GDI+ both wraps arcane API calls and extends them for much easier use. Programmers no longer have to make do with the familiar but simplistic VB 6.0 drawing model, nor do they have to dig down into the GDI API in order to get any real work done. In GDI+, Microsoft has come up with a complete, but still extensible, set of classes for all of the .NET programmers drawing needs.

GDI+ requires different techniques than the Windows GDI API, as it is completely stateless. GDI+ Programming in C# and VB .NET starts out with an explanation of GDI+ and how it relates to GDI. The book then dives deep into the GDI+ namespaces and classes. The book begins with basic drawing in the early chapters and then explains in an understandable manner more complex drawing techniques, including paths, gradients, alpha blends, matrix operations, and transformations.

Later chapters cover how to work with bitmaps and other images, as well as advanced drawing and printing techniques. The final two chapters are devoted to useful projects that show the subject matter of the previous chapters in real-world examples.

Throughout GDI+ Programming in C# and VB .NET, author Nick Symmonds not only explains the different namespaces and classes relating to GDI+, but also takes the time to cover the best practices of graphics programming. Woven throughout the book are numerous examples that tie together different aspects of programming in .NET that teach programmers how to get the best possible speed and efficiency out of their code.

Average Customer Review: ( 10 customer reviews )
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I am currently performing a complete rewrite - about the 4th time on this particular product (Custom Graphics Board & 286's (!) Dos and VGA, Windows and now .NET/GDI+).

Although I'm a successful graphics programmer I have always had the same problem with graphics programming ...Finding my way round the libraries. Yes my code's good and does what it's supposed to. Yes I know what I'm doing when I have the tools to hand. But can I always find everything I need when I rummage round in the toolbox? My guess is that I have been "banging in nails with a screwdriver end" for years on previous projects, because I haven't the commercial time to delivery I need to check all the possibilities before the deadline looms.

And then GDI+ and .NET - which seems pretty much a prayer answered from a productivity perspective. Plus this fine book which lays all the tools out neatly so I can appreciate fully what they do before I use them. Actually that's a lie. I read a bit of the book and then jump in and apply the next bit that's immediately useful - curiosity and practicality often getting the better of concerted reading. But I will make it to the back cover at some point as there might be something amazingly useful I'm missing.

Easy to read, well paced, logical sequence...

I could go on. But basically, it's a great book for this subject.

Noticed other people's comments on broken code samples and rehashing of online GDI+ information. All I can say is I read through the samples very carefully (without bothering to run them) and used them to significantly improve the calling sequence and richness of my own code. This is not a "What functions are there" dictionary. It's a "How to use GDI+ productively" guide - and what could be better than that?

9 of 12 found the following review helpful:

Not Very GoodDec 16, 2002

Just a rehash of the material on MSDN. Not much to this -- don't waste your money.

9 of 12 found the following review helpful:

Mixed Bag Jumping From VB to C# Back and ForthJan 03, 2003

For anyone interested in VB Graphics, the book provides information, but then immediately jumps to the same information in C#, causing an almost total loss of concentration. I presume the same occurs for anyone interested in C#. If the writer were to remove all reference to C#, it might be a good text on VB Graphics, vice versa would probably do the same for C#. I'll just keep looking for a good graphics text for VB.NET elsewhere. I can produce excellent graphics with VB6, I just hope I can eventually do as well with VB.NET.

8 of 12 found the following review helpful:

Nothing exceptionalJan 06, 2003
By Amanda Jackson
If you know how to read MSDN documentation, this book is worthless for you. Otherwise is a good beginners introduction.

Simultaneously disappoints and delightsNov 24, 2005
By RalphTheExpert
This book is a good introduction to GDI and GDI+ programming. If you are a novice in GDI (as I am) and things like device contexts and selecting objects are unfamiliar to you, then this book should be good for you. (Note: I'm a novice when it comes to GDI. I've more than 30 years programming experience.)

I had purchased this book so that I could do one thing: Copy a window from the screen to the printer. It turns out that this is a surprisingly complicated operation. That, of course, is not the book's fault but Microsoft's.

A sample program (downloadable from Apress's website) allows you to copy a window to the printer ... but!

The "but" is that the image that ends up on the printer is stretched and deformed.

The book does not even mention device independent bitmaps (DIBs). That's a surprise for an introductory text on graphics.

I also had a lot of trouble following his explanation on the various coordinate systems.

OK, enough of the negatives.

The positives are that this book is well written. The author appears to try hard to impart useful information in a breezy and easy to read manner. I really did learn a lot about GDI and GDI+ and graphics. I learned more about this subject in the few hours that I spent reading the book than I learned in several years of fumbling.

Some reviewers complain about having to bounce between VB and C#. I found this not to be a problem.

One reviewer said that this is a rehash of the information in the MSDN. I found this not to be so. More to the point, the author of this book organized this subject in a manner that is comprehensible to the novice. Such is not the case with the MSDN which is "a prerequisite for itself."

In conclusion, the book simultaneously disappoints and delights. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could.

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