January 6th, 2006

Why do image lists and tool bars use horizontal strips if vertical is so much better?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Two people pointed out that the ImageList_Add function and toolbars use horizontal strips even though we learned that vertical strips are much more efficient. While it’s true that the images are passed to the ImageList_Add and CreateToolbarEx functions in horizontal strips, the image list and toolbar code copy them to a vertical strip.

In other words, the horizontal strip is merely an interchange format. Internally, the image list and toolbar use the more efficient vertical arrangement.

Category
Old New Thing
Topics
Code

Author

Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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