Our text, Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Step by Step starts chapter 16 this way:
In Visual Basic .NET, no drawing controls are provided ... instead, you're encouraged to use the GDI+ graphics services directly.
Well, Yah!! I guess if they don't give you a choice, that's a form of "encouragement". In any case, the subtitle of this chapter should be (and IS for this lesson), "Introduction to GDI+".
The book's Update Notes are a partial catalog of things in VB 6 that have been eliminated and the new GDI+ things in VB.NET that replace them. Two conclusions should be obvious:
- Virtually everything graphical that you used to be able to do in VB 6 has disappeared.
- The new graphical stuff in VB.NET is more powerful, flexible, and structured.
Microsoft's official documentation states that, "Microsoft Windows GDI+ is a class-based application programming interface (API) for C/C++ programmers." But it's not true! VB.NET is built on GDI+ as well. GDI+ can be used in all Windows-based applications including Microsoft's new Win64 platform.
But there's a significant learning curve if you've never used GDI+! Let's get started!
ps ... The illustration at the beginning of this article is slightly off topic because it's taken from an article about how to change the fundamental style of the forms in your system by adding your own update to the VB.NET Manifest. This is something that the book doesn't mention ... but you can read about it here in the article titled, Manifestly Xtra Pretty Forms.
