin5-May-04 8:35
lily0lin5-May-04 8:35 
Generalunhandled exception Pin
authornet25-Mar-04 10:14
authornet25-Mar-04 10:14 
GeneralRe: unhandled exception Pin
authornet25-Mar-04 10:30
authornet25-Mar-04 10:30 
GeneralSetWorldTransform() not compatible with CMemDC Pin
Jason Douglas16-Mar-04 5:05
professionalJason Douglas16-Mar-04 5:05 
QuestionHow About With Bitmapped Background Pin
Spoodles12-Feb-04 4:17
Spoodles12-Feb-04 4:17 
Has anyone gotten this to work in dialogs with bitmapped backgrounds? My dialogs are bitmapped with LoadImage, and (to make things even more fun) are resizable. Needless to say the flicker is out of hand when resizing these dialogs. Dropping in this memdc code as is causes my dialog backgrounds to be completely transparent.

Anyone tried the Maintaining a Permanent Bitmap idea offered at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dngdi/html/msdn_flicker.asp
Generalnot working today Pin
gopya25-Jan-04 23:35
gopya25-Jan-04 23:35 
GeneralRe: not working today Pin
gopya26-Jan-04 0:40
gopya26-Jan-04 0:40 
QuestionWhat about transparency? Pin
zerotolorance16-Jan-04 2:06
zerotolorance16-Jan-04 2:06 
Generalthe dialog app cannot work. Pin
Member 30972814-Jan-04 4:53
Member 30972814-Jan-04 4:53 
GeneralRe: the dialog app cannot work. Pin
John M. Drescher14-Jan-04 5:21
John M. Drescher14-Jan-04 5:21 
GeneralRe: the dialog app cannot work. Pin
Member 30972814-Jan-04 17:13
Member 30972814-Jan-04 17:13 
GeneralRe: the dialog app cannot work. Pin
John M. Drescher16-Jan-04 5:07
John M. Drescher16-Jan-04 5:07 
GeneralRe: the dialog app cannot work. Pin
Carsten Leue16-Jan-04 11:35
Carsten Leue16-Jan-04 11:35 
GeneralIt doesn't work.Help me! Pin
william__chan11-Jan-04 4:48
william__chan11-Jan-04 4:48 
GeneralError in SetWindowExt and SetViewportExt used in OnPrepareDC Pin
zhuoran4-Jan-04 15:04
zhuoran4-Jan-04 15:04 
QuestionAre there improvements to this somewhere? Pin
prcarp15-Dec-03 2:44
prcarp15-Dec-03 2:44 
GeneralGreat! Pin
tbrammer27-Nov-03 0:14
professionaltbrammer27-Nov-03 0:14 
GeneralJust get a blank window! Pin
Leif Bloomquist25-Nov-03 3:44
Leif Bloomquist25-Nov-03 3:44 
GeneralRe: Just get a blank window! Pin
rw10426-Nov-03 1:48
rw10426-Nov-03 1:48 
GeneralRe: Just get a blank window! Pin
Leif Bloomquist26-Nov-03 3:18
Leif Bloomquist26-Nov-03 3:18 
GeneralRe: Just get a blank window! Pin
Anonymous5-Apr-04 15:12
Anonymous5-Apr-04 15:12 
QuestionCRectTracker Disappears with CMemDC? Pin
cdsmith21-Nov-03 8:27
cdsmith21-Nov-03 8:27 

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