C# Signature:

[DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
static extern IntPtr CreateDIBSection(IntPtr hdc, [In] ref BITMAPINFO pbmi,
   uint pila, out IntPtr ppvBits, IntPtr hSection, uint dwOffset);

VB.NET Signature:

  <DllImport("gdi32.dll")> _
  Private Shared Function CreateDIBSection(ByVal hdc As Int32, _
    ByRef pbmi As BITMAPINFO, ByVal iUsage As System.UInt32, _
    ByRef ppvBits As Int32, ByVal hSection As Int32, _
    ByVal dwOffset As System.UInt32) As Int32
  End Function

C# User-Defined Types:

  [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    public class BITMAPINFO {
      public Int32 biSize;
      public Int32 biWidth;
      public Int32 biHeight;
      public Int16 biPlanes;
      public Int16 biBitCount;
      public Int32 biCompression;
      public Int32 biSizeImage;
      public Int32 biXPelsPerMeter;
      public Int32 biYPelsPerMeter;
      public Int32 biClrUsed;
      public Int32 biClrImportant;
      public Int32 colors;
    }

VB.NET User-Defined Types:

  <StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> _
  Private Class BITMAPINFOHEADER
      Public biSize As Int32
      Public biWidth As Int32
      Public biHeight As Int32
      Public biPlanes As Int16
      Public biBitCount As Int16
      Public biCompression As Int32
      Public biSizeImage As Int32
      Public biXPelsPerMeter As Int32
      Public biYPelsPerMeter As Int32
      Public biClrUsed As Int32
      Public biClrImportant As Int32
  End Class

  <StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> _
    Private Structure RGBQUAD
    Dim rgbBlue As Byte
    Dim rgbGreen As Byte
    Dim rgbRed As Byte
    Dim rgbReserved As Byte
    End Structure

  <StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> _
    Private Structure BITMAPINFO
    Dim bmiheader As BITMAPINFOHEADER
    Dim bmiColors As RGBQUAD
    End Structure

Notes:

The BITMAPINFO structure defines the dimensions and color information for a DIB, it contains the members

BITMAPINFOHEADER structure (contains information about the dimensions of color format) and bmiColors which contains one of the following:

• An array of RGBQUAD. The elements of the array that make up the color table.
• An array of 16-bit unsigned integers that specifies indexes into the currently realized logical palette.

See MSDN Documentation for BITMAPINFO concerning specific details concerning structure members.

hSection is a handle to a file mapping object that the function will use to create the DIB and can be NULL. If hSection is not NULL, it must be a handle to a file mapping object created by calling the CreateFileMapping function (otherwise CreateDIBSection will fail). Moreover, the CreateDIBSection function will locate the bitmap’s bit values at offset dwOffset in the file mapping object referred to by hSection. An application can retrieve the hSection handle by calling the GetObject function with the HBITMAP returned by CreateDIBSection.

If hSection is NULL, the O/S will allocate memory for the DIB (CreateDIBSection will ignore the dwOffset parameter). An application cannot later obtain a handle to this memory: the dshSection member of the DIBSECTION structure will be NULL.

dwOffset specifies the offset from the beginning of the file mapping object referenced by hSection where storage for the bitmap’s bit values is to begin (ignored if hSection is NULL). The bitmap’s bit values are aligned on doubleword boundaries, so dwOffset must be a multiple of the size of a DWORD.

If the function succeeds, the return value is a handle to the newly created device-independent bitmap (and ppvBits will point to the bitmap’s bit values). If the function fails, the return value is NULL (and ptr ppvBits will be NULL). To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Tips & Tricks:

Please add some!

Sample Code:

Please add some!

Alternative Managed API:

Do you know one? Please contribute it!