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Graphics

Endpoint's GHIElectronics.Endpoint.UI package ships two ways to put pixels on a screen or buffer, plus a pointer at the usual third-party graphics libraries when you need more.

Canvas​

Primitive drawing (lines, rectangles, circles, text, images) rendered into a pixel buffer. Canvas owns the pixel format; the output device just takes bytes:

display.Flush(canvas.Buffer);   // on-board panel
spi.Write(canvas.Buffer);       // SPI display
i2c.Write(canvas.Buffer);       // I2C display

Same Canvas API for all three; the format you pick at Canvas.Create determines what Buffer looks like.

See Canvas for the API and samples.

Widget​

Button, Label, Image, Border, CheckBox, Slider, Chart, DockPanel: the full widget library built on top of the same embedded graphics engine Canvas uses. Create widgets from a Screen, wire up Clicked / ValueChanged events, let the library handle hit-testing and repainting.

See Widget for the API and samples.

Alternatives​

Nothing stops you from bringing in a third-party graphics library and drawing with that instead. Common choices:

  • SkiaSharp: full-featured 2D canvas with text, paths, gradients and image decoding.
  • ImageSharp: pure-managed image processing, encoding, filters.
  • Microsoft.Maui.Graphics: Microsoft's cross-platform 2D API with a pluggable backend.
  • Pillow (Python): the standard Python imaging library.

See Alternatives for installation and a working sample per library.

Which should I pick?​

NeedUse
Draw a line / circle / text on the panelCanvas
Push pixels to an SPI or I2C displayCanvas with PixelFormat.Rgb565 / Monochrome
Interactive forms (buttons, inputs, lists)Widget
SVG, vector paths, complex text layout, image filtersAlternatives → SkiaSharp
Image resize / encode / decodeAlternatives → ImageSharp or Pillow