C++ MFC How to Draw Alpha transparent Rectangle

cmfcpaint

in a C++ MFC application. using the dc of ( CPaintDC dc(this); )

How do i draw a rectangle ( LPRECT ) with an alpha transparency that i can adjust.?

Following is an example c# code which i need to convert into C++

private void pictureBox1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)  
{
    Graphics g = e.Graphics;
    Color color = Color.FromArgb(75,Color.Red); //sets color Red with 75% alpha transparency

    Rectangle rectangle = new Rectangle(100,100,400,400);
    g.FillRectangle(new SolidBrush(color), rectangle); //draws the rectangle with the color set.
}

Best Answer

You need to look into GDI+. Its a bit of a faff but you can create a "Graphics" object as follows:

Gdiplus::Graphics g( dc.GetSafeHdc() );
Gdiplus::Color color( 192, 255, 0, 0 );

Gdiplus::Rect rectangle( 100, 100, 400, 400 );
Gdiplus::SolidBrush solidBrush( color );
g.FillRectangle( &solidBrush, rectangle );

Don't forget to do

#include <gdiplus.h>

and to call

 GdiplusStartup(...);

somewhere :)

You'll notice it's pretty damned similar to your C# code ;)

Its worth noting that the 75 you put in your FromArgb code doesn't set 75% alpha it actually sets 75/255 alpha or ~29% alpha.

Setting a bit

Use the bitwise OR operator (|) to set a bit.

number |= 1UL << n;

That will set the nth bit of number. n should be zero, if you want to set the 1st bit and so on upto n-1, if you want to set the nth bit.

Use 1ULL if number is wider than unsigned long; promotion of 1UL << n doesn't happen until after evaluating 1UL << n where it's undefined behaviour to shift by more than the width of a long. The same applies to all the rest of the examples.

Clearing a bit

Use the bitwise AND operator (&) to clear a bit.

number &= ~(1UL << n);

That will clear the nth bit of number. You must invert the bit string with the bitwise NOT operator (~), then AND it.

Toggling a bit

The XOR operator (^) can be used to toggle a bit.

number ^= 1UL << n;

That will toggle the nth bit of number.

Checking a bit

You didn't ask for this, but I might as well add it.

To check a bit, shift the number n to the right, then bitwise AND it:

bit = (number >> n) & 1U;

That will put the value of the nth bit of number into the variable bit.

Changing the nth bit to x

Setting the nth bit to either 1 or 0 can be achieved with the following on a 2's complement C++ implementation:

number ^= (-x ^ number) & (1UL << n);

Bit n will be set if x is 1, and cleared if x is 0. If x has some other value, you get garbage. x = !!x will booleanize it to 0 or 1.

To make this independent of 2's complement negation behaviour (where -1 has all bits set, unlike on a 1's complement or sign/magnitude C++ implementation), use unsigned negation.

number ^= (-(unsigned long)x ^ number) & (1UL << n);

unsigned long newbit = !!x;    // Also booleanize to force 0 or 1
number ^= (-newbit ^ number) & (1UL << n);

It's generally a good idea to use unsigned types for portable bit manipulation.

number = (number & ~(1UL << n)) | (x << n);

(number & ~(1UL << n)) will clear the nth bit and (x << n) will set the nth bit to x.

It's also generally a good idea to not to copy/paste code in general and so many people use preprocessor macros (like the community wiki answer further down) or some sort of encapsulation.

C++ – How to iterate over the words of a string

I use this to split string by a delimiter. The first puts the results in a pre-constructed vector, the second returns a new vector.

#include <string>
#include <sstream>
#include <vector>
#include <iterator>

template <typename Out>
void split(const std::string &s, char delim, Out result) {
    std::istringstream iss(s);
    std::string item;
    while (std::getline(iss, item, delim)) {
        *result++ = item;
    }
}

std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string &s, char delim) {
    std::vector<std::string> elems;
    split(s, delim, std::back_inserter(elems));
    return elems;
}

Note that this solution does not skip empty tokens, so the following will find 4 items, one of which is empty:

std::vector<std::string> x = split("one:two::three", ':');