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Device context overview

Classes: wxBufferedDC, wxBufferedPaintDC, wxDC, wxPostScriptDC, wxMetafileDC, wxMemoryDC, wxPrinterDC, wxScreenDC, wxClientDC, wxPaintDC, wxWindowDC.

A wxDC is a device context onto which graphics and text can be drawn. The device context is intended to represent a number of output devices in a generic way, with the same API being used throughout.

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Some device contexts are created temporarily in order to draw on a window. This is true of wxScreenDC, wxClientDC, wxPaintDC, and wxWindowDC. The following describes the differences between these device contexts and when you should use them.

  • wxScreenDC. Use this to paint on the screen, as opposed to an individual window.
  • wxClientDC. Use this to paint on the client area of window (the part without borders and other decorations), but do not use it from within an wxPaintEvent.
  • wxPaintDC. Use this to paint on the client area of a window, but only from within a wxPaintEvent.
  • wxWindowDC. Use this to paint on the whole area of a window, including decorations. This may not be available on non-Windows platforms.

To use a client, paint or window device context, create an object on the stack with the window as argument, for example:

  void MyWindow::OnMyCmd(wxCommandEvent& event)
  {
    wxClientDC dc(window);
    DrawMyPicture(dc);
  }
Try to write code so it is parameterised by wxDC - if you do this, the same piece of code may write to a number of different devices, by passing a different device context. This doesn't work for everything (for example not all device contexts support bitmap drawing) but will work most of the time.