Fun With Graphics

• One of the biggest uses of the API is for graphics, whether it be background scrolling, sprite animation, or many other special effects. A very versatile API function is BitBlt, which stands for Bit Block Transfer. It is used to copy a section of one bitmap from one place (the source) to another (the destination).

• Let’s look at the Declaration statement for BitBlt (from the API Text Viewer):

PrivateDeclare Function BitBlt Lib "gdi32" Alias "BitBlt" (ByVal hDestDC As Long, ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, ByVal nWidth As Long, ByVal nHeight As Long, ByVal hSrcDC As Long, ByVal xSrc As Long, ByVal ySrc As Long, ByVal dwRop As Long) As Long

Lots of stuff here, but fairly straightforward. hDestDC is the device context handle, or hDC of the destination bitmap. The coordinate pair (X, Y) specifies the upper left corner in the destination bitmap to copy the source. The parameters nWidth and nHeight are, respectively, the width and height of the copied bitmap. hSrcDC is the device context handle for the source bitmap and (Xsrc, Ysrc) is the upper left corner of the region of the source bitmap being copied. Finally, dwRop is a constant that defines how the bitmap is to be copied. We will do a direct copy or set dwRop equal to the constant SRCCOPY. The BitBlt function expects all geometric units to be pixels.

• BitBlt returns an long integer value -- we won’t be concerned with its use right now. So, the syntax for using BitBlt is:

Dim RtnValue As Long
.
.
RtnValue = BitBlt(Dest.hDC, X, Y, Width, Height,
Src.hDC, Xsrc, Ysrc, SRCCOPY)

This function call takes the Src bitmap, located at (Xsrc, Ysrc), with width Width and height Height, and copies it directly to the Dest bitmap at (X, Y).

Quick Example 9 - Bouncing Ball With Sound!

We’ll build an application with a ball bouncing from the top to the bottom as an illustration of the use of BitBlt.

1. Start a new application. Add two picture boxes, a shape (inside the smaller picture box), a timer control, and a command button.:
   
   

2. For Picture1 (the destination), set the ScaleMode property to Pixel. For Shape1, set the FillStyle property to Solid, the Shape property to Circle, and choose a FillColor. For Picture2 (the ball), set the ScaleMode property to Pixel and the BorderStyle property to None. For Timer1, set the Enabled property to False and the Interval property to 100.

3. Copy and paste constants for the BitBlt Declare statement and constants. Also copy and paste the necessary sndPlaySound statements and declare some variables. The general declarations area is thus:
   
   Option Explicit
   Dim BongSound As String
   Dim BallY As Long, BallDir As Integer
   Private Declare Function sndPlaySound Lib "winmm.dll" Alias "sndPlaySoundA" (ByVal lpszSoundName As String, ByVal uFlags As Long) As Long
   Private Const SND_ASYNC = &H1
   Private Const SND_SYNC = &H0
   Private Const SND_MEMORY = &H4
   Private Declare Function BitBlt Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hDestDC As Long, ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, ByVal nWidth As Long, ByVal nHeight As Long, ByVal hSrcDC As Long, ByVal xSrc As Long, ByVal ySrc As Long, ByVal dwRop As Long) As Long
   Private Const SRCCOPY = &HCC0020

4. Add a Form_Load procedure:
   
   Private Sub Form_Load()
   BallY = 0
   BallDir = 1
   BongSound = StoreSound("bong.wav")
   End Sub

5. Write a Command1_Click event procedure to toggle the timer:
   
   Private Sub Command1_Click()
   Timer1.Enabled = Not (Timer1.Enabled)
   End Sub

6. The Timer1_Timer event controls the bouncing ball position:
   
   Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
   Static BallY As Long
   Dim RtnValue As Long
   Picture1.Cls
   BallY = BallY + BallDir * Picture1.ScaleHeight / 50
   If BallY < 0 Then
   BallY = 0
   BallDir = 1
   Call sndPlaySound(BongSound, SND_ASYNC Or SND_MEMORY)
   ElseIf BallY + Picture2.ScaleHeight > Picture1.ScaleHeight Then
   BallY = Picture1.ScaleHeight - Picture2.ScaleHeight
   BallDir = -1
   Call sndPlaySound(BongSound, SND_ASYNC Or SND_MEMORY)
   End If
   RtnValue = BitBlt(Picture1.hDC, CLng(0.5 * (Picture1.ScaleWidth - Picture2.ScaleWidth)), _
   BallY, CLng(Picture2.ScaleWidth), CLng(Picture2.ScaleHeight), Picture2.hDC, CLng(0), CLng(0), SRCCOPY)
   End Sub

7. We also need to make sure we include the StoreSound procedure from the last example so we can hear the bong when the ball bounces.

8. Once everything is together, run it and follow the bouncing ball!