SetDIBitsToDevice , GetDIBits (Blurry text)

Hi all,

The following simple test code takes a snapshot of the desktop screen, produces a BMP image in memory , retrieves all the pixels in the BMP ,replace the white pixels with green pixels and finally copy the altered BMP back to the screen using the SetDIBitsToDevice GDI API.

Problem:

Although the code works, the resulting text is blurred/reddish.

Question:
Is there a way of getting a smooth text ?


I have also used the TransparentBlt API in another code but I i get the same text-blurring problem.

Code:

---

Option Explicit

Type BITMAPINFOHEADER '40 bytes
    biSize As Long
    biWidth As Long
    biHeight As Long
    biPlanes As Integer
    biBitCount As Integer
    biCompression As Long
    biSizeImage As Long
    biXPelsPerMeter As Long
    biYPelsPerMeter As Long
    biClrUsed As Long
    biClrImportant As Long
End Type

Type RGBQUAD
    rgbBlue As Byte
    rgbGreen As Byte
    rgbRed As Byte
    rgbReserved As Byte
End Type

Type BITMAPINFO
    bmiHeader As BITMAPINFOHEADER
    bmiColors As RGBQUAD
End Type

Declare  Function GetDC Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
Declare  Function CreateCompatibleDC Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long) As Long
Declare  Function CreateCompatibleBitmap Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal nWidth As Long, ByVal nHeight As Long) As Long
Declare  Function GetDIBits Lib "gdi32" (ByVal aHDC As Long, ByVal hBitmap As Long, ByVal nStartScan As Long, ByVal nNumScans As Long, lpBits As Any, lpBI As BITMAPINFO, ByVal wUsage As Long) As Long
Declare  Function SelectObject Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Declare  Function DeleteObject Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Declare  Function BitBlt Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hDestDC As Long, ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, ByVal nWidth As Long, ByVal nHeight As Long, ByVal hSrcDC As Long, ByVal xSrc As Long, ByVal ySrc As Long, ByVal dwRop As Long) As Long
Declare  Function ReleaseDC Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal hdc As Long) As Long
Declare  Function DeleteDC Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long) As Long
Declare  Function SetDIBitsToDevice Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, ByVal dx As Long, ByVal dy As Long, ByVal SrcX As Long, ByVal SrcY As Long, ByVal Scan As Long, ByVal NumScans As Long, Bits As Any, BitsInfo As BITMAPINFO, ByVal wUsage As Long) As Long
Declare  Function GetSystemMetrics Lib "user32" (ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long


Const DIB_RGB_COLORS = 0
Const SM_CXSCREEN = 0
Const SM_CYSCREEN = 1
Const SRCCOPY = &HCC0020
Const CAPTUREBLT = &H40000000
Const BI_RGB = 0&


Function getScreenBMP(hdcSrc As Long) As Long

    Dim nScreenWidth As Long, nScreenHeight As Long
    Dim hCaptureDC  As Long, hBitmap As Long, hOld As Long
   
    nScreenWidth = GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXSCREEN)
    nScreenHeight = GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYSCREEN)
    ' // Create compatible DC, create a compatible bitmap and copy the screen using BitBlt()
    hCaptureDC = CreateCompatibleDC(hdcSrc)
    hBitmap = CreateCompatibleBitmap(hdcSrc, nScreenWidth, nScreenHeight)
    hOld = SelectObject(hCaptureDC, hBitmap)
    'Make a copy of the screen
    'TODO: take subset
    Call BitBlt(hCaptureDC, 0, 0, nScreenWidth, nScreenHeight, hdcSrc, 0, 0, SRCCOPY Or CAPTUREBLT)
    Call SelectObject(hCaptureDC, hOld) ' // always select the previously selected object once done
    Call DeleteDC(hCaptureDC)
    getScreenBMP = hBitmap
End Function



Sub testMain()

    Dim myBMInfo As BITMAPINFO
    Dim lpPixels() As RGBQUAD
    Dim hdc As Long, hBitmap As Long
   
    hdc = GetDC(0)
    hBitmap = getScreenBMP(hdc)
   
    myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biSize = LenB(myBMInfo.bmiHeader)
    ' // Get the BITMAPINFO structure from the bitmap
    Call GetDIBits(hdc, hBitmap, 0, 0, vbNull, myBMInfo, DIB_RGB_COLORS)
    ' // create the bitmap buffer
    ' ReDim lpPixels(myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biSizeImage / 4)
    ReDim lpPixels(myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biWidth, myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biHeight)
   
    ' // Better do this here - the original bitmap might have BI_BITFILEDS, which makes it
    ' // necessary to read the color table - you might not want this.
    myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biCompression = BI_RGB
   
    ' // get the actual bitmap buffer
  Call GetDIBits(hdc, hBitmap, 0, myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biHeight, lpPixels(1, 1), myBMInfo, DIB_RGB_COLORS)
   
    Dim x As Long, y As Long

    '// replace white pixels with green pixels
      For x = 0 To myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biWidth
          For y = 0 To myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biHeight
          If lpPixels(x, y).rgbGreen = 255 And lpPixels(x, y).rgbBlue = 255 And lpPixels(x, y).rgbRed = 255 Then
                lpPixels(x, y).rgbGreen = 255: lpPixels(x, y).rgbBlue = 0: lpPixels(x, y).rgbRed = 0
          End If
          Next y
      Next x

    SetDIBitsToDevice hdc, 0, 0, myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biWidth, myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biHeight, 0, 0, 0, myBMInfo.bmiHeader.biHeight, lpPixels(1, 1), myBMInfo, DIB_RGB_COLORS

    Call DeleteObject(hBitmap)
    Call ReleaseDC(vbNull, hdc)

End Sub

---

This is what I get : (Notice the blurred text)

http://i983.photobucket.com/albums/a...00/SetDibs.png


Also, Does the GDI+ provide a better alternative ?

Regards.

I would think that the text is blended into the background. The area around the text edges are not crisp so you will have black text with probably a grayish edge where the black was blended into the original white background. When you replace white with green, those blended pixels are not pure white (RGB 255,255,255). That is likely the reason for the blurriness.

A better alternative? Not really. If you try to change a range of colors from White to near-white, you may get better results around the text, but then other near-white colors may be converted to green that you didn't want to be green

P.S. vbNull is not the value zero: MsgBox vbNull

Edited

@LaVolpe

So I guess there is no way of remeding this text blurring issue ?

Also, I was wondering if there is a way of replacing the targeted color in one bulk instead of looping through each pixel to gain speed ? Iterating the pixels in the BMP one by one is very slow.

And how about the GDI+ library ?

Thanks.


Late edit:

I could replace the color without looping via the use of the TransparentBlt API function but I was wondering if there is another way .

Isn't this just ClearType or other antialiasing of text? You could turn all of that off, but who wants to live with the result?

Or maybe I'm just missing something too subtle for me to grasp right now. Allergy meds, bleh.

I agree with dilettante.
Text on screen is anti aliased (whether by ClearType or something else), so making a screenshot and replace white with green will give very odd results.

You could try :
If. SourceR = sourceG and sourceR=sourceB then
TargetR=0:targerG=sourceG:targetB=0.. Maybe too much greenish result