What are some basic styles of a PEN object?

CreatePen API and styles

We create pen GUI object by CreatePen() API. CreatePen(fnPenStyle, nWidth, crColor) takes three arguments.

fnPenStyle - pen style
nWidth - pen width
crColor - pen color

PEN styles

CreatePen() takes first argument as style of the pen. Below are the basic style definitions of pen object.

Style	Description
PS_SOLID	Pen is solid.
PS_DASH	Pen is dashed. This style is valid only when the pen width is one or less in device units.
PS_DOT	Pen is dotted. This style is valid only when the pen width is one or less in device units.
PS_DASHDOT	Pen has alternating dashes and dots. This style is valid only when the pen width is one or less in device units.
PS_DASHDOTDOT	Pen has alternating dashes and double dots. This style is valid only when the pen width is one or less in device units.
PS_NULL	Pen is invisible.
PS_INSIDEFRAME	Pen is solid. When this pen is used in any graphics device interface (GDI) drawing function that takes a bounding rectangle, the dimensions of the figure are shrunk so that it fits entirely in the bounding rectangle, taking into account the width of the pen. This applies only to geometric pens.

CreatePen() PEN styles Demo

 #include <windows.h>

 LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd,

                          UINT message, 

                          WPARAM wParam,

                          LPARAM lParam);

 int APIENTRY WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,

                      HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,

                      LPSTR     lpCmdLine,

                      int       nCmdShow)

 {

   WNDCLASS wc;

   MSG msg;

   HWND hWnd;

   ZeroMemory(&amp;wc, sizeof(WNDCLASS));

   wc.style           = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;

   wc.lpfnWndProc     = (WNDPROC)WndProc;

   wc.hInstance       = hInstance;

   wc.hCursor         = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);

   wc.hbrBackground   = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_BACKGROUND);

   wc.lpszClassName   = (LPCTSTR)"MyPenDemo";

   RegisterClass(&wc);

    hWnd = CreateWindow("MyPenDemo", "MyPenDemo", WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,

       CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL);

   ShowWindow(hWnd, nCmdShow);

   UpdateWindow(hWnd);

   while (GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0)) 

   {

     DispatchMessage(&msg);

   }

   return 0;

 }

 LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)

 {

   switch (message) 

   {

     case WM_DESTROY:

       PostQuitMessage(0);

       break;

     case WM_PAINT:

   {

       HDC hdc;

     HPEN hpen, old_hpen;

     HBRUSH hbrush, old_hbrush;

       LOGBRUSH logbrush;

       hdc = BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);

       /* CreatePen (style, width, color) */

       hpen = CreatePen(PS_SOLID, 1, RGB(50,50,50));

       logbrush.lbColor = RGB(200,200,200);

       logbrush.lbStyle = BS_SOLID;

       logbrush.lbHatch = 0;

       hbrush = CreateBrushIndirect(&logbrush);

       old_hbrush = (HBRUSH) SelectObject(hdc, (HGDIOBJ)hbrush);

       old_hpen = (HPEN) SelectObject(hdc, (HGDIOBJ)hpen);

       Rectangle(hdc, 10, 10, 100, 100);

       SelectObject(hdc, (HGDIOBJ)old_hbrush);

       SelectObject(hdc, (HGDIOBJ)old_hpen);

       DeleteObject(hbrush);

       DeleteObject(hpen);

       EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);

       break;

   }

     default:

       return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);

    }

    return 0;

 }

PEN styles program output

About our authors: Team EQA

What are some basic styles of a PEN object?

CreatePen API and styles

PEN styles

CreatePen() PEN styles Demo

PEN styles program output

Further readings