VCL Controls: GDI+ Render Mode

• Jan 04, 2024
• 2 minutes to read

GDI+ and DirectX® render modes are designed for graphics-rich controls that display multiple semitransparent geometric primitives, images, and inscriptions at different angles. The GDI+ mode accelerates rendering for such controls and applies antialiasing to displayed shapes.

Supported DevExpress VCL Controls

The following graphics-rich controls support the GDI+ render mode:

VCL Chart Control

Allows you to visualize data as bar, area, line, pie, and doughnut series with multiple chart appearance customization options.

VCL Tile Controls

TdxTileControl and TdxTileBar controls allow you to create touch-friendly user interfaces inspired by Microsoft Windows® 8.

VCL Gallery Control

A gallery control is designed to display a set of items categorized into groups and arranged into rows and columns. Gallery controls include:

TdxGalleryControl

A gallery control.

TdxColorGallery

An unbound color gallery control.

TdxDBColorGallery

A data-aware color gallery control.

VCL Gantt Control

A project management tool that allows users to schedule activities related to project goals.

Enable GDI+ Render Mode

You can enable the GDI+ render mode application-wide or only for individual controls that support it.

Global Render Mode Setting

Assign rmGDIPlus to one of the following look & feel render mode properties to enable this mode application-wide:

• The RenderMode property available in TcxLookAndFeelController and TdxSkinController components.

  Delphi

    dxSkinController1.RenderMode := rmGDIPlus;
  

  C++

    dxSkinController1->RenderMode = rmGDIPlus;
  

• The RenderMode property available in the root look & feel settings. Call the RootLookAndFeel global function to access this property.

  Delphi

    RootLookAndFeel.RenderMode := rmGDIPlus;
  

  C++

    RootLookAndFeel()->RenderMode = rmGDIPlus;
  

Individual Render Mode Settings

Assign rmGDIPlus to an individual control’s LookAndFeel.RenderMode property to enable the GDI+ render mode for the control. This setting has priority over global render mode settings.

Delphi

  dxChartControl1.RenderMode := rmGDIPlus;

C++

  dxChartControl1->RenderMode = rmGDIPlus;

Note

Render mode settings do not affect controls that support only the GDI render mode.

Limitations

• The GDI+ render mode can be slower compared to the GDI render mode if the displayed control does not draw semitransparent shapes.

• In GDI+ render mode, all GDI and GDI+ draw calls made through a control’s Canvas and ActiveCanvas properties have no effect.