"Massimo" <bar***@mclink.it> wrote in message
news:uufkgPTgHHA.392@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl:

> Hi to all.
>
> I need to create a custom control which does the following:
>
>
> - It should contain a first, fixed image.
> - It should manage a second image, which will change programmatically.
> - It should display the second image on top of the first one, updating it in
> response to user events; the second image will of course have a transparent
> background.
> - The second image should be accessible outside the control, and wil be used
> for printing on some paper forms which are, as you probably guessed, the
> same as the first image; this is the reason for having two separate images.
>
>
> I'm trying to develop this, but I'm quite confused about the various
> System.Drawing classes and which Windows Forms control is the best to use as
> my control's base class. I don't thoroughly understand the process of
> painting a control, and the relationships between an Image, a Drawing object
> and the control.
>
> My initial guess was to use a PictureBox, set its BackGroundImage property
> to the fixed image and use the Image property for my drawing... but I don't
> know how to do manual drawing this way.
>
> Is this a good approach, or there is a better one?
>
> Also, I know very little about printing with Windows Forms. What do I need
> for printing? An Image? A Graphics object? What else?
>
> Can someone please help?
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Massimo

"Massimo" <bar***@mclink.it> wrote in message
news:eUY4aTVgHHA.4708@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl:

> "Bryan Phillips" <bphillips@nospam.spamcop.net.spammenot> ha scritto nel
> messaggio news:uJYxj4UgHHA.4156@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
> > Use the PrintDocument class to print from Windows Forms.
> >
> > If you use the Image property for your drawing, create a variable with a
> > data type of one of the Image subclasses (like Bitmap).  Then, pass that
> > variable to the static method Graphics.FromImage() to get an instance of
> > the Graphics class.
> >
> > Use the Graphics class's draw methods which will write their output to the
> > Image variable.
>
> Ok, thanks for your help.
>
> Do you think creating this control from a PictureBox base class and using
> the BackGroundImage and Image properties can be a good strategy? Maybe it's
> better to derive directly from Control (or UserControl, what's the
> difference anyway?) and directly draw on the control's surface?
>
>
> Massimo