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 | | GDI+ Programming in C# and VB .NET by Nick Symmonds ISBN-10: 9781590590355 ISBN-10: 1-59059-035-X ISBN-13: 9781590590355 ISBN-13: 978-1-59059-035-5 Paperback 2002-06-25 Apress Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description GDI+ both wraps arcane API calls and extends them for much easier use. Programmers no longer have to make do with the familiar but simplistic VB 6.0 drawing model, nor do they have to dig down into the GDI API in order to get any real work done. In GDI+, Microsoft has come up with a complete, but still extensible, set of classes for all of the .NET programmer's drawing needs. GDI+ requires different techniques than the Windows GDI API, as it is completely stateless. GDI+ Programming in C# and VB .NET starts out with an explanation of GDI+ and how it relates to GDI. The book then dives deep into the GDI+ namespaces and classes. The book begins with basic drawing in the early chapters and then explains in an understandable manner more complex drawing techniques, including paths, gradients, alpha blends, matrix operations, and transformations.
Later chapters cover how to work with bitmaps and other images, as well as advanced drawing and printing techniques. The final two chapters are devoted to useful projects that show the subject matter of the previous chapters in real-world examples. Throughout GDI+ Programming in C# and VB .NET, author Nick Symmonds not only explains the different namespaces and classes relating to GDI+, but also takes the time to cover the best practices of graphics programming. Woven throughout the book are numerous examples that tie together different aspects of programming in .NET that teach programmers how to get the best possible speed and efficiency out of their code. | ||
Reviews | ||
Simultaneously disappoints and delights This book is a good introduction to GDI and GDI+ programming. If you are a novice in GDI (as I am) and things like device contexts and selecting objects are unfamiliar to you, then this book should be good for you. (Note: I'm a novice when it comes to GDI. I've more than 30 years programming experience.) I had purchased this book so that I could do one thing: Copy a window from the screen to the printer. It turns out that this is a surprisingly complicated operation. That, of course, is not the book's fault but Microsoft's. A sample program (downloadable from Apress's website) allows you to copy a window to the printer ... but! The "but" is that the image that ends up on the printer is stretched and deformed. The book does not even mention device independent bitmaps (DIBs). That's a surprise for an introductory text on graphics. I also had a lot of trouble following his explanation on the various coordinate systems. OK, enough of the negatives. The positives are that this book is well written. The author appears to try hard to impart useful information in a breezy and easy to read manner. I really did learn a lot about GDI and GDI+ and graphics. I learned more about this subject in the few hours that I spent reading the book than I learned in several years of fumbling. Some reviewers complain about having to bounce between VB and C#. I found this not to be a problem. One reviewer said that this is a rehash of the information in the MSDN. I found this not to be so. More to the point, the author of this book organized this subject in a manner that is comprehensible to the novice. Such is not the case with the MSDN which is "a prerequisite for itself." In conclusion, the book simultaneously disappoints and delights. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could. | ||
Nothing exceptional If you know how to read MSDN documentation, this book is worthless for you. Otherwise is a good beginners introduction. | ||
Mixed Bag Jumping From VB to C# Back and Forth For anyone interested in VB Graphics, the book provides information, but then immediately jumps to the same information in C#, causing an almost total loss of concentration. I presume the same occurs for anyone interested in C#. If the writer were to remove all reference to C#, it might be a good text on VB Graphics, vice versa would probably do the same for C#. I'll just keep looking for a good graphics text for VB.NET elsewhere. I can produce excellent graphics with VB6, I just hope I can eventually do as well with VB.NET. | ||
Not Very Good Just a rehash of the material on MSDN. Not much to this -- don't waste your money. | ||
Another Quality Book from APress I'm currently writing a comprehensive review of the VB.NET books for the visualbasic.about.com web site (you can see the full review of Nick's book there after November 20) but I wanted to respond to the anonymous reviewer who said that the book was lacking in quality right now in this forum. It most certainly is not lacking in quality. APress consistently publishes quality books and this is no exception. I downloaded the source files and ran several at random just to check whether there were any problems. The examples I ran worked perfectly. The content is well formatted with clear examples and great organization. And further, Microsoft really doesn't have that much documentation of GDI+ on MSDN and what they do have isn't really helpful as a tutorial. (Actually, the best alternatives to Nick's book right now are chapters from some of the comprehensive VB.NET books.) Full disclosure: Other than a friendly relationship, I don't work for APress and I don't even know Nick. I've just read his book to allow me to review it. | ||