Drawing Graphics

This article contains the basic syntax to draw graphics of various shapes and sizes in Visual Basic 6.0. Different types of geometrical shapes (rectangle, square, circle, arc, ellipse etc.) can be drawn on the form by using the following syntax.

Basic syntax (for line, rectangle, square)
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STEP -- KEYWORD SPECIFYING THAT THE STARTING POINT COORDINATES ARE RELATIVE TO THE CURRENT GRAPHICS POSITION GIVEN BY THE "CURRENTX" & "CURRRENTY" PROPERTIES.

X1, Y1 -- SINGLE VALUES INDICATING THE COORDINATES OF THE STARTING POINT FOR THE LINE OR RECTANGLE. IF OMITTED THE LINE BEGINS AT THE POSITION INDICATED BY CURRENTX AND CURRENTY.

STEP -- KEYWORD SPECIFYING THAT THE END POINT COORDINATES ARE RELATIVE TO THE LINE STARTING POINT.

X2, Y2--SINGLE VALUES INDICATING THE COORDINATES OF THE END POINT FOR LINE BEING DRAWN.

COLOR -- INDICATES THE COLOR OF THE LINE. CAN USE RGB() OR QBCOLOR() FUNCTIONS, OR NAMED COLOR CONSTANTS SUCH AS vbGreen.
IF OMITTED, THE CURRENT VALUE OF THE FORECOLOR PROPERTY IS USED.

B -- ("BOX") - IF INCLUDED, CAUSES A BOX TO BE DRAWN USING THE COORDINATES TO SPECIFY OPPOSITE CORNERS OF THE BOX.

F -- ("FILL") - CAN ONLY BE USED WITH "B" OPTION. IF USED, "F" SPECIFIES THAT THE BOX IS TO BE FILLED WITH SAME COLOR USED TO DRAW THE BOX. IF B IS NOT FILLED WITH F(F option is not used), THE BOX IS FILLED WITH CURRENT "FILLCOLOR" AND "FILLSTYLE". DEFAULT VALUE FOR FILLSTYLE IS TRANSPARENT.

Basic Syntax (for elliptical shapes - arc, circle, ellipse)
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STEP -- SPECIFIES THAT THE CENTER OF THE CIRCLE OR ELLIPSE IS RELATIVE TO THE CURRENT COORDINATES GIVEN BY THE "CURRENTX" & "CURRENTY" PROPERTIES.

X, Y -- COORDINATES INDICATING THE CENTER POINT OF THE CIRCLE OR ELLIPSE.

RADIUS -- INDICATES THE RADIUS OF THE CIRCLE OR ELLIPSE.

START, END -- WHEN AN ARC (A PARTIAL CIRCLE) IS TO BE DRAWN, START AND END SPECIFY THE BEGINNING AND THE ENDING POSITION OF THE ARC.
THE RANGE FOR BOTH IS -2Pi RADIAN TO 2Pi RADIAN. THE DEFAULT VALUE FOR START IS 0 RADIANS AND THAT FOR END IS 2Pi RADIANS. IN OTHER WORDS, THE DEFAULT IS TO DRAW A COMPLETE CIRCLE OR ELLIPSE.

ASPECT -- INDICATES THE ASPECT RATIO OF THE CIRCLE/ELLIPSE. DEFAULT IS 1.0, WHICH YIELDS A PERFECT CIRCLE ON ANY SCREEN.

Hope it helps the user to draw any basic objects on form or picturebox.