4.  The standard windows glyphs are stored within comctl32.dll as bitmaps.

5.  TBitmap is defined in both windows.pas and graphics.pas units.  Since the compiler automatically recognizes the last one in the "Uses" statement, make sure "Graphics" follows "Windows" in the "Uses" statement.

Example of comparing two TBitmaps and counting number of pixels that match and differ.

Bitmaps and InterBase BLOB Fields (TI 797D)
Converting a BMP to a JPEG and Vice Versa (TI 4582D)
Creating a bitmap from a pixel array (FAQ 1205D)
Creating temporary canvas (FAQ 1277D)
Drawing transparent text onto a TBitmap (FAQ 2079D)
Extracting a Bitmap from A BLOB Field (TI 791D)
Extracting Icons (FAQ 1778D)

Handling bitmap display (FAQ 2418D) [size limitations]
See also Very Large Bitmap Lab Report

Delphi Pool TBitmap Tips
www.lmc-mediaagentur.de/dpool/graph04.htm 

How can I create a bitmap from an icon? (FAQ 2752D)
How can I place a bitmap in a metafile? (FAQ 1842D)
How to paint a form with a bitmap (TI 551D)
Loading Bitmaps and Cursors from RES Files (TI1081D) [explains palette problem]
Loading bitmaps into dBASE and Paradox BLOB Fields (TI 779D)
Non VCL Bitmap buffering (FAQ 2774D)
Stretchdraw on an icon (FAQ 1818D)
Using the Win API GetObject to get a bitmap (FAQ 2518D)

  How to create a Bitmap from numeric data? (D5)

Patrick Martin's example TBitmap descendant using memory mapped files

Background Bitmaps on Forms by Robert Vivrette
www.undu.com/DN961001/00000006.htm

Big Bitmap Viewer by Grahame Marsh
www.undu.com/DN970101/00000013.htm

Load Bitmap Resource by Ray Lischner. Look for bmpres10.zip www.tempest-sw.com/freeware or via ftp at ftp://ftp.tempest-sw.com/pub/delphi/bmpres10.zip

Storing bitmaps as resources, pp. 525-531, Delphi Programming Problem Solver, Neil Rubenking

"Displaying your bitmaps quickly", Delphi Developer's Journal, July 1998, pp. 12-15. (Double buffering using Pixels instead of Scanline. This technique is not very quick compared to using Scanline!) File 98Jul/DDJ9873.ZIP at ftp.zdjournals.com/ddj

"Eliminate flicker when painting on a form or a TPaintBox control, " www.bcbdev.com/faqs/faq34.htm

Mike Shkolnik's UseNet Post:   Bitmap to TGraphicField
Joe Hecht's UseNet Post with BltTBitmapAsDib procedure

Rund um TBitmap
http://delphi.pjh2.de/articles/graphic/bitmap.php

efg's UseNet Post about how to create TList of TBitmaps

Francesco Savastano's UseNet Post about initializing bitmap to specified color

Nick Hodges' UseNet Post answering "How does TBitmap.Dormant work?"

Peter Haas' UseNet Post about using Bitmap.Dormant after setting PixelFormat to fix a problem in D1-D4 with the TBitmaInfoHeader

efg's example of converting TIcon to TBitmap, as well as extracting the icon's "AND" bitmap mask and the "OR" color bitmap.   [This is the first example that I needed "Dormant" but this solution only worked in Windows 2000.  An alternate approach was needed for Windows 98.  --efg]

See the Cursor Overlay Lab report for another Dormant example.

Problem with complex implementation that allows DDB and DIB Section to exist simultaneously in Single TBitmap as described in UseNet Post by Takuo Nakamura.  This note gives an example of when HandleType is needed.

Using Bitmaps, p. 216, Delphi Component Design by Danny Thorpe:
"When you call TBitmap.LoadFromFile to load a BMP file into a bitmap object, the bitmap object keeps a copy of the original file data in a memory stream.  The bitmap does not create a bitmap handle unless you refer to the bitmap's Handle property in your own code."  [D2.  True in D3 and later?]]

My observation is that all non-white colors become black when Monochome is set to TRUE on a pf24bit bitmap.

Also see Delphi Graphics Color Page

Peter Haas' UseNet Post about using Bitmap.Dormant after setting PixelFormat to fix a problem in D1-D4 with the TBitmapInfoHeader

Ian Martin's UseNet Post about PhotoShop's problem with pf16bit bitmaps

See also Monochrome.

USES clipbrd;  // I wish Borland showed what unit is needed in the help

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);

var
  MyFormat : Word;
  Bitmap   : TBitMap;
  AData    : THandle;
  APalette : hPalette;  // Wrong in D3-D7 online example
begin
  Bitmap := TBitmap.Create;
  try
    Bitmap.LoadFromFile('c:\Program Files\Common Files\Borland Shared\Images\Splash\256color\factory.bmp');
    Bitmap.SaveToClipBoardFormat(MyFormat,AData,APalette);
    ClipBoard.SetAsHandle(MyFormat,AData);
  finally
    Bitmap.Free;
  end;
end;

PixelFormat and Scanline are discussed at length in
Manipulating Pixels With Delphi's ScanLine Property

Scanline Enigma working with pf24bit Bitmaps (fixed in D4.02 and D5)

Finn Tolderlund's UseNet Post about Scanline and FreeImage

See also Monochrome.

Also see "Transparency" in Section B of Delphi Graphics Algorithms.

Bitmap Archives

Raize Button Glyphs
www.raize.com/DevTools/Tools/RzBmps.htm 

Glyphs und Icons im Internet
http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,25911,00.html 

Images in BMP format -- 16800 images (8 MB)
www.eldos.org/files/bitmaps.zip 

9452 glyphs from Richey's Delphi-Box
http://inner-smile.com/dl_div.htm#glyph

More than 400 glyphs from MS Office Applications
ftp://ftp.scalabium.com/pub/officebtns.zip 

Raize Button Glyphs
www.raize.com/RzBmps.htm 

1000 glyphs for free
www.rwakelin.freeserve.co.uk/sharedfiles/bmpiconz.zip

Links to various bitmap/icon collections
www.torry.net/docs_graphics.htm 

Windows Bitmap used with Microsoft Paint
Delphi 3 or 4: ..\Demos\Imagview

To create a RES file with Bitmaps: 
Edit a file name.RC and add a line like this for each bitmap:
NAME  BITMAP  "NAME.BMP"
all in upper case.  Replace "NAME" above with the appropriate bitmap name.   Once you have the name.RC file, use the resource compiler:  BRC32 name.RC
The file name.RES will be created.  Add {$R name.RES} to the unit needing the resource.

Loading Bitmaps and Cursors from RES files (TI 1081D)
Tried TI 1081D and you now see the message "Bitmap Image is not valid"?  Be sure to add the comment {$R name.RES} to the unit where you're using LoadResource.

Example of comparing two TBitmaps and counting number of pixels that match and differ.

efg's Resource Demo application shows how to use the following file types in resource files:  BMP, ICO, JPG, GIF (requires Anders Melander's TGIFImage), EMF, TXT, AVI, WAV and cursors

Peter Haas' UseNet Post about determining a bitmap's size without loading the complete TBitmap, and Joe Hecht's Reply Post with certain precautions 

Bitmap Orientation and biHeight
www.webartz.com/fourcc/fccbihgt.htm

biHeight and Video Formats in DirectShow (problem with inverted video images)
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/desinit/biheight.htm 

Scanline Tech Note explains accessing pixel data quickly for the various PixelFormats

24 bits/pixel to 8 bits/pixel bitmaps using the ReduceColors function.  See Anders Melander's UseNet Post about using TGIFImage to reduce colors.

RGB Formats
www.webartz.com/fourcc/fccrgb.htm

Encryption / Decryption
efg's ImageCrypt Lab Report:  BMP Section
efg's Aspect Ratio Lab Report

Resource-Grabber will scan the directories and drives on your computer and extract all Bitmaps, Glyphs (button images), Icons, Cursors, JPG/JPEG images, WAVE and RMI sound files as well as AVI video clips it finds inside the programs and DLL files in any directory of your choice.  http://inner-smile.com/dl_res.htm

Glyph Viewer facilitates the search in large Glyph directories.  In a list all bit-maps of a directory as well as their file names and creation dates are displayed. The list can be sorted according to file names and creation dates. In a tree representation you can select the desired directory. 
http://www.pics-software.de/swglyph.htm 

BMP Technical Tutorial: 
www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Haven/7041/tp/showbmp.txt

Microsoft's "Error 481: Invalid Picture" Err Viewing BMP File

Danny Thorpe's UseNet Post about RLE BMPs
Rafe Aldridge's UseNet Post about Bug in D5 loading RLE BMPs
Bob Villiers' UseNet Post with VarArrayLoadFile, which loads a bitmap into a variant

efg's PelsPerMeter example with GetPelsPerMeter procedure to return biXPelsPerMeter and biYPelsPerMeter values, and an example based on a UseNet Post by Peter Klein that returns these same values.

Biff Kadidlehopper's UseNet Post to get/set the dpi in a bitmap file or bitmap image (the biXPelsPerMeter and biYPelsPerMeter values)

The biXPelsPerMeter is a 4-byte integer at an offset of 38 bytes from the start of the file; biYPelsPerMeter is a 4-byte integer at an offset of 42 bytes from the start of the file.

Example from Robert Poyntz with SpecialBMP routine to set the biXPelsPerMeter and biYPelsPerMeter values.  SpecialGIF procedure by Robert Poyntz with biXPelsPerMeter and biYPelsPerMeter example.  

Supported by ImageLib www.imagelib.com

Delphi Programming & Assembly Language (DIBULTRA)
http://perso.magic.fr/sleon/prog/DIBUltra/DIBUltraE.htm 

Joe Hecht's UseNet Post with BltTBitmapAsDib procedure

Chris Hill's UseNet Post explaining two ways the term DIB is used

efg's examples of working with DIBs while converting Lead Tool's BitmapHandle to TBitmap

Delphi Graphics Programming by Peter Dove and Don Peer in Delphi Informant:
Part IV, Apr 97, "Getting DIBs on Speed" (pp. 45-56)

DIBs. A class that provides easy access to Device Independent Bitmaps. Delphi Super Page: http://delphi.icm.edu.pl/ftp/d10free/dibs.zip

Wie ist eine DIB aufgebaut (How a DIB is structured)
http://delphi.pjh2.de/articles/graphic/bitmap.php#DIB

Supported by ImageLib www.imagelib.com

Non-Delphi:
DIBs and Their Use:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/techart/msdn_dibs2.htm 

Using Device-Independent Bitmaps and Palettes http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q72/0/41.asp

"More Fun with MFC: DIBs, Palettes, Subclassing, and a Gamut of Reusable Goodies", Part I (Jan 97), www.microsoft.com/MSJ/0197/mfcp1/mfcp1.htm 
www.microsoft.com/msj/code1993to1997/MSJJAN97.EXE

More Fun With MFC: DIBs, Palettes, Subclassing and a Gamut of Goodies, Part II (Mar 97)
www.microsoft.com/msj/0397/mfcp2/mfcp2.htm
www.microsoft.com/msj/code1993to1997/MSJMAR97.EXE

More Fun with MFC: DIBs, Palettes, Subclassing, and a Gamut of Goodies, Part III (Jun 97)
www.microsoft.com/msj/0697/mfc3/mfc3.htm 

Eddie Shipman's UseNet Post with Example of how to convert the following "common" AVIs into BMPs:   FindFolder, iFindFile, FindComputer, CopyFiles,iCopyFile, RecycleFile, EmptyRecycle,   DeleteFile

Toni Martir's notes and complete VFW example (see ShevinE's improvement below).   (Note:  to get Toni's complete example to compile in D3-D5, make sure you can compile with USES OLE2:

Tools | Environment Options | Library | Library Path
D3: C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi 3\Lib\Delphi2
D4-5: $(DELPHI)\Lib\Delphi2)

Use Lizard.AVI or another AVI file with Toni's example.

ShevinE's improvements to Toni Martir's example (D3-D5 source).   Saves AVI to  BMP files as FrameXX.BMP.  Includes VFW.PAS file used in Toni's example.  (Requires USES OLE2 -- see above notes for details.)  [Use Lizard.AVI or another AVI file.]

efg's AVItoBMP example project (Delphi 3-5 source code). 
(Assumes "Jesus Lizard" AVI is present.)

The "Jesus Lizard" AVI file shows a lizard walking on water.   
Download from here  

VB Info:  AVI to BMPs
www.shrinkwrapvb.com/avihelp/avihlp_3.htm 

Harm's UseNet Post about converting bitmap to EMF/WMF

See Rob Anderson's AVIBUILD.
Current version does not handle pf24bit BMPs correctly.
Includes vfw.pas (Video for Windows) interface unit for avifil32.dll.

VB Info:  BMPs to AVI
www.shrinkwrapvb.com/avihelp/avihlp_5.htm 

Converting a BMP to a JPEG and Vice Versa (TI4528D)

efg's UseNet Post to convert TJPEGImage to TBitmap, change size of TBitmap, and convert back to TJPEGImage

efg's BMPJPG Lab Report. Interactively convert BMPs to JPGs or vice versa. Nearly all the JPEG compession options cn be controlled via the user interface, including image quality and progressive encoding and display.

efg's Command-line utility for batch conversion of BMPs to JPGs: BMPtoJPG.PAS

efg's UseNet Post to convert TJPEGImage to TBitmap, change size of TBitmap, and convert back to TJPEGImage

     How to create a Bitmap from numeric data? (D5)  Shows gray scale vs. spectrum.