DirectDraw

Article
06/30/2006

Microsoft® DirectDraw® is the component of the DirectX® application programming interface (API) that allows you to directly manipulate display memory, the hardware blitter, hardware overlay support, and flipping surface support. DirectDraw provides this functionality while maintaining compatibility with existing Microsoft® Windows® CE .NET–based applications and device drivers.

DirectDraw is a software interface that provides direct access to display devices while maintaining compatibility with the Windows graphics device interface (GDI). It is not a high-level API for graphics. DirectDraw provides a device-independent way for games and Windows subsystem software, such as graphics packages and digital video codecs, to gain access to the features of specific display devices.

DirectDraw works with a wide variety of display hardware, ranging from simple SVGA monitors to advanced hardware implementations that provide clipping, stretching, and non-RGB color format support. The interface is designed so that your applications can enumerate the capabilities of the underlying hardware and then use any supported hardware-accelerated features. DirectX emulates features that are not implemented in hardware.

The topics in this section provide information about the DirectDraw® component of the DirectX® API.