Guide to WIN32 Regions

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Introduction

Regions are a resource in windows that are very useful. They are device independent, which means that a device context (DC) is not need to create or use one. However, there are many functions in the WIN32 GDI that require a region.

Some of the useful places for a region are:

• Update Region, Paint
• Clipping, Paint
• Hit Testing
• Define window shape, Irregular Shaped Windows

Many of the functions that relate to regions are very simple, and need very little explanation, in fact the definition from MSDN is adequate enough to explain these functions. However, some of the functions are a little more difficult to understand and master, therefore extra details have been added to explain these functions. A few diagrams may accompany the explanation as well.

Region Creation

There are a number of ways to create a region. There are a number of functions that can be used create a region, from a simple shape such as a rectangle or an ellipse, to a complicated shape such as the outline of a string of text. Listed below is a table that describes each of the creation functions.

Function	Description
CreateEllipticRgn	Creates an elliptical region. As with drawing ellipses, elliptic regions are very large, and may slow your program down if you use a large number of them.
CreateEllipticRgnIndirect	Creates an elliptical region from a RECT structure. As with drawing ellipses, elliptic regions are very large, and may slow your program down if you use a large number of them.
CreatePolygonRgn	Creates a polygonal region.
CreatePolyPolygonRgn	Creates a region consisting of a series of polygons.
CreateRectRgn	Creates a rectangular region.
CreateRectRgnIndirect	Creates a rectangular region from a RECT structure.
CreateRoundRectRgn	Creates a rectangular region with rounded corners.
ExtCreateRegion	Creates a region from the specified region and transformation data.
PathToRegion	Creates a region from a WIN32 Path created in a DC.

Operations

There are a few operations that can be performed on a region in order to query, modify test its data.

CombineRgn

After a few basic regions are created, it is possible to perform boolean operations on the regions in order to create more complex regions with CombineRgn. This function has five operations that can be performed in order to combine two different regions. Shown below is an example of each of the boolean operations that can be performed in CombineRgn:

Value	Description	Result
RGN_AND	Creates the intersection of the two combined regions. CombineRgn(hrgnDest, hrgnSrc1, hrgnSrc2, RGN_AND);
RGN_COPY	Creates a copy of the region identified by hrgnSrc1. CombineRgn(hrgnDest, hrgnSrc1, NULL, RGN_COPY);	No Image
RGN_DIFF	Combines the parts of hrgnSrc1 that are not part of hrgnSrc2. CombineRgn(hrgnDest, hrgnSrc1, hrgnSrc2, RGN_DIFF);
RGN_OR	Creates the union of two combined regions. CombineRgn(hrgnDest, hrgnSrc1, hrgnSrc2, RGN_OR);
RGN_XOR	Creates the union of two combined regions except for any overlapping areas. CombineRgn(hrgnDest, hrgnSrc1, hrgnSrc2, RGN_XOR);

One more thing to point out is that the destination region in CombineRgn can be one of the source regions. Therefore, if you continually modify a region by adding or subtracting a different region from it, you can perform one combine operation rather than worrying about copying the adjusted region. Here is an example:

HRGN hCacheRgn;
HRGN hUpdateRgn;

...

//C: Convoluted way.

//C: Initialize a temporary region.

HRGN hTemp = ::CreateRectRgn(0,0,0,0);
//C: Subtract teh update region from the Cache region. 

::CombineRgn(hTemp, hCacheRgn, hUpdateRgn, RGN_DIFF);
//C: Copy the Temp region back into the Cache region.

::CombineRgn(hCacheRgn, hTemp, NULL, RGN_COPY);
//C: Destroy the Temp region.

::DeleteObject(hTemp);


//C: Simple way

::CombineRgn(hCacheRgn, hCacheRgn, hUpdateRgn, RGN_DIFF);

EqualRgn

The EqualRgn function checks the two specified regions to determine whether they are identical. The function considers two regions identical if they are equal in size and shape.

BOOL EqualRgn(
  HRGN hSrcRgn1,  // handle to first region

  HRGN hSrcRgn2   // handle to second region

);

PtInRegion

The PtInRegion function determines whether the specified point is inside the specified region. This function is very useful for creating a hit-test region on your control. Such as a bitmap that has a hot-region that can be clicked by the user.

BOOL PtInRegion(
  HRGN hrgn,  // handle to region

  int X,      // x-coordinate of point

  int Y       // y-coordinate of point

);

RectInRegion

The RectInRegion function is very similar to PtInRegion, except that it will determines whether any part of the specified rectangle is within the boundaries of a region.

BOOL RectInRegion(
  HRGN hrgn,         // handle to region

  CONST RECT *lprc   // pointer to rectangle

);

GetRgnBox

The GetRgnBox function retrieves the bounding rectangle of the specified region.

int GetRgnBox(
  HRGN hrgn,   // handle to a region

  LPRECT lprc  // bounding rectangle

);

OffsetRgn

The OffsetRgn function moves a region by the specified offsets.

int OffsetRgn(
  HRGN hrgn,     // handle to region

  int nXOffset,  // offset along x-axis

  int nYOffset   // offset along y-axis

);

SetRectRgn

The SetRectRgn function converts a region into a rectangular region with the specified coordinates.

BOOL SetRectRgn(
  HRGN hrgn,       // handle to region

  int nLeftRect,   // x-coordinate of upper-left corner of rectangle

  int nTopRect,    // y-coordinate of upper-left corner of rectangle

  int nRightRect,  // x-coordinate of lower-right corner of rectangle

  int nBottomRect  // y-coordinate of lower-right corner of rectangle

);

Paint Functions

WIN32 provides a number of functions that will allow a region handle to be used for painting affects. These effects include filling with a brush, outlining, and inverting the current contents

FillRgn

The FillRgn function fills a region by using the specified brush.

BOOL FillRgn(
  HDC hdc,    // handle to device context

  HRGN hrgn,  // handle to region to be filled

  HBRUSH hbr  // handle to brush used to fill the region

);

FrameRgn

The FrameRgn function draws a border around the specified region by using the specified brush.

BOOL FrameRgn(
  HDC hdc,     // handle to device context

  HRGN hrgn,   // handle to region to be framed

  HBRUSH hbr,  // handle to brush used to draw border

  int nWidth,  // width of region frame

  int nHeight  // height of region frame

);

InvertRgn

The InvertRgn function inverts the colors in the specified region.

BOOL InvertRgn(
  HDC hdc,    // handle to device context

  HRGN hrgn   // handle to region to be inverted

);

PaintRgn

The PaintRgn function is similar to the FillRgn function, except that this function paints the specified region by using the brush currently selected into the device context.

BOOL PaintRgn(
  HDC hdc,    // handle to device context

  HRGN hrgn   // handle to region to be painted

);

GetRegionData

The GetRegionData function fills the specified buffer with data desc

DWORD GetRegionData(
  HRGN hRgn,            // handle to region

  DWORD dwCount,        // size of region data bufferribing a region. 

This data includes the dimensions of the rectangles that make up the region.
  LPRGNDATA lpRgnData   // region data buffer

);

Region Data

A WIN32 region is really a set of rectangles managed in one object. The RGN_DATA structure manages this set of rectangles as well as some of the other data that is required to maintain the region. The RGN_DATA structure is accessible through the GetRegionData function. A region object can be created with a RGN_DATA structure with the ExtCreateRgn function. Here is a diagram to show the internal representation of a HRGN object. Each rectangle in the region is painted with an alternating colored brush.

ExtCreateRgn

The ExtCreateRegion function creates a region from the specified region and transformation data.

HRGN ExtCreateRegion(
  CONST XFORM *lpXform,     // transformation data

  DWORD nCount,             // size of region data

  CONST RGNDATA *lpRgnData  // region data buffer

);

Something to be aware of, is that Windows 2000 will accept a region that has overlapping rectangles. If you try to create a region with data that contains overlapping rectangles on Windows NT4, this function will fail. Therefore if you create one of these regions on a Windows 2000 machine, and store the RGN_DATA of a region in a file or send the data across the network to a Windows NT4 machine, when you try to call ExtCreateRgn on the structure, it will fail.

The Windows 9x kernel dpes not support world transforms that involve either shearing or rotations. ExtCreateRegion fails if the transformation (XFORM) matrix has a scaling or translation of the region.

Demonstration

The program that has been created to demonstrate some of the possibilities for regions is an interactive window that allows the user to create two regions. The user can add new portions to either one of the source regions with a rectangle, ellipse or round rectangle tool. The polygon has been left out simply because of extra work related to the UI that would be required to incorporate this tool, however, a polygon is completely possible.

Here are the directions for creating a source region:

1. Select the desired draw mode shape from the menu or the tool bar. There are three choices, Rectangle , Ellipse , or Round Rectangle .
2. Select and area on the main window, and start dragging the region. A rubber-banding effect will show where the region will appear.
3. Use the Left mouse button to draw a shape for the Source 1 region.
   Use the Right mouse button to draw a shape for the Source 2 region.
4. At any time, you can hit the Escape key to cancel the drawing operation.
5. Let go of the mouse button to update the region with the new shape that you have created.
6. The Source 1 region will be drawn in RED, the Source 2 region will be drawn in Blue.

On the right-hand side of the window where the regions are drawn, there are four sub-views, where the different combine modes: RGN_AND, RGN_DIFF, RGN_OR, RGN_XOR are all demonstrated. As each source region is modified, these sub-views are updated. It is possible to replace one of the current source regions with one of the sub-view results simply by dragging the region to the window where the source regions are displayed. The Source 1 and Source 2 regions are displayed in Red and Blue respectively, just as in the main view, and the new combine region will be displayed in purple.

Here are the directions for moving the combine region to the source region.

1. Simply decide which of the four sub-views that you would like to use.
2. Click in the sub-view and drag the mouse to the main window. An icon will appear indicating that the item is being dragged.
3. Use the Left mouse button to replace the combine region for the Source 1 region.
   Use the Right mouse button to replace the combine region for the Source 2 region.
4. At any time, you can hit the Escape key to cancel the replace operation.
5. Let go of the mouse button to replace the region with the combine region that you dragged..

You can delete the Source1, Source2 or both of the regions by selecting the appropriate menu item.

You can choose to view either the Source1 region, the Source2 region, or all of the regions by selecting the appropriate view from the menu. View All is the default selection.

One last operation in the RgnGuide program is to view the rectangles that compose the region in breakdown mode. You can do this by simply checking either the BreakDown Src 1 or BreakDown Src 2 menu item. The view will then show the selected region broken down into each of the rectangles that creates that region. Each rectangle will be painted with an alternating color. A plain reactangle will be pretty boring with one solid colored rectangle. An ellipse on the otherhand will contain a new rectangle on just about every other scanline.

Conclusion

Regions are a very powerful OS resource that you can use in your program. The demo program simply illustrates how to manage your resources, there are many other uses than the ones that have been described. WIN32 provides a rich set of functions that allows you to manage and manipulate your regions.