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Copyright (C) 1989, 1995 Aladdin Enterprises. All rights reserved. This file is part of GNU Ghostscript. GNU Ghostscript is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. No author or distributor accepts responsibility to anyone for the consequences of using it or for whether it serves any particular purpose or works at all, unless he says so in writing. Refer to the GNU Ghostscript General Public License for full details. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This file, drivers.doc, describes the interface between Ghostscript and device drivers. For an overview of Ghostscript and a list of the documentation files, see README. ******** ******** Adding a driver ******** ******** To add a driver to Ghostscript, all you need to do is edit devs.mak in two places. The first is the list of devices, in the section headed # -------------------------------- Catalog ------------------------------- # Pick a name for your device, say smurf, and add smurf to the list. (Device names must be 1 to 8 characters, consisting of only letters, digits, and underscores, of which the first character must be a letter. Case is significant: all current device names are lower case.) The second is the section headed # ---------------------------- Device drivers ---------------------------- # Suppose the files containing the smurf driver are called joe and fred. Then you should add the following lines: # ------ The SMURF device ------ # smurf_=joe.$(OBJ) fred.$(OBJ) smurf.dev: $(smurf_) $(SHP)gssetdev smurf $(smurf_) joe.$(OBJ): joe.c ...and whatever it depends on fred.$(OBJ): fred.c ...and whatever it depends on If the smurf driver also needs special libraries, e.g., a library named gorf, then the gssetdev line should look like $(SHP)gssetdev smurf $(smurf_) $(SHP)gsaddmod smurf -lib gorf ******** ******** Keeping things simple ******** If you want to add a simple device (specifically, a black-and-white printer), you probably don't need to read the rest of this document; just use the code in an existing driver as a guide. The Epson and BubbleJet drivers (gdevepsn.c and gdevbj10.c) are good models for dot-matrix printers, which require presenting the data for many scan lines at once; the DeskJet/LaserJet drivers (gdevdjet.c) are good models for laser printers, which take a single scan line at a time but support data compression. For color printers, the DeskJet 500C driver (gdevcdj.c) may be a good place to start, although it is large and complex. gdevcdj.c is also a good example of a device that has additional settable attributes (in this case, different output quality modes that aren't just a matter of resolution). On the other hand, if you're writing a driver for some more esoteric device, you probably do need at least some of the information in the rest of this document. It might be a good idea for you to read it in conjunction with one of the existing drivers. ******** ******** Driver structure ******** ******** A device is represented by a structure divided into three parts: - procedures that are shared by all instances of each device; - parameters that are present in all devices but may be different for each device or instance; and - device-specific parameters that may be different for each instance. Normally, the procedure structure is defined and initialized at compile time. A prototype of the parameter structure (including both generic and device-specific parameters) is defined and initialized at compile time, but is copied and filled in when an instance of the device is created. The gx_device_common macro defines the common structure elements, with the intent that devices define and export a structure along the following lines: typedef struct smurf_device_s { gx_device_common; ... device-specific parameters ... } smurf_device; smurf_device gs_smurf_device = { sizeof(smurf_device), /* params_size */ 0, /* static_procs, obsolete */ ... generic parameter values ... { ... procedures ... }, /* std_procs */ ... device-specific parameter values ... }; The device structure instance *must* have the name gs_smurf_device, where smurf is the device name used in devs.mak. All the device procedures are called with the device as the first argument. Since each device type is actually a different structure type, the device procedures must be declared as taking a gx_device * as their first argument, and must cast it to smurf_device * internally. For example, in the code for the "memory" device, the first argument to all routines is called dev, but the routines actually use md to reference elements of the full structure, by virtue of the definition #define md ((gx_device_memory *)dev) (This is a cheap version of "object-oriented" programming: in C++, for example, the cast would be unnecessary, and in fact the procedure table would be constructed by the compiler.) Structure definition -------------------- This essentially duplicates the first part of the structure definition in gxdevice.h. typedef struct gx_device_s { int params_size; /* size of this structure */ gx_device_procs *static_procs; /* (obsolete) */ const char *dname; /* the device name */ int width; /* width in pixels */ int height; /* height in pixels */ ... gx_device_color_info color_info; /* color information */ ... int is_open; /* true if device has been opened */ } gx_device; The name in the structure should be the same as the name in devs.mak. gx_device_common is a macro consisting of just the element definitions. For sophisticated developers only --------------------------------- If for any reason you need to change the definition of the basic device structure, or add procedures, you must change the following places: - This document and NEWS (if you want to keep the documentation up to date). - The definition of gx_device_common and/or the procedures in gxdevice.h. - Possibly, the default forwarding procedures in gxdevice.h and gsdevice.c. - The following devices that must have complete (non-defaulted) procedure vectors: - The null device in gsdevice.c. - The command list "device" in gxclist.c. This is not an actual device; it only defines procedures. - The "memory" devices in gdevmem.h and gdevm*.c. - The procedure record completion routine in gsdevice.c. - The clip list accumulation "device" in gxacpath.c. - The clipping "devices" in gxcpath.c and gxclip2.c. - The hit detection "device" in zupath.c. - The generic printer device macros in gdevprn.h. - The generic printer device code in gdevprn.c. - All the real devices in the standard Ghostscript distribution, as listed in devs.mak. (All of them are supposed to use the macros in gxdevice.h or gdevprn.h to initialize their state, so you may not have to edit the source code for them.) - Any other drivers you have that aren't part of the standard Ghostscript distribution. You may also have to change the code for gx_default_get_params and/or gx_default_put_params (in gsdparam.c). Note that if all you are doing is adding optional procedures, you do NOT have to modify any of the real device drivers listed in devs.mak; Ghostscript will substitute the default procedures properly. ******** ******** Types and coordinates ******** ******** Coordinate system ----------------- Since each driver specifies the initial transformation from user to device coordinates, the driver can use any coordinate system it wants, as long as a device coordinate will fit in an int. (This is only an issue on MS-DOS systems, where ints are only 16 bits. User coordinates are represented as floats.) Typically the coordinate system will have (0,0) in the upper left corner, with X increasing to the right and Y increasing toward the bottom. This happens to be the coordinate system that all the currently supported devices use. However, there is supposed to be nothing in the rest of Ghostscript that assumes this. Drivers must check (and, if necessary, clip) the coordinate parameters given to them: they should not assume the coordinates will be in bounds. The fit_fill and fit_copy macros in gxdevice.h are very helpful in doing this. Color definition ---------------- Ghostscript represents colors internally as RGB or CMYK values. In communicating with devices, however, it assumes that each device has a palette of colors identified by integers (to be precise, elements of type gx_color_index). Drivers may provide a uniformly spaced gray ramp or color cube for halftoning, or they may do their own color approximation, or both. The color_info member of the device structure defines the color and gray-scale capabilities of the device. Its type is defined as follows: typedef struct gx_device_color_info_s { int num_components; /* 1 = gray only, 3 = RGB, */ /* 4 = CMYK */ int depth; /* # of bits per pixel */ gx_color_value max_gray; /* # of distinct gray levels -1 */ gx_color_value max_rgb; /* # of distinct color levels -1 */ /* (only relevant if num_comp. > 1) */ gx_color_value dither_gray; /* size of gray ramp for halftoning */ gx_color_value dither_rgb; /* size of color cube ditto */ /* (only relevant if num_comp. > 1) */ } gx_device_color_info; The following macros (in gxdevice.h) provide convenient shorthands for initializing this structure for ordinary black-and-white or color devices: #define dci_black_and_white ... #define dci_color(depth,maxv,dither) ... The idea is that a device has a certain number of gray levels (max_gray +1) and a certain number of colors (max_rgb +1) that it can produce directly. When Ghostscript wants to render a given RGB or CMYK color as a device color, it first tests whether the color is a gray level. (If num_components is 1, it converts all colors to gray levels.) If so: - If max_gray is large (>= 31), Ghostscript asks the device to approximate the gray level directly. If the device returns a valid gx_color_index, Ghostscript uses it. Otherwise, Ghostscript assumes that the device can represent dither_gray distinct gray levels, equally spaced along the diagonal of the color cube, and uses the two nearest ones to the desired color for halftoning. If the color is not a gray level: - If max_rgb is large (>= 31), Ghostscript asks the device to approximate the color directly. If the device returns a valid gx_color_index, Ghostscript uses it. Otherwise, Ghostscript assumes that the device can represent dither_rgb * dither_rgb * dither_rgb distinct colors, equally spaced throughout the color cube, and uses two of the nearest ones to the desired color for halftoning. Types ----- Here is a brief explanation of the various types that appear as parameters or results of the drivers. gx_color_value (defined in gxdevice.h) This is the type used to represent RGB or CMYK color values. It is currently equivalent to unsigned short. However, Ghostscript may use less than the full range of the type to represent color values: gx_color_value_bits is the number of bits actually used, and gx_max_color_value is the maximum value (equal to 2^gx_max_color_value_bits - 1). gx_device (defined in gxdevice.h) This is the device structure, as explained above. gs_matrix (defined in gsmatrix.h) This is a 2-D homogenous coordinate transformation matrix, used by many Ghostscript operators. gx_color_index (defined in gxdevice.h) This is meant to be whatever the driver uses to represent a device color. For example, it might be an index in a color map, or it might be R, G, and B values packed into a single integer. Ghostscript doesn't ever do any computations with gx_color_index values: it gets them from map_rgb_color or map_cmyk_color and hands them back as arguments to several other procedures. The special value gx_no_color_index (defined as (gx_color_index)(-1)) means "transparent" for some of the procedures. The type definition is simply: typedef unsigned long gx_color_index; gs_param_list (defined in gsparam.h) This is a parameter list, which is used to read and set attributes in a device. See the comments in gsparam.h, and the description of the get_params and put_params procedures below, for more detail. gx_bitmap (defined in gxbitmap.h) This structure type represents a bitmap to be used as a tile for filling a region (rectangle). Here is a copy of the relevant part of the file: /* * Structure for describing stored bitmaps. * Bitmaps are stored bit-big-endian (i.e., the 2^7 bit of the first * byte corresponds to x=0), as a sequence of bytes (i.e., you can't * do word-oriented operations on them if you're on a little-endian * platform like the Intel 80x86 or VAX). Each scan line must start on * a (32-bit) word boundary, and hence is padded to a word boundary, * although this should rarely be of concern, since the raster and width * are specified individually. The first scan line corresponds to y=0 * in whatever coordinate system is relevant. * * For bitmaps used as halftone tiles, we may replicate the tile in * X and/or Y, but it is still valuable to know the true tile dimensions. */ typedef struct gx_bitmap_s { byte *data; int raster; /* bytes per scan line */ gs_int_point size; /* width, height */ gx_bitmap_id id; ushort rep_width, rep_height; /* true size of tile */ } gx_bitmap; ******** ******** Coding conventions ******** ******** While most drivers (especially printer drivers) follow a very similar template, there is one important coding convention that is not obvious from reading the code for existing drivers: Driver procedures must not use malloc to allocate any storage that stays around after the procedure returns. Instead, they must use gs_malloc and gs_free, which have slightly different calling conventions. (The prototypes for these are in gsmemory.h, which is included in gx.h, which is included in gdevprn.h.) This is necessary so that Ghostscript can clean up all allocated memory before exiting, which is essential in environments that provide only single-address-space multi-tasking (specifically, Microsoft Windows). char *gs_malloc(uint num_elements, uint element_size, const char *client_name); Like calloc, but unlike malloc, gs_malloc takes an element count and an element size. For structures, num_elements is 1 and element_size is sizeof the structure; for byte arrays, num_elements is the number of bytes and element_size is 1. Unlike calloc, gs_malloc does NOT clear the block of storage. The client_name is used for tracing and debugging. It must be a real string, not NULL. Normally it is the name of the procedure in which the call occurs. void gs_free(char *data, uint num_elements, uint element_size, const char *client_name); Unlike free, gs_free demands that num_elements and element_size be supplied. It also requires a client name, like gs_malloc. All the driver procedures defined below that return int results return 0 on success, or an appropriate negative error code in the case of error conditions. The error codes are defined in gserrors.h. The relevant ones for drivers are as follows: gs_error_invalidfileaccess An attempt to open a file failed. gs_error_limitcheck An otherwise valid parameter value was too large for the implementation. gs_error_rangecheck A parameter was outside the valid range. gs_error_VMerror An attempt to allocate memory failed. (If this happens, the procedure should release all memory it allocated before it returns.) If a driver does return an error, it should use the return_error macro rather than a simple return statement, e.g., return_error(gs_error_VMerror); This macro is defined in gx.h, which is automatically included by gdevprn.h but not by gserrors.h. ******** ******** Printer drivers ******** ******** Printer drivers (which include drivers that write some kind of raster file) are especially simple to implement. Of the driver procedures defined in the next section, they only need implement two: map_rgb_color (or map_cmyk_color) and map_color_rgb. In addition, they must implement a print_page or print_page_copies procedure. There are a set of macros in gdevprn.h that generate the device structure for such devices, of which the simplest is prn_device; for an example, see gdevbj10.c. If you are writing a printer driver, we suggest you start by reading gdevprn.h and the subsection on "Color mapping" below; you may be able to ignore all the rest of the driver procedures. The print_page procedures are defined as follows: int (*print_page)(P2(gx_device_printer *, FILE *)) int (*print_page_copies)(P3(gx_device_printer *, FILE *, int)) This procedure must read out the rendered image from the device and write whatever is appropriate to the file. To read back one or more scan lines of the image, the print_page procedure must call one of the following procedures: int gdev_prn_copy_scan_lines(P4(gx_device_printer *pdev, int y, byte *str, uint size) For this procedure, str is where the data should be copied to, and size is the size of the buffer starting at str. This procedure returns the number of scan lines copied, or <0 for an error. int gdev_prn_get_bits(gx_device_printer *pdev, int y, byte *str, byte **actual_data) This procedure reads out exactly one scan line. If the scan line is available in the correct format already, *actual_data is set to point to it; otherwise, the scan line is copied to the buffer starting at str, and *actual_data is set to str. This saves a copying step most of the time. In either case, each row of the image is stored in the form described in the comment under gx_bitmap above; each pixel takes the number of bits specified as color_info.depth in the device structure, and holds values returned by the device's map_{rgb,cmyk}_color procedure. The print_page procedure can determine the number of bytes required to hold a scan line by calling: uint gdev_prn_raster(P1(gx_device_printer *)) For a very simple concrete example, we suggest reading the code in bit_print_page in gdevbit.c. If the device provides print_page, Ghostscript will call print_page the requisite number of times to print the desired number of copies; if the device provides print_page_copies, Ghostscript will call print_page_copies once per page, passing it the desired number of copies. ******** ******** Driver procedures ******** ******** Most of the procedures that a driver may implement are optional. If a device doesn't supply an optional procedure <proc>, the entry in the procedure structure may be either gx_default_<proc>, e.g. gx_default_tile_rectangle, or NULL or 0. (The device procedure must also call the gx_default_ procedure if it doesn't implement the function for particular values of the arguments.) Since C compilers supply 0 as the value for omitted structure elements, this convention means that statically initialized procedure structures will continue to work even if new (optional) members are added. Life cycle ---------- A device instance start out life in a closed state. In this state, no output operations will occur. Only the following procedures may be called: open_device get_initial_matrix get_params put_params When setdevice installs a device instance in the graphics state, it checks whether the instance is closed or open. If the instance is closed, setdevice calls the open routine, and then sets the state to open. There is currently no user-accessible operation to close a device instance. Device instances are only closed when they are about to be freed, which occurs in three situations: - When a 'restore' occurs, if the instance was created since the corresponding 'save'; - By the garbage collector, if the instance is no longer accessible; - When Ghostscript exits (terminates). Open/close/sync --------------- int (*open_device)(P1(gx_device *)) [OPTIONAL] Open the device: do any initialization associated with making the device instance valid. This must be done before any output to the device. The default implementation does nothing. void (*get_initial_matrix)(P2(gx_device *, gs_matrix *)) [OPTIONAL] Construct the initial transformation matrix mapping user coordinates (nominally 1/72" per unit) to device coordinates. The default procedure computes this from width, height, and x/y_pixels_per_inch on the assumption that the origin is in the upper left corner, i.e. xx = x_pixels_per_inch/72, xy = 0, yx = 0, yy = -y_pixels_per_inch/72, tx = 0, ty = height. int (*sync_output)(P1(gx_device *)) [OPTIONAL] Synchronize the device. If any output to the device has been buffered, send / write it now. Note that this may be called several times in the process of constructing a page, so printer drivers should NOT implement this by printing the page. The default implementation does nothing. int (*output_page)(P3(gx_device *, int num_copies, int flush)) [OPTIONAL] Output a fully composed page to the device. The num_copies argument is the number of copies that should be produced for a hardcopy device. (This may be ignored if the driver has some other way to specify the number of copies.) The flush argument is true for showpage, false for copypage. The default definition just calls sync_output. Printer drivers should implement this by printing and ejecting the page. int (*close_device)(P1(gx_device *)) [OPTIONAL] Close the device: release any associated resources. After this, output to the device is no longer allowed. The default implementation does nothing. Color/alpha mapping ------------------- A given driver normally will implement either map_rgb_color or map_cmyk_color, but not both. Black-and-white drivers do not need to implement either one. gx_color_index (*map_rgb_color)(P4(gx_device *, gx_color_value red, gx_color_value green, gx_color_value blue)) [OPTIONAL] Map a RGB color to a device color. The range of legal values of the RGB arguments is 0 to gx_max_color_value. The default algorithm uses the map_cmyk_color procedure if the driver supplies one, otherwise returns 1 if any of the values exceeds gx_max_color_value/2, 0 otherwise. Ghostscript assumes that for devices that have color capability (i.e., color_info.num_components > 1), map_rgb_color returns a color index for a gray level (as opposed to a non-gray color) iff red = green = blue. gx_color_index (*map_cmyk_color)(P5(gx_device *, gx_color_value cyan, gx_color_value magenta, gx_color_value yellow, gx_color_value black)) [OPTIONAL] Map a CMYK color to a device color. The range of legal values of the CMYK arguments is 0 to gx_max_color_value. The default algorithm calls the map_rgb_color procedure, with suitably transformed arguments. Ghostscript assumes that for devices that have color capability (i.e., color_info.num_components > 1), map_cmyk_color returns a color index for a gray level (as opposed to a non-gray color) iff cyan = magenta = yellow. int (*map_color_rgb)(P3(gx_device *, gx_color_index color, gx_color_value rgb[3])) [OPTIONAL] Map a device color code to RGB values. The default algorithm returns (0 if color==0 else gx_max_color_value) for all three components. gx_color_index (*map_rgb_alpha_color)(P5(gx_device *, gx_color_value red, gx_color_value green, gx_color_value blue, gx_color_value alpha)) [OPTIONAL] Map a RGB color and an opacity value to a device color. The range of legal values of the RGB and alpha arguments is 0 to gx_max_color_value; alpha = 0 means transparent, alpha = gx_max_color_value means fully opaque. The default is to use the map_rgb_color procedure and ignore alpha. Note that if a driver implements map_rgb_alpha_color, it must also implement map_rgb_color, and must implement them in such a way that map_rgb_alpha_color(dev, r, g, b, gx_max_color_value) returns the same value as map_rgb_color(dev, r, g, b). Note that there is no map_cmyk_alpha_color procedure. CMYK devices currently do not support variable opacity; alpha is ignored on such devices. typedef enum { go_text, go_graphics } graphic_object_type; int (*get_alpha_bits)(P4(gx_device *dev, graphic_object_type type)) [OPTIONAL] Return the number of alpha (opacity) bits that should be used in rendering an object of the given type. The default value is 1. Drawing ------- All drawing operations use device coordinates and device color values. int (*fill_rectangle)(P6(gx_device *, int x, int y, int width, int height, gx_color_index color)) Fill a rectangle with a color. The set of pixels filled is {(px,py) | x <= px < x + width and y <= py < y + height}. In other words, the point (x,y) is included in the rectangle, as are (x+w-1,y), (x,y+h-1), and (x+w-1,y+h-1), but *not* (x+w,y), (x,y+h), or (x+w,y+h). If width <= 0 or height <= 0, fill_rectangle should return 0 without drawing anything. int (*draw_line)(P6(gx_device *, int x0, int y0, int x1, int y1, gx_color_index color)) [OPTIONAL] Draw a minimum-thickness line from (x0,y0) to (x1,y1). The precise set of points to be filled is defined as follows. First, if y1 < y0, swap (x0,y0) and (x1,y1). Then the line includes the point (x0,y0) but not the point (x1,y1). If x0=x1 and y0=y1, draw_line should return 0 without drawing anything. Bitmap imaging -------------- Bitmap (or pixmap) images are stored in memory in a nearly standard way. The first byte corresponds to (0,0) in the image coordinate system: bits (or polybit color values) are packed into it left-to-right. There may be padding at the end of each scan line: the distance from one scan line to the next is always passed as an explicit argument. int (*copy_mono)(P11(gx_device *, const unsigned char *data, int data_x, int raster, gx_bitmap_id id, int x, int y, int width, int height, gx_color_index color0, gx_color_index color1)) Copy a monochrome image (similar to the PostScript image operator). Each scan line is raster bytes wide. Copying begins at (data_x,0) and transfers a rectangle of the given width at height to the device at device coordinate (x,y). (If the transfer should start at some non-zero y value in the data, the caller can adjust the data address by the appropriate multiple of the raster.) The copying operation writes device color color0 at each 0-bit, and color1 at each 1-bit: if color0 or color1 is gx_no_color_index, the device pixel is unaffected if the image bit is 0 or 1 respectively. If id is different from gx_no_bitmap_id, it identifies the bitmap contents unambiguously; a call with the same id will always have the same data, raster, and data contents. This operation, with color0 = gx_no_color_index, is the workhorse for text display in Ghostscript, so implementing it efficiently is very important. int (*tile_rectangle)(P10(gx_device *, const gx_bitmap *tile, int x, int y, int width, int height, gx_color_index color0, gx_color_index color1, int phase_x, int phase_y)) [OPTIONAL] Tile a rectangle. Tiling consists of doing multiple copy_mono operations to fill the rectangle with copies of the tile. The tiles are aligned with the device coordinate system, to avoid "seams". Specifically, the (phase_x, phase_y) point of the tile is aligned with the origin of the device coordinate system. (Note that this is backwards from the PostScript definition of halftone phase.) phase_x and phase_y are guaranteed to be in the range [0..tile->width) and [0..tile->height) respectively. If color0 and color1 are both gx_no_color_index, then the tile is a color pixmap, not a bitmap: see the next section. This operation is the workhorse for halftone filling in Ghostscript, so implementing it efficiently for solid tiles (where either color0 and color1 are both gx_no_color_index, for colored halftones, or neither one is gx_no_color_index, for monochrome halftones) is very important. Pixmap imaging -------------- Pixmaps are just like bitmaps, except that each pixel occupies more than one bit. All the bits for each pixel are grouped together (this is sometimes called "chunky" or "Z" format). For copy_color, the number of bits per pixel is given by the color_info.depth parameter in the device structure: the legal values are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, or 32. The pixel values are device color codes (i.e., whatever it is that map_rgb_color returns). int (*copy_color)(P9(gx_device *, const unsigned char *data, int data_x, int raster, gx_bitmap_id id, int x, int y, int width, int height)) Copy a color image with multiple bits per pixel. The raster is in bytes, but x and width are in pixels, not bits. If the device doesn't actually support color, this is OPTIONAL; the default is equivalent to copy_mono with color0 = 0 and color1 = 1. If id is different from gx_no_bitmap_id, it identifies the bitmap contents unambiguously; a call with the same id will always have the same data, raster, and data contents. We do not provide a separate procedure for tiling with a pixmap; instead, tile_rectangle can also take colored tiles. This is indicated by the color0 and color1 arguments both being gx_no_color_index. In this case, as for copy_color, the raster and height in the "bitmap" are interpreted as for real bitmaps, but the x and width are in pixels, not bits. int (*copy_alpha)(P11(gx_device *dev, const unsigned char *data, int data_x, int raster, gx_bitmap_id id, int x, int y, int width, int height, gx_color_index color, int depth)) [OPTIONAL] Fill a given region with a given color modified by an individual alpha value for each pixel. depth, the number of bits per pixel, is either 2 or 4, and in any case is always a value returned by a previous call on the get_alpha_bits procedure. Note that if get_alpha_bits always returns 1, this procedure will never be called. Reading bits back ----------------- int (*get_bits)(P4(gx_device *, int y, byte *str, byte **actual_data)) [OPTIONAL] Read one scan line of bits back from the device into the area starting at str, namely, scan line y. If the bits cannot be read back (e.g., from a printer), return -1; otherwise return 0. The contents of the bits beyond the last valid bit in the scan line (as defined by the device width) are unpredictable. If actual_data is NULL, the bits are always returned at str. If actual_data is not NULL, get_bits may either copy the bits to str and set *actual_data = str, or it may leave the bits where they are and return a pointer to them in *actual_data. In the latter case, the bits are guaranteed to start on a 32-bit boundary and to be padded to a multiple of 32 bits; also in this case, the bits are not guaranteed to still be there after the next call on get_bits. Parameters ---------- Devices may have an open-ended set of parameters, which are simply pairs consisting of a name and a value. The value may be of various types: integer (int or long), boolean, float, string, name, null, array of integer, or array of float. For example, the Name of a device is a string; the Margins of a device is an array of 2 floats. See gsparam.h for more details. If a device has parameters other than the ones applicable to all devices (or, in the case of printer devices, all printer devices), it must provide get_params and put_params procedures. If your device has parameters beyond those of a straightforward display or printer, we strongly advise using the _get_params and _put_params procedures in an existing device (for example, gdevcdj.c or gdevbit.c) as a model for your own code. int (*get_params)(P2(gx_device *dev, gs_param_list *plist)) [OPTIONAL] Read the parameters of the device into the parameter list at plist, using the param_write_* macros/procedures defined in gsparam.h. int (*put_params)(P2(gx_device *dev, gs_param_list *plist)) [OPTIONAL] Set the parameters of the device from the parameter list at plist, using the param_read_* macros/procedures defined in gsparam.h. All put_params procedures must use a "two-phase commit" algorithm; see gsparam.h for details. External fonts -------------- Drivers may include the ability to display text. More precisely, they may supply a set of procedures that in turn implement some font and text handling capabilities. These procedures are documented in another file, xfonts.doc. The link between the two is the driver procedure that supplies the font/text procedures: xfont_procs *(*get_xfont_procs)(P1(gx_device *dev)) [OPTIONAL] Return a structure of procedures for handling external fonts and text display. A NULL value means that this driver doesn't provide this capability. For technical reasons, a second procedure is also needed: gx_device *(*get_xfont_device)(P1(gx_device *dev)) [OPTIONAL] Return the device that implements get_xfont_procs in a non-default way for this device, if any. Except for certain special internal devices, this is always the device argument. Page devices ------------ gx_device (*get_page_device)(P1(gx_device *dev)) [OPTIONAL] According to the Adobe specifications, some devices are "page devices" and some are not. This procedure returns NULL if the device is not a page device, or the device itself if it is a page device. In the case of forwarding devices, get_page_device returns the underlying page device (or NULL if the underlying device is not a page device).