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The Graphics Engine version 1.31 Documentation 05 March 1994 The Graphics Engine software and manual are Copyright (c) 1993-1994 by Matthew Hildebrand. All rights reserved. Topics covered in this document: ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ INTRODUCTION WHY USE TGE? TERMS OF USAGE AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS PACKING LIST RELEASE NOTES FOR VERSION 1.31 A CRASH COURSE IN GRAPHICS PROGRAMMING USING TGE IN A PROGRAM TGE'S GRAPHICAL FUNCTION SET VIEWPORTS AND CLIPPING VIRTUAL COORDINATES VIRTUAL SCREENS GRAPHICAL OUTPUT MODES USING FONTS BITMAP MANIPULATION PALETTE MANIPULATION USING THE MOUSE TGE'S MOUSE FUNCTION SET ADDITIONAL FEATURES IN THE REGISTERED VERSION CREATING FONTS USING PCX2RAW AND GRAPHICS FILES CONTACTING THE AUTHOR OBTAINING THE NEWEST VERSION OF TGE KNOWN PROBLEMS USING TGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT LEGAL STUFF INTRODUCTION ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ The Graphics Engine is the result of my efforts to construct a library of routines designed to make writing C/C++ graphics applications easier. I have used it in my own programs with excellent results. TGE allows the DOS programmer to easily access many graphics modes, without having to do special coding for each; the complications involved with supporting more than one graphics mode are removed. TGE also provides remarkable flexibility and expandability through its modular design. WHY USE TGE? ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ TGE provides a simple, standard interface with which programs may access a powerful library of graphical functions. TGE supports device-independence through the use of loadable drivers; loadable fonts; viewports; virtual screens of definable sizes; graphics output using COPY, AND, NOT, OR, and XOR, even to virtual screens; bitmap scaling; interrupt-driven, definable mouse pointer services; direct manipulation of PCX, RAW, and PAL files; and a virtual coordinate system to make device-independence easier. TGE's use of loadable graphics drivers means that all code and data necessary to handle any given graphics mode is stored in a disk file. When a program runs, this file will be loaded into memory and the code and data it contains will be made available. Consequently: - Support for more graphics modes may be added simply by creating more drivers; programs need not be recompiled. - Since the code to manage the specifics of each mode is contained in the drivers, the main program needs not concern itself with what mode it is operating in. The same code can work in any graphics mode. - Memory is saved for programs which support many graphics modes. Instead of keeping the code and data necessary for each in memory at all times, only the memory required for one driver is used. The names of TGE's functions, such as "putImage" and "filledRect" may easily be changed to suit individual preferences. TGE is powerful, fast, and cheap. Upgrades are free. TERMS OF USAGE AND DISTRIBUTION ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ TGE is not free; it is distributed on a "try before you buy" basis. Permission is granted to use TGE, for evaluation purposes only, for a trial period of up to 30 days. In order to use TGE after the trial period, you MUST REGISTER; registration entitles you to free upgrades, technical support, royalty-free distribution rights for all software written using TGE, and a copy of the registered version of TGE, which includes TGE's complete source code, an extra font, and features not available in the shareware version. Failure to register constitutes theft and is punishable by law. By registering a copy of TGE, you signify that you have read and understood the terms of usage and distribution explained in this document, and that you agree to be bound by these terms; you also signify that you agree to release the Author (Matthew Hildebrand) from all liability associated with the use of TGE. In order to register a copy of TGE, send $30 US funds or $40 Canadian funds to Matthew Hildebrand at the address listed in the CONTACTING THE AUTHOR section of this document. For each software package which is both distributed by a corporation and built using TGE, send an additional $100 US funds or $130 Canadian funds; this fee is a pittance compared to the revenue generated by typical commercial packages. Payment by money order, cheque, or cash is acceptable; currency must be US or Canadian funds. Users outside the USA and Canada, please ensure that cheques are drawn on a US or Canadian bank, and that money orders are international if necessary. Also, be sure to send a filled out copy of ORDER.FRM with your payment. Thank you in advance for registering TGE; your support is what makes its continued growth possible. Upon receipt of your registration, I will mail you a copy of the registered version of TGE, which includes complete source code, an extra font, and features not available in the shareware version; this registered copy of TGE may not be distributed in any way. Once I have mailed you a copy of the registered version, you will be considered a registered user. If you are interested in receiving notifications of new versions as they are released, or copies of the new versions themselves, refer to paragraph two of the OBTAINING THE NEWEST VERSION OF TGE section. The privileges granted by purchasing TGE may be retracted if any of the copyright notices in TGE's source files is modified or removed, if any or all of the registered version of TGE is distributed in any way, or if any or all of TGE's source code is distributed as part of a software package. The shareware version of TGE may be distributed freely as long as the distributed package is complete and its contents are not modified in any way, and the distributed package is not sold for profit. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ TGE is a C/C++ programmer's library. As such, it requires a C or C++ compiler of some sort to work with it. TGE was written and tested with Borland C++ 2.0 and Turbo C 2.0; it should work with other C/C++ compilers as well. The drivers that come with TGE are written using 80386 instructions; they therefore cannot be used on a processor older than the 386 unless they are modified first. The font and virtual coordinate systems are written in C++, not C. In order to use loadable fonts or VCOORD.H, a C++ compiler will be required. PACKING LIST ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ The current version of TGE consists of the following files: \TGE\ <DIR> TGE.DOC TGE documentation. QUICKREF.DOC TGE function library quick reference. REVISION.HST Revision history. ORDER.FRM Order form (shareware version only). UNIVESA.DOC Universal VESA TSR documentation. UNIVESA.EXE Universal VESA TSR executable. README.NOW Important information. FILE_ID.DIZ Archive description file used by some bulletin board systems (shareware version only). \TGE\INCLUDE\ <DIR> TGE include files. TGE.H TGE main header file. TGEFONT.H TGE font system header file. TGEMOUSE.H Mouse header file. VCOORD.H Virtual coordinate system (C++ only). \TGE\LIB\ <DIR> Library directory. BCL.MAK Makefile for Borland C++ large model library. BCH.MAK Makefile for Borland C++ huge model library. TGELIB.LST Listfile used by library makefiles. BCL.LIB Borland C++ large model library. BCH.LIB Borland C++ huge model library. \TGE\UTIL\ <DIR> PCX2RAW and MAKEFONT utilitites. PCX2RAW.C Source for PCX2RAW. PCX2RAW.EXE Convert PCX files to RAW and PAL files. MAKEFONT.C Source for MAKEFONT. MAKEFONT.EXE Make a font from individual bitmaps. \TGE\DRIVERS\ <DIR> Loadable drivers. 320X200.DRV Driver for VGA 320x200x256. 320X240.DRV Driver for VGA 320x240x256. 320X400.DRV Driver for VGA 320x400x256. 360X480.DRV Driver for VGA 360x480x256. 640X480.DRV Driver for SuperVGA 640x480x256. 800X600.DRV Driver for SuperVGA 800x600x256. 1024X768.DRV Driver for SuperVGA 1024x768x256. \TGE\FONTS\ <DIR> Loadable fonts. BIGTEXT.FNT Big letters (variable-sized). 8X8.FNT 8x8 font (fixed-size). 8X14.FNT 8x14 font (fixed-size). 8X16.FNT 8x16 font (fixed-size). \TGE\DEMO\ <DIR> Demo programs. TGEDEMO.DOC Documentation for demo program. TGEDEMO.CPP Source code for demo program. MAKEFILE Makefile for the demo program. TGEDEMO.EXE TGE demo program executable. TGELOGO.RAW Data file used by the TGE demo program. SIMPLE.CPP A skeleton TGE program showing interface basics. If you did not receive all of these files, you have an illegal copy of The Graphics Engine. RELEASE NOTES FOR VERSION 1.31 ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ If you are using Borland C++ 4.0, you may have trouble using variable-sized fonts with this version of TGE; the source of the problem appears to be linker version incompatibility. TGE version 1.32, in which I plan to add support for a wider variety of compilers (including BC++ 4.0), and hopefully protected mode as well, should be released within a few weeks of version 1.31. For a complete list of changes, refer to the REVISION.HST file. The drivers used with this release are not compatible with those from version 1.20 or older, since many changes have been made to the driver structure in order to allow for new features. A CRASH COURSE IN GRAPHICS PROGRAMMING ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ A graphics screen is composed of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of coloured dots called "pixels". Each pixel is referenced according to its offset, in coordinate form, from the upper-left of the screen: (0,0), or the "origin". The 'x' of a pixel's (x,y) location signifies the column number, and the 'y' signifies the row number; for example, a 640x480 screen would have (0,0) in the upper- left and (639,479) in the lower-right. Each of these pixels has a colour which is recorded as a number, ranging from 0..255 in 256-colour modes. Each of these numbers is an index into a table of colours which the video card maintains: the "palette". The palette is what determines which colour is represented by certain numbers; for instance, what colour is colour number 196? Blue? Green? Purple? It depends on the current setting of the palette register for colour number 196. Each of these palette registers consists of three components: the red, green, and blue values, each of which is in the range 0..255. All the displayable colours are composed of these three primary colours in some proportion. For instance, a purple would have lots of red and blue, but little or no green. The palette can be a powerful tool, as changing palette register, say, 48, causes all pixels on-screen with the value of 48 to instantly change to the new colour. It is important to keep in mind that the palette is a global palette; ie. it affects the entire screen. That's all there is to it! <grin> USING TGE IN A PROGRAM ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ TGE now uses two environment variables: TGEDRIVERS and TGEFONTS. Though these environement variables are not necessary, it is recommended that you add the following lines to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: set TGEDRIVERS=drive:\tge\drivers\ set TGEFONTS=drive:\tge\fonts\ where 'drive:' is the drive on which you installed TGE. The trailing backslash is required. Incorporating TGE into a program is an easy process involving three simple steps. First, you must be sure that TGE is recognized by the program; to do so, #include the header file TGE.H into any source file which accesses any of TGE's routines; you may also need to #include other header files, such as TGEMOUSE.H if you use TGE's mouse code. Also, ensure that the appropriate library file is linked in with the program's OBJ files to make the EXE file; available library files are BCL.LIB (Borland C++ large model) and BCH.LIB (Borland C++ huge model). Second, a graphics driver MUST be loaded before any code or data contained in the driver is accessed; results are undefined (though almost certainly bad) if this step is not taken. Code to load a driver might look like this: if (loadGraphDriver(drvFileName) != TGE_SUCCESS) { printf("Error loading driver %s; aborting.\n\n", drvFileName); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } else atexit(unloadGraphDriver); As its only parameter, loadGraphDriver() takes a string consisting of the file name (which may include any valid DOS path) of the driver to be loaded; note that if the specified filename cannot be found, TGE will attempt to load it from the directory specified by the TGEDRIVERS environment variable. loadGraphDriver() returns TGE_SUCCESS if the loading was successful, or one of TGE_OPEN_ERR (file not found), TGE_FORMAT_ERR (file is not a valid TGE driver), TGE_ALLOC_ERR (out of memory), and TGE_FILE_ERR (general file I/O error) if an error occurred. These macros are defined in TGE.H. Third, after TGE's graphical functions are no longer needed (usually just before a program exit), the function unloadGraphDriver() should be called. It takes no parameters, and returns nothing. It simply frees the memory taken up by a driver after it has been loaded. (With some compilers it is not necessary to call this function, but it's safer to call it just to be sure.) It is generally a good idea to place unloadGraphDriver() in the atexit() queue, as was done in the above code fragment. Note that the initGraphics() function must be called to enter graphics mode; for more information, see the next section. For more information on how to use any particular feature, refer to the appropriate section of this document. TGE'S GRAPHICAL FUNCTION SET ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ After a driver has been loaded, all of TGE's graphical functions can be accessed. To call a function, simply execute functionName(parameter_list); where "functionName" is the name of the desired function (eg. "ellipse" or "filledRect") and "parameter_list" is all parameters to that function, if any. A complete list of TGE's graphical functions follows. *** Function: initGraphics() Syntax: void initGraphics(void); Purpose: Initialize graphics mode. Parameters: None. Return value: 1 on success or 0 on error. Remarks: None. See also: deInitGraphics() *** Function: deInitGraphics() Syntax: void deInitGraphics(void); Purpose: Revert to 80x25 colour text mode. Parameters: None. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: initGraphics() *** Function: putImage() Syntax: void huge putImage(int x, int y, void far *image); Purpose: Place a bitmap, or image, onto the screen. Parameters: The bitmap contained in 'image' will be placed onto the screen with its upper-left coordinate at ('x','y'). Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is performed; the image may be placed entirely on-screen, partially on-screen, or entirely off-screen. This function is declared as huge so that it will work properly when called from within an interrupt service routine. See also: putImageInv(), getImage(), imageSize(), imageSizeDim(), putLine(), putLineInv(), getLine() *** Function: putImageInv() Syntax: void huge putImageInv(int x, int y, void far *image); Purpose: Place a bitmap, or image, on the screen. Parameters: The bitmap contained in 'image' will be placed onto the screen with its upper-left coordinate at ('x','y'). Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is performed; the image may be placed entirely on-screen, partially on-screen, or entirely off-screen. putImageInv() differs from putImage() only in that it allows for transparent, or invisible, colours. If any pixel in the image buffer has a value of zero, the corresponding pixel on-screen will not be modified. Using putImageInv() can avoid having black borders around non-rectangular shapes. This function is declared as huge so that it will work properly when called from within an interrupt service routine. See also: putImage(), getImage(), imageSize(), imageSizeDim(), putLineInv(), putLine(), getLine() *** Function: getImage() Syntax: void huge getImage(int ulx, int uly, int lrx, int lry, void far *image); Purpose: Copy the specified rectangular portion of the screen to memory. Parameters: The portion of the screen with its upper-left coordinate at ('ulx','uly') and its lower-left coordinate at ('lrx','lry') will be copied into the previously allocated memory region at 'image' (see imageSize()). Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is performed. Note that only the portion of the specified region which lies within the current viewport will be placed in the image buffer by getImage(). Be careful not to assume that a getImage() image has off-screen data in it. This function is declared as huge so that it will work properly when called from within an interrupt service routine. See also: putImage(), putImageInv(), imageSize(), imageSizeDim(), getLine(), putLine(), putLineInv() *** Function: imageSize() Syntax: unsigned long imageSize(int ulx, int uly, int lrx, int lry); Purpose: Determine the amount of memory required to hold a rectangular portion of the screen. Parameters: imageSize() will calculate the amount of memory required to hold the porion of the screen whose upper- left coordinate is ('ulx','uly') and whose lower-left coordinate is ('lrx','lry'). Return value: imageSize returns an unsigned long containing the size of the area in bytes. Remarks: Clipping is performed. imageSize() is designed for use with putImage(), putImageInv(), and getImage(). To use it with putLine() and getLine(), subtract 4 from the value it returns. (Image buffers have four bytes of dimension information in them; line buffers do not.) See also: imageSizeDim(), putImage(), putImageInv(), getImage(), putLine(), getLine() *** Function: imageSizeDim() Syntax: unsigned long imageSizeDim(unsigned wide, unsigned deep); Purpose: Determine the amount of memory required to hold a rectangular portion of the screen. Parameters: imageSize() will calculate the amount of memory required to hold the porion of the screen with width 'wide' and depth 'deep'. Return value: imageSize returns an unsigned long containing the size of the area in bytes. Remarks: Clipping is not performed. imageSizeDim() is designed for use with putImage(), putImageInv(), and getImage(). To use it with putLine() and getLine(), subtract 4 from the value it returns. (Image buffers have four bytes of dimension information in them; line buffers do not.) See also: imageSize(), putImage(), putImageInv(), getImage(), putLine(), getLine() *** Function: putLine() Syntax: void putLine(int lineNum, int xOff, int lineLen, void far *buf); Purpose: Place one horizontal line of image data on the screen. Parameters: The one-line bitmap contained in 'buf', of 'lineLen' pixels, will be placed on-screen starting at ('xOff','lineNum'). Return value: None. Remarks: No clipping is performed. Results are undefined if any coordinate on the line is off-screen. See also: putLineInv(), getLine(), putImage(), putImageInv(), getImage() *** Function: putLineInv() Syntax: void putLineInv(int lineNum, int xOff, int lineLen, void far *buf); Purpose: Place one horizontal line of image data on the screen, leaving a pixel unchanged if the corresponding pixel in the source buffer has a value of zero. This function is the single-line equivalent to putImageInv(). Parameters: The one-line bitmap contained in 'buf', of 'lineLen' pixels, will be placed on-screen starting at ('xOff','lineNum'). Return value: None. Remarks: No clipping is performed. Results are undefined if any coordinate on the line is off-screen. See also: putLine(), getLine(), putImage(), putImageInv(), getImage() *** Function: getLine() Syntax: void getLine(int lineNum, int xOff, int lineLen, void far *buf); Purpose: Copy one horizontal line from the screen to memory. Parameters: The horizontal line whose left coordinate is ('xOff','lineNum') and whose length is 'lineLen' pixels will be copied into the previously allocated memory region at 'buf'. Return value: None. Remarks: No clipping is performed. Results are undefined if any coordinate on the line is off-screen. See also: putLine(), putLineInv(), putImage(), putImageInv(), getImage() *** Function: putPixel() Syntax: void putPixel(int x, int y, unsigned colour); Purpose: Place a single pixel on-screen. Parameters: The pixel located at ('x','y') will be set to the colour 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is not performed; see clipPoint() and pointOnScreen() for details on clipping pixels. See also: getPixel() *** Function: getPixel() Syntax: unsigned getPixel(int x, int y); Purpose: Return the value of a pixel. Parameters: The value of the pixel at ('x','y') is returned. Return value: The value of the pixel at ('x','y') is returned. Remarks: Clipping is not performed; see clipPoint() and pointOnScreen() for details on clipping pixels. See also: putPixel() *** Function: line() Syntax: void line(int x1, int y1, int x2, int y2, unsigned colour); Purpose: Draw a line between two points. Parameters: The line will be drawn joining ('x1','y1') and ('x2','y2') in the colour 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is not performed; see clipLine() for details on clipping lines. See also: horizLine(), vertLine() *** Function: horizLine() Syntax: void horizLine(int y, int x1, int x2, unsigned colour); Purpose: Draw a horizontal line between two points. Parameters: The line will be drawn between ('x1','y') and ('x2','y') in the colour contained in colour. Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is not performed. 'x1' must be less than or equal to 'x2'. See also: vertLine(), line() *** Function: vertLine() Syntax: void vertLine(int x, int y1, int y2, unsigned colour); Purpose: Draw a vertical line between two points. Parameters: The line will be drawn between ('x','y1') and ('x','y2') in the colour contained in colour. Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is not performed. 'y1' must be less than or equal to 'y2'. See also: horizLine(), line() *** Function: drawRect() Syntax: void drawRect(int ulx, int uly, int lrx, int lry, unsigned colour); Purpose: Draw a rectangle. Parameters: The rectangle will be drawn with its upper-left coordinates at ('ulx','uly') and its lower-left coordinates at ('lrx','lry'), in the colour 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is performed. See also: filledRect() *** Function: filledRect() Syntax: void filledRect(int ulx, int uly, int lrx, int lry, unsigned colour); Purpose: Draw a filled rectangle. Parameters: The rectangle will be drawn with its upper-left coordinates at ('ulx','uly') and its lower-left coordinates at ('lrx','lry'), in the colour 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is not performed; see clipFilledRect() for details on clipping filledRects. See also: drawRect() *** Function: setPaletteReg() Syntax: void setPaletteReg(unsigned palReg, unsigned char red, unsigned char green, unsigned char blue); Purpose: Set a palette register. Parameters: The red, green, and blue components of the palette register palReg will be set to 'red', 'green', and 'blue' respectively. Return value: None. Remarks: Each of the colour components ('red', 'green', 'blue') should be in the range 0..255, not 0..63 as would be the case using a stock VGA. The drivers will take care of converting 8-bit to 6-bit palette resolution if necessary. See also: getPaletteReg(), setBlockPalette(), getBlockPalette() *** Function: getPaletteReg() Syntax: void getPaletteReg(unsigned palReg, unsigned char far *red, unsigned char far *green, unsigned char far *blue); Purpose: Return the current settings of a palette register. Parameters: The red, green, and blue contents of the palette register palReg will be stored in 'red', 'green', and 'blue' respectively. Return value: The red, green, and blue components of the palette register are returned in 'red', 'green', and 'blue'. Remarks: Each of the colour components ('red', 'green', 'blue') are in the range 0..255, not 0..63 as would be the case using a stock VGA card. The drivers will take care of converting 8-bit to 6-bit palette resolution if necessary. See also: setPaletteReg(), setBlockPalette(), getBlockPalette() *** Function: setBlockPalette() Syntax: void setBlockPalette(unsigned firstReg, unsigned lastReg, void far *data); Purpose: Set a block of palette registers. Parameters: The palette registers starting at 'firstReg' and ending at 'lastReg' will be set to the values contained in 'data'. Return value: None. Remarks: The memory region at 'data' is organised in groups of three bytes; each group corresponds to one palette register, and each group is made up of, in order, the red, green, and blue components. The first group is for the first register, the second for the second, and so on. Each of the colour components (red, green, blue) should be in the range 0..255, not 0..63 as would be the case using a stock VGA. The drivers will take care of converting 8-bit to 6-bit palette resolution if necessary. Results are undefined if 'lastReg' is less than 'firstReg'. See also: getBlockPalette(), setPaletteReg(), getPaletteReg() *** Function: getBlockPalette() Syntax: void getBlockPalette(unsigned firstReg, unsigned lastReg, void far *data); Purpose: Get the values of a block of palette registers. Parameters: The values of the palette registers starting at 'firstReg' and ending at 'lastReg' will be stored in the previously allocated 'data'. Return value: The values are returned in 'data'. Remarks: The memory region at 'data' is organised in groups of three bytes; each group corresponds to one palette register, and each group is made up of, in order, the red, green, and blue components. The first group is for the first register, the second for the second, and so on. Each of the colour components (red, green, blue) is in the range 0..255, not 0..63 as would be the case using a stock VGA. The drivers will take care of converting 8-bit to 6-bit palette resolution if necessary. Results are undefined if 'lastReg' is less than 'firstReg'. See also: setBlockPalette(), setPaletteReg(), getPaletteReg() *** Function: clearGraphics() Syntax: void clearGraphics(unsigned colour); Purpose: Clear the screen. Parameters: The screen will be cleared to the colour 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: This function clears the entire screen, not just the current viewport. See also: filledRect() *** Function: ellipse() Syntax: void ellipse(int x, int y, int wide, int deep, unsigned colour); Purpose: Draw the outline of an ellipse. Parameters: An ellipse centered at ('x','y') and having width 'wide' and depth 'deep' will be drawn in the colour 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is performed. See also: filledEllipse(), circle(), filledCircle() *** Function: filledEllipse() Syntax: void filledEllipse(x, int y, int wide, int deep, unsigned colour); Purpose: Draw a filled ellipse. Parameters: An ellipse centered at ('x','y') and having width 'wide' and depth 'deep' will be drawn in the colour 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is performed. See also: ellipse(), filledCircle(), circle() *** Function: circle() Syntax: void circle(int x, int y, int radius, unsigned colour); Purpose: Draw the outline of a circle. Parameters: A circle centered at ('x','y') and having radius 'radius' will be drawn in the colour 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is performed. The 'radius' parameter is the radius in pixels measured horizontally. Although there will be no difference in modes with square pixels, it will make a difference in other modes; to ensure accurate drawing of the circle with the given radius, make certain that the radius is measured horizontally. TGE uses an all-integer approach to coordinate scaling to ensure that the drawn shape will be circular in modes without square pixels. See also: filledCircle(), filledEllipse(), ellipse() *** Function: filledCircle() Syntax: void filledCircle(int x, int y, int radius, unsigned colour); Purpose: Draw a filled circle. Parameters: A circle centered at ('x','y') and having radius 'radius' will be drawn in the colour 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: Clipping is performed. The 'radius' parameter is the radius in pixels measured horizontally. Although there will be no difference in modes with square pixels, it will make a difference in other modes; to ensure accurate drawing of the circle with the given radius, make certain that the radius is measured horizontally. TGE uses an all-integer approach to coordinate scaling to ensure that the drawn shape will be circular in modes without square pixels. See also: circle(), ellipse(), filledEllipse() *** Function: fillRegion() Syntax: void fillRegion(int x, int y, unsigned colour); Purpose: Floods a region of the screen with the specified colour. Parameters: The fill will begin at the seed point ('x','y'), and will fill with the colour 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: The region to be filled is bounded by any colour not equal to the colour at ('x','y'); ie., the region to be filled consists of one colour only. Clipping is performed. See also: None. *** Function: colourCloseTo() Syntax: unsigned colourCloseTo(unsigned char red, unsigned char green, unsigned char blue); Purpose: Given a 24-bit colour, find the colour from the current palette which most closely matches it. Parameters: The 24-bit colour is defined by the 'red', 'green', and 'blue' parameters. Return value: Returns the colour which most closely matches the specified 24-bit colour. Remarks: None. See also: colourCloseToX() *** Function: colourCloseToX() Syntax: unsigned colourCloseToX(unsigned char red, unsigned char green, unsigned char blue, unsigned colourExclude); Purpose: Given a 24-bit colour, find the colour from the current palette which most closely matches it, with the specified colour disallowed from the search. Parameters: The 24-bit colour is defined by the 'red', 'green', and 'blue' parameters. The colour 'colourExclude' is excluded from the search, and so will never be returned. Return value: Returns the colour which most closely matches the specified 24-bit colour. Remarks: Excluding zero from a search will ensure that the returned colour will be visible when it is used as part of a bitmap displayed using putImageInv(). See also: colourCloseTo() Note that since these function names are actually macros, they may easily be changed to suit individual preferences by editing TGE.H. VIEWPORTS AND CLIPPING ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ A viewport is a rectangular region on the screen to which output is clipped, so that graphics output will appear only within that region. By default, this region is the entire screen; however, it can be set to any rectangular portion of the screen. (Note that when a viewport is in use, coordinates are absolute, not relative to the viewport.) TGE now supports two viewports simultaneously: an input viewport and an output viewport. This feature was added primarily so that virtual screens (see the VIRTUAL SCREENS section) and the real screen could be used simultaneously, though it may have other uses as well. The following functions are used to get and set the current input and output viewports: *** Function: setInputViewport() Syntax: void setInputViewport(int ulx, int uly, int lrx, int lry); Purpose: Set the defining coordinates of the current input viewport. Parameters: The upper-left corner of the input viewport will be set to ('ulx','uly'), and the lower-right corner to ('lrx','lry'). Return value: None. Remarks: It is assumed that 'ulx'<'lrx' and that 'uly'<'lry'. See also: setOutputViewport(), setViewports(), getInputViewport(), getOutputViewport() *** Function: setOutputViewport() Syntax: void setOutputViewport(int ulx, int uly, int lrx, int lry); Purpose: Set the defining coordinates of the current output viewport. Parameters: The upper-left corner of the output viewport will be set to ('ulx','uly'), and the lower-right corner to ('lrx','lry'). Return value: None. Remarks: It is assumed that 'ulx'<'lrx' and that 'uly'<'lry'. See also: setInputViewport(), setViewports(), getOutputViewport(), getInputViewport() *** Function: setViewports() Syntax: void setViewports(int ulx, int uly, int lrx, int lry); Purpose: Set the defining coordinates of the current input and output viewports. Parameters: The upper-left corner of the viewports will be set to ('ulx','uly'), and the lower-right corner to ('lrx','lry'). Return value: None. Remarks: It is assumed that 'ulx'<'lrx' and that 'uly'<'lry'. See also: setInputViewport(), setOutputViewport(), getInputViewport(), getOutputViewport() *** Function: getInputViewport() Syntax: void getInputViewport(int *ulx, int *uly, int *lrx, int *lry); Purpose: Get the defining coordinates of the current input viewport. Parameters: The upper-left corner of the input viewport will be stored in ('ulx','uly'), and the lower-right corner in ('lrx','lry'). Return value: None. Remarks: It is assumed that 'ulx'<'lrx' and that 'uly'<'lry'. See also: getOutputViewport(), setInputViewport(), setOutputViewport() *** Function: getOutputViewport() Syntax: void getOutputViewport(int *ulx, int *uly, int *lrx, int *lry); Purpose: Get the defining coordinates of the current output viewport. Parameters: The upper-left corner of the output viewport will be stored in ('ulx','uly'), and the lower-right corner in ('lrx','lry'). Return value: None. Remarks: It is assumed that 'ulx'<'lrx' and that 'uly'<'lry'. See also: setOutputViewport(), getInputViewport(), getOutputViewport() Note that not all of TGE's functions will clip to within the current output viewport. Some of the time-critical graphics primitives, such as putPixel() and line(), do not clip in order to improve execution time. If it is necessary for such functions to have their output clipped, the following routines may be used: *** Function: clipRect() Syntax: int clipRect(int *x1, int *y1, int *x2, int *y2); Purpose: Clip the given rectangle to within the current output viewport. Parameters: The upper-left and lower-right corners of the rectangle are passed in ('x1','y1') and ('x2','y2'). If clipping is done, these points will be modified. Return value: Returns true if the rectangle lies entirely or partially within the current output viewport, or false if it is entirely outside the current output viewport. Remarks: It does not matter which of the corner coordinates is passed first; they will be swapped if necessary. This function is contained in CLIP.C. *** Function: clipLine() Syntax: int clipLine(int *x1, int *y1, int *x2, int *y2); Purpose: Clip the given line to within the current output viewport. Parameters: The endpoints of the line are passed in ('x1','y1') and ('x2','y2'). If clipping is done, these endpoints will be modified. Return value: Returns true if the line lies entirely or partially within the current output viewport, or false if it is entirely outside the current output viewport. Remarks: This function is contained in CLIP.C. See also: None. *** Function: clipInputPoint() Syntax: int clipInputPoint(int x, int y); Purpose: Return a flag indicating whether or not the specified coordinates lie within the current input viewport. Parameters: The point ('x','y') is tested. Return value: Returns true if ('x','y') is within the current input viewport, or 0 if it isn't. Remarks: This function is really a macro defined in TGE.H. See also: None. *** Function: clipOutputPoint() Syntax: int clipOutputPoint(int x, int y); Purpose: Return a flag indicating whether or not the specified coordinates lie within the current output viewport. Parameters: The point ('x','y') is tested. Return value: Returns true if ('x','y') is within the current output viewport, or 0 if it isn't. Remarks: This function is really a macro defined in TGE.H. See also: None. *** Function: pointOnScreen() Syntax: int pointOnScreen(int x, int y); Purpose: Return a flag indicating whether or not the specified coordinates lie on-screen. Parameters: The point ('x','y') is tested. Return value: Returns true if ('x','y') is on-screen, or 0 if it is off-screen. Remarks: This function is really a macro defined in TGE.H. See also: None. Note that since these function names are actually macros, they may easily be changed to suit individual preferences by editing TGE.H. VIRTUAL COORDINATES ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ One of the problems associated with device-independence is that different display modes have different resolutions. TGE provides a simple way to ease this problem, simply by #including VCOORD.H. Doing so provides access to a simple yet powerful object-oriented virtual coordinate system. For the sake of illustration, assume that you are writing an application which ideally will be run in resolutions as high as 1024x768, but can also be run in 320x200. You want a way to have objects (eg., windows) retain the same sizes and positions on-screen in any graphics mode. TGE's virtual coordinate system makes it easy. First, create an instance of the virtual coordinate object (I'll call the object virtScreen): VirtualCoord virtScreen; Then, virtScreen must be configured; I'll assume that the virtual screen is to be 1024x768, and that OUTMAXX and OUTMAXY have been initialized by loading a driver. (Note that these parameters may be set during the class instantiation by using a different constructor.) virtScreen.virtParams(1023, 767); virtScreen.realParams(OUTMAXX, OUTMAXY); As an example, assume that you want to draw a light gray rectangle with upper-left coordinates (50,50) and lower-right coordinates (600,600) on the virtual screen. On, say, a 360x480 screen these values will be quite different; to keep the proportions the same, execute a line like the following: drawRect(virtScreen.realX(50), virtScreen.realY(50), virtScreen.realX(600), virtScreen.realY(600), colourCloseTo(200,200,200)); That's all there is to it! Keep in mind that there are other applications of the VirtualCoord class, aside from a virtual screen; it can also be useful when dealing with portions of the screen, scaled bitmaps, etc.. A complete list of the VirtualCoord member functions follows. *** Function: VirtualCoord::VirtualCoord() Syntax: VirtualCoord::VirtualCoord(void); Purpose: Create an instance of the VirtualCoord class. Parameters: None. Return value: None. Remarks: After an instantiation of a VirtualCoord using this constructor, ensure that the screen dimensions, both virtual and real, are initialized using the method illustrated above. See also: VirtualCoord::VirtualCoord(unsigned, unsigned, unsigned, unsigned), VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned, unsigned), VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned, unsigned) *** Function: VirtualCoord::VirtualCoord(unsigned, unsigned, unsigned, unsigned) Syntax: VirtualCoord::VirtualCoord(unsigned virtMaxX, unsigned virtMaxY, unsigned realMaxX, unsigned realMaxY); Purpose: Create an instance of the VirtualCoord class, and initialize it. Parameters: The maximum virtual x-coordinate is set to 'virtMaxX', and the y-coordinate to 'virtMaxY'. The maximum real x-coordinate is set to 'realMaxX', and the y-coordinate to 'realMaxY'. Return value: None. Remarks: Be sure that a driver has been loaded before passing OUTMAXX and OUTMAXY to this constructor. See also: VirtualCoord::VirtualCoord(unsigned, unsigned, unsigned, unsigned), VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned, unsigned), VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned, unsigned) *** Function: VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned, unsigned) Syntax: void VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned virtMaxX, unsigned virtMaxY); Purpose: Set the maximum virtual x- and y-coordinates. Parameters: The maximum virtual x-coordinate is set to 'virtMaxX', and the maximum y-coordinate to 'virtMaxY'. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned, unsigned), VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned*, unsigned*), VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned*, unsigned*) *** Function: VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned, unsigned) Syntax: void VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned virtMaxX, unsigned virtMaxY); Purpose: Set the maximum real x- and y-coordinates. Parameters: The maximum real x-coordinate is set to 'realMaxX', and the maximum y-coordinate to 'realMaxY'. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned, unsigned), VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned*, unsigned*), VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned*, unsigned*) *** Function: VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned*, unsigned*) Syntax: void VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned *virtMaxX, unsigned *virtMaxY); Purpose: Get the maximum virtual x- and y-coordinates. Parameters: The maximum virtual x-coordinate is stored in 'virtMaxX', and the maximum y-coordinate in 'virtMaxY'. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned*, unsigned*), VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned, unsigned), VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned, unsigned) *** Function: VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned*, unsigned*) Syntax: void VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned *virtMaxX, unsigned *virtMaxY); Purpose: Get the maximum real x- and y-coordinates. Parameters: The maximum real x-coordinate is stored in 'realMaxX', and the maximum y-coordinate in 'realMaxY'. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned*, unsigned*), VirtualCoord::realParams(unsigned, unsigned), VirtualCoord::virtParams(unsigned, unsigned) *** Function: VirtualCoord::realCoords() Syntax: void VirtualCoord::realCoords(unsigned virtX, unsigned virtY, unsigned *realX, unsigned *realY); Purpose: Calculate the real (x,y) coordinates given the virtual coordinates. Parameters: The real (x,y) coordinates are returned in ('realX','realY'), and are calculated based on the virtual (x,y) coordinates ('virtX','virtY'). Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: VirtualCoord::realX(), VirtualCoord::realY(), VirtualCoord::virtCoords(), VirtualCoord::virtX(), VirtualCoord::virtY() *** Function: VirtualCoord::realX() Syntax: unsigned VirtualCoord::realX(unsigned virtX); Purpose: Calculate the real x-coordinate given the virtual x- coordinate. Parameters: The real x-coordinate is returned, calculated based on the virtual x-coordinate 'virtX'. Return value: Returns the real x-coordinate. Remarks: None. See also: VirtualCoord::realY(), VirtualCoord::realCoords(), VirtualCoord::virtX(), VirtualCoord::virtY(), VirtualCoord::virtCoords() *** Function: VirtualCoord::realY() Syntax: unsigned VirtualCoord::realY(unsigned virtY); Purpose: Calculate the real y-coordinate given the virtual y- coordinate. Parameters: The real y-coordinate is returned, calculated based on the virtual y-coordinate 'virtY'. Return value: Returns the real y-coordinate. Remarks: None. See also: VirtualCoord::realX(), VirtualCoord::realCoords(), VirtualCoord::virtY(), VirtualCoord::virtX(), VirtualCoord::virtCoords() *** Function: VirtualCoord::virtCoords() Syntax: void VirtualCoord::virtCoords(unsigned realX, unsigned realY, unsigned *virtX, unsigned *virtY); Purpose: Calculate the virtual (x,y) coordinates given the real coordinates. Parameters: The virtual (x,y) coordinates are returned in ('virtX','virtY'), and are calculated based on the real (x,y) coordinate ('realX','realY'). Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: VirtualCoord::virtX(), VirtualCoord::virtY(), VirtualCoord::realCoords(), VirtualCoord::realX(), VirtualCoord::realY() *** Function: VirtualCoord::virtX() Syntax: unsigned VirtualCoord::virtX(unsigned realX); Purpose: Calculate the virtual x-coordinate given the real x- coordinate. Parameters: The virtual x-coordinate is returned, calculated based on the real x-coordinate 'realX'. Return value: Returns the virtual x-coordinate. Remarks: None. See also: VirtualCoord::virtY(), VirtualCoord::virtCoords(), VirtualCoord::realX(), VirtualCoord::realY(), VirtualCoord::realCoords() *** Function: VirtualCoord::virtY() Syntax: unsigned VirtualCoord::virtY(unsigned realY); Purpose: Calculate the virtual y-coordinate given the real y- coordinate. Parameters: The virtual y-coordinate is returned, calculated based on the real y-coordinate 'realY'. Return value: Returns the virtual y-coordinate. Remarks: None. See also: VirtualCoord::virtX(), VirtualCoord::virtCoords(), VirtualCoord::realY(), VirtualCoord::realX(), VirtualCoord::realCoords() VIRTUAL SCREENS ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ In early releases of TGE, all graphics input and output operations were done on the screen. Now four different I/O arrangements are available: - Input and output on the real screen. - Input and output on a virtual screen (ie. in memory). - Input from the real screen, and output to a virtual screen. - Input from a virtual screen, and output to the real screen. As well, it is possible to switch between these four I/O modes at any time with one or two simple function calls. Virtual screens are useful for such tasks as building complex images off-screen, then displaying them quickly. Since a virtual screen has exactly the same format as the images used by getImage() and its associated functions, they can be displayed using a putImage() or putImageInv() call, simply by passing the address of the virtual screen as the address of the image to be displayed. A virtual screen (or any bitmap, for that matter) may be created using the following function: *** Function: makeVirtScreen() Syntax: void far *makeVirtScreen(unsigned wide, unsigned deep); Purpose: Allocate enough RAM to store a virtual screen with the specified dimensions, then initialize it. Parameters: A virtual screen with width 'wide' and depth 'deep' (in pixels) will be created. Return value: Returns the address of the newly allocated virtual screen, or NULL if there is not enough memory to create it. Remarks: Memory for the virtual screen is alloated from available conventional memory; don't forget to de-allocate (using farfree()) the memory occupied by a virtual screen when the screen is no longer needed. After it is allocated, a virtual screen will likely be filled with random pixels. Clearing it using clearGraphics() is often a good idea (after graphics output has been set to the virtual screen). See also: None. The functions used to establish input and output to and from real and virtual screens are: *** Function: setGraphicsAddr() Syntax: void setGraphicsAddr(void far *addr); Purpose: Set the location upon which graphics input and output will both be performed. Parameters: If 'addr' is equal to NULL, input and output will be performed on the real screen; if 'addr' is non-NULL, input and output will be performed on the virtual screen pointed to by 'addr'. Return value: None. Remarks: This function sets the currently active input and output viewports to cover the entirety of the virtual screen. INMAXX, INMAXY, OUTMAXX, and OUTMAXY are also changed appropriately. See also: setGraphicsInputAddr(), setGraphicsOutputAddr() *** Function: setGraphicsInputAddr() Syntax: void setGraphicsInputAddr(void far *addr); Purpose: Set the location upon which graphics input will be performed. Parameters: If 'addr' is equal to NULL, input will be performed on the real screen; if 'addr' is non-NULL, input will be performed on the virtual screen pointed to by 'addr'. Return value: None. Remarks: This function sets the currently active input viewport to cover the entirety of the virtual screen. INMAXX and INMAXY are also changed appropriately. See also: setGraphicsOutputAddr(), setGraphicsAddr() *** Function: setGraphicsOutputAddr() Syntax: void setGraphicsOutputAddr(void far *addr); Purpose: Set the location upon which graphics output will be performed. Parameters: If 'addr' is equal to NULL, output will be performed on the real screen; if 'addr' is non-NULL, output will be performed on the virtual screen pointed to by 'addr'. Return value: None. Remarks: This function sets the currently active output viewport to cover the entirety of the virtual screen. OUTMAXX and OUTMAXY are also changed appropriately. See also: setGraphicsInputAddr(), setGraphicsAddr() *** Function: getGraphicsInputAddr() Syntax: void far *getGraphicsInputAddr(void); Purpose: Get the location upon which graphics input is currently being performed. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns NULL if graphics input is currently being performed on the physical screen, or the address of the virtual screen upon which input is being performed otherwise. Remarks: None. See also: getGraphicsOutputAddr() *** Function: getGraphicsOutputAddr() Syntax: void far *getGraphicsOutputAddr(void); Purpose: Get the location upon which graphics output is currently being performed. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns NULL if graphics output is currently being performed on the physical screen, or the address of the virtual screen upon which output is being performed otherwise. Remarks: None. See also: getGraphicsInputAddr() GRAPHICAL OUTPUT MODES ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ In early releases of TGE, all graphics output was copied to the screen. Now output can be copied, ANDed, NOTed, ORed, or XORed, even to virtual screens. A description of each of these output modes follows: - COPY: This mode is the one which will likely be used most frequently. In this mode, any output is copied directly, overwriting anything which was previously there. - AND: In this mode, each pixel output is ANDed with the pixel already at the same location. - NOT: In this mode, each pixel output is NOTed before being output. - OR: In this mode, each pixel output is ORed with the pixel already at the same location. - XOR: In this mode, each pixel output is XORed with the pixel already at the same location. The following function allows selection of the output mode: *** Function: setGraphicsOutputMode() Syntax: void setGraphicsOutputMode(int mode); Purpose: Select the currently used output mode. Parameters: The output mode will be set to COPY if 'mode' is TGE_COPY_PUT, AND if it is TGE_AND_PUT, NOT if it is TGE_NOT_PUT, OR if it is TGE_OR_PUT, or XOR if it is TGE_XOR_PUT. These macros are defined in TGE.H. Return value: None. Remarks: These output modes affect output to physical and virtual screens. See also: None. USING FONTS ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ TGE supports two types of loadable fonts: fixed-size monochrome fonts (implemented with the FixedFont class), and variable-size 256-colour fonts (implemented with the VariableFont class). Both high- and low-ASCII characters are supported. As well, multiple fonts may be resident in memory simultaneously. For variable-size 256-colour fonts: ────────────────────────────────── In order to use a variable-size 256-colour font, an instance of the VariableFont class is necessary. Font initialization will look something like this: VariableFont systemFont; char systemFontName[] = "BIGTEXT"; . . . if (!systemFont.load(systemFontName)) { printf("Error loading %s; aborting.\n\n", systemFontName); exit(1); } Once a font has been loaded, it may be manipulated via its VariableFont class instance. The class destructor automatically removes the font from memory. A complete list of the VariableFont member functions follows. *** Function: VariableFont::load() Syntax: int VariableFont::load(char *filename); Purpose: Load a font from disk. Parameters: The font file 'filename' will be loaded. Return value: Returns 0 on error. Remarks: None. See also: None. *** Function: VariableFont::put() Syntax: void VariableFont::put(int x, int y, char ch); Purpose: Write a character on screen. Parameters: The character 'ch' will be displayed with its upper-left corner at ('x','y'). Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: VariableFont::put(int, int, char*) *** Function: VariableFont::put() Syntax: void VariableFont::put(int x, int y, char *string); Purpose: Write a string on screen. Parameters: The string 'string' will be displayed with its upper-left corner at ('x','y'). Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: VariableFont::put(int, int, char) *** Function: VariableFont::width() Syntax: unsigned VariableFont::width(char *string); Purpose: Determine the width of a string. Parameters: The width of the string 'string' will be determined. Return value: The width of the string, in pixels, will be returned. Remarks: None. See also: VariableFont::width(char), VariableFont::height(char*), VariableFont::height(char) *** Function: VariableFont::height() Syntax: unsigned VariableFont::height(char *string); Purpose: Determine the height of a string. Parameters: The height of the string 'string' will be determined. Return value: The height of the string, in pixels, will be returned. Remarks: None. See also: VariableFont::height(char), VariableFont::width(char*), VariableFont::width(char), VariableFont::maxHeight() *** Function: VariableFont::width() Syntax: unsigned short VariableFont::width(char ch); Purpose: Determine the width of a character. Parameters: The width of the character 'ch' will be determined. Return value: The width of the string, in pixels, will be returned. Remarks: None. See also: VariableFont::width(char*), VariableFont::height(char), VariableFont::width(char*) *** Function: VariableFont::height() Syntax: unsigned short VariableFont::height(char ch); Purpose: Determine the height of a character. Parameters: The height of the character 'ch' will be determined. Return value: The height of the string, in pixels, will be returned. Remarks: None. See also: VariableFont::height(char*), VariableFont::width(char), VariableFont::height(char*), VariableFont::maxHeight() *** Function: VariableFont::maxHeight() Syntax: unsigned short VariableFont::maxHeight(void); Purpose: Determine the height of the tallest character. Parameters: None. Return value: The height of the tallest character, in pixels, will be returned. Remarks: None. See also: VariableFont::height(char*), VariableFont::height(char) *** Function: VariableFont::matchColours() Syntax: void VariableFont::matchColours(void); Purpose: Match the font colours as closely as possible to the currently selected font palette. Parameters: None. Return value: None. Remarks: This function is really only useful after the colour palette has been changed. See also: VariableFont::palette(void*) *** Function: VariableFont::palette(void*) Syntax: void VariableFont::palette(void *palette); Purpose: Change the currently active font palette. Parameters: The currently active font palette will be set to the palette at 'palette'. Return value: None. Remarks: VariableFont::matchColours() is autmatically called by this function. See also: VariableFont::palette(void), VariableFont::palette(unsigned char, unsigned char, unsigned char, unsigned char), VariableFont::matchColours() *** Function: VariableFont::palette(void) Syntax: void *VariableFont::palette(void); Purpose: Get the address of the currently active font palette. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns the address of the font palette. Remarks: If a change is made to this data directly, you must call VariableFont::palette(void*) if the changes are to take effect. See also: VariableFont::palette(void), VariableFont::palette(unsigned char, unsigned char*, unsigned char*, unsigned char*) *** Function: VariableFont::palette(unsigned char, unsigned char, unsigned char, unsigned char) Syntax: void VariableFont::palette(unsigned char palReg, unsigned char red, unsigned char green, unsigned char blue); Purpose: Change one of the colours of the font palette. Parameters: Colour number 'palReg' of the font palette will be set to match the values passed in 'red', 'green', and 'blue'. Return value: None. Remarks: The change will take effect immediately; there is no need to explicitly update the palette. See also: VariableFont::palette(void*) *** Function: VariableFont::palette(unsigned char, unsigned char*, unsigned char*, unsigned char*) Syntax: void VariableFont::palette(unsigned char palReg, unsigned char *red, unsigned char *green, unsigned char *blue); Purpose: Determine the contents of one of the colours of the font palette. Parameters: Colour number 'palReg' of the font palette will be passed to the caller in 'red', 'green', and 'blue'. Return value: None. On return, however, the colour's components will be present at the 'red', 'green', and 'blue' buffers. Remarks: None. See also: VariableFont::palette(void) *** Function: VariableFont::spacing() Syntax: void VariableFont::spacing(unsigned numPixels); Purpose: Change the spacing between characters. Parameters: After calling this function, the number of pixels left between characters output with VariableFont::put(char*) will be set to 'numPixels'. Return value: None. Remarks: The spacing defaults to one pixel between each character. See also: VariableFont::spacing(void) *** Function: VariableFont::spacing() Syntax: unsigned VariableFont::spacing(void); Purpose: Return the spacing between characters. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns the number of pixels used to space two adjacent characters. Remarks: The spacing defaults to one pixel between each character. See also: VariableFont::spacing(unsigned) For fixed-size monochrome fonts: ─────────────────────────────── In order to use a fixed-size monochrome font, an instance of the FixedFont class is necessary. Assuming instantiation of a FixedFont pointer, font initialization will look something like this: FixedFont *fixedFont; char fixedFontName[] = "8X16"; . . . fixedFont = new Font(fixedFontName); // load font if (fixedFont==NULL || !fixedFont->status()) { printf("Error loading %s; aborting.\n\n", fixedFontName); exit(1); } Once a font has been loaded, it may be manipulated via its FixedFont class instance. The class destructor automatically removes the font from memory. A complete list of the FixedFont member functions follows. *** Function: FixedFont::FixedFont() Syntax: FixedFont::FixedFont(char *filename, unsigned char fg=1, unsigned char bg=0); Purpose: Load a font, and initiate a FixedFont class for use with it. Parameters: 'filename' is the name of the font data file. 'fg' (which defaults to 1) is the colour to be used as the foreground colour. 'bg' (which defaults to 0) is the colour to be used as the background colour. Return value: None. Remarks: After an instantiation of a FixedFont, ensure that the loading and initialization was successful using the method illustrated above. See also: FixedFont::~FixedFont() *** Function: FixedFont::status() Syntax: int FixedFont::status(void); Purpose: Return a flag indicating whether or not the font loading and initialization were successful. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns 1 if the initialization was successful, or 0 if it wasn't. Remarks: None. See also: None. *** Function: FixedFont::width(char*) Syntax: unsigned FixedFont::width(char *str); Purpose: Return the width, in pixels, of a string. Parameters: The string 'str' is analyzed. Return value: Returns the width of 'str', in pixels. Remarks: None. See also: FixedFont::width(char), FixedFont::height(char*), FixedFont::height(char), FixedFont::maxWidth(), FixedFont::maxHeight() *** Function: FixedFont::width(char) Syntax: unsigned FixedFont::width(char ch); Purpose: Return the width, in pixels, of a single character. Parameters: The character 'ch' is analyzed. Return value: Returns the width of 'ch', in pixels. Remarks: None. See also: FixedFont::width(char*), FixedFont::height(char), FixedFont::height(char*), FixedFont::maxWidth(), FixedFont::maxHeight() *** Function: FixedFont::maxWidth() Syntax: unsigned maxWidth(void); Purpose: Return the width of the widest character. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns the width of the widest character. Remarks: None. See also: FixedFont::maxHeight(void), FixedFont::width(char*), FixedFont::width(char), FixedFont::height(char*), FixedFont::height(char) *** Function: FixedFont::height(char*) Syntax: unsigned FixedFont::height(char *str); Purpose: Return the height, in pixels, of a string. Parameters: The string 'str' is analyzed. Return value: Returns the depth of 'str', in pixels. Remarks: None. See also: FixedFont::height(char), FixedFont::width(char*), FixedFont::height(char), FixedFont::maxHeight(), FixedFont::maxWidth() *** Function: FixedFont::height(char) Syntax: unsigned FixedFont::height(char ch); Purpose: Return the height, in pixels, of a single character. Parameters: The character 'ch' is analyzed. Return value: Returns the height of 'ch', in pixels. Remarks: None. See also: FixedFont::height(char*), FixedFont::width(char), FixedFont::width(char*), FixedFont::maxWidth(), FixedFont::maxHeight() *** Function: FixedFont::maxHeight() Syntax: unsigned maxHeight(void); Purpose: Return the height of the tallest character. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns the height of the tallest character. Remarks: None. See also: FixedFont::maxWidth(void), FixedFont::height(char*), FixedFont::height(char), FixedFont::width(char*), FixedFont::width(char) *** Function: FixedFont::put(int, int, char*) Syntax: void FixedFont::put(int x, int y, char *str); Purpose: Write a string to the screen. Parameters: The string 'str' will be written starting at ('x','y'). Return value: None. Remarks: The coordinate passed to this function specifies the upper-left coordinate of the string. See also: FixedFont::put(char); *** Function: FixedFont::put(int, int, char) Syntax: void FixedFont::put(int x, int y, char ch); Purpose: Write a single character to the screen. Parameters: The character 'ch' will be written at ('x','y'). Return value: None. Remarks: The coordinate passed to this function specifies the upper-left coordinate of the character. See also: FixedFont::put(char*); *** Function: FixedFont::foreground(unsigned) Syntax: void FixedFont::foreground(unsigned colour); Purpose: Set the current foreground colour. Parameters: The foreground colour will be set to 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: FixedFont::background(unsigned), FixedFont::foreground(void), FixedFont::background(void) *** Function: FixedFont::foreground(void) Syntax: unsigned FixedFont::foreground(void); Purpose: Return the current foreground colour. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns the current foreground colour. Remarks: None. See also: FixedFont::background(void), FixedFont::foreground(unsigned), FixedFont::foreground(unsigned) *** Function: FixedFont::background(unsigned) Syntax: void FixedFont::background(unsigned colour); Purpose: Set the current background colour. Parameters: The background colour will be set to 'colour'. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: FixedFont::foreground(unsigned), FixedFont::background(void), FixedFont::foreground(void) *** Function: FixedFont::background(void) Syntax: unsigned FixedFont::background(void); Purpose: Return the current background colour. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns the current background colour. Remarks: None. See also: FixedFont::foreground(void), FixedFont::background(unsigned), FixedFont::foreground(unsigned) Note that, at present, TGE's fonts are designed for use in 256-colour modes only. BITMAP MANIPULATION ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Bitmaps can get boring when all you can do is display them. TGE can scale bitmaps to different sizes, using the following function: *** Function: scaleBitmap() Syntax: void far *scaleBitmap(void *srcImage, unsigned newWide, unsigned newDeep, void *destImage) Purpose: Scale the given bitmap to the specified size. Parameters: The image in 'srcImage' will be scaled to 'newWide' pixels wide and 'newDeep' pixels deep. The resulting scaled image will be placed in 'destImage' if 'destImage' is non-NULL, or in a newly allocated block of memory if 'destImage' is NULL. Return value: Returns the address of the scaled image on success, or NULL on error. Note that NULL will never be returned if 'destImage' is non-NULL. Remarks: Results are undefined if either 'newWide' or 'newDeep' is equal to zero. See also: None. TGE also provides routines for determining an image's dimensions given its address: *** Function: imageWidth Syntax: unsigned imageWidth(void *image); Purpose: Determine an image's width. Parameters: This routine will determine the width of 'image'. Return value: Returns the width, in pixels, of 'image'. Remarks: This routine is implemented as a macro in TGE.H. See also: imageHeight *** Function: imageHeight Syntax: unsigned imageHeight(void *image); Purpose: Determine an image's height. Parameters: This routine will determine the height of 'image'. Return value: Returns the height, in pixels, of 'image'. Remarks: This routine is implemented as a macro in TGE.H. See also: imageWidth PALETTE MANIPULATION ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ TGE provides some palette manipulation routines, described below: *** Function: fadePalette Syntax: int fadePalette(unsigned step, void *inPal, void *outPal, void *targetPal); Purpose: Fade one palette into another. Parameters: The palette at 'inPal' will be faded closer to the palette at 'targetPal'. The resulting palette will be stored at 'outPal'. Each of the colour components which compose a palette colour will be incremented or decremented by no more than the value in 'step'; thus, higher 'step' values produce more rapid fading. Return value: Returns 0 if fading is complete, or 1 if it isn't. Remarks: Note that this function does not always complete the fading with one call. Code like this could be used: while (fadePalette(1, in, out, target)) { delay(10); setBlockPalette(0, 255, out); swap(in, out); doSomeOtherProcessing(); } See also: None. *** Function: greyPalette Syntax: void greyPalette(void *inPal, void *outPal); Purpose: Produce a greyscale version of a palette. Parameters: A greyscale version of the palette at 'inPal' will be calculated, and stored at 'outPal'. Return value: None, but the calculated greyscale palette will be at 'outPal' on return. Remarks: Images designed with the input palette in mind will look the same under the output greyscale palette, except that they will be composed entirely of greys, black, and white. See also: None. *** Function: rotatePalette Syntax: void rotatePalette(int howMuch, void *inPal, void *outPal) Purpose: Rotate a palette. Parameters: The palette at 'inPal' will be rotated by the value 'howMuch', and the resulting palette will be placed at 'outPal'. 'howMuch' can be negative or positive, depending on which direction rotation will be performed; for instance, a 'howMuch' value of 1 would cause the value of colour 0 to move to colour 1, while a 'howMuch' value of -1 would have the opposite effect. Return value: None, but the rotated palette will be at 'outPal' on return. Remarks: This function will still operate correctly with 'howMuch' values which are greater than 255 or less than -255. See also: None. USING THE MOUSE ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ TGE now provides support for interrupt-driven, definable mouse pointers. In order to make use of this feature, some simple steps must be taken. The new mouse handler is designed to work in tandem with TGE's graphical functions. Programs using the new mouse handler must first have successfully initialized graphics mode using TGE. Both TGE.H and TGEMOUSE.H must be #included into a program using the mouse services. The mouse handler has to be initialized. To do so, one function call is required: initNewMouse(); For more information on initNewMouse(), refer to the mouse functions reference section. Next, the mouse driver must be informed of the screen dimensions, like this: setHorizLimitsMouse(0, OUTMAXX); setVertLimitsMouse(0, OUTMAXY); If desired, the pointer may then be positioned. To center it on the screen, do this: setPosMouse(OUTMAXX/2, OUTMAXY/2); A pointer shape must then be selected. TGE, as shipped, includes two arrow pointers and two target pointers; the file MOUSEPTR.C may easily be modified to allow more. To select, for instance, the big arrow pointer, do this: setupMousePointer(BIG_ARROW_POINTER); The macro BIG_ARROW_POINTER is defined in TGEMOUSE.H; it expands to a number which is used by MOUSEPTR.C to identify which bitmap to use. Note that if exceptionally large (ie. larger than 512 bytes) pointers are used, a change must be made in NEWMOUSE.ASM; see that file for details. If you would like to directly set a particular bitmap as the mouse pointer, you may use setPointerMouse(), described in the next section. Once things have been initialized, the use of the new mouse handler over the standard mouse driver can essentially be ignored; mouse driver services are obtained in exactly the same way. The mouse interface functions are prototyped in TGEMOUSE.H, also using the macro method which allows function names to be changed simply by editing TGEMOUSE.H. Before exiting the program, the function deInitNewMouse() _must_ be called. It is usually a very good idea to place deInitNewMouse() in the atexit() queue immediately after calling initNewMouse(). Note that, since the pointer is drawn using TGE's putImageInv() function, the pointer will only appear when it is within the current viewport. TGE'S MOUSE FUNCTION SET ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ *** Function: initNewMouse() Syntax: void initNewMouse(void); Purpose: Initializes the new mouse handler. Parameters: The new mouse handler will be configured for use with TGE. Return value: None. Remarks: A graphics driver must have been loaded prior to a call to initNewMouse(). The new mouse handler requires that a Microsoft or compatible mouse driver already be resident. It assumes that a mouse driver's presence will have been tested beforehand. initNewMouse() is really a simple macro; refer to TGEMOUSE.H for the expansion of initNewMouse(void); See also: deInitNewMouse(), enableNewMouse(), disableNewMouse() *** Function: deInitNewMouse() Syntax: void deInitNewMouse(void); Purpose: Deactivate the new mouse handler, and leave all the work up to the old driver. Parameters: None. Return value: None. Remarks: This function must be called prior to program exit if initNewMouse() had previously been called. See also: initNewMouse(), enableNewMouse(), disableNewMouse() *** Function: enableNewMouse() Syntax: void enableNewMouse(void); Purpose: Reactivate the new mouse handler following a call to disableNewMouse(). Parameters: None. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: disableNewMouse(), initNewMouse(), deInitNewMouse() *** Function: disableNewMouse() Syntax: void disableNewMouse(void); Purpose: Temporarily deactivate the new mouse handler, to be reactivated later by a call to enableNewMouse(). Parameters: None. Return value: None. Remarks: Following a call to this function, the new mouse handler will cease trapping mouse driver interrupts and moving the pointer. See also: enableNewMouse(), initNewMouse(), deInitNewMouse() *** Function: resetMouse() Syntax: int resetMouse(void); Purpose: Reset the mouse driver and hardware. Parameters: None. Return value: 1 if mouse driver available, 0 otherwise. Remarks: Following a call to this function, the mouse pointer is hidden and positioned at the center of the screen. See also: softResetMouse(), initNewMouse() *** Function: getButtonsMouse() Syntax: int getButtonsMouse(void); Purpose: Return the number of buttons on the mouse. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns the number of buttons on the mouse. Remarks: This function calls resetMouse(), and so the mouse driver and hardware are re-initialized. See also: resetMouse() *** Function: showMouse() Syntax: void showMouse(void); Purpose: Show the mouse pointer. Parameters: None. Return value: None. Remarks: Calls to showMouse() and hideMouse() are cumulative; ie., if showMouse() is called twice, hideMouse() must be called twice to hide the pointer again. See also: hideMouse() *** Function: hideMouse() Syntax: void hideMouse(void); Purpose: Hide the mouse pointer. Parameters: None. Return value: None. Remarks: Calls to showMouse() and hideMouse() are cumulative; ie., if showMouse() is called twice, hideMouse() must be called twice to hide the pointer again. See also: showMouse() *** Function: getPosMouse() Syntax: void getPosMouse(int far *x, int far *y); Purpose: Get the current pointer coordinates. Parameters: The current pointer x- and y-coordinates will be stored in 'x' and 'y', respectively. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: setPosMouse() *** Function: setPosMouse() Syntax: void setPosMouse(unsigned x, unsigned y); Purpose: Set the current pointer coordinates. Parameters: The pointer will be positioned at ('x','y'). Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: getPosMouse() *** Function: buttonMouse() Syntax: int buttonMouse(void); Purpose: Return whether or not any of the mouse buttons is down. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns true if at least one button is down, or zero if none of them is down. Remarks: None. See also: leftButtonMouse(), rightButtonMouse(), centerButtonMouse(), waitReleaseMouse() *** Function: leftButtonMouse() Syntax: int leftButtonMouse(void); Purpose: Return the status of the left mouse button. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns true if the button is down, or zero if it is up. Remarks: None. See also: buttonMouse(), rightButtonMouse(), centerButtonMouse(), waitReleaseMouse() *** Function: rightButtonMouse() Syntax: int rightButtonMouse(void); Purpose: Return the status of the right mouse button. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns true if the button is down, or zero if it is up. Remarks: None. See also: buttonMouse(), leftButtonMouse(), centerButtonMouse(), waitReleaseMouse() *** Function: centerButtonMouse() Syntax: int centerButtonMouse(void); Purpose: Return the status of the center mouse button. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns true if the button is down, or zero if it is up. Remarks: None. See also: buttonMouse(), leftButtonMouse(), rightButtonMouse(), waitReleaseMouse() *** Function: buttonPressMouse() Syntax: unsigned buttonPressMouse(unsigned button, int far *x, int far *y); Purpose: Return the number of times the specified button has been pressed since the last call to this function (with the same button parameter), and store the coordinates of the last press. Parameters: The button 'button' is checked, and may be any of LEFTBUTTON, RIGHTBUTTON, and CENTERBUTTON, which are defined in TGEMOUSE.H. The position of the last press will be stored in ('x','y'). Return value: Returns the number of times the specified button has been pressed since the last call to this function (with the same button parameter). Remarks: None. See also: buttonReleaseMouse() *** Function: buttonReleaseMouse() Syntax: unsigned buttonReleaseMouse(unsigned button, int far *x, int far *y); Purpose: Return the number of times the specified button has been released since the last call to this function (with the same button parameter), and store the coordinates of the last press. Parameters: The button 'button' is checked, and may be any of LEFTBUTTON, RIGHTBUTTON, and CENTERBUTTON, which are defined in TGEMOUSE.H. The position of the last release will be stored in ('x','y'). Return value: Returns the number of times the specified button has been released since the last call to this function (with the same button parameter). Remarks: None. See also: buttonPressMouse() *** Function: waitReleaseMouse() Syntax: void waitReleaseMouse(int button); Purpose: If the specified button is not already up, wait until it is released, then return. Parameters: The button 'button' is checked, and may be any of LEFTBUTTON, RIGHTBUTTON, and CENTERBUTTON, which are defined in TGEMOUSE.H. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: buttonMouse(), leftButtonMouse(), rightButtonMouse(), centerButtonMouse() *** Function: setHorizLimitsMouse() Syntax: void setHorizLimitsMouse(unsigned min, unsigned max); Purpose: Set the minimum and maximum horizontal coordinates for the pointer. Parameters: The minimum horizontal coordinate will be set to 'min', and the maximum to 'max'. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: setVertLimitsMouse() *** Function: setVertLimitsMouse() Syntax: void setVertLimitsMouse(unsigned min, unsigned max); Purpose: Set the minimum and maximum vertical coordinates for the pointer. Parameters: The minimum vertical coordinate will be set to 'min', and the maximum to 'max'. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: setHorizLimitsMouse() *** Function: setPointerMouse() Syntax: void setPointerMouse(int xOff, int yOff, void far *p); Purpose: Set the shape of the pointer. Parameters: The image pointed to by 'p' will be the pointer bitmap. ('xOff','yOff') is the offset, relative to the upper- left corner of the bitmap, of the "hot spot" -- the pixel where the pointer is actually registered as being. (For instance, the standard arrow pointer has its hot spot in the upper-left, while a crosshairs pointer would have it towards the middle.) Return value: None. Remarks: The mouse pointer should be hidden when a call to this function is made. See also: None. *** Function: getSaveSizeMouse() Syntax: unsigned getSaveSizeMouse(void); Purpose: Return the size of the buffer necessary to store the state of the mouse driver. Parameters: None. Return value: Returns the size of the buffer. Remarks: If a program using TGE and the new mouse handling routines is to run another program, for instance shelling to DOS, the ensuing procedure should be followed: call disableNewMouse(), call getSaveSizeMouse(), allocate a block of memory with the size returned by getSaveSizeMouse(), call saveStateMouse(), run the program, call restoreStateMouse(), free the block of memory, then call enableNewMouse(). See also: saveStateMouse(), restoreStateMouse() *** Function: saveStateMouse() Syntax: void saveStateMouse(void far *buf); Purpose: Save the current state of the mouse driver. Parameters: The block of memory pointed to by 'buf' will be used to store the state data. Its length should be obtained by calling getSaveSizeMouse(). Return value: None. Remarks: If a program using TGE and the new mouse handling routines is to run another program, for instance shelling to DOS, the ensuing procedure should be followed: call disableNewMouse(), call getSaveSizeMouse(), allocate a block of memory with the size returned by getSaveSizeMouse(), call saveStateMouse(), run the program, call restoreStateMouse(), free the block of memory, then call enableNewMouse(). See also: getSaveSizeMouse(), restoreStateMouse() *** Function: restoreStateMouse() Syntax: void restoreStateMouse(void far *buf); Purpose: Restore the state of the mouse driver from a buffer previously filled by saveStateMouse(). Parameters: The block of memory pointed to by 'buf' stores the state data. Return value: None. Remarks: If a program using TGE and the new mouse handling routines is to run another program, for instance shelling to DOS, the ensuing procedure should be followed: call disableNewMouse(), call getSaveSizeMouse(), allocate a block of memory with the size returned by getSaveSizeMouse(), call saveStateMouse(), run the program, call restoreStateMouse(), free the block of memory, then call enableNewMouse(). See also: getSaveSizeMouse, saveStateMouse *** Function: setRatioMouse() Syntax: void setRatioMouse(unsigned horiz, unsigned vert); Purpose: Set the mouse sensitivity, in units of mickeys per 8 pixels of pointer movement. (A mickey is the unit used to measure mouse movement.) Parameters: The horizontal mickeys to pixels ratio will be set to 'horiz', and the vertical to 'vert'. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: getSensitivityMouse() *** Function: getSensitivityMouse() Syntax: void getSensitivityMouse(unsigned *horiz, unsigned *vert, unsigned *doubleSpeed); Purpose: Get the mouse sensitivity, in units of mickeys per 8 pixels of pointer movement. (A mickey is the unit used to measure mouse movement.) The mouse double speed threshold (the minimum number of mickeys per second of motion before pointer movement is doubled) is retrieved as well. Parameters: The horizontal mickeys to pixels ratio will be stored in 'horiz', the vertical in 'vert', and the double speed threshold in 'doubleSpeed'. Return value: None. Remarks: None. See also: setRatioMouse() *** Function: softResetMouse() Syntax: void softResetMouse(void); Purpose: Reset the mouse driver, but not the hardware. Parameters: None. Return value: None. Remarks: This function is equivalent to resetMouse(), except in that it performs no initialization of the mouse hardware. See also: resetMouse() Note that since these function names are actually macros, they may easily be changed to suit individual preferences by editing TGEMOUSE.H. ADDITIONAL FEATURES IN THE REGISTERED VERSION ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ In addition to technical support and usage rights, registered users may use the registered version of TGE. Not only does the registered version of TGE include complete source code for the TGE library and an extra font not found in the shareware version, it also includes some features not available in the shareware verion: Registered users can save up to about 22 kb of memory by selectively commenting out #defines in TGE.H and compiling the TGE library. Following is a list of symbols and the features they disable when they're not #defined: TGE_USE_VIRTUAL_SCREENS Virtual screen support. TGE_USE_OUTPUT_MODES Output mode support. TGE_USE_REGION_FILLS fillRegion(). TGE_USE_IMAGES Bitmap-related functions. TGE_USE_ELLIPSES ellipse- and circle-drawing. TGE_USE_COLOUR_APPROXIMATION colourCloseTo() and colourCloseToX(). TGE_USE_LOADGRAPHDRIVER loadGraphDriver() and unloadGraphDriver(). The source for the disabled features is simply not compiled, and so does not waste space in the executable or in memory. Remember to recompile the TGE library after making a change! CREATING FONTS ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Creating fonts is not easy, but the necessary information is outlined below. For variable-size 256-colour fonts: ────────────────────────────────── First, you should make a working directory for your font's data files. For the sake of example, I will assume that you are trying to create MYFONT.FNT. Second, draw a bitmap for each of the 256 ASCII characters which you would like to exist in the font; if you won't be using a character, feel free to not bother drawing a bitmap for it. Each bitmap should be as small as possible, so be sure not to leave any extra space around the character. Use colour zero as the background colour, or some other colour if you would like the font to have a coloured background. Save each of these bitmaps as a PCX file in the working directory. Note that all character bitmaps must use the same colour palette. Third, convert the PCX files to RAW files by using PCX2RAW; to do so, type 'PCX2RAW *'. Fourth, you must rename one of the PAL files produced by PCX2RAW to MYFONT.PAL (remember MYFONT.FNT is the font you're creating). If you wish, you may delete all the other PAL files, so long as you leave MYFONT.PAL intact. Fifth, you must create MYFONT.OFF, the character offset description file. This text file consists of 256 lines, each containing a single integer (either positive or zero), followed by a newline. Each line contains its corresponding character's "offset from top" value; the first line is for character 0, the second is for character 1, and so on. Given the (x,y) coordinates at which to put a character from the font, the "offset from top" is the value to add to the y coordinate before putImageInv() is called to display the character's bitmap. The "offset from top" is used to make character bitmaps be written lower down on the screen than other bitmaps; for instance, the period character's offset would be greater than an asterisk's offset, because a period is lower down than an asterisk. Finally, you must create the font file MYFONT.FNT; to do so, type 'MAKEFONT myfont'. For fixed-size monochrome fonts: ─────────────────────────────── TGE's font definition files must have a certain format which will be outlined below. (Note that a fixed font consists of 256 monochrome characters, each with the same dimensions.) The font file header consists of three fields of defined length. The first of these fields is the eight-byte font definition file signature string, which must be "TGEFONT1", without quotes or terminating null character. The next field is a two-byte unsigned integer which holds the width of a character in pixels. The last field is also a two-byte integer, holding the height of a character in pixels. The remainder of the file consists of font data. (If you have done advanced text programming before, you may recognize this data organization as the format used by the video BIOS.) The characters are stored starting at character 0, all the way up to 255. Each of the characters is stored starting with the uppermost row, all the way down to the bottom row. Each row is stored left to right, with the leftmost pixel in the most significant bit of the first byte in the row, and the rightmost pixel in the least significant bit of the last byte in the row. A 1 bit represents a foreground pixel, while a 0 bit represents a background pixel. Note that, at present, font row widths must be evenly divisible by 8; pad with 0 bits if necessary. Image data for all 256 of the ASCII characters must be present in the file; if you won't be needing some of them, feel free to store zero bytes (or random bytes, if you're imaginative) as their image data. USING PCX2RAW AND GRAPHICS FILES ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ The PCX2RAW utility provides a simple way to convert 256-colour images in PCX format into a format usable by TGE. It is used like this: pcx2raw filename[.pcx] Given the PCX file FILENAME.PCX, PCX2RAW will create two new files in the same directory as FILENAME.PCX: FILENAME.PAL which contains the colour palette from FILENAME.PCX, and FILENAME.RAW which is a TGE format bitmap of the image in FILENAME.PCX. Following is a discussion of the PAL and RAW file formats, and how to use TGE's functions to access them. The PAL file is organized like this: Element size Element description ------------ ------------------- 3 bytes colour 0 3 bytes colour 1 . . . 3 bytes colour 254 3 bytes colour 255 Each 3-byte element consists of the red, green, and blue colour components, in that order. Each of these components is an unsigned char. Code to load a PAL file is included in RAWFILE.C; the function description follows: *** Function: loadPalFile() Syntax: void far *loadPalFile(char *filename, void far *addr); Purpose: Load a 768-byte palette file into memory. Parameters: The palette data file 'filename' will be loaded into the memory block at 'addr' (if 'addr' != NULL), or into a newly allocated memory block (if 'addr' == NULL). Return value: Returns the address of the loaded palette on success, or NULL on error. Remarks: If 'addr' is NULL, be sure to free() the allocated memory block when the palette information is no longer needed. See also: loadPcxFilePal(), loadRawFile(), displayRawFile(), loadPcxFile(), displayPcxFile() The RAW file is organized in exactly the same way as the bitmaps used by putImage() and its associated functions: 2 bytes for the image width, then 2 bytes for the image height, then width*height bytes (one per pixel) for the image information itself; the pixels are in order from left to right and from top to bottom, as one would read a book. The image dimension fields are both unsigned shorts, and are measured in pixels. Code to load a RAW file is included in RAWFILE.C; the function descriptions follow: *** Function: loadRawFile() Syntax: void far *loadRawFile(char *filename); Purpose: Load a RAW image file into memory. Parameters: The RAW image file 'filename' will be loaded into a newly allocated memory block. Return value: Returns the address of the loaded image on success, or NULL on error. Remarks: Be sure to free() the allocated memory block when the image information is no longer needed. See also: displayRawFile(), loadPcxFile(), displayPcxFile(), loadPalFile(), loadPcxFilePal() *** Function: displayRawFile() Syntax: int displayRawFile(int x, int y, char *filename); Purpose: Display a RAW image file. Parameters: The RAW image file 'filename' will be displayed with its upper-left corner at ('x','y'). Clipping is performed. Return value: Returns the 1 on success, or 0 on error. Remarks: Since this function uses standard TGE output routines, it can display to virtual screens as well as the real screen. See also: loadRawFile(), displayPcxFile(), loadPcxFile(), loadPalFile(), loadPcxFilePal() TGE also includes routines to deal directly with PCX files: *** Function: loadPcxFilePal() Syntax: void far *loadPcxFilePal(char *filename, void far *addr); Purpose: Load a 768-byte palette from a PCX file into memory. Parameters: The palette data 'filename' will be loaded into the memory block at 'addr' (if 'addr' != NULL), or into a newly allocated memory block (if 'addr' == NULL). Return value: Returns the address of the loaded palette on success, or NULL on error. Remarks: If 'addr' is NULL, be sure to free() the allocated memory block when the palette information is no longer needed. See also: loadPalFile(), loadPcxFile(), displayPcxFile(), loadRawFile(), displayRawFile() *** Function: loadPcxFile() Syntax: void far *loadPalFile(char *filename, void *palette); Purpose: Load a PCX image file, and its palette if requested, into memory. Parameters: The PCX image file 'filename' will be loaded into a newly allocated memory block. If 'palette' is non-NULL, the 768 bytes of palette data from the PCX file will be loaded into the memory area at 'palette'. Return value: Returns the address of the loaded image on success, or NULL on error. If 'palette' was non-NULL, a copy of the palette will be at the memory area pointed to by 'palette' on return. Remarks: Be sure to free() the allocated memory block when the image information is no longer needed. See also: displayPcxFile(), loadPcxFilePal(), loadRawFile(), displayRawFile(), loadPalFile() *** Function: displayPcxFile() Syntax: int displayPcxFile(int x, int y, char *filename); Purpose: Display a PCX image file. Parameters: The PCX image file 'filename' will be displayed with its upper-left corner at ('x','y'). Clipping is performed. Return value: Returns the 1 on success, or 0 on error. Remarks: Since this function uses standard TGE output routines, it can display to virtual screens as well as the real screen. The image is displayed using the current palette, which is not necessarily the same as that of the PCX file. See also: loadPcxFile(), displayRawFile(), loadRawFile() CONTACTING THE AUTHOR ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ I would appreciate hearing any questions, comments, bug reports, or suggestions for improvement. If you have any, feel free to contact me; I can be reached via any of the methods below. When reporting bugs, please be sure to mention the version of TGE to which you are referring; also, if possible, please include detailed descriptions of the problem and of your video hardware configuration. If you have a video card which is not directly supported by TGE, I would appreciate it if you would send me programming information about your card and/or code to deal with it. Snail mail: Matthew Hildebrand 4 College St. St. Catharines, ON Canada L2R 2W7 Fidonet mail: 1:247/128.2 Please do not post personal messages to me in any of the Fidonet echos, such as C_ECHO or C_PLUSPLUS; such messages are off-topic and liable to annoy the moderator and other echo participants. Use netmail instead. If I find any such personal messages in Fidonet programming echos, I reply by netmail only. If the matter being discussed would be of interest to other echo participants, I will reply in that echo. Internet mail: Matthew.Hildebrand@p2.f128.n247.z1.fidonet.org Internet-Fidonet mail routing sometimes goes awry; if you don't get a reply from me after a reasonable amount of time, send the message again. If you still don't receive a reply, either persist until you do or contact me via a different method. BBS: (905)-935-6628 I am not the sysop of idiot savant BBS, but I will receive messages left there for me. The BBS runs a 14400 bps V.32bis modem. Telephone: (905)-687-8736 You may have to try a few times to reach me, as I'm in and out quite a bit. Please keep in mind the time zone difference, if any, when calling; I'm in Eastern Standard Time. OBTAINING THE NEWEST VERSION OF TGE ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ The most recent distributed copy of TGE is available via first-call download from (905)-935-6628 (14400 bps V.32bis), or via file request from Fidonet node 1:247/128 (14400 bps V.32bis) using the magic file name "TGE"; unlisted nodes and points are welcome. TGE is also distributed through the Fidonet file echo PDNCEE. If, after you have registered, you are interested in receiving new versions of TGE as they are released, an easy method is now available. For $3 per mailing (to cover the disk, envelope, and postage), I will mail copies of new versions as they are released, on either a 3.5" or a 5.25" disk. The $3 per mailing may be included with the initial registration fee, with instructions to mail newer versions as they are released, or mailed later with a request for a copy of the newest version. Please ensure that the $3 is paid in either US or Canadian funds; payment by cash, money order (use an international money order if necessary), or cheque drawn on a US or Canadian bank is acceptable. Alternatively, it is possible to receive notifications of updates but not the updates themselves. For $1 per mailing (to cover the envelope and postage), I will mail notifications of new versions when they are released. The $1 per mailing may be included with the initial registration fee, with instructions to mail notifications as new versions are released, or mailed later with similar instructions. Again, please ensure that the $1 is paid in either US or Canadian funds; payment by cash, money order (use an international money order if necessary), or cheque drawn on a US or Canadian bank is acceptable. KNOWN PROBLEMS USING TGE ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ At present, the following problems may be experienced when using TGE: 1. (Registered users only.) When TGEFUNCS.C is compiled by Turbo C++ 3.0, putImage() and putImageInv() do not work correctly. When informed of this bug, I stepped through the offending code at the assembly level, and discovered that this problem is caused by a bug in TC++, not TGE. The miscompiled lines of TGE.C are perfectly legal C statements; when TGE.C is compiled by my compiler (Borland C++ 2.0), TGE works beautifully. Using one of the TGE library files included in the TGE package, rather than OBJ files compiled by Turbo C++ 3.0, should solve the problem. 2. A very small number of users may experience an odd pattern of blue lines when TGE is run in an SVGA mode on some older ATI cards. I have been informed that this problem is caused by a bug in the video card itself. ATI has confirmed the presence of this bug, and has implemented a software patch in its Windows 3.1 SVGA driver, but ATI has not released information on how this bug was squashed. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ There are many people whom I would like to thank for their suggestions, beta-testing, patience, registrations, and help with distribution. You know who you are. LEGAL STUFF ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ The Graphics Engine and its documentation are Copyright (c) 1993-1994 by Matthew Hildebrand. All software and documentation associated with The Graphics Engine is provided "as is": ie., it is provided without warranty of any kind, not even an implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for any purpose. The Author (Matthew Hildebrand) disclaims all warranties, both express and implied, including but not limited to warranties regarding The Graphics Engine's merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. The author may not be held liable for any damage or misfortune related to the use of this software. Any usage of any or all of The Graphics Engine is done entirely at the user's risk. All registered trademarks in this document belong to their respective owners. 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