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hDC handle Device Context, API
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Contains the current Device Context handle of our Window. This handle
is retrieved via GetDC() or BeginPaint(), and it becomes
invalid after EndPaint() or ReleaseDC()
A device context (DC) is a link between a Windows application, a device
driver, and an output device, such as the system display or a printer.
Display contexts are needed to draw in the Windows client area. They
provide a 'virtual screen', much like the way Clippers DispBegin() and
DispEnd() works. All work on a device has to be done on this 'device
context' and later the contents of that device context are dumped onto
its device, which could be the display, a printer ..
Like Clippers DispBegin()/ DispEnd() sequence, device contexts are
created for an action and released later, and <hDC> is the handle to
use this context. Windows device contexts don't 'keep' the colors from
one painting operation to the next, so each time we are going to use a
certain color we have to Set it to the device context using the function
SetTextColor()
FiveWin does this automatically, so you don't have to worry about this
process. Every time you paint on the Window, FiveWin will set the correct
colors by internally invoking the neccessary API functions.
WARNING:
If you incorrectly manipulate Device contexts, like not releasing them
properly, or creating an unbalanced sequence, you may corrupt the entire
Windows environment, which will usually crash windows
See Also:
SetTextColor
GetDC
ReleaseDC
BeginPaint
EndPaint
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