- Elements are simple graphical objects which are assembled together to create a composite image. All elements are drawn on the Canvas in the order that each of them has in the stack of elements. In addition, each element can have associated to it zero or more imaging Actions that affect its appearance (more on this later).
There are two main kinds of elements:
- ImageElement which simply wraps an image or picture that must be drawn on the Canvas. Those images or pictures can be acquired from several sources such as a URL or path file, Base64 string, byte array, or System.Drawing.Image object.
- TextElement which simply wraps a text string that must be drawn on the Canvas. TextElement objects are created by specifying some basic properties such as Text, Font, ForeColor, StrokeColor, etc. TextElement are useful for drawing custom captions and watermarks.
Built-in ImageDraw Actions - Imaging Effects
Most time, Element (ImageElement and TextElement) objects will require some "retouching" such as resizing, scaling, FX effects, etc. Actions are imaging effects that are applied on an Element (ImageElement and/or TextElement) object. Any Element can be "affected" by more than one Action. ImageDraw comes with 25 built-in ready to use Actions including: Adjust Brightness, Contrast, Gamma, Hue, Saturation, Opacity; Convert To Grayscale, Negative, Sepia; Crop, Drop REAL Shadow, Flip, Make Transparent, Perspective Shadow, Resize, Scale, Rotate, Round Corners, Silhouette, Stretch, Decorative Border, Glass Table, Mail Stamp, Polaroid, and Filmstrip.
Merging Actions
Keep in mind that ImageDraw architecture allows you to apply more than one Action on a given Element (ImageElement or TextElement) highly improving the whole appearance of the output composite image.
SQL Server BLOB (Binary Large Object) Data Binding Support
ImageDraw controls can be bound to SQL Server BLOB (Binary Large Object) data type allowing you to deliver dynamic images which their contents are stored in that kind of data source. Not only you can deliver BLOB images as is but built-in Imaging Actions can be applied on those items as well, greatly enhancing their appearance without efforts.
XML Base64 string Data Binding Support
Images or pictures stored in XML Base64 string format, is another Data Binding scenario that ImageDraw controls support out-of-the-box. Just as for SQL Server BLOB scenario, images stored in XML Base64 string format can be rendered as is or with built-in Imaging Actions applied on those items as well, enhancing their appearance without efforts.
Manipulate and use Images embedded into ASP.NET Resources (*.RESX)
ASP.NET 2.0 features new Resources capabilities allowing you, for example, to store image files embedded into RESX files without you need to deploy those files. ImageDraw was designed keeping in mind that feature and thus, you can manipulate and use those embedded images to dynamically create composite images.
Image Formats Supported
ImageDraw controls support the following image formats.
- Input Image Formats : ImageDraw controls manage input images by wrapping them through ImageElement objects and the supported formats are PNG, GIF, JPG/JPEG, BMP, TIFF, WMF, EMF, and ICO.
- Output Image Formats : Each ImageDraw control features the ImageFormat property which indicates what image format must be rendered. The following formats are supported for the output image: PNG, GIF, JPG/JPEG, and BMP.
- GIF output images support Index Transparency
- PNG output images support Alpha Channel Transparency with PNG Hacking for Internet Explorer 5.x & 6.x (Win32 Platform) out-of-the-box.
Cross-Browser Compatibility
ImageDraw controls render images in all the most popular browsers, including Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, Mozilla, Firefox, and Safari.
Visual Studio .NET Design-time Support (Included Borland C#Builder & Delphi for .NET)
ImageDraw for ASP.NET features a powerful designer and utilities. When you drag & drop ImageDraw from Visual Studio Toolbox, the ImageDraw Designer shows you the output image that ImageDraw will render at runtime. ImageDraw for ASP.NET works in most popular and modern .NET Development Tools including:
- Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002
- Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (VS2005, VS 2005)
- Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
- Borland Developer Studio
- C# Builder
- Delphi for .NET
ImageDraw Visual Editor
Neodynamic ImageDraw controls allow you to design and create composite images using a designer tool called ImageDraw Visual Editor. ImageDraw Visual Editor is fully integrated with Visual Studio .NET and Borland .NET IDEs allowing you to manage ImageElements and TextElements as well as built-in Imaging Actions. You get instant visual feedback of how the composite image will look like. The Preview Output Image tab lets you to setting up the output image format, color depth, and with the possibility of saving the image on your disk.
ImageDrawMap Visual HotSpots Editor
Neodynamic ImageDrawMap control allows you to organize hot spot regions in a visual manner using ImageDrawMap HotSpots Editor. ImageDraw Visual Editor is fully integrated with Visual Studio .NET and Borland .NET IDEs. By setting up the hot spot regions properties you get instant visual feedback of how those regions are placed on the output composite image.
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