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GDI+ question

Hello folks,

I have just developed one button ocx in VB6 using GDI+ library. The button is rendered completely using GDI+ calls. All GDI+ functions are translated and present as API functions in separate bas modul. When I creating a form with a lot of buttons on it, this form takes too long time to load. I started to optimize my code, but after optimization my opinion is that point is in the GDI+ and not in my code. At the end I have used only few calls, just to be sure is not up to my code. And the performance of starting of this form was still terrible, however I have turned off anti aliasing. (approx. 1.7 sec needed for the form with 50 button controls on it on P4 2.8 GHz, 512 RAM).
What can I do now? Is the GDI+ slower than GDI32? Is there any trick how to speed up drawing with GDI+?

I am a little bit dissapointed, because all my applications are based on this GDI+ button and will take a lot of work to convert back to GDI32 >:-/

Thank you for answers in advance!

Best regards,
Bela

[1046 byte] By [Bart73] at [2007-11-20 1:38:52]

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# 1 Re: GDI+ question

Not really. You may leave the form OFF as it's drawing the controls, before the form gets activated. That should speed up the drawing.

dglienna at 2007-11-9 19:54:24 >

# 2 Re: GDI+ question

Not really. You may leave the form OFF as it's drawing the controls, before the form gets activated. That should speed up the drawing.

Also, a Splash Scree might be useful.

dglienna at 2007-11-9 19:55:24 >

# 3 Re: GDI+ question

I just created one splash screen. Now is easy to wait :-)

B.

Bart73 at 2007-11-9 19:56:34 >

# 4 Re: GDI+ question

If you really have alot of loading during the splash screen you could add a progressbar to it and increment a percentage after each operation of loading. This will inform the user that the splash screen is not frozen or locked etc. :)

RobDog888 at 2007-11-9 19:57:28 >

# 5 Re: GDI+ question

Because there are lot of controls on the form, maybe is the best idea to add some movie features to the plash screen ;-)

B.

Bart73 at 2007-11-9 19:58:32 >

# 6 Re: GDI+ question

Because there are lot of controls on the form, maybe is the best idea to add some movie features to the plash screen ;-)

B.
Remember the Splash screen is (at the end of the day) only a splash screen. Yes, it's fine, if you want to make it a bit more funky, but IMHO, I won't go overboard with it.
People want to use your program, and (most likely) only cares about what your program can and can't do, as well as the interface - useability of your program.
Just my 2 cents...:)

HanneSThEGreaT at 2007-11-9 19:59:32 >

# 7 Re: GDI+ question

Remember the Splash screen is (at the end of the day) only a splash screen. Yes, it's fine, if you want to make it a bit more funky, but IMHO, I won't go overboard with it.
People want to use your program, and (most likely) only cares about what your program can and can't do, as well as the interface - useability of your program.
Just my 2 cents...:)

Absolutely. I agreed with this. This with movie was only a joke, but anyway I have one simple splash screen on it.

B.

Bart73 at 2007-11-9 20:00:28 >