Graphics Class

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. To perform a bit-block transfer of color data from the screen to the drawing surface of the Graphics object, see CopyFromScreen. For more information about how to draw images with a Graphics object, see Working with Images, Bitmaps, Icons, and Metafiles.

In addition, you can manipulate the coordinate system used by the Graphics object. For more information on the coordinate system and how to manipulate it, see Coordinate Systems and Transformations.

The following code example is designed for use with Windows Forms and requires a PaintEventArgs object. The PaintEventArgs object is named e and is a parameter of the Paint event handler. The code performs the following actions:

• Creates an image from a JPEG file. The file is named SampImag.jpg and is located 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 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);
}

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

Reference

Other Resources