Where can I find real looking playing cards

I asked this question once before and was directed to the Blackjack starter kit. The problem with those cards is they don't look real. Is there anywhere else I can obtain images of playing cards (hopefully free) to use in making my own card game?
[247 byte] By [greenhorn] at [2007-12-24]
# 1

Try a newsagent or toy store. If you don't like those cards, none other are provided, you can always scan your own.

cgraus at 2007-8-31 > top of Msdn Tech,Visual Basic,Visual Basic General...
# 2

lol - "try a newsagent"

Actually, scanning them was a good idea, although a royal pain. Thank you.

greenhorn at 2007-8-31 > top of Msdn Tech,Visual Basic,Visual Basic General...
# 3

Really is this anything to do with VB except you may be writing a program using VB which would use some graphic images.

Hey - Can anyone tell me where I can obtain a free house, expensive new car all paid off, unlimited bank account stuffed full of money. Oh and I'm writing a simple application in VB which has nothing to do with the above.

spotty at 2007-8-31 > top of Msdn Tech,Visual Basic,Visual Basic General...
# 4

Spotty, yet another beginners question? You really need to read a few books, you know - expand your knowledge.

1. Create a new application.

2. Create a 'MyBankAccount' class

3. Add a method called 'AddMoney'

4. Add a timer to the main form which runs about once a second.

5. In the timer routine, call the 'AddMoney' method of the 'MyBankAccount' class

6. In the 'AddMoney' method, add some money to your 'Balance' Property (e.g. MyBalance = MyBalance + 5) this is left as an exersize on how to add a (positive) balance to a bank account. Negative balances are easy to add.

7. Run your program.

8. Get 'Rich' (You may need to add this property - unfortunately the code takes a good few years to program - in fact, it actually doesn't involve any programming at all, but it still takes a few years...)

Note, you may want to change the amount added in a random fashion, since there's only a finite number of 5's in the world, and you can't keep all of them. Or add a 'Spend' method, but this will reduce the time it takes to Get 'Rich'.

:)

SJWhiteley at 2007-8-31 > top of Msdn Tech,Visual Basic,Visual Basic General...
# 5
Almost all Windows installs (back to V3.0) have c:\windows\system32\cards.dll, a DLL that contains card bitmaps used by Solitaire and Hearts. Here's a VB.NET class you can use to retrieve those bitmaps for your own game:

Public Class Cards

Public ReadOnly Property Card(ByVal which%) As Bitmap
' Returns a card face bitmap
Get
Card = mCards(which)
End Get
End Property

Public ReadOnly Property Back(ByVal which%) As Bitmap
' Returns a card back bitmap
Get
Back = mBacks(which)
End Get
End Property

Declare Auto Function LoadLibraryEx Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal fname As String, ByVal dummy As Integer, ByVal flags As Integer) As IntPtr
Declare Auto Function FreeLibrary Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal hRc As IntPtr) As IntPtr
Public Sub New()
' Load bitmaps from c:\windows\system32\cards.dll
Dim hMod As IntPtr = LoadLibraryEx(Environment.SystemDirectory & "\cards.dll", 0, 2)
If hMod.Equals(CType(0, IntPtr)) Then Throw New System.Exception("Cards.dll not found")
Dim which%
For which = 0 To 51
mCards(which) = Bitmap.FromResource(hMod, "#" & CStr(which + 1))
Next
For which = 0 To 11
mBacks(which) = Bitmap.FromResource(hMod, "#" & CStr(which + 53))
Next
FreeLibrary(hMod)
End Sub

Private mCards(51) As Bitmap ' Card face bitmaps
Private mBacks(12) As Bitmap ' Card back bitmaps
End Class

nobugz at 2007-8-31 > top of Msdn Tech,Visual Basic,Visual Basic General...
# 6
Thank you !!!
greenhorn at 2007-8-31 > top of Msdn Tech,Visual Basic,Visual Basic General...
# 7

nobugz,

Please excuse my ignorance, but I am not seeing how to assign a card image to a picturebox or other control on a form. I have tried calling Cards.New or Me.Picturebox1.Image = Cards.Card, but I keep getting a "Reference to non-shared member..." warning.

Again, I am sure I am missing something obvious. I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thank you!

Loki70 at 2007-8-31 > top of Msdn Tech,Visual Basic,Visual Basic General...
# 8

I didn't try this, but would think you would need to do this:

Dim myCards as Cards

myCards.Card should then work.

DeborahK at 2007-8-31 > top of Msdn Tech,Visual Basic,Visual Basic General...
# 9

Deborah,

That worked well. The only thing I had to tweak was adding the "New" to the first line:

Dim myCards as New Cards

Me.Picturebox1.Image = myCards.Card (23)

Thank you!

Loki70 at 2007-8-31 > top of Msdn Tech,Visual Basic,Visual Basic General...