How to Use FillPolygonRgn API to Fill Shape in Visual Basic

- Standard and Professional Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic for

  Windows, versions 2.0 and 3.0

SUMMARY

Microsoft Visual Basic versions 2.0 and later for Windows include the Shape control which can be used for creating and filling six different geometric shapes. Alternatively, you can create a polygon region on a form or picture and fill it with a color, using the CreatePolygonRgn and FillRgn Windows API calls to draw and fill areas of the screen with color. Geometric shapes not provided with the Shape control, such as a triangle, can be created using this method.

More Information:

To draw a polygon on a form or picture control, you can use the Polygon API call; this will draw the edge of the polygon. You can then use CreatePolygonRgn to create an area that you can paint and use FillRgn to fill it with a color. Using these Windows API calls allows you to pick the points, the number of points, and to choose the color or brush to fill with.

The API calls used in the following example should be declared in the general Declarations section of your form. They are as follows:

API Call          Description

CreatePolygonRgn Creates a polygonal region

GetStockObject    Retrieves a handle to one of the predefined stock
                  pens, brushes, or fonts

FillRgn           Fills the region specified by the hRgn parameter
                  with the brush specified by the hBrush parameter

Polygon           Draws a polygon consisting of two or more points
                  connected by lines

Code Example

The following code example shows how to create a black triangle on a form. To change the program to create other shapes, add points to the array.

1. Run Visual Basic for Windows, or from the File menu, choose New Project (press ALT, F, N) if Visual Basic for Windows is already running. Form1 is created by default.

2. From the File menu, choose New Module (press ALT, F, M). Module1 is created by default.

3. Add the following code to the general declarations section of Module1 (in Visual Basic version 1.0 for Windows, add it to GLOBAL.BAS):

      Type Coord       ' This is the type structure for the x and y
         x As Integer  ' coordinates for the polygonal region.
         y As Integer
      End Type
   
      ' Enter each Declare statement as one, single line:
      Declare Function CreatePolygonRgn Lib "gdi" (lpPoints As Any,
         ByVal nCount As Integer, ByVal nPolyFillMode As Integer) As Integer
      Declare Function Polygon Lib "gdi" ByVal hDC As Integer,
         lpPoints As Any, ByVal nCount As Integer) As Integer
      Declare Function FillRgn Lib "gdi" (ByVal hDC As Integer,
         ByVal hRgn As Integer, ByVal hBrush As Integer) As Integer
      Declare Function GetStockObject Lib "gdi" (ByVal nIndex As Integer)
         As Integer
      Declare Function DeleteObject Lib "gdi" (ByVal hndobj As Integer)
         As Integer
   
      Global Const ALTERNATE = 1 ' ALTERNATE and WINDING are
      Global Const WINDING = 2   ' constants for FillMode.
      Global Const BLACKBRUSH = 4' Constant for brush type.
   
   

4. Add the following code to the Form_Click event for Form1:

      Sub Form_Click ()
         ' Dimension coordinate array.
         ReDim poly(1 To 3) As Coord
         ' Number of vertices in polygon.
         NumCoords% = 3
         ' Set scalemode to pixels to set up points of triangle.
         form1.scalemode = 3
         ' Assign values to points.
         poly(1).x = form1.scalewidth / 2
         poly(1).y = form1.scaleheight / 2
         poly(2).x = form1.scalewidth / 4
         poly(2).y = 3 * form1.scaleheight / 4
         poly(3).x = 3 * form1.scalewidth / 4
         poly(3).y = 3 * form1.scaleheight / 4
         ' Sets background color to red for contrast.
         form1.backcolor = &HFF
         ' Polygon function creates unfilled polygon on screen.
         ' Remark FillRgn statement to see results.
         bool% = Polygon(form1.hdc, poly(1), NumCoords%)
         ' Gets stock black brush.
         hbrush% = GetStockObject(BLACKBRUSH)
         ' Creates region to fill with color.
         hrgn% = CreatePolygonRgn(poly(1), NumCoords%, ALTERNATE)
         ' If the creation of the region was successful then color.
         If hrgn% Then bool% = FillRgn(form1.hdc, hrgn%, hbrush%)
         ' Print out some information.
         Print "FillRgn Return : ";bool%
         Print "HRgn : "; hrgn%
         Print "Hbrush : "; hbrush%
         Trash% = DeleteObject(hrgn%)
      End Sub
   
   

5. Run the program.

NOTE: If you try to fill a region with coordinates beyond the visible form, the CreatePolygonRgn function call will return a zero, meaning it was unsuccessful. The FillRgn will not work if the CreatePolygonRgn function was unsuccessful. All you will see is the outline created by the Polygon function. You should make certain that the vertices are all within the viewable form.