Windows-Format Metafiles

The Win32 API supports the Windows metafile format to maintain compatibility with applications written for Windows version 3.x. Following are the limitations of this format.

• A Windows-format metafile is application and device dependent. Changes in the application's mapping modes or the device resolution affect the appearance of metafiles created in this format.

• A Windows-format metafile does not contain a comprehensive header that describes the original picture dimensions, the resolution of the device on which the picture was created, an optional text description, or an optional palette.

• A Windows-format metafile does not support the new curve, path, and transformation functions.

• Some Windows-format metafile records cannot be scaled.

• The metafile DC associated with a Windows-format metafile cannot be queried (that is, an application cannot retrieve device-resolution data, font metrics, and so on).

To convert a Windows-format metafile to an enhanced-format metafile, an application can call the GetMetaFileBitsEx function to retrieve the data from the Windows-format metafile and then call the SetWinMetaFileBits function to convert this data into an enhanced-format metafile.

A developer writing a Win32-based application should avoid using the Windows-format functions and use the enhanced-format functions instead.

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