Technote 1160 What's New With ColorSync 2.6 By Scott Kuechle Apple Worldwide Developer Technical Support

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Checking for ColorSync 2.6 Macintosh To determine if the ColorSync Manager shared libraries have been loaded on a PowerPC machine, use the Gestalt function with the gestaltColorMatchingAttr selector. Test the bit field (bit 1) indicated by the gestaltColorMatchingLibLoaded constant in the response parameter. If the bit is set, the ColorSync Manager shared libraries are loaded. The following code snippet shows how this is done. This code snippet initializes the ColorSyncAvailable Boolean variable to false.

Boolean CheckIfColorSyncAvailableOnPPC (void) { Boolean ColorSyncAvailable = false; long gestaltResponse;   if (Gestalt(gestaltColorMatchingAttr, &gestaltResponse) == noErr) { ColorSyncAvailable = gestaltResponse & (1 << gestaltColorMatchingLibLoaded); } return ColorSyncAvailable; }

Alternately, you can use the new ColorSync 2.6 function CMGetColorSyncVersion (see the section "New ColorSync 2.6 APIs" below for the details) to check for the presence of ColorSync. The CMGetColorSyncVersion function also returns the ColorSync version information. Here's a code snippet that checks for ColorSync version 2.:

#define kColorSync26 0x00000260  CMError err; UInt32 version;  err = CMGetColorSyncVersion(&version); if (err == noErr) { if (version >= kColorSync26) { /* ColorSync 2.6 or better is installed */ } } else { /* ColorSync not present */ }

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Getting ColorSync 2.6 Version Information As described in the section "Checking for ColorSync 2.6", use the new ColorSync 2.6 function CMGetColorSyncVersion to get ColorSync version information.

Important Note: On Macintosh systems with ColorSync 2.6 installed, the CMGetColorSyncVersion function returns the value 0x00026000 in the version field. However, to remain consistent with Gestalt return values this function should return the value 0x00000260. Future versions of ColorSync 2.6 on the Macintosh will correct this problem and return values which are consistent with Gestalt. Alternately, you can use the Gestalt function with the gestaltColorMatchingVersion selector to get ColorSync version information. You can modify and use the following sample code to test for version 2.6 of the ColorSync Manager. This function initializes the Boolean variable ColorSyncAvailable to false and sets it to true if version 2.6 or later of the ColorSync Manager is installed.

#define kColorSync26 0x00000260  Boolean CheckForColorSyncVersion26(void) { Boolean ColorSyncAvailable = false; long version;   if (Gestalt(gestaltColorMatchingVersion, &version) == noErr) { if (version >= kColorSync26) { ColorSyncAvailable = true; } }   return ColorSyncAvailable; }

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New ColorSync 2.6 APIs The following new APIs were added to ColorSync 2.6: CMError CMGetProfileDescriptions (CMProfileRef prof, char *aName, UInt32 *aCount, Str255 mName, ScriptCode *mCode, UniChar *uName, UniCharCount *uCount);   Field Descriptions prof A reference to the profile from which to obtain the desc tag info. aName A pointer to a field which is to receive the profile name as a 7-bit Roman ASCII string. aCount A pointer to a field which is to receive a count of the number of characters returned in the aName field above. mName A pointer to a field which is to receive the localized profile name string in Mac script-code format. mCode A pointer to a field which is to receive the script code corresponding to the name string returned in the mName parameter above. uName A pointer to a field which is to receive the Unicode localized profile name string. uCount A pointer to a field which is to receive a count of the number of Unicode (2-byte) characters returned in the uName field above. CMError CMSetProfileDescriptions (CMProfileRef prof, const char *aName, UInt32 aCount, ConstStr255Param mName, ScriptCode mCode, const UniChar *uName, UniCharCount uCount);   Field Descriptions prof A reference to the profile into which to set the desc tag info. aName A pointer to a field containing a 7-bit Roman ASCII profile name string which is to be set for the profile. This string must be null-terminated. aCount A count of the number of characters in the aName field above. mName A pointer to a field containing the localized profile name string in Mac script-code format which is to be set for the profile. This string must be null-terminated. mCode The script code corresponding to the name string in the mName parameter above. uName A pointer to a field containing the Unicode localized profile name string which is to be set for the profile. This string must be null-terminated. uCount A count of the number of Unicode characters in the uName field above (do not confuse this with a byte count, because each Unicode character requires two bytes). DESCRIPTION Use these functions to get/set the description tag data for a given profile. The ICC Profile Format Specification (available at <http://www.color.org>) includes a Description tag ('desc'), designed to provide more information about a profile than can be contained in a file name. This is especially critical on file systems with 8.3 names. The tag data can consist of up to three separate pieces (strings) of information for a profile. These different strings are designed to allow for display in different languages or on different computer systems. Applications typically use one of the strings to show profiles in a list or a pop-up menu. ColorSync 2.6 includes these new APIs for accessing this information, and also checks for the validity of the 'desc' tag according to the ICC Spec.

CMError NCWConcatColorWorld (CMWorldRef *cw, NCMConcatProfileSet *profileSet, CMConcatCallBackUPP proc, void *refCon);

Field Descriptions

cw	A reference to a color world that the ColorSync Manager returns if the function completes successfully. You pass this reference to other functions that use the color world for color-matching and color-checking sessions.
profileSet	An array of profiles describing the processing to be carried out. The array is in processing order source through destination.
proc	A calling-program-supplied callback function that allows your application to monitor progress or abort the operation.
refCon	A reference constant containing data specified by the calling application program.

New structures for use with this function:

struct NCMConcatProfileSet { OSType cmm; /* e.g., 'KCMS'. Uniquely IDs the CMM, or 0000 */ unsigned long flags; /* specify quality */ unsigned long flagsMask; /* which bits of flags to use to override profile. */ unsigned long profileCount; /* how many ProfileSpecs in the following set */ NCWConcatProfileSpec profileSpecs[]; /* A new structure, defined below */ };  struct NCWConcatProfileSpec { unsigned long renderingIntent; /* intent to use along with transformTag. */ unsigned long transformTag; /* one of a set of tag identifiers, defined below */ CMProfileRef profile; /* the profile to extract the transform from */ };  enum { kNoTransform = 0, /* Not used */ kUseAtoB = 1, /* Use 'A2B*' tag from this profile or equivalent */ kUseBtoA = 2, /* Use 'B2A*' tag from this profile or equivalent */ kUseBtoB = 3, /* Use 'pre*' tag from this profile or equivalent */ /* For typical device profiles the following synonyms may be useful */   kDeviceToPCS = kUseAtoB, /* Device Dependent to Device Independent */ kPCSToDevice = kUseBtoA, /* Device Independent to Device Dependent */ kPCSToPCS = kUseBtoB, /* Independent, through device's gamut */  /* This is provided for default behavior when specifying rendering intent in the NCMConcatProfileSpec */   kUseProfileIntent = (long)0xFFFFFFFF /* For renderingIntent in NCMConcatProfileSpec*/ };  /* Caller-supplied progress function for NCMMConcatInit & NCMMNewLinkProfile routines  */  typedef STACK_UPP_TYPE(CMConcatCallBackProcPtr) CMConcatCallBackUPP; typedef CALLBACK_API( Boolean, CMConcatCallBackProcPtr ) (long progress, void *refCon);  /* Callback Proc Creation example: */  CMConcatCallBackUPP myCallBackUpp = NewCMConcatCallBackProc(myCallBackProc);

DESCRIPTION

The NCWConcatColorWorld function defines a color world for color transformations among a series of concatenated profiles. The caller can override the CMM that would normally be selected by ColorSync by providing a CMM identifier in the NCMConcatProfileSet structure, or pass 0 to accept ColorSync's CMM selection (note that this could either be the user's preferred CMM selection or the CMM called for in the profile). The flags and flagsMask parameters are provided to allow easy customization of such attributes as quality and gamut-checking, while preserving the other settings. Each profile in the set can be customized by overriding the intent, and the selection of the transform tag. Together with other profiles, a custom-rendering environment can be set up to transform to or from device-dependent spaces with a minimum of gamut compression and/or unnecessary transformations to and from connection spaces. This flexibility comes at the price of specific knowledge of the profile contents and how device gamuts overlap. Note that for standard input and output device profiles, A2B and B2A tags represent transforms from data space to connection space and from connection space to data space, respectively. Under these circumstances, the caller would not normally be able to use the same transform tags (e.g., kUseAtoB) consecutively, since a connection space would not be the same as the subsequent data space. If the spaces aren't the same, the caller will get a cmCantConcatenateError error (-178) returned. For profiles of type cmLinkClass, cmAbstractClass, cmColorSpaceClass, and cmNamedColorClass, these constants are not always meaningful, and the caller is encouraged to think in terms of the actual tags present in the profiles (e.g., A2B0 or B2A0). Under these conditions, it may well be appropriate to specify two transform tags of the same type consecutively, as long as the actual color spaces align in between tags. If this is not the case, a cmCantConcatenateError error (-178) is returned. The Callback proc is provided as protection against the appearance of a stalled machine during lengthy color world processing. If a CMM takes more than several seconds to process the information and create a color world, it will call the Callback proc, if one is provided, and pass it the refCon provided. This is also true for NCWNewLinkProfile, described below:

CMError NCWNewLinkProfile (CMProfileRef *prof, const CMProfileLocation *targetLocation, NCMConcatProfileSet *profileSet, CMConcatCallBackUPP proc, void *refCon);

Field Descriptions

prof	The returned profile reference.
targetLocation	The location of the profile, which you specify using the CMProfileLocation data type. Commonly a profile is disk-file based. However, the profile may be a file-based profile, a handle-based profile, or a pointer-based profile.
profileSet	The profile set structure.
proc	A calling-program-supplied callback function that allows your application to monitor progress or abort the operation.
refCon	A reference constant containing data specified by the calling application program.

DESCRIPTION The same new flexibility in creating color worlds is extended to link profiles, which are now not assumed to go from input device color space to output device color space. The returned profile is open, and should be closed when you are finished with it. CMError NCMSetSystemProfile (const CMProfileLocation *profLoc); Field Descriptions profLoc The location of the profile, which you specify using the CMProfileLocation data type. Commonly a profile is disk-file based. However, the profile may be a file-based profile, a handle-based profile, or a pointer-based profile. DESCRIPTION Prior to ColorSync 2.6, the API for setting the System Profile supported only the FSSpec file specification type as a way of specifying a profile. This new API allows for greater flexibility when specifying a system profile. CMError NCMUnflattenProfile (CMProfileLocation *targetLocation, CMFlattenUPP proc, void *refCon, Boolean *preferredCMMnotfound);   Field Descriptions targetLocation The location of the profile you wish to unflatten, which you specify using the CMProfileLocation data type. Commonly a profile is disk-file based. However, the profile may be a file-based profile, a handle-based profile, or a pointer-based profile. proc A user-defined procedure which is called during the unflatten operation. refCon A reference constant containing data specified by the calling application program. preferredCMMnotfound A return value indicating whether or not the CMM specified in the profile was found. DESCRIPTION Use this function to unflatten a profile. CMError CMIterateCMMInfo (CMMIterateUPP proc, UInt32 *count, void *refCon);   Field Descriptions proc A calling-program-supplied callback function that allows your application to monitor progress or abort the operation. count A count of the number of CMMs referenced is returned here. refCon A reference constant containing data specified by the calling application program. NEW STRUCTURES FOR USE WITH THIS FUNCTION OSErr CMMIterateUPP( CMMInfo* iterateData, /* Ptr to a structure containing /* information about a particular CMM */ void* refcon /* Caller-defined data, passed through from CMIterateCMMInfo API */ );  struct CMMInfo { unsigned long dataSize; /* Size of this structure - for compatibility */ OSType CMMType; /* Signature of CMM */ OSType CMMMfr; /* Vendor, e.g. 'appl */ unsigned long CMMVersion; /* Version number */ Handle CMMIcons; /* If available, can be a group with varying size & depth */ unsigned char ASCIIName[32]; /* Pascal string - name */ unsigned char ASCIIDesc[256]; /* Pascal string - description or copyright */ UniCharCount UniCodeNameCount; /* Count of UniChars in following array */ UniChar UniCodeName[32]; /* The name in UniCode chars */ UniCharCount UniCodeDescCount; /* Count of UniChars in following array */ UniChar UniCodeDesc[256]; /* The description in UniCode chars */ };   DESCRIPTION The CMIterateCMMInfo function returns information for all CMMs installed on the system. The caller can pass nil for the CMMIterateUPP param to simply get a count of CMMs. If a CMMIterateUPP proc is provided, it will be called once for each CMM installed - with the CMMInfo structure filled accordingly. The caller can pass a data reference to CMIterateCMMInfo which will then be passed to the CMMIterateUPP. This might be used to allow some of the information in the CMMInfo data structure to be put into a menu, for example, by passing a menu reference as the refcon. Either the proc or the count parameter must be provided. The caller will get a paramErr if both are nil. CMError CMGetColorSyncVersion (UInt32 *version); Field Descriptions version The version of ColorSync installed on the machine is returned here DESCRIPTION Returns ColorSync version information. CMGetColorSyncVersion relieves the Mac OS developer from having to call Gestalt to find out the version of ColorSync installed on the system. Important Note: The return value for ColorSync 2.6 is 0x00026000 on the Macintosh. This is not consistent with what is currently returned by Gestalt (0x00000260). Future versions of ColorSync on the Macintosh will be fixed so they are consistent with Gestalt return values. Back to top Deprecated APIs Support for the following APIs will be eliminated or limited in the future: API ColorSyncVersion Reason for Deprecation (CM)BeginMatching 1.x Pict-based, uses 1.x Profiles (CM)UseProfile(Comment) 1.x Pict-based, uses 1.x Profiles NCMUseProfileComment 2.x Pict-based, uses 2.x Profiles (CM)DrawMatchedPicture 1.x Pict-based, uses 1.x Profiles NCMDrawMatchedPicture 2.x Pict-based, uses 2.x Profiles (CM)GetProfileName 1.x Uses 1.x Profiles (CM)GetProfileAdditionalDataOffset 1.x Uses 1.x Profiles (CM)GetProfile 1.x Profile Responder function (CM)SetProfile 1.x Profile Responder function (CM)SetProfileDescription 1.x Profile Responder function (CM)GetIndexedProfile 1.x Profile Responder function (CM)DeleteDeviceProfile 1.x Profile Responder function ConcatenateProfiles 1.x Uses 1.x Profiles CWNewColorWorld 1.x Uses 1.x Profiles CMAccelerationLoadTables 2.x CMM Function - HW acceleration no longer supported CMAccelerationCalculateData 2.x CMM Function - HW acceleration no longer supported Back to top New CMM APIs The following APIs specify new CMM entry points which ColorSync will call to handle the creation of new color worlds or link profiles as returned by the NCWConcatColorWorld and NCWNewLinkProfile functions respectively. These APIs are of interest to CMM developers only. CMError NCMMConcatInit (CMMStorageHdl hStorage, NCMConcatProfileSet *profileSet, CMConcatCallBackUPP proc, void *refCon);   Field Descriptions hStorage The CMM's private instance storage. profileSet Set of profiles to concatenate into a color world. proc Callback procedure. refCon User data passed on to callback procedure. DESCRIPTION This is the API which ColorSync calls when an application calls the NCWConcatColorWorld function. The new selector for this function is kNCMMConcatInit. The CMM is responsible for validating the profiles specified in the profile set and for building a transform using these profiles. If the CMM cannot build such a transform, it should return a cmCantConcatenateErr error, or another appropriate error code. CMError NCMMNewLinkProfile (CMMStorageHdl hStorage, CMProfileRef prof, NCMConcatProfileSet *profileSet, CMConcatCallBackUPP proc, void *refCon);   Field Descriptions hStorage The CMM's private instance storage. prof The CMM will add the appropriate tags to this profile. profileSet Set of profiles to concatenate into a link profile. proc Callback procedure. refCon User data passed on to callback procedure. DESCRIPTION This is the API which ColorSync calls when an application calls the NCWNewLinkProfile function. The new selector for this function is kNCMMNewLinkProfile. The CMM is responsible for validating the profiles specified in the profile set and for building a link profile using these profiles. If the CMM cannot build a link profile, it should return a cmCantConcatenateErr error, or another appropriate error code. ColorSync will create the profile (via CMNewProfile) before calling the CMM, so the CMM need only add the appropriate tags to the profile before returning. ColorSync will also ensure that the tags are written to the profile by calling CMUpdateProfile, before returning it to the caller. Back to top New ColorSync Scripting Library APIs ColorSync 2.6 provides a new set of scripting library APIs which are designed to give applications access to the same file format utilities provided by the new ColorSync 2.6 AppleEvent terminology. In fact, the code in ColorSync which responds to AppleEvents actually calls this same library. Listed below are the functions introduced in this new scripting library: CMError CMValidImage (const FSSpec *spec); Field Descriptions spec A file specification for the the image file you wish to validate. DESCRIPTION This function validates the specified image file. ColorSync will check with any installed scripting plug-ins to see if they recognize the image's file format. If a scripting plug-in is found which recognizes the image's file format, CMValidateImage will return noErr. If the image's file format is not recognized, CMValidateImage will return the cmInvalidImageFile error. CMError CMGetImageSpace (const FSSpec *spec, OSType *space);   Field Descriptions spec A file specification for the image file. space The signature of the data color space of the color values of colors for the image file is returned here. DESCRIPTION This function returns the signature of the data color space in which the color values of colors in an image are expressed. CMError CMEmbedImage (const FSSpec *specFrom, const FSSpec *specInto, Boolean repl, CMProfileRef embProf);   Field Descriptions specFrom A file specification for the image file. specInto If this parameter is a file, it specifies the resulting image. If this parameter is a folder, it specifies the location of the resulting image which will have the same name as the original file. If this parameter is not provided, the original file is modified. repl If a file with the same name already exists, it will be replaced if this parameter is set to true. embProf The profile to embed in the image. DESCRIPTION This function will embed an image with an ICC profile. CMError CMUnembedImage (const FSSpec *specFrom, const FSSpec *specInto, Boolean repl);   Field Descriptions specFrom A file specification for the image file. specInto If this parameter is a file, it specifies the resulting image. If this parameter is a folder, it specifies the location of the resulting image which will have the same name as the original file. If this parameter is not provided, the original file is modified. repl If a file with the same name already exists, it will be replaced if this parameter is set to true. DESCRIPTION This function will remove any ICC profiles embeded in an image. CMError CMMatchImage (const FSSpec *specFrom, const FSSpec *specInto, Boolean repl, UInt32 qual, CMProfileRef srcProf, UInt32 srcIntent, CMProfileRef dstProf);   Field Descriptions specFrom A file specification for the image file. specInto If this parameter is a file, it specifies the resulting image. If this parameter is a folder, it specifies the location of the resulting image which will have the same name as the original file. If this parameter is not provided, the original file is modified. repl If a file with the same name already exists, it will be replaced if this parameter is set to true. qual The optional quality for the match - normal, draft or best (cmNormalMode, cmDraftMode or cmBestMode). srcProf The optional source profile for the match. srcIntent The rendering intent for the match - perceptual intent, relative colorimetric intent, saturation intent, or absolute colorimetric intent (cmPerceptual, cmRelativecolorimetric, cmSaturation or cmAbsoluteColorimetric). dstProf The destination profile for the match. DESCRIPTION Use this function to color match an image file. CMError CMProofImage (const FSSpec *specFrom, const FSSpec *specInto, Boolean repl, UInt32 qual, CMProfileRef srcProf, UInt32 srcIntent, CMProfileRef dstProf, CMProfileRef prfProf);   Field Descriptions specFrom A file specification for the image file. specInto If this parameter is a file, it specifies the resulting image. If this parameter is a folder, it specifies the location of the resulting image which will have the same name as the original file. If this parameter is not provided, the original file is modified. repl If a file with the same name already exists, it will be replaced if this parameter is set to true. qual The optional quality for the match - normal, draft or best (cmNormalMode, cmDraftMode or cmBestMode). srcProf The optional source profile for the match. srcIntent The rendering intent for the match between the source and destination profiles - perceptual intent, relative colorimetric intent, saturation intent, or absolute colorimetric intent (cmPerceptual, cmRelativecolorimetric, cmSaturation or cmAbsoluteColorimetric). dstProf The destination profile for the match. prfProf The proof profile for the match between the destination and proof profiles. DESCRIPTION Use this function to proof an image file. CMError CMLinkImage (const FSSpec *specFrom, const FSSpec *specInto, Boolean repl, UInt32 qual, CMProfileRef lnkProf, UInt32 lnkIntent);   Field Descriptions specFrom A file specification for the image file. specInto If this parameter is a file, it specifies the resulting image. If this parameter is a folder, it specifies the location of the resulting image which will have the same name as the original file. If this parameter is not provided, the original file is modified. repl If a file with the same name already exists, it will be replaced if this parameter is set to true. qual The optional quality for the match - normal, draft or best (cmNormalMode, cmDraftMode or cmBestMode). lnkProf The device link profile for the match. lnkIntent The rendering intent for the match - perceptual intent, relative colorimetric intent, saturation intent or absolute colorimetric intent (cmPerceptual, cmRelativecolorimetric, cmSaturation or cmAbsoluteColorimetric). DESCRIPTION Use this function to match an image file with a device link profile. CMError CMCountImageProfiles (const FSSpec *spec, UInt32 *count);   Field Descriptions spec A file specification for the image file. count A count of the embeded profiles for the image is returned here. DESCRIPTION Use this function to obtain a count of the number of embeded profiles for a given image. CMError CMGetIndImageProfile (const FSSpec *spec, UInt32 index, CMProfileRef *prof);   Field Descriptions spec A file specification for the image file. index The numeric index of the profile to return. prof The profile is returned here. DESCRIPTION Use this function to obtain a specific embeded profile for a given image. CMError CMSetIndImageProfile (const FSSpec *specFrom, const FSSpec *specInto, Boolean repl, UInt32 index, CMProfileRef prof);   Field Descriptions specFrom A file specification for the image file. specInto If this parameter is a file, it specifies the resulting image. If this parameter is a folder, it specifies the location of the resulting image which will have the same name as the original file. If this parameter is not provided, the original file is modified. repl If a file with the same name already exists, it will be replaced if this parameter is set to true. index The numeric index of the profile to set. prof The profile to set at the index designated by the index parameter. DESCRIPTION Use this function to set a specific embeded profile for a given image. New CMBitmap Types Several new CMBitmap spaces were added in ColorSync 2.6 (see below) to provide developers with a wide range of data formats appropriate for multiple platforms. Several bitmap spaces now can have a new space attribute flag cmLittleEndianPacking set to indicate Little-Endian data. Another new variant cmReverseChannelPacking, which can apply to just about all of the new and old spaces is a "reverse channels" attribute. Bitmap spaces supported in ColorSync 2.5 cmGray16Space = cmGraySpace, cmGrayA32Space = cmGrayASpace, cmRGB16Space = cmWord5ColorPacking + cmRGBSpace, cmRGB24Space = cm24_8ColorPacking + cmRGBSpace, cmRGB32Space = cm32_8ColorPacking + cmRGBSpace, cmRGB48Space = cm48_16ColorPacking + cmRGBSpace, cmARGB32Space = cm32_8ColorPacking + cmAlphaFirstPacking + cmRGBASpace, cmRGBA32Space = cm32_8ColorPacking + cmAlphaLastPacking + cmRGBASpace, cmCMYK32Space = cm32_8ColorPacking + cmCMYKSpace, cmCMYK64Space = cm64_16ColorPacking + cmCMYKSpace, cmHSV32Space = cmLong10ColorPacking + cmHSVSpace, cmHLS32Space = cmLong10ColorPacking + cmHLSSpace, cmYXY32Space = cmLong10ColorPacking + cmYXYSpace, cmXYZ32Space = cmLong10ColorPacking + cmXYZSpace, cmLUV32Space = cmLong10ColorPacking + cmLUVSpace, cmLAB24Space = cm24_8ColorPacking + cmLABSpace, cmLAB32Space = cmLong10ColorPacking + cmLABSpace, cmLAB48Space = cm48_16ColorPacking + cmLABSpace, cmGamutResult1Space = cmOneBitDirectPacking + cmGamutResultSpace, cmNamedIndexed32Space = cm32_32ColorPacking + cmNamedIndexedSpace, cmMCFive8Space = cm40_8ColorPacking + cmMCFiveSpace, cmMCSix8Space = cm48_8ColorPacking + cmMCSixSpace, cmMCSeven8Space = cm56_8ColorPacking + cmMCSevenSpace, cmMCEight8Space = cm64_8ColorPacking + cmMCEightSpace New Spaces added for 2.6 cmGray8Space = cmGraySpace + cm8_8ColorPacking, 8-bit gray cmGrayA16Space = cmGrayASpace + cm16_8ColorPacking, 8-bit gray + 8-bit alpha cmGray16LSpace = cmGraySpace + cmLittleEndianPacking, 16-bit gray, little-endian cmGrayA32LSpace = cmGrayASpace + cmLittleEndianPacking, 16-bit gray + 16-bit alpha, little-endian cmRGB565Space = cmRGBSpace + cmWord565ColorPacking, Variant of 1.5.5.5 cmRGB565LSpace = cmRGBSpace + cmWord565ColorPacking + cmLittleEndianPacking, Variant of 1.5.5.5, little-endian cmRGB16LSpace = cmRGBSpace + cmWord5ColorPacking + cmLittleEndianPacking, 1.5.5.5, little-endian cmRGB48LSpace = cmRGBSpace + cm48_16ColorPacking + cmLittleEndianPacking, 16-bits per channel RGB, little-endian cmARGB64Space = cmRGBASpace + cm64_16ColorPacking + cmAlphaFirstPacking, 16-bits per channel RGB w/leading alpha channel cmARGB64LSpace = cmRGBASpace + cm64_16ColorPacking + cmAlphaFirstPacking + cmLittleEndianPacking, bits / chl RGB w/leading alpha, little-endian cmRGBA64Space = cmRGBASpace + cm64_16ColorPacking + cmAlphaLastPacking, 16-bits / chl RGB with trailing alpha channel cmRGBA64LSpace = cmRGBASpace + cm64_16ColorPacking + cmAlphaLastPacking + cmLittleEndianPacking bits / chl RGB w/trailing alpha, little-endian cmCMYK64LSpace = cmCMYKSpace + cm64_16ColorPacking + cmLittleEndianPacking, 16-bits per channel CMYK, little-endian cmXYZ24Space = cmXYZSpace + cm24_8ColorPacking, 8-bit per channel XYZ cmXYZ48Space = cmXYZSpace + cm48_16ColorPacking, 16-bits per channel XYZ cmXYZ48LSpace = cmXYZSpace + cm48_16ColorPacking + cmLittleEndianPacking, 16-bits per channel XYZ, little-endian cmLAB48LSpace = cmLABSpace + cm48_16ColorPacking + cmLittleEndianPacking, 16-bits per channel Lab, little-endian cmNamedIndexed32LSpace = cm32_32ColorPacking + cmNamedIndexedSpace + cmLittleEndianPacking, 32-bit index, little-endian ICC Profile Description ('desc') Tag Handling One important change in the recent release of ColorSync (version 2.6) is how it handles the description ('desc') tag of ICC profiles. The 'desc' tag of a profile, as defined by the ICC, contains up to three strings. The first is a required 7-bit Roman ASCII string. The second is an optional localized Unicode string. The third, also optional, is a localized string in Mac script-code format. Applications typically use one of the available strings to show the name of profiles in a list or pop-up menu. There are a few other important devilish details in the ICC definition of the 'desc' tag. One is that all three strings must be null terminated. Another is that all three strings are preceded by a character count that includes the null terminator. It is also worth noting that for the Unicode string, the character count must not be confused with a byte count because each Unicode character requires two bytes. Previous releases of ColorSync only make partial use of this tag and, as a result, only performed limited error checking on its contents. For example, The ColorSync function CMGetScriptProfileDescription would return the Mac script-code from a profile if it was present and, if not, it would return the 7-bit Roman ASCII string. The Unicode string was simply ignored and in some cases, if the Unicode and/or Mac script-code string were non-compliant, ColorSync would return garbage (or the ASCII string if you were lucky) without returning cmProfileErr code. ColorSync 2.6 provides a new function, CMGetProfileDescriptions, to give the user access to all three possible strings in the 'desc' tag. In doing so, much stricter attention had to be paid to the compliance of the 'desc' tag. For example, if either the ASCII string or the Mac script-code strings is not null terminated, or if any of the string's character counts are invalid or beyond the range of the 'desc' tag, the and cmProfileErr code is returned. In order to achieve optimal performance when applications add profiles to a list or pop-up menu, ColorSync maintains a cache of all the profiles installed in the "ColorSync Profiles" folder and its sub-directories. Among other things this cache file contains the three possible names of each profile obtained by calling CMGetProfileDescriptions. If CMGetProfileDescriptions returns an error because the 'desc' tag is non-compliant, then the profile is not added to the cache. This is why non-compliant profiles, even though they are properly installed in the "ColorSync Profiles" folder, no longer show up in the ColorSync control panel or the ColorSync plug-ins pop-up menus with ColorSync 2.6 installed. The remedy for this problem is to repair the affected profiles. Unfortunately, the "Rename Profile" AppleScript that is installed as part of ColorSync 2.6 can not be used to repair profiles with bad 'desc' tags because it can only operate on profiles in the ColorSync profile cache. Instead, a simple stand-alone tool called "Profile First Aid" to verify and repair any profile will be made available on the the ColorSync web site <http://www.apple.com/colorsync>. Back to top ColorSync 2.6 Compatibility Issues ColorSync 1.X/2.X Support Support for version 1.0 profiles and hybrid (1.0/2.0) color worlds has been removed in ColorSync 2.6. ColorSync 1.0 profiles, APIs and CMMs are not supported. CMM No longer required to support ColorSync 1.0 Profiles. Existing CMMs will be compatible. New CMM APIs: NCMConcatInit, NCMMNewLinkProfile (see section "New CMM APIs" for the details) which a CMM may choose to implement. If a given CMM does not implement these new APIs, the default CMM is invoked instead. Profile Searching ColorSync 2.6 will support new profile locations (System Folder) for Profile searches made with the search functions (CMNewProfileSearch, etc.). Profiles in subfolders within the profiles folder will be found as well. Color Worlds New API NCWConcatColorWorld (see section "New ColorSync 2.6 APIs" for the details) puts power and responsibility of color world design into the hands of developers. Callers can select which profile tags and rendering intents to use. It also allows for new combinations of profiles which were previously not supported (e.g., more than one device-link profile). QuickDraw Matching 2.X QuickDraw calls will continue to be supported (N/NCMBeginMatching, CMEndMatching, N/CMDrawMatchedPicture, CWMatchPixMap, CWCheckPixMap). Scripting & File Formats JPEG, GIF as well as TIFF file format plug-ins are now supported. Back to top

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Further References

Inside Macintosh:Managing Color With ColorSync.

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Change History

Originally written in April 1999 by Scott Kuechle. Corrected the NCMConcatProfileSet structure definition. 4/26/99

Downloadables

Acrobat version of this Note (98K).

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Eric Broadbent, David Hayward, John Myer, Steve Evangelou, Hans-Werner Neubrand, and John Gnaegy.

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Updated: 26-April-99

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