How to double buffer .NET controls on a form?

Question

How can i set the protected DoubleBuffered property of the controls on a form that are suffering from flicker?

Answer 1

public void EnableDoubleBuffering()
{
   this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.DoubleBuffer | 
      ControlStyles.UserPaint | 
      ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint,
      true);
   this.UpdateStyles();
}

Answer 2

System.Reflection.PropertyInfo aProp = typeof(System.Windows.Forms.Control)
    .GetProperty("DoubleBuffered", System.Reflection.BindingFlags.NonPublic |
    System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Instance);
aProp.SetValue(ListView1, true, null);

Ian has some more information about using this on a terminal server.

Answer 3

You can also inherit the controls into your own classes, and set the property in there. This method is also nice if you tend to be doing a lot of set up that is the same on all of the controls.

Answer 4

One way is to extend the specific control you want to double buffer and set the DoubleBuffered property inside the control's ctor.

For instance:

class Foo : Panel
{
    public Foo() { DoubleBuffered = true; }
}

Answer 5

Before you try double buffering, see if SuspendLayout()/ResumeLayout() solve your problem.

Answer 6

Here's a more generic version of Dummy's solution.

We can use reflection to get at the protected DoubleBuffered property, and then it can be set to true.

Note: You should pay your developer taxes and not use double-buffering if the user is running in a terminal services session (e.g. Remote Desktop) This helper method will not turn on double buffering if the person is running in remote desktop.

public static void SetDoubleBuffered(System.Windows.Forms.Control c)
{
   //Taxes: Remote Desktop Connection and painting
   //http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2006/01/03/508694.aspx
   if (System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.TerminalServerSession)
      return;

   System.Reflection.PropertyInfo aProp = 
         typeof(System.Windows.Forms.Control).GetProperty(
               "DoubleBuffered", 
               System.Reflection.BindingFlags.NonPublic | 
               System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Instance);

   aProp.SetValue(c, true, null); 
}

Answer 7

I have found that simply setting the DoubleBuffered setting on the form automatically sets all the properties listed here.

However; I have found the double buffering provided by winforms to be less than great. This little gem of a code snippet really makes a difference, seriously try it. I spent a long time looking for a solution that worked and finally found that :-)

Answer 8

Check this thread

Answer 9

nobugz gets the credit for the method in his link, I'm just reposting. Add this override to the Form:

protected override CreateParams CreateParams
{
    get
    {
     CreateParams cp = base.CreateParams;
     cp.ExStyle |= 0x02000000;
     return cp;
    }
}

This worked best for me, on Windows 7 I was getting large black blocks appearing when I resize a control heavy form. The control now bounce instead! But it's better.

Answer 10

Just cut and pasted this and it worked great for one my custom controls which is movable, doesnt flicker at all. But I have a second control which has a gridview and including this code makes it not displcay correctly. ie most lines in grid not drawn, and text/looks almost like is low res?! Any ideas out there way worked great for one and not the other...

protected override CreateParams CreateParams
{    
  get    
    {        
      CreateParams cp = base.CreateParams;        
      cp.ExStyle |= 0x02000000;        
      return cp;    
    }
}