Archived:Accessing display memory with UserSvr::ScreenInfo() is deprecated from S60 3rd Edition onwards (Known Issue)

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UserSvr::ScreenInfo() provides an address to the LCD display frame buffer. However, using this method of drawing directly to the screen does not work properly on S60 3rd Edition devices, and is considered as deprecated.

Article Metadata

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Compatibility

Platform(s): S60 3rd Edition
S60 3rd Edition, FP1

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Article

Created: User:Technical writer 1 (30 Aug 2007)

Last edited: hamishwillee (15 Jun 2012)

Description

The address TScreenInfoV01::iScreenAddress, obtained by calling the UserSvr::ScreenInfo() function, can be used for drawing directly to the frame buffer of a display. After modifying the frame buffer, the display still needs to be forced to update itself.

Prior to S60 3rd Edition, this could be done by generating a redraw event:

TRawEvent redraw;
redraw.Set( TRawEvent::ERedraw );
UserSvr::AddEvent( redraw );

On S60 3rd Edition devices this does not have any immediate effect; the screen is updated only after notifying the screen device about the out of date region(s).

Solution

Instead of retrieving the frame buffer address with UserSvr::ScreenInfo(), developers should start using CDirectScreenBitmap class for direct screen access. For more information, see the document S60 Platform: Scalable Screen-Drawing How-To.

As a workaround solution, it is still possible to use the old drawing method and force the screen to update itself by specifying the out of date region with

void CFbsScreenDevice::Update( const TRegion &aRegion );