Question

I’m trying to build a ScrolledWindow that you can draw on using the mouse, and it’s working too, but I’m getting a nasty flicker when the user is drawing on the window while the scrollbars aren’t in the “home” position..

To reproduce, run the attached program, scroll a bit down (or to the right) and “doodle” a bit by keeping the left mouse button pressed. You should see a flickering now and then..

import wx

class MainFrame(wx.Frame):
    """ Just a frame with a DrawPane """

    def __init__(self, *args, **kw):
        wx.Frame.__init__(self, *args, **kw)
        s = wx.BoxSizer(wx.VERTICAL)
        s.Add(DrawPane(self), 1, wx.EXPAND)
        self.SetSizer(s)

########################################################################
class DrawPane(wx.PyScrolledWindow):
    """ A PyScrolledWindow with a 1000x1000 drawable area """

    VSIZE = (1000, 1000)

    def __init__(self, *args, **kw):
        wx.PyScrolledWindow.__init__(self, *args, **kw)
        self.SetScrollbars(10, 10, 100, 100)
        self.prepare_buffer()

        self.Bind(wx.EVT_PAINT, self.on_paint)
        self.Bind(wx.EVT_LEFT_DOWN, self.on_mouse_down)
        self.Bind(wx.EVT_MOTION, self.on_motion)

    def prepare_buffer(self):
        self.buffer = wx.EmptyBitmap(*DrawPane.VSIZE)
        dc = wx.BufferedDC(None, self.buffer)
        dc.Clear()
        dc.DrawLine(0, 0, 999, 999) # Draw something to better show the flicker problem

    def on_paint(self, evt):
        dc = wx.BufferedPaintDC(self, self.buffer, wx.BUFFER_VIRTUAL_AREA)

    def on_mouse_down(self, evt):
        self.mouse_pos = self.CalcUnscrolledPosition(evt.GetPosition()).Get()

    def on_motion(self, evt):
        if evt.Dragging() and evt.LeftIsDown():
            dc = wx.BufferedDC(wx.ClientDC(self), self.buffer)
            newpos = self.CalcUnscrolledPosition(evt.GetPosition()).Get()
            coords = self.mouse_pos + newpos
            dc.DrawLine(*coords)
            self.mouse_pos = newpos
            self.Refresh()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = wx.PySimpleApp()
    wx.InitAllImageHandlers()
    MainFrame(None).Show()
    app.MainLoop()

I tried using SetBackgroundStyle(wx.BG_STYLE_CUSTOM), or binding EVT_ERASE_BACKGROUND, or using RefreshRect instead of Refresh, but the flicker is still there.. Any idea on what I might try next?

My environment: Xubuntu 9.04, wxPython 2.8.9.1
(but tested on Ubuntu 10.04 too)

Many thanks for your time!

Answer 1

From Robin Dunn himself:

First, a Refresh() by default will
erase the background before sending
the paint event (although setting the
BG style or catching the erase event
would have taken care of that.) The
second and probably most visible
problem in this case is that in your
on_motion handler you are not
offsetting the ClientDC by the scroll
offsets, just the position in the
buffer that you are drawing the line
segment at. So when the buffer is
flushed out to the client DC it is
drawn at the physical (0,0), not the
virtual (0,0). In other words, the
flicker you are seeing is coming from
drawing the buffer at the wrong
position after every mouse drag event,
and then it immediately being drawn
again at the right position in the
on_paint triggered by the
Refresh().

You should be able to fix this by
calling PrepareDC on the client DC
before using it, like this:

    cdc = wx.CLientDC(self)
    self.PrepareDC(cdc)
    dc = wx.BufferedDC(cdc, self.buffer)

However since you are doing a
Refresh or RefreshRect anyway,
there is no need to use a client DC
here at all, just let the flushing of
the buffer to the screen be done in
on_paint instead:

    dc = wx.BufferedDC(None, self.buffer)