Win32 Device Context without Window

Question

In my application i need to create HBITMAP objects to which I render and from where I copy the result.

I use the function "CreateDIBSection" to create these bitmaps, however this function required a DC (Device Context) as first parameter. Currently I get this by calling GetDC(hWnd) on the main windows handle (hWnd). But I would like to be able to create HBITMAPS without the requirement of having an application window, without some kind of in memory DC, Is this possible?

Answer 1

CreateCompatibleDC(NULL) will create you a device context that is compatible with the screen - which sounds like it would be ideal in the situation.

Answer 2

You can get one with CreateDC for the display:

 HDC hDc = CreateDC(L"DISPLAY", NULL, NULL, NULL);

Cleanup with DeleteDC(). It is only used to initialize the palette for bitmaps with indexed format. NULL might work if you don't use such a format, never tried it.

Then there's GDI+, #include <gdiplus.h> and the Bitmap class...