What is the equivalent to Java's canvas object in C#?

Question

I'm working on creating a basic application that will let a user draw (using a series of points) and I plan to do something with these points.

If this were Java, I think I would probably use a canvas object and some Java2D calls to draw what I want.

All the tutorials I've read on C#/Drawing involve writing your own paint method and adding it to the paint event for the form. However, I'm interested in having some traditional Form controls as well and I don't want to be drawing over them. So, is there a "Canvas" object where I can constrain what I'm drawing on?

Also, is WinForms a poor choice given this use case? Would WPF have more features that would help enable me to do what I want? Or Silverlight?

Answer 1

Well, there is a control called 'canvas' in WPF which may suite you. If you are using Windows Forms, i think the best choice will be to draw on a panel control. Windows forms are in no way a poor choice. Indeed, when using them you can even develop a cross-platform applications. However, WPF is more 'rich' in some way. I think that if you are not aiming at any other platforms, and you don't have to stick with .NET 2.0 WPF is a preferred choice (especially, if you are going to use some graphics in your application, because WPF uses hardware acceleration).

Answer 2

A Bitmap will work fine, display it with the PictureBox.Image property. Use Graphics.FromImage() to get the Graphics object you'll need to draw on the bitmap. Use PictureBox.Invalidate() to let the PB know that it needs to update the image on the screen.