Saving drawing graphics

[Steve Marshall]

Hi all,

I am converting an app which used a picturebox to draw graphs etc onto, then
saved them to a file. I can certainly draw things onto a picturbox in
VB.NET, but how do I save them to a file? I've looked at Bitmap objects,
which support saving, but can't see a way to grab what I have drawn and make
a bitmap from it, or whatever. Anybody done this?

Thanks for any suggestions

Remove numerals from e-mail address if e-mailing.

[Larry Lard]

Steve Marshall wrote:

Hi all,

I am converting an app which used a picturebox to draw graphs etc onto, then
saved them to a file. I can certainly draw things onto a picturbox in
VB.NET, but how do I save them to a file? I've looked at Bitmap objects,
which support saving, but can't see a way to grab what I have drawn and make
a bitmap from it, or whatever. Anybody done this?

<http://www.bobpowell.n et/gdiplus_faq.htm >

Read and be enlightened :)

--
Larry Lard
Replies to group please

[Steve Marshall]

Thanks for that Larry. I had actually found that page myself. But I'm
still not completely enlightened...

OK, I get that a PictureBox is not the "right" way to draw things in VB.
But it's still not clear to me what IS the right way! All I need to do is
draw a grid and a few lines, plus a bit of text, then save it to a file. It
ain't rocket science, which is why I was using a simple PictureBox in VB6,
which of course worked beautifully. I haven't looked at every article on
the page, but thus far have not ofund a "recipe" for simple drawing and
saving to file.

"Larry Lard" <la*******@hotm ail.com> wrote in message
news:11******** *************@g 47g2000cwa.goog legroups.com...

Steve Marshall wrote:

Hi all,

I am converting an app which used a picturebox to draw graphs etc onto,
then
saved them to a file. I can certainly draw things onto a picturbox in
VB.NET, but how do I save them to a file? I've looked at Bitmap objects,
which support saving, but can't see a way to grab what I have drawn and
make
a bitmap from it, or whatever. Anybody done this?

<http://www.bobpowell.n et/gdiplus_faq.htm >

Read and be enlightened :)

--
Larry Lard
Replies to group please

[Robin Tucker]

It's quite easy really:

Public Sub CreateAndSave()

Dim theBitmap As New Bitmap(400, 400)
Dim theGraphics As Graphics

theGraphics = Graphics.FromIm age(theBitmap)
theGraphics.Fil lEllipse(System .Drawing.Brushe s.Blue, New Rectangle(0, 0,
100, 100))

theBitmap.Save( "c:\theFile.bmp ", System.Drawing. Imaging.ImageFo rmat.Bmp)

End Sub

Dim theGraphics as Graphics = PictureBox1.
"Steve Marshall" <st****@westnet .net.au> wrote in message
news:11******** *******@quartz. westnet.net.au. ..

Thanks for that Larry. I had actually found that page myself. But I'm
still not completely enlightened...

OK, I get that a PictureBox is not the "right" way to draw things in VB.
But it's still not clear to me what IS the right way! All I need to do is
draw a grid and a few lines, plus a bit of text, then save it to a file.
It ain't rocket science, which is why I was using a simple PictureBox in
VB6, which of course worked beautifully. I haven't looked at every
article on the page, but thus far have not ofund a "recipe" for simple
drawing and saving to file.

"Larry Lard" <la*******@hotm ail.com> wrote in message
news:11******** *************@g 47g2000cwa.goog legroups.com...

Steve Marshall wrote:

Hi all,

I am converting an app which used a picturebox to draw graphs etc onto,
then
saved them to a file. I can certainly draw things onto a picturbox in
VB.NET, but how do I save them to a file? I've looked at Bitmap
objects,
which support saving, but can't see a way to grab what I have drawn and
make
a bitmap from it, or whatever. Anybody done this?

<http://www.bobpowell.n et/gdiplus_faq.htm >

Read and be enlightened :)

--
Larry Lard
Replies to group please

[Larry Lard]

Steve Marshall wrote:

Thanks for that Larry. I had actually found that page myself.
So much for my easy way out :)
But I'm
still not completely enlightened...

OK, I get that a PictureBox is not the "right" way to draw things in VB.
But it's still not clear to me what IS the right way! All I need to do is
draw a grid and a few lines, plus a bit of text, then save it to a file.
If by this you mean that you are doing things entirely
programmaticall y, with no user interaction, then yes, a PictureBox is
inappropriate. VB6 needed to do things this way because it had no way
of manipulating a conceptual 'image' - the only thing if could draw on
was a PictureBox. However, with .NET, we have a formal Image and a
Graphics, and all a PictureBox is is a way of *displaying to the user*
an Image. If we don't need to involve the user, we don't need a
PictureBox at all.

Once you have these concepts straight it's just a matter of finding the
framework functionality that does what you want.

It
ain't rocket science, which is why I was using a simple PictureBox in VB6,
which of course worked beautifully. I haven't looked at every article on
the page, but thus far have not ofund a "recipe" for simple drawing and
saving to file.
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Drawing. Imaging

' in a procedure now:
Dim bmp As Bitmap = New Bitmap(128, 128,
Imaging.PixelFo rmat.Format24bp pRgb)

Dim g As Graphics = Graphics.FromIm age(bmp)

g.Clear(Color.A liceBlue)

g.DrawRectangle (Pens.Bisque, 30, 60, 40, 50)
g.FillRectangle (Brushes.LightG reen, 100, 40, 10, 60)
g.DrawString("s ome text", New Font(FontFamily .GenericSansSer if,
12, FontStyle.Bold, GraphicsUnit.Po int), Brushes.Red, 50, 50)

bmp.Save("c:\te mp\mynewimage.b mp", ImageFormat.Bmp )

Things to note:

- Bitmap is a subclass of Image, so look in both classes' docs for
interesting stuff
- Graphics.FromIm age is obviously the key method for obtaining a
drawing surface (a Graphics) for a given Image object
- Note that there is no Form in sight here - this code would work just
as well in a Class Library as in a Windows Forms app

"Larry Lard" <la*******@hotm ail.com> wrote in message
news:11******** *************@g 47g2000cwa.goog legroups.com...

Steve Marshall wrote:

Hi all,

I am converting an app which used a picturebox to draw graphs etc onto,
then
saved them to a file. I can certainly draw things onto a picturbox in
VB.NET, but how do I save them to a file? I've looked at Bitmap objects,
which support saving, but can't see a way to grab what I have drawn and
make
a bitmap from it, or whatever. Anybody done this?

<http://www.bobpowell.n et/gdiplus_faq.htm >

Read and be enlightened :)

--
Larry Lard
Replies to group please

[Steve Marshall]

Many thanks for the responses. I'm sure they will set me on the path of
drawing righteousness!

Cheers

"Steve Marshall" <st****@westnet .net.au> wrote in message
news:11******** *******@quartz. westnet.net.au. ..

Thanks for that Larry. I had actually found that page myself. But I'm
still not completely enlightened...

OK, I get that a PictureBox is not the "right" way to draw things in VB.
But it's still not clear to me what IS the right way! All I need to do is
draw a grid and a few lines, plus a bit of text, then save it to a file.
It ain't rocket science, which is why I was using a simple PictureBox in
VB6, which of course worked beautifully. I haven't looked at every
article on the page, but thus far have not ofund a "recipe" for simple
drawing and saving to file.

"Larry Lard" <la*******@hotm ail.com> wrote in message
news:11******** *************@g 47g2000cwa.goog legroups.com...

Steve Marshall wrote:

Hi all,

I am converting an app which used a picturebox to draw graphs etc onto,
then
saved them to a file. I can certainly draw things onto a picturbox in
VB.NET, but how do I save them to a file? I've looked at Bitmap
objects,
which support saving, but can't see a way to grab what I have drawn and
make
a bitmap from it, or whatever. Anybody done this?

<http://www.bobpowell.n et/gdiplus_faq.htm >

Read and be enlightened :)

--
Larry Lard
Replies to group please