How to create text as image file with GdiPlusX

Updated: fixed image size, thanks to christof wollenhaupt

 More than once I've seen people asking to create images containing some text. The sample below is really very simple.

• creates a font
• measures the space that the text will need
• creates an image with the needed size
• draws the string
• saves to disk

Important Requires vfp9 and GdiplusX to run. 

DO LOCFILE("System.prg")

WITH _SCREEN.System.Drawing
   LOCAL lcText
   lcText = "GdiPlusX is Cool !!!"

   * Create a Font
   LOCAL loFont as xfcFont
   loFont = _screen.system.Drawing.Font.New("Verdana", 32, .FontStyle.BoldItalic)

   LOCAL loTmpBmp as xfcBitmap
   loTmpBmp = .Bitmap.New(1,1)

   * Retrieve the graphics object.
   LOCAL loTmpGfx AS xfcGraphics
   loTmpGfx = .Graphics.FromImage(loTmpBmp)

   * Measure the String
   * Get the size required for our text
   LOCAL loSize as xfcSize
   loSize = loTmpGfx.MeasureString(lcText, loFont)

   LOCAL loNewBmp as xfcBitmap
   loNewBmp = .Bitmap.New(loSize.Ceiling)

   LOCAL loNewGfx as xfcGraphics
   loNewGfx = .Graphics.FromImage(loNewBmp)

   * Clear the background to Yellow
   loNewGfx.Clear(.Color.Yellow)

   * Create a solid brush
   LOCAL loBrush as xfcSolidBrush
   loBrush = .SolidBrush.New(.Color.FromRGB(255,0,0)) && Red

   * Create an StringFormat object in order to draw the sting centered in the image
   LOCAL loStringFmt as xfcStringFormat
   loStringFmt = .StringFormat.New()
   loStringFmt.Alignment = .StringAlignment.Center

   * Create a Rectangle with the measures of the Bitmap
   LOCAL loRect as xfcRectangleF
   loRect = loNewBmp.GetBounds()

   * Draw the String
   loNewGfx.DrawString(lcText, loFont, loBrush, loRect, loStringFmt)

   * Finally save the image
   loNewBmp.Save("c:\MyText.Png", .Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)

   * Show the image
   RUN /N Explorer.exe c:\Mytext.Png
ENDWITH

Convert your buttons to BMPs keeping transparency with GdiPlusX

Thee function below converts any button image to a bmp to be used in VFP forms.

There are lots of cool and free icons available on the web, but the vast majority are in .ico, gif or png image formats, that are not very familiar and reliable to be used in vfp. for us, the best image format, for a lot of reasons, is the BMP format.

Some transformations are needed to make this bmp to show exactly how we desire, specially when converting source images in a png, gif or ico formats.

VFP shows the pure white - RGB(255,255,255) as transparent in our buttons and image objects. the code below first converts the original whites to RGB(254,254,254) that is visually the same, but does not become transparent, and eliminates the need to create a mask image (.MSK) and next, converts the background color of the original bitmap to pure white, that will show transparent in VFP forms.

For more details, check these prior posts:
bmps with transparent backgrounds
how to put one image over another in a form


Important requires VFP9 and GdiplusX to run.

Save the program below as BUTTON2BMP.PRG, and call it this way:

BUTTON2BMP(GETPICT(), "c:\NewIcon.BMP")

When you compile this program in your executable, please don't forget to remove the LOCFILE() command, and just use a "do system.prg" instead

lparameters tcsourcefile, tcdestfile

do locfile("system.app")

local lobmp as xfcbitmap
local logfx as xfcgraphics
local loborderclr as xfccolor
local lorect as xfcrectangle
local loattr as xfcimageattributes
local locolormap as xfccolormap

with _screen.system.drawing
   locolormap = .imaging.colormap.new()
   loattr = .imaging.imageattributes.new()

   lobmp = .bitmap.fromfile(tcsourcefile)

   logfx = .graphics.fromimage(lobmp)

   lorect = lobmp.getbounds()

   * get the top left pixel color, presuming this color is the background colro to become transparent
   *    for our bmp case, this will become pure white  - rgb(255,255,255)
   *    that becomes transparent when used in vfp objects
   loborderclr = lobmp.getpixel(0,0)

   * convert original whites rgb(255,255,255) to off white - rgb(254,254,254)
   * this way, the whites will remain without the need of a mask
   locolormap.oldcolor = .color.white
   locolormap.newcolor = .color.fromargb(255,254,254,254)

   loattr.setremaptable(locolormap)
   logfx.drawimage(lobmp, lorect, lorect, .graphicsunit.pixel, loattr)

   * next step, convert the borders to pure white, rgb(255,255,255) that will become transparent in buttons
   locolormap.oldcolor = loborderclr
   locolormap.newcolor = .color.white
   loattr.setremaptable(locolormap)
   logfx.drawimage(lobmp, m.lorect, m.lorect, .graphicsunit.pixel, loattr)

   lobmp.save(tcdestfile, .imaging.imageformat.bmp)
endwith

Extract Icons from resources in a DLL with GdiPlusX

This week Calvin Hsia came with a very interesting post, Extract treeview or listview imagelist icons from a DLL .

That Calvin's post is dedicated to visual studio developers.

As in the comments there were some people asking the code for VFP, below is an adapted version for VFP users, using, of course, GdiplusX to help us extracting the icons from the resource.

There's still more to say about this, but in this first moment, I'm putting just the code to retrieve the embedded bitmap from the visual studio dll that calvin refers to. Below is the most relevant part of the original code in VB .net from Calvin, very easilly converted to VFP, using the GdiplusX library.

Picture 1: Relevant Source code in VB .NET

Important
Requires VFP9 and GdiplusX to run. 
https://github.com/VFPX/GDIPlusX

* Init GdiPlusX
DO LOCFILE("System.app")

#DEFINE load_library_as_image_resource 0x20
#DEFINE load_library_as_datafile 2

DECLARE INTEGER LoadLibraryEx IN kernel32;
   string lpfilename, INTEGER hmodule, INTEGER dwflags
DECLARE INTEGER LoadBitmap IN user32;
   INTEGER hmodule, INTEGER hresinfo
DECLARE INTEGER FreeLibrary IN kernel32 long hmodule
DECLARE INTEGER DeleteObject IN win32api INTEGER hobject

LOCAL lhmodule, lhres, lcResFile

* lcResFile = ADDBS(GETENV("ProgramFiles")) + ;
 "microsoft visual studio 9.0\common7\ide\msenv.dll"

lcResFile = ADDBS(GETENV("ProgramFiles")) + ;
 "microsoft visual studio 10.0\common7\ide\msenv.dll"
IF NOT FILE(lcResFile)
 lcResFile = GETFILE("dll")
ENDIF 

lhModule = LoadLibraryEx(lcResFile, ;
 0, load_library_as_image_resource + load_library_as_datafile)

lhRes = LoadBitmap(lhModule, 0x4f4)

IF lhRes > 0
 LOCAL loBmp AS xfcBitmap
 WITH _Screen.System.drawing
    loBmp = .Bitmap.FromhBitmap(lhres)
    loBmp.Save("c:\ResourceImage.bmp", .Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp)
 ENDWITH
ELSE
 MESSAGEBOX("Could not load the file")
ENDIF

Picture 2: the extracted image in the original size



Picture 3: a part of the extracted image expanded 8 times


Cool ! but still not ready to be used in our VFP forms.

As that bitmap contains many icons in the same file, i'll use some gdi+ stuff to separate each of them, saving in a different file. we have to know the dimensions of each image, so i'll take the smallest value between the width and height, and use a loop to crop each icon image separately. the backgrounds also need to be treated, as i'll comment below.

For vs users, Calvin used a totally different technique to separate the images, using the listview and the treeview controls from VS. If someone could show me how to chieve this in vfp using his technique... It would be great !



Each image is saved in two different formats:

1 - bmp of 24 bits, with white background, to be used in vfp buttons. the white background is rgb(255,255,255). for safety purposes, i also changed all original whites from the icons to rgb(254,254,254). this way, vfp will not make these parts of the images as transparent.

2 - png of 32bits, with the background color set as transparent

There is some more complex code that I used to crop the images. It's all full of comments, and I hope, it's easy to understand.

************************************************************************************************************* program: ExtractIconsFromResource2.prg
* author : Cesar Ch
*
* extracts all 16x16 icons stored in dlls
* extracts the icons from the big collection pictures obtained from the resource
* applies effects to the image to keep transparencies
*
* sample totally based on calvin hsia's article from his blog
* "extract treeview or listview imagelist icons from a dll"
* http://blogs.msdn.com/calvin_hsia/archive/2007/11/06/5948486.aspx?commentposted=true#commentmessage
*
* prerequisites:
* vfp9 and GdiplusX library
************************************************************************************************************

DO LOCFILE("system.app")

#DEFINE load_library_as_image_resource 0x20
#DEFINE load_library_as_datafile 2

DECLARE INTEGER loadlibraryex IN kernel32;
 STRING lpfilename,;
 INTEGER hfile,;
 INTEGER dwflags
DECLARE LONG freelibrary IN kernel32 LONG hmodule
DECLARE INTEGER loadbitmap IN user32;
 INTEGER hinstance,;
 INTEGER lpbitmapname
DECLARE INTEGER deleteobject IN win32api INTEGER hobject

WITH _SCREEN.SYSTEM.drawing
 LOCAL lcfile, lcshortname, lciconfile
 LOCAL hmodule, hres
 LOCAL N, lnwidth, lnheight
 LOCAL loicon AS xfcbitmap
 LOCAL lobmp AS xfcbitmap
 LOCAL loborderclr AS xfccolor

 * these objects will be used only if the output is bmp
 LOCAL locloned AS xfcbitmap
 LOCAL locolormap AS xfccolormap
 locolormap = .imaging.colormap.new()
 LOCAL loattr AS xfcimageattributes
 m.loattr = .imaging.imageattributes.new()

 lcfile = "c:\program files\microsoft visual studio 9.0\common7\ide\msenv.dll" + CHR(0)
 lcshortname = "c:\" + JUSTFNAME(lcfile)
 hmodule = loadlibraryex(lcfile, 0, load_library_as_image_resource + load_library_as_datafile)
 hres = loadbitmap(hmodule, 0x4f4)

 IF hres = 0
  LOOP
 ENDIF

 lobmp = .BITMAP.fromhbitmap(hres)
 lobmp.SAVE(lcshortname + "_allicons.png", .imaging.imageformat.png)
 deleteobject(hres)
 lnheight = lobmp.HEIGHT
 lnwidth = lnheight

 IF lnheight > 16 && this is a big image, so it's not the icon we're interested in
  LOOP
 ENDIF

 * get the quantity of bits per pixels of the image.
 * if we have an indexed format (< 24), we wont create the transparencies manually.
 LOCAL lnpixfmtsize
 lnpixfmtsize = lobmp.getpixelformatsize(lobmp.pixelformat)

 * get the top left pixel color, presuming this color will be converted
 * to transparent
 loborderclr = lobmp.getpixel(0,0)

 * make a copy of the bitmap for further processing as bmp
 locloned = lobmp.CLONE()


 *-* beginning of the png cropping
 * save the icons as pngs with transparent background
 IF lnpixfmtsize >= 24 && the background is not white, so
  lobmp.maketransparent(loborderclr)
 ENDIF

 FOR N = 0 TO (lobmp.WIDTH / lnwidth) - 1
  lciconfile = lcshortname + "_icon_" + TRANSFORM(N) + ".png"
  loicon = lobmp.CLONE(.rectangle.new(N * lnwidth, 0, lnwidth, lnheight))
  IF VARTYPE(loicon) = "o"
   loicon.SAVE(lciconfile, .imaging.imageformat.png)
  ENDIF
 ENDFOR

 * restore the original bitmap object for the bmp transformations
 lobmp = locloned.CLONE()
 *-* end of png cropping

 *-* beginning of the bmp cropping
 IF loborderclr <> .COLOR.white AND ;
   lnpixfmtsize >= 24 && the background is not white, so
  && let's make some changes to adapt the icon to have a white
  && background, that will appear transparent in buttons

  * convert original whites rgb(255,255,255) to off white - rgb(254,254,254)
  * this way, the whites will remain without the need of a mask
  locolormap.oldcolor = .COLOR.white
  locolormap.newcolor = .COLOR.fromargb(255,254,254,254)
  loattr.setremaptable(locolormap)
  logfx = .graphics.fromimage(lobmp)
  lorect = lobmp.getbounds()
  logfx.drawimage(lobmp, m.lorect, m.lorect, .graphicsunit.PIXEL, loattr)

  * next step, convert the borders to pure white, rgb(255,255,255) that will become transparent in buttons
  locolormap.oldcolor = loborderclr
  locolormap.newcolor = .COLOR.white
  loattr.setremaptable(locolormap)
  logfx.drawimage(lobmp, m.lorect, m.lorect, .graphicsunit.PIXEL, loattr)
 ENDIF

 * continue, cropping each icon from the big image
 FOR N = 0 TO (lobmp.WIDTH / lnwidth) - 1
  lciconfile = lcshortname + "_icon_" + TRANSFORM(N) + ".bmp"
  loicon = lobmp.CLONE(.rectangle.new(N * lnwidth, 0, lnwidth, lnheight), .imaging.pixelformat.format24bpprgb)
  IF VARTYPE(loicon) = "o"
   loicon.SAVE(lciconfile, .imaging.imageformat.bmp)
  ENDIF
 ENDFOR
 *-* end of the bmp cropping

 freelibrary(hmodule)
ENDWITH

Picture 4: thumbnails of some of the images cropped and transformed from the resource file


But there's still one important problem that I wasn't able to solve yet: to list all available resources. so, for the case i wanted to extract the biggest quantity of available icons in all resource files of my computer, the provisory solution i've found was to create a loop, from 0 (zero) to 65535, trying to retrieve the image resource.

I've just based myself in another old post of mine, extract icons from exe, dll and ico files with gdiplusx , and created a new script for extracting all available 16x16 icons in all resources from a specific folder, checking also all the subdirectories. the final result is tons of icons, all stored in just one folder, "c:\resource icons", in two versions, one in png with the transparent background, and another version stored in the format of bmp of 24 bits, with white background, that is the format best supported by vfp for our command buttons.

When you run this last sample, depending on the folder that you choose, and the remaining subfolders, the resulting process may be really long, so i ask you to be patient, but i ensure you it's worth. when finished, open the folder "c:\resource icons". my search in drive c of my computer, resulted in more than 25000 different icons !

Enjoy !

************************************************************************************************************
* PROGRAM: ExtractIconsFromResource3.Prg
* AUTHOR : Cesar Chalom
*
* Extracts all 16x16 icons stored in DLLs or EXE files
* Explores recursively in all the directory and subdirectories selected
* Extracts the icons from the big collection pictures obtained from the resource
*
* Sample totally based on Calvin Hsia's article from his blog
* "Extract TreeView or ListView ImageList icons from a DLL"
* http://blogs.msdn.com/calvin_hsia/archive/2007/11/06/5948486.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage
*
* Prerequisites:
* VFP9 and GdiPlusX library
************************************************************************************************************
 
DO LOCFILE("System.prg")

#DEFINE LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_IMAGE_RESOURCE 0X20
#DEFINE LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE 2

DECLARE INTEGER LoadLibraryEx IN kernel32;
   STRING lpFileName,;
   INTEGER hFile,;
   INTEGER dwFlags
DECLARE LONG FreeLibrary IN Kernel32 LONG hModule
DECLARE INTEGER LoadBitmap IN user32;
   INTEGER hInstance,;
   INTEGER lpBitmapName
DECLARE INTEGER DeleteObject IN WIN32API INTEGER hObject
 
* Create destination directory to receive the extracted icons
lcDir = "C:\ResourceIcons"
IF NOT DIRECTORY(lcDir)
   MKDIR (lcDir)
ENDIF
 
* Create the cursor that will store the valid file locations
CREATE CURSOR Recursive (cFile c(250))
LOCAL lcSelectedDir
lcSelectedDir = GETDIR()
IF EMPTY(lcSelectedDir)
   WAIT WINDOW "Invalid Directory"
   RETURN .F.
ENDIF
WAIT WINDOW "Retrieving folders information" NOWAIT

* Scan through the selected and the subfolders
=Recurse(lcSelectedDir)
 
WITH _SCREEN.SYSTEM.Drawing

LOCAL lcFile, lcShortName, lcIconFile, lnTotRec
LOCAL lnOldPercentage, lnPercentage
LOCAL hModule, hRes
LOCAL N, lnWidth, lnHeight
LOCAL loIcon AS xfcBitmap
LOCAL loBmp AS xfcBitmap
LOCAL loBorderClr AS xfcColor
 
* These objects will be used only if the output is BMP
LOCAL loCloned AS xfcBitmap
LOCAL loColorMap AS xfcColorMap
loColorMap = .Imaging.ColorMap.New()
LOCAL loAttr AS xfcImageAttributes
m.loAttr = .Imaging.ImageAttributes.New()
 
STORE 0 TO lnPercentage, lnOldPercentage
lnTotRec = RECCOUNT()

SCAN
   lcFile = ALLTRIM(Recursive.cFile) + CHR(0)
   lcShortName = JUSTFNAME(lcFile)
   hModule = LoadLibraryEx(lcFile, 0, LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_IMAGE_RESOURCE + LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE)
   FOR x = 0 TO 0xffff
      hRes = LoadBitmap(hModule, x) && 0x4f4)
      IF hRes = 0
         LOOP
      ENDIF
      lcNewFile = ADDBS(lcDir) + lcShortName
      loBmp = .BITMAP.FromHbitmap(hRes)
      loBmp.Save(lcNewFile + "_AllIcons_r" + TRANSFORM(x) + ".Png", .Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
      DeleteObject(hRes)
      lnHeight = loBmp.HEIGHT
      lnWidth = lnHeight
      IF lnHeight > 16 && This is a big image, so it's not the icon we're interested in
         LOOP
      ENDIF
 
      * Get the quantity of Bits per Pixels of the image.
      * If we have an indexed format (< 24), we wont create the transparencies manually.
      LOCAL lnPixFmtSize
      lnPixFmtSize = loBmp.GetPixelFormatSize(loBmp.PixelFormat)

      * Get the top left pixel color, presuming this color will be converted
      * to transparent
      loBorderClr = loBmp.GetPixel(0,0)

      * Make a copy of the bitmap for further processing as BMP
      loCloned = loBmp.Clone()
 
 
 
      *-* BEGINNING OF THE PNG CROPPING
      * Save the Icons as PNGs with transparent background
      IF lnPixFmtSize >= 24 && The background is not White, so
         loBmp.MakeTransparent(loBorderClr)
      ENDIF

      FOR N = 0 TO (loBmp.WIDTH / lnWidth) - 1
          lcIconFile = lcNewFile + TRANSFORM(x) + "_Icon_" + TRANSFORM (N) + ".png"
          loIcon = loBmp.CLONE(.Rectangle.New(N * lnWidth, 0, lnWidth, lnHeight))
          IF VARTYPE(loIcon) = "O"
             loIcon.SAVE(lcIconFile, .Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
          ENDIF
      ENDFOR
      * Restore the original Bitmap object for the BMP transformations
      loBmp = loCloned.Clone()
      *-* END OF PNG CROPPING


      *-* BEGINNING OF THE BMP CROPPING
      IF loBorderClr <> .Color.White AND ;
         lnPixFmtSize >= 24 && The background is not White, so
         && let's make some changes to adapt the icon to have a white
         && background, that will appear transparent in buttons
         * Convert original Whites RGB(255,255,255) to OFF WHITE - RGB(254,254,254)
         * this way, the whites will remain without the need of a mask
         loColorMap.OldColor = .Color.White
         loColorMap.NewColor = .Color.FromARGB(255,254,254,254)
         loAttr.SetRemapTable(loColorMap)
         loGfx = .Graphics.FromImage(loBmp)

         loRect = loBmp.GetBounds()
         loGfx.DrawImage(loBmp, m.loRect, m.loRect, .GraphicsUnit.Pixel, loAttr)

         * Next step, convert the borders to pure White, RGB(255,255,255) that will become transparent in buttons
         loColorMap.OldColor = loBorderClr
         loColorMap.NewColor = .Color.White
         loAttr.SetRemapTable(loColorMap)
         loGfx.DrawImage(loBmp, m.loRect, m.loRect, .GraphicsUnit.Pixel, loAttr)
      ENDIF


      * Continue, cropping each icon from the big image
      FOR N = 0 TO (loBmp.WIDTH / lnWidth) - 1
         lcIconFile = lcNewFile + TRANSFORM(x) + "_Icon_" + TRANSFORM(N) + ".bmp"
         loIcon = loBmp.CLONE(.Rectangle.New(N * lnWidth, 0, lnWidth, lnHeight), .Imaging.PixelFormat.Format24bppRGB)
         IF VARTYPE(loIcon) = "O"
            loIcon.SAVE(lcIconFile, .Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp)
         ENDIF
      ENDFOR
      *-* END OF THE BMP CROPPING
 
   ENDFOR

   FreeLibrary(hModule)

   * Show progression
   lnRec = RECNO()
   lnPercentage = ROUND((lnRec / lnTotRec),2)
   IF lnPercentage > lnOldPercentage
      WAIT WINDOW "Extracting icons from files..." + CHR(13) + ;
         "Elapsed: " + TRANSFORM(lnPercentage * 100) + " %" NOWAIT
      lnOldPercentage = lnPercentage
   ENDIF
ENDSCAN
ENDWITH
RETURN
 
 
*****************************************************************************************
* FUNCTION : RECURSE
* AUTHOR : MICHAEL REYNOLDS
* DESCRIPTION : Good for performing file processing throughout an entire directory tree.
* The function, RECURSE(), is called with the full path of a directory.
* RECURSE() will then read all files and directories in the path.
* A function can be called to process files that it finds.
* Plus, the function calls itself to process any sub-directories.
* http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~RecursiveDirectoryProcessing~VFP
*****************************************************************************************
FUNCTION Recurse(pcDir)
LOCAL lnPtr, lnFileCount, laFileList, lcDir, lcFile
CHDIR (pcDir)
DIMENSION laFileList[1]
*--- Read the chosen directory.
lnFileCount = ADIR(laFileList, '*.*', 'D')
FOR lnPtr = 1 TO lnFileCount

   IF 'D' $ laFileList[lnPtr, 5]
      *--- Get directory name.
      lcDir = laFileList[lnPtr, 1]
      *--- Ignore current and parent directory pointers.
      IF lcDir != '.' AND lcDir != '..'
         *--- Call this routine again.
         Recurse(lcDir)
      ENDIF
   ELSE
      *--- Get the file name.
      lcFile = LOWER(FULLPATH(laFileList[lnPtr, 1]))
      *--- Insert into cursor if .EXE, .ICO or .DLL
      IF INLIST(LOWER(JUSTEXT(lcFile)),"dll","exe")
         INSERT INTO Recursive (cFile) VALUES (lcFile)
      ENDIF
   ENDIF
ENDFOR
*--- Move back to parent directory.
CHDIR ..
ENDFUNC

How to Extract frames from MultiPage TIFFs

Here's the link of a UTMAG article that covers the tiff subject deeply:
TIFFs and the new GdiplusX classes


At the topic "extracting frames from TIFFs" you'll find the code below, that saves the frames of a TIFF in separate image files:

** howto: extract frames from a multiframe tiff

do locfile("system,prg")

with _Screen.System.Drawing

* load the multiframe tiff to gdi+
local lomultif as xfcBitmap
loMultif = .Bitmap.New(GetPict("tif"))
local lnFrames, n, lcFrameFileName
lnFrames = loMultif.GetFrameCount()
if lnframes > 1
   for n = 0 to lnframes - 1
      lomultif.selectactiveframe(.imaging.framedimension.page, n)
      lcframefilename = "c:\frame" + transform(n + 1) + ".tif"
      lomultif.save(lcframefilename, .imaging.imageformat.bmp)
   endfor
else
   messagebox("the selected file is not a multiframe tiff")
endif

endwith
return