managing-winforms-rendering

# WinForms Custom Rendering Guide Custom rendering in WinForms enables complete control over how controls paint themselves, from simple borders to complex visualizations using GDI+ (modern, object-oriented) and GDI (legacy, performance-optimized). ## When to Use This Skill Use this skill when: - Implementing custom OnPaint methods - Creating custom controls that render their content themselves - Working with Graphics, Pen, Brush, or Font objects - Drawing shapes, lines, or custom graphics in a DC painting context - Rendering and measuring text - Implementing double buffering to avoid flicker - Optimizing rendering performance - Supporting high-DPI displays - Implementing DarkMode-aware rendering (.NET 9+) - Troubleshooting paint artifacts or flicker - Managing GDI+ resource disposal ## Related Skills - [building-winforms-applications](../building-winforms-applications/SKILL.md) - [managing-winforms-data-binding](../managing-winforms-data-binding/SKILL.md) - [managing-winforms-mvvm](../managing-winforms-mvvm/SKILL.md) - [managing-winforms-high-dpi-layout](../managing-winforms-high-dpi-layout/SKILL.md) - [creating-winforms-custom-controls](../creating-winforms-custom-controls/SKILL.md) ## Detailed Guidance Read [Detailed guide](ref/detailed-guide.md) for comprehensive patterns, examples, and troubleshooting. ## Workflow 1. Confirm the scenario matches the triggers in this skill. 2. Apply the baseline pattern from this file. 3. Read [Detailed guide](ref/detailed-guide.md) for advanced or edge-case handling. 4. Validate changes with an actual build and runtime check.