The Graphics class provides methods for drawing objects to the display device. A Graphics is associated with a specific device context.

You can obtain a Graphics object by calling the Control.CreateGraphics method on an object that inherits from System.Windows.Forms.Control, or by handling a control's Control.Paint event and accessing the Graphics property of the System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs class. You can also create a Graphics object from an image by using the FromImage method. For more information about creating a Graphics object, see How to: Create Graphics Objects for Drawing.

You can draw many different shapes and lines by using a Graphics object. For more information about how to draw lines and shapes, see the specific DrawGraphicalElement method for the line or shape you want to draw. These methods include DrawLine, DrawArc, DrawClosedCurve, DrawPolygon, and DrawRectangle. For more information about how to draw lines and shapes, see Using a Pen to Draw Lines and Shapes and Using a Brush to Fill Shapes.

You can also draw images and icons by using the DrawImage and DrawIcon methods, respectively. For more information about how to draw images with a Graphics object, see Working with Images, Bitmaps, and Metafiles.

The following code example is designed for use with Windows Forms. It requires PaintEventArgse, which is a parameter of the Paint event handler. The code performs the following actions:

• Creates an image from the SampImag.jpg file in the folder of the example.

• Creates a point at which to draw the upper-left corner of the image.

• Draws the unscaled image to the screen by using a Graphics object.

Private Sub DrawImagePointF(ByVal e As PaintEventArgs)

    ' Create image.
    Dim newImage As Image = Image.FromFile("SampImag.jpg")

    ' Create point for upper-left corner of image.
    Dim ulCorner As New PointF(100.0F, 100.0F)

    ' Draw image to screen.
    e.Graphics.DrawImage(newImage, ulCorner)
End Sub

private void DrawImagePointF(PaintEventArgs e)
{
             
    // Create image.
    Image newImage = Image.FromFile("SampImag.jpg");
             
    // Create point for upper-left corner of image.
    PointF ulCorner = new PointF(100.0F, 100.0F);
             
    // Draw image to screen.
    e.Graphics.DrawImage(newImage, ulCorner);
}

private:
   void DrawImagePointF( PaintEventArgs^ e )
   {
      // Create image.
      Image^ newImage = Image::FromFile( "SampImag.jpg" );

      // Create point for upper-left corner of image.
      PointF ulCorner = PointF(100.0F,100.0F);

      // Draw image to screen.
      e->Graphics->DrawImage( newImage, ulCorner );
   }

Windows 98, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows CE, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Starter Edition

The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 is supported on Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP SP2, and Windows Server 2003 SP1.

.NET Framework

.NET Compact Framework