GDI+ Programming in C# and VB .NET Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. Edition

I am a professional programmer working in the UK on a globally used product formerly written in C++ (GDI) and VB.I am currently performing a complete rewrite - about the 4th time on this particular product (Custom Graphics Board & 286's (!) Dos and VGA, Windows and now .NET/GDI+).Although I'm a successful graphics programmer I have always had the same problem with graphics programming ...Finding my way round the libraries. Yes my code's good and does what it's supposed to. Yes I know what I'm doing when I have the tools to hand. But can I always find everything I need when I rummage round in the toolbox? My guess is that I have been "banging in nails with a screwdriver end" for years on previous projects, because I haven't the commercial time to delivery I need to check all the possibilities before the deadline looms.And then GDI+ and .NET - which seems pretty much a prayer answered from a productivity perspective. Plus this fine book which lays all the tools out neatly so I can appreciate fully what they do before I use them. Actually that's a lie. I read a bit of the book and then jump in and apply the next bit that's immediately useful - curiosity and practicality often getting the better of concerted reading. But I will make it to the back cover at some point as there might be something amazingly useful I'm missing.Easy to read, well paced, logical sequence...I could go on. But basically, it's a great book for this subject.Noticed other people's comments on broken code samples and rehashing of online GDI+ information. All I can say is I read through the samples very carefully (without bothering to run them) and used them to significantly improve the calling sequence and richness of my own code. This is not a "What functions are there" dictionary. It's a "How to use GDI+ productively" guide - and what could be better than that?

I just finished reading this book and reviewing it for builder.com, and I am very pleased.While the indexing clearly needs work, Nick's obvious skill and experience as a programmer shines through this book as if it were printed on onion skin. The examples are artfully and completely done, and I had no problem compiling or running any of them. I would suggest readers check their CLR version before attempting to run the examples.This book is clearly a must-have for any serious graphics programmer.

If you know how to read MSDN documentation, this book is worthless for you. Otherwise is a good beginners introduction.

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.

Help, it needs a lot more figures !

Getting good information on Windows GDI is a challenge. Particularly, if you're trying to work with both the older Win32 GDI, and the new GDI+, in the same application. This book provided a decent push in the right direction, though I wish it had more example applications.