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Course 2D_MFC: 2D-Computer Graphics with C++/MFC
Chapter C2: Comments to the Draw Project


Copyright © by V. Miszalok, last update: 2011-03-19
In CChildView.h inside class CChildView : public CWnd
private: CPoint old_vertex; //The key word private: tells the compiler that the variable that follows is just for local use by CChildView. CPoint is a simple MFC class consisting of two integers x and y. CPoint is the ideal data type to store and handle mouse coordinates. The variable old_vertex will be used to store the old mouse x,y during mouse movements while the program is waiting for a new x,y that will replace old_vertex.
Vertex (plural: vertices) is the latin word for edge. In 2D computer graphics vertex means a pair of x and y coordinates, in 3D a triple of x, y and z coordinates.
In CChildView.cpp inside void CChildView::OnLButtonDown(...)
old_vertex = point; Invalidate(); //Whenever the user of the program presses his left mouse button, the function OnLButtonDown is called. The first parameter nFlags transports the information if other mouse buttons and/or if the Ctrl- and Shift-keys on the keyboard have been pressed at the same time. The second parameter point transports the mouse coordinate. We ignore the first parameter and store the second into our private variable old_vertex. The next statement Invalidate() asks the operating system to completly erase all former drawings from our window.
In CChildView.cpp inside void CChildView::OnMouseMove(...)
if ( !nFlags ) return; //Whenever the mouse moves (even unvoluntarily when the table trembles slightly), the function OnMouseMove is called. In order to avoid unvoluntary drawing we check the parameter nFlags. If it is zero, no mouse button has been pressed and we quit the function and forget about this mouse movement.
CClientDC dc(this); //The graphic statements MoveTo and LineTo need a Device Context to draw into. The statement dc(this) returns a reference to the Device Context of the currently active window.
dc.MoveTo( old_vertex ); dc.LineTo( point ); //These two statements draw a digital line between two points.
old_vertex = point; //We forget the content of old_vertex and replace it by the current coordinate. The next line will start from here.
In CChildView.cpp inside void CChildView::OnPaint()
dc.TextOut( 0, 0, "Press the left mouse button and move!" ); //This text remembers the user that the program is waiting for mouse events.
In CChildView.cpp inside void CChildView::OnMouseMove(...)
CString blabla; //We need a local string that can be filled with values.
blabla.Format( "x=%d, y=%d ", point.x, point.y ); //Fill it with two integers i.e. the current x and y.
dc.TextOut( 0, 20, blabla ); //Display this line 20 pixels below the first text line
In Version 3 CChildView.cpp inside void CChildView::OnMouseMove(...)
dc.Rectangle( point.x-3, point.y-3, point.x+3, point.y+3 ); //Draw a 7x7 square around every vertex.
In Version 4 CChildView.cpp inside void CChildView::OnMouseMove(...)
int dx = point.x - old_vertex.x; //horizontal distance between old_vertex and the current mouse position
int dy = point.y - old_vertex.y; //vertical distance between old_vertex and the current mouse position
if ( dx*dx + dy*dy < 100 ) return; //If the distance is less than 10, forget the current point (Pythagoras' theorem).
In Version 5 CChildView.h in front of all other lines
#define nMax 100 //nMax is now a synonym of 100
#include < math.h > //necessary for the declaration of the function _hypoth below
In Version 5 CChildView.h inside CChildView : public CWnd
CPoint polygon[nMax]; //Array for 100 vertices each containing 2 integers x and y.
CPoint center_of_gravity; //One vertex to compute and store the center of gravity
CRect minmax; //CRect is a simple MFC class to store and handle axis-parallel rectangles. Purpose of minmax: storing the minimal surrounding rectangle of the polygone.
int n; //simple integer to count vertices
double perimeter, area; //two float variables with double precision
In Version 5 CChildView.cpp inside CChildView :: OnLButtonDown(...)
polygon[0] = old_vertex = point; //This is the starting vertex. Please notice the very important feature of C++: The first vertex always has number zero.
n = 1; //The number of vertices is now 1.
In Version 5 CChildView.cpp inside CChildView :: OnMouseMove(...)
if ( n > nMax - 2 ) return; //There is no memory space for more than 99 vertices.
old_vertex = polygon[n++] = point; //Store the current vertex into the array polygon and increment the vertex counter.
In Version 5 CChildView.cpp inside CChildView :: OnLButtonUp(...)
if ( n < 2 ) return; //If there are less than 2 vertices, nothing can be drawn.
polygon[n++] = polygon[0]; //In order to close the drawing, copy the first vertex inside polygon at the end of polygon.
perimeter = area = 0.; //intialize before start of summation
center_of_gravity.x = center_of_gravity.y = 0; //intialize before start of summation
minmax.left = minmax.right = polygon[0].x; //initialize the surrounding rectangle
minmax.top = minmax.bottom = polygon[0].y; //initialize the surrounding rectangle
for ( int i = 1; i < n; i++ ) //start with the second vertex and run through all vertices
int x = polygon[i].x; //It is is shorter to write x then polygon[i].x.
int y = polygon[i].y; //It is is shorter to write y then polygon[i].y.
double dx = double( x - polygon[i-1].x ); //horizontal difference between two adjacent vertices
double dy = double( y - polygon[i-1].y ); //vertical difference between two adjacent vertices
double my = double( y + polygon[i-1].y ) * 0.5; //mean of two adjacent y-coordinates
perimeter += _hypot( dx, dy ); //Pythagoras' theorem
area += dx * my; //Trapezoid formula
center_of_gravity.x += x; //sum up all x-coordiantes
center_of_gravity.y += y; //sum up all y-coordiantes
if ( x < minmax.left ) minmax.left = x; //if the new vertex is on the left of the minmax
if ( x > minmax.right ) minmax.right = x; //if the new vertex is on the right of minmax
if ( y < minmax.top ) minmax.top = y; //if the new vertex is above of minmax
if ( y > minmax.bottom ) minmax.bottom = y; //if the new vertex is below of minmax
center_of_gravity.x /= n-1; //divide the x-sum by n-1. We did not sum up the first vertex polygon[0] because it is identical to the last vertex polygon[n-1] and we do not want to count it twice.
center_of_gravity.y /= n-1; //divide the y-sum by n-1.
Invalidate(); //Jump to OnPaint(), erase all, redraw all.
In Version 5 CChildView.cpp inside CChildView :: OnPaint()
if ( n < 2 ) return; //There is not a single line to draw
CString blabla; //local string
blabla.Format( "Umfang=%d, Flaeche=%d", int(perimeter), int(area) ); //Convert perimeter and area to integers and put them into the string.
dc.TextOut( 0, 140, blabla ); //Display the string about 7 lines below the upper border.
dc.Rectangle( minmax ); //Draw a white Rectangle with black borders.
dc.Polygon ( polygon, n ); //Draw a closed polygone onto the rectangle.
dc.Rectangle( center_of_gravity.x-3, center_of_gravity.y-3, center_of_gravity.x+3, center_of_gravity.y+3 ); //Draw the center of gravity as small rectangle onto the polygone.
In Version 6 CChildView.cpp inside CChildView :: OnMouseMove(...)
dc.Polyline( polygon, n ); //Draw an open polyline from vertex 0 to n-1.
switch ( n%3 ) //Divide n by 3 and retain the remainder. The Windows API accepts only Bezier curves having the lengths 4, 7, 10, 13 ...
case 0: dc.PolyBezier( polygon, n-2 ); break; //Shorten the polygone by two vertices and draw it
case 1: dc.PolyBezier( polygon, n ); break; //Draw the polygone
case 2: dc.PolyBezier( polygon, n-1 ); break; //Shorten the polygone by one vertex and draw it
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