Hans Dietrich Software

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A new Terms of Use has been posted.

Recent Updates

• XCrashReport
  • v2.0 Add exception handling and crash reporting to your app. Now with 64-bit support and SMTP (gmail) send.
• XMessageBox
  • v1.13 Fixes problem with modal behavior.
• XDisplayImage 1.3
  • Lightweight API to display icon, bmp, gif, jpg, and png images without using a third-party library or DLL. Now supports overwriting images with standard Win32 text controls.
• XListCtrl
  • v1.6.6 is here! bug fixes and many new features.

New Additions

• XHexViewCtrl
  • Win32 control to display hex data. Customizable display, including colors, fonts, and scrolling marquee.
• XListBoxCS
  • C# listbox with per-item colors, bold, printf-style formatting, autoscroll, and built-in context menu. Perfect for color-coding log output.
• Resource Inspector
  • View resources contained in any Win32 PE file, including custom types, Win32 types, names, and language id.
• XHTMLCtrl
  • Ultra-lean HTML control to display fonts, colors, hyperlinks, and images. Non-MFC control, can be used in MFC or non-MFC app.
• Random Password Generator
  • Generate multiple passwords of any length. Customizable character set
• XDate
  • Gregorian, ISO, and fiscal date classes, 220 APIs, all in one convenient header file. Non-MFC, may be used in any C++ program.
      • CGregorianDate
      • CIsoDate
      • CFiscalDate
    

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• Software Catalog
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• Custom Software
• Recommended Tools
• Terms of Use

XDisplayImage

A frequent requirement in an application is to load and display images – typically, bmp, gif, jpg, png, and ico formats. The images may be embedded in the application as a resource, or may be external, loaded from a file on disk, or even loaded from a remote file via the internet. XDisplayImage implements a mechanism for loading and displaying images in any of these formats, from an embedded resource or external file or url, without requiring any third-party library or DLL.

There are three restrictions:

1. On Vista, all icon formats except Vista packed icons can be used with XDisplayImage.
2. On Win2000, icon images cannot be used (they can on XP and Vista).
3. TIFF files cannot be used.

Demo Application

The demo application shows how XDisplayImage can load and display images from resources (the top four images and the icons are all embedded resources) or from an external file (over the internet):

You may request a specific icon size - if the ico file contains multiple formats - or request the default size (usually 32 x 32). In the demo, the second icon is displayed using the default size.

The next screenshot shows a sample About box, with text of Win32 Static text boxes overlaying the image (which fills the entire client area):

XDisplayImage APIs

To display an image from a resource, use this API for integer resource IDs:

// DisplayImageFromResource()
//
// Purpose:     Load the image from the resource specified by nImageResourceId
//              and display it in the area specified by rect.
//              
// Parameters:  hWndParent         - parent window
//              hResModule         - handle of module that contains resource
//              nImageResourceType - resource type (can be any integer value not 
//                                   already used by system)
//              nImageResourceId   - resource id
//              nCtrlId            - child control identifier
//              rect               - position of image window in client 
//                                   coordinates
//              bTransparent       - TRUE = set image background transparent
//              bSendToBack        - TRUE = move image behind other controls
//
// Returns:     HWND - handle of window created to display image, or 0 if error;  
//                     the caller is responsible for destroying this window when 
//                     it is no longer needed.

Or this API for string resource IDs:

// DisplayImageFromResource()
//
// Purpose:     Load the image from the resource specified by lpszImageResourceId
//              and display it in the area specified by rect.
//              
// Parameters:  hWndParent            - parent window
//              hResModule            - handle of module that contains resource
//              lpszImageResourceType - resource type - can be any string or
//                                      MAKEINTRESOURCE value
//              lpszImageResourceId   - resource id - can be any string or
//                                      MAKEINTRESOURCE value
//              nCtrlId               - child control identifier
//              rect                  - position of image window in client 
//                                      coordinates
//              bTransparent          - TRUE = set image background transparent
//              bSendToBack           - TRUE = move image behind other controls
//
// Returns:     HWND - handle of window created to display image, or 0 if error;  
//                     the caller is responsible for destroying this window when 
//                     it is no longer needed.

To display an image from a file or URL, use this API:

// DisplayImageFromUrl()
//
// Purpose:     Load the image from the url specified by lpszImageUrl
//              and display it in the area specified by rect.
//              
// Parameters:  hWndParent   - parent window
//              lpszImageUrl - url string
//              nCtrlId      - child control identifier
//              rect         - position of image window in client 
//                             coordinates
//              bTransparent - TRUE = set image background transparent
//              bSendToBack  - TRUE = move image behind other controls
//
// Returns:     HWND - handle of window created to display image, or 0 if error;  
//                     the caller is responsible for destroying this window when 
//                     it is no longer needed.	

In addition to the http:// protocol, the file:// protocol may also be used:

    file:///C:/temp/ie8_logo.gif

To display an icon from a resource, use this API for integer resource IDs:

// DisplayIconFromResource()
//
// Purpose:     Load the icon from the resource specified by nImageResourceId
//              and display it in the area specified by rect.
//              
// Parameters:  hWndParent       - parent window
//              hResModule       - handle of module that contains resource
//              nImageResourceId - resource id
//              nCtrlId          - child control identifier
//              rect             - position of image window in client 
//                                 coordinates
//              nIconWidth       - icon width, or 0 to use system default
//              nIconHeight      - icon height, or 0 to use system default
//              bTransparent     - TRUE = set image background transparent
//              bSendToBack      - TRUE = move image behind other controls
//
// Returns:     HWND - handle of window created to display image, or 0 if error;  
//                     the caller is responsible for destroying this window when 
//                     it is no longer needed.

Or this API for string resource IDs:

// DisplayIconFromResource()
//
// Purpose:     Load the icon from the resource specified by lpszImageResourceId
//              and display it in the area specified by rect.
//              
// Parameters:  hWndParent          - parent window
//              hResModule          - handle of module that contains resource
//              lpszImageResourceId - resource id - can be any string or
//                                    MAKEINTRESOURCE value
//              nCtrlId             - child control identifier
//              rect                - position of image window in client 
//                                    coordinates
//              nIconWidth          - icon width, or 0 to use system default
//              nIconHeight         - icon height, or 0 to use system default
//              bTransparent        - TRUE = set image background transparent
//              bSendToBack         - TRUE = move image behind other controls
//
// Returns:     HWND - handle of window created to display image, or 0 if error;  
//                     the caller is responsible for destroying this window when 
//                     it is no longer needed.

Tips & Tricks

1. XDisplayImage can display all icon types except Vista packed icons.
2. You must call OleInitialize() or CoInitialize() before calling any XDisplayImage API.
3. Don't forget to destroy the XDisplayImage child window when it's no longer needed.
4. You can compile XDisplayImage.cpp with or without MFC. To compile with MFC, un-comment the line

   #include "stdafx.h"

   at the beginning of XDisplayImage.cpp, and make sure that XDisplayImage.cpp is set to Use precompiled headers - be sure to do this for all configurations.

Revision History

Version 1.3 - 2009 June 11

• You can now overlay control with standard Win32 static text boxes

Version 1.2 - 2009 June 4

• Control now sends WM_LBUTTONDOWN, WM_LBUTTONUP, and WM_MOUSEMOVE messages to parent
• Added VS2008 project

Version 1.1 - 2009 May 29

• Added API for string / MAKEINTRESOURCE
• Added ability to display icons

Version 1.0 - 2009 May 1

• Initial release

Buy latest version

Buy XDisplayImage 1.3 license – $20.00 per developer