Getting and Setting Line Caps and Styles in GDI+

This article has been excerpted from book "Graphics Programming with GDI+".

We create a Windows application and a MainMenu control with three menu items on the form. We call these menu items GetCapStyle, LineDashStyle, and LineDashCap, respectively, and write menu click event handlers by double-clicking on them. On the GetCapStyle menu item click event handler, we will read different line caps and generate output using these line caps; on the LineDashStyle menu item click event handler, we will generate lines with different dash styles; and on the LineDashCap menu item click event handler, we will generate output with different line dash caps.

The GetCapStyle menu item click event handler is shown in Listing 9.2. We create a pen and set the starting and ending caps using the StartCap and EndCap properties of the Pen Object, and then we draw a line.

LISTING 9.2: Getting line caps

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.Data;

using System.Drawing;

using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace GettingSetting_Line_CapsStyles

{

    public partial class Form1 : Form

    {

        public Form1()

        {

            InitializeComponent();

        }

        private void Form1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)

        {

            Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics();

            g.Clear(this.BackColor);

            // Create a pen

            Pen blackPen = new Pen(Color.Black, 10);

            // Set line styles

            blackPen.StartCap = LineCap.Triangle;

            blackPen.EndCap = LineCap.Triangle;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 10, 200, 10);

            blackPen.StartCap = LineCap.Square;

            blackPen.EndCap = LineCap.AnchorMask;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 50, 200, 50);

            blackPen.StartCap = LineCap.DiamondAnchor;

            blackPen.EndCap = LineCap.DiamondAnchor;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 70, 200, 70);

            blackPen.StartCap = LineCap.Flat;

            blackPen.EndCap = LineCap.Flat;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 110, 200, 110);

            blackPen.StartCap = LineCap.RoundAnchor;

            blackPen.EndCap = LineCap.RoundAnchor;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 130, 200, 130);

            blackPen.StartCap = LineCap.Square;

            blackPen.EndCap = LineCap.Square;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 150, 200, 150);

            blackPen.StartCap = LineCap.SquareAnchor;

            blackPen.EndCap = LineCap.SquareAnchor;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 170, 200, 170);

            blackPen.StartCap = LineCap.Flat;

            blackPen.EndCap = LineCap.Flat;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 190, 200, 190);

            // Dispose of objects

            blackPen.Dispose();

            g.Dispose();

        }

    }

}

The output of Listing 9.2 looks like Figure 9.4, in which the lines have different caps.

The LineDashStyle menu item click event handler code is given in Listing 9.3. We create a pen and set the dash style and dash offset values using the DashStyle and DashOffset properties of the Pen object, and then we draw lines.

FIGURE 9.4: Reading line caps

LISTING 9.3: Getting line dash styles

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.Data;

using System.Drawing;

using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace GettingSetting_Line_CapsStyles

{

    public partial class Form1 : Form

    {

        public Form1()

        {

            InitializeComponent();

        }

        private void Form1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)

        {

            Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics();

            g.Clear(this.BackColor);

            // Create a pen

            Pen blackPen = new Pen(Color.Black, 6);

            // Set line styles

            blackPen.DashStyle = DashStyle.Dash;

            blackPen.DashOffset = 40;

            blackPen.DashCap = DashCap.Triangle;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 10, 500, 10);

            blackPen.DashStyle = DashStyle.DashDot;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 30, 500, 30);

            blackPen.DashStyle = DashStyle.DashDotDot;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 50, 500, 50);

            blackPen.DashStyle = DashStyle.Dot;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 70, 500, 70);

            blackPen.DashStyle = DashStyle.Solid;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 70, 500, 70);

            // Dispose of objects

            blackPen.Dispose();

            g.Dispose();

        }

    }

}

FIGURE 9.5: Reading line dash styles

Figure 9.5 shows the output from Listing 9.3. The lines have different dash styles.

The GetCapStyle menu item click event handler code is given in Listing 9.4. We create a pen and set the dash cap styles using the DashCap property of the Pen object.

LISTING 9.4: Getting dash caps

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.Data;

using System.Drawing;

using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace GettingSetting_Line_CapsStyles

{

    public partial class Form1 : Form

    {

        public Form1()

        {

            InitializeComponent();

        }

        private void Form1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)

        {

            Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics();

            g.Clear(this.BackColor);

            // Create a pen

            Pen blackPen = new Pen(Color.Black, 10);

            // Set DashCap styles

            blackPen.DashStyle = DashStyle.DashDotDot;

            blackPen.DashPattern = new float[] { 10 };

            blackPen.DashCap = DashCap.Triangle;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 10, 500, 10);

            blackPen.DashCap = DashCap.Flat;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 30, 500, 30);

            blackPen.DashCap = DashCap.Round;

            g.DrawLine(blackPen, 20, 50, 500, 50);

            // Dispose of objects

            blackPen.Dispose();

        }

    }

}

Figure 9.6 shows the output from Listing 9.4. The lines have different dash caps: triangular, flat, and round, respectively.

FIGURE 9.6: Getting line dash caps

Conclusion

Hope the article would have helped you in understanding Getting and Setting Line Caps and Styles in GDI+. Read other articles on GDI+ on the website.

This book teaches .NET developers how to work with GDI+ as they develop applications that include graphics, or that interact with monitors or printers. It begins by explaining the difference between GDI and GDI+, and covering the basic concepts of graphics programming in Windows.