C#, rendering in tabpages (TabControl)

[MacK]

Hello, I'm working on a rather large project that I will not go into details as it's not ready to be announced yet.

Anyhow, I'm using the TabControl for the level editor and I need to be able to render to each TabPage. When the user clicks "Tab1", I want the rendering device to switch to "Tab1". If the user clicks "Tab2", I want the rendering device to switch over to "Tab2" and forget about "Tab1"... and so on.

Can this be done?

Thank you!

[rooly]

yep, it sure can, with enough time, trouble, and experience, or maybe just an engine with a more evolved gui. simple eh?

[bitplane]

a completely worthless answer there rooly, thanks for that.

to render 3d to a tab- just add a gui image with a render target as the texture, and use getActiveTab to decide which one you are drawing to.

since only one image will be visible at once, you might as well add the same texture to each tab and just change the current camera or scene manager in your render loop. see the meshviewer (for tabs) and render to texture tutorials for details.

[DeusXL]

Isn't he talking about Windows Forms' Tabs ? I mean, including Irrlicht in a Windows Forms tab control

If so, I'd say it could be done by adding a picture box for both tabs (because Irrlicht can only handle one control at the same time) and handle in events where the user switched the tabs
Or you can create two devices and switch the first to pause when the user uses the second tab...

Anyway, please give more details

[sgt_pinky]

See, I was thinking he was talking about wrapping Java tabs in .NET DeusXL - but then I couldn't work out if it was Swing, or some other GUI interface - so I just decided not to reply

[MacK]

Sorry- I'm talking about Windows Forms.

It's for a level editor, so if you open multiple levels it'll open in a new tab (the game is 2d/isometric that's why).

All I need to know is how to change the rendering source which is defined here (RendowWindow is the control rending to):

Code: Select all

            Device = new IrrlichtDevice(DriverType.DIRECT3D9,
                new Dimension2D(640, 418), 32, false, false,
                false, false, RenderWindow.Handle); 

All I need to know is how to change that last option dynamically (the handle of the RenderWindow).

By the way, I've been using Irrlicht for one day so far.

Thanks!

[DeusXL]

Code: Select all

            Device = new IrrlichtDevice(DriverType.DIRECT3D9,
                new Dimension2D(640, 418), 32, false, false,
                false, false, RenderWindow.Handle); 

All I need to know is how to change that last option dynamically (the handle of the RenderWindow).

Impossible (unless I'm wrong).

The only solution is to create a new device for each tab and to use it only when the tab is focused.

[bitplane]

I'm just guessing here, but can't you just put it inside another windows control and move that around instead.
I don't think you can create more than one device at present.

[MacK]

I'm just guessing here, but can't you just put it inside another windows control and move that around instead.
I don't think you can create more than one device at present.

Well I need it so the user can open multiple windows at once. I might just go ahead and use the Irrlicht GUI system instead... I was messing with it and it felt pretty good...

[2playgames]

don't know about irrlicht, but in directx you can set a Panel as rendering target. maybe you can do that and use buttons instead of tabs to switch to another level

[fvapres]

What about saving the view of the map to a jpg/png/bmp format in the working folder directory, then loading that image as the image for the tab control (iirc already a property built into the tab control you can use right away)