Creating Complex Surfaces and Flipping Chains (Windows Embedded CE 6.0)
1/6/2010
You can also create complex surfaces. A complex surface is a set of surfaces created with a single call to the IDirectDraw::CreateSurface method.
If the DDSCAPS_FLIP flag is set when you call CreateSurface call, DirectDraw implicitly creates one or more surfaces in addition to the surface explicitly specified.
You manage complex surfaces just like a single surface — a single call to the IDirectDrawSurface::ReleaseDC method releases all surfaces, and a single call to the IDirectDrawSurface::Restore method restores them all.
Complex surfaces are used in flipping chains. Usually, a flipping chain is made of a primary surface and one or more back buffers. The DDSCAPS_FLIP flag indicates that a surface is part of a flipping chain.
Code Example
The following code example demonstrates how to prepare for creating a primary surface flipping chain.
Note
To make the following code example easier to read, security checking and error handling are not included. This code example should not be used in a release configuration unless it has been modified to include them.
DDSURFACEDESC ddsd;
ddsd2.dwSize = sizeof(ddsd);
// Tell DirectDraw which members are valid.
ddsd.dwFlags = DDSD_CAPS | DDSD_BACKBUFFERCOUNT;
// Request a primary surface with a single
// back buffer
ddsd.ddsCaps.dwCaps = DDSCAPS_FLIP |
DDSCAPS_PRIMARYSURFACE;
ddsd.dwBackBufferCount = 1;
The previous example constructs a double-buffered flipping environment — a single call to the IDirectDrawSurface::Flip method exchanges the surface memory of the primary surface and the back buffer.
If you specify 2 for the value of the dwBackBufferCount member of the DDSURFACEDESC structure, two back buffers are created, and each call to Flip rotates the surfaces in a circular pattern, providing a triple-buffered flipping environment.
For more information, see Flipping Surfaces.