vgagl(7) Svgalib User Manual vgagl(7) NAME vgagl - a fast framebuffer-level graphics library based ion svgalib TABLE OF CONTENTS 0. Introduction 1. How to use vgagl 2. Description of vgagl functions 3. Macros defined in(1,8) vgagl.h 0. INTRODUCTION This is a fast framebuffer-level graphics library for linear 1, 2, 3 and 4 byte-per-pixel modes (256-color, hicolor, truecolor). It uses a limited number of functions from svgalib (libvga) for low-level hard- ware communication (the library is included in(1,8) the svgalib shared image). In particular, svgalib(7) maps the 64K VGA frame buffer window, and this library directly addresses the buffer. For SVGA modes that use more than 64K of screen memory, SVGA paging is required when writing to the physical screen; this is done automatically for most functions (at a certain cost). Alternatively, any number of virtual(5,8) screens of any type in(1,8) system mem- ory can be used, which can then be copied to the physical screen. There is also support for 4 bytes per pixel framebuffers (and copying them to a 3 bytes per pixel context), and limited planar 256 color mode support (copyscreen, aligned putbox). The planar 256 color modes (available on all VGA cards) can now be used with a virtual(5,8) screen, which is copied to the physical screen (with optional page-flipping). Bitmaps are raw(3x,7,8,3x cbreak), with one (or more) bytes per pixel (like pixmaps in(1,8) X), stored in(1,8) row-major order. They are usually manipulated with the getbox and putbox functions. vgagl does also make use of the graphic cards accelerator (if(3,n) it is supported) in(1,8) some situations. A graphics context is just a structure that holds the size of the asso- ciated graphics screen, how it is organized, clipping status etc. You can define a custom virtual(5,8) (system memory) graphics context of any size with the setcontextvirtual function. All operations work on the current context. Any questions, bug-reports, additions, suggestions etc. are welcome. 1. HOW TO USE VGAGL Programs that use vgagl must #include <vgagl.h>. Linking must be done with -lvgagl -lvga. Functions in(1,8) the vgagl library have the prefix gl_*. To initialize vgagl, the graphics context must be set. Example: vga_setmode(G320x200x256); gl_setcontextvga(G320x200x256); In this example, the context is set(7,n,1 builtins) to the physical screen. The context can be saved (only the screen type, not the contents) into a variable, e.g. GraphicsContext physicalscreen; gl_getcontext(&physicalscreen). To define a virtual(5,8) screen in(1,8) system memory, use gl_setcontextvgavir- tual(3): gl_setcontextvgavirtual(G320x200x256) which allocates space for a screen identical to 320x200x256 graphics mode, and makes this virtual(5,8) screen the current graphics context. The virtual(5,8) screen can now be copied to the physical screen as follows: gl_copyscreen(&physicalscreen); Note that with a virtual(5,8) screen in(1,8) system memory, it is possible to add fast X-Window support to a program, using MITSHM to copy the frame- buffer to the screen window. 2. DESCRIPTION OF VGAGL FUNCTIONS Context management gl_getcontext(3), currentcontext(3) get the current graphics contents.. gl_setcontext(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) a previously saved context. gl_setcontextvga(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) the context to the physical screen. gl_setcontextvgavirtual(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) the context to a virtual(5,8) mode. gl_setcontextvirtual(3) define a virtual(5,8) context. gl_allocatecontext(3) allocate a graphics context. gl_freecontext(3) free a virtual(5,8) screen. gl_setcontextwidth(3), gl_setcontextheight(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) the dimension of a context. Drawing primitives gl_clearscreen(3) clear(1,3x,3x clrtobot) the screen. gl_rgbcolor(3) return pixel value corresponding to an rgb color. gl_setpixel(3), gl_setpixelrgb(3) draw a pixel. gl_getpixel(3) return the color of a pixel. gl_getpixelrgb(3) store color components of a pixel. gl_hline(3) draw a horizontal line. gl_line(3) draw a line. gl_circle(3) draw a circle. gl_fillbox(3) fill a rectangular area. Copying of screen buffers and page flipping gl_copyscreen(3) copy the screen contents of contexts. gl_setscreenoffset(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) a memory offset for copyscreen. gl_setdisplaystart(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) the start of the screen are displayed. gl_enablepageflipping(3) enables automatic page flipping. Clipping gl_disableclipping(3) disables clipping. gl_enableclipping(3) enables clipping. gl_setclippingwindow(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) the clipping window. Text drawing primitives gl_setfont(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) the text font to be used. gl_setfontcolors(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) the font colors. gl_expandfont(3) expand a packed pixel font. gl_colorfont(3) change the color of a font. gl_setwritemode(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) the font writemode flags. gl_write(3), gl_writen(3) write(1,2) a text string. gl_printf(3) formatted output to the graphics screen. gl_font8x8(3) a packed 8x8 pixel font. Pix- and Bitmap drawing gl_getbox(3) copy a rectangular pixmap from the screen to a buffer. gl_copybox(3) copy a rectangular screen area. gl_copyboxfromcontext(3) copy rectangular area from another context. gl_copyboxtocontext(3) copy a rectangular area to another context. gl_putbox(3) copy a pixmap to a rectangular area. gl_putboxpart(3) copy a partial pixmap to a rectangular area. gl_putboxmask(3) copy a masked pixmap to a rectangular area. gl_putboxmaskcompiled(3) copy a compiled masked pixmap to a rectangular area. gl_compileboxmask(3) compress a masked bitmap. gl_compiledboxmasksize(3) compute the size of a compiled masked box. gl_scalebox(3) scale a pixmap. Palette handling gl_getpalettecolor(3), gl_getpalettecolors(3), gl_getpalette(3) read(2,n,1 builtins) the color palette. gl_setpalettecolor(3), gl_setpalettecolors(3), gl_setpalette(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) the color palette. gl_setrgbpalette(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) a 256-color RGB palette. Triangle primitives from threeDkit gl_striangle(3) draw a solid colored triangle. gl_triangle(3) draw a triangle with interpolated colors. gl_swtriangle(3) draw a solid pixmap mapped on a triangle. gl_wtriangle(3) draw a shadowed pixmap mapped on a triangle. gl_trisetcolorlookup(3), gl_trigetcolorlookup(3) manages a color lookup table for shadowing. gl_trisetdrawpoint(3) set(7,n,1 builtins) a triangle drawing function. 3. MACROS DEFINED IN VGAGL.H: WIDTH The width in(1,8) pixels of the current graphics context. HEIGHT Height in(1,8) pixels. BYTESPERPIXEL Number of bytes per pixel (1, 2, 3 or 4). BYTEWIDTH Width of a scanline in(1,8) bytes. COLORS Number of colors. BITSPERPIXEL Number of significant color bits. VBUF Address of the framebuffer. __clip Clipping flag. __clipx1 __clipy1 Top-left corner of clipping window. __clipx2 __clipy2 Bottom-right corner of clipping window. BUGS For three bytes per pixel (true color) modes, it is possible that pix- els cross a SVGA segment boundary. This should be correctly han- dled by most functions, but you never know. It can be avoided by using a logical scanline length that is a divisor of 65536 (a power of 2), like 1024 (as opposed to 960) for 320x200 and 2048 (1920) for 640x480. For 800x600, this is impractical (4096 as opposed to 2400 doesn't fit in(1,8) 2MB). Alternatively, avoid those functions by using a virtual(5,8) screen. SEE ALSO svgalib(7), libvga.config(5), testgl(6), threedkit(7), currentcon- text(3), gl_allocatecontext(3), gl_circle(3), gl_clearscreen(3), gl_colorfont(3), gl_compileboxmask(3), gl_compiledboxmasksize(3), gl_copybox(3), gl_copyboxfromcontext(3), gl_copyboxtocontext(3), gl_copyscreen(3), gl_disableclipping(3), gl_enableclipping(3), gl_enablepageflipping(3), gl_expandfont(3), gl_fillbox(3), gl_font8x8(3), gl_freecontext(3), gl_getbox(3), gl_getcontext(3), gl_getpalette(3), gl_getpalettecolor(3), gl_getpalettecolors(3), gl_getpixel(3), gl_getpixelrgb(3), gl_hline(3), gl_line(3), gl_put- box(3), gl_putboxmask(3), gl_putboxmaskcompiled(3), gl_putboxpart(3), gl_rgbcolor(3), gl_scalebox(3), gl_setclippingwindow(3), gl_setcon- text(3), gl_setcontextheight(3), gl_setcontextvga(3), gl_setcontextv- gavirtual(3), gl_setcontextvirtual(3), gl_setcontextwidth(3), gl_set- displaystart(3), gl_setfont(3), gl_setfontcolors(3), gl_setpalette(3), gl_setpalettecolor(3), gl_setpalettecolors(3), gl_setpixel(3), gl_set- pixelrgb(3), gl_setrgbpalette(3), gl_setscreenoffset(3), gl_setwrite- mode(3), gl_striangle(3), gl_swtriangle(3), gl_triangle(3), gl_triget- colorlookup(3), gl_trisetcolorlookup(3), gl_trisetdrawpoint(3), gl_write(3), gl_writen(3), gl_wtriangle(3). AUTHOR There are many authors of svgalib. This page was edited by Michael Weller <eowmob@exp-math.uni-essen.de>. The original documentation and most of vgagl was done by Harm Hanemaayer <H.Hanemaayer@inter.nl.net> though. Svgalib (>= 1.2.11) 2 Aug 1997 vgagl(7)