Skip to content

N
nx-libs
Switch branch/tag
Find file
Normal viewHistoryPermalink
FAQ.html 13.3 KB
Newer Older
Reinhard Tartler's avatar
Imported nx-X11-3.1.0-1.tar.gz
f4092abd
 
Reinhard Tartler committed
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html lang="en">
<HEAD>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<TITLE>FAQ XPM</TITLE>
</HEAD>

<body>
<h1 align="center">The XPM<br>
Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
<p>
This article contains the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about the
XPM format and/or library. If you don't find the answer to your problem here,
then you can mail either to lehors@sophia.inria.fr or to the mailing list
xpm-talk@sophia.inria.fr.


<h2>Contents</h2>

<ol>
<li><a href="#Q1">How do I convert my images to or from XPM ?</a>
<li><a href="#Q2">Why are my XPM files said to be invalid ?</a>
<li><a href="#Q3">Why does my program core dumps using XPM ?</a>
<li><a href="#Q4">Why does my program core dumps using XPM with a widget ?</a>
<li><a href="#Q5">How can I get a non rectangular icon using XPM ?</a>
<li><a href="#Q6">What exactly triggers the creation of a mask when using XPM ?</a>
<li><a href="#Q7">How should I use the mask ?</a>
<li><a href="#Q8">Is there a string to pixmap converter somewhere ?</a>
<li><a href="#Q9">How can I edit XPM icons ?</a>
<li><a href="#Q10">Is there a collection of icons somewhere ?</a>
<li><a href="#Q11">The documentation fails to print out. Why ?</a>
<li><a href="#copy">Copyright</a>
</ol>


<h2><a name="Q1">1. How do I convert my images to or from XPM ?</a></h2>
<p>
  Netpbm is surely the best image conversion package that I know of. It defines
  formats for color, gray and monochrome images and provides a set of filters.
  Thus a GIF image can be converted to XPM with something like:
<p>
  $ giftoppm youricon.gif | ppmtoxpm > youricon.xpm
<p>
  The latest release can be found at least from wuarchive.wustl.edu
  (128.252.135.4), directory /graphics/graphics/packages/NetPBM


<h2><a name="Q2">2. Why are my XPM files said to be invalid ?</a></h2>
<p>
  There are three official versions of the XPM format. The XPM library since
  version 3.3 can read all them but writes out only XPM 3. Also the small
  program called sxpm which is part of the XPM library package can be used to
  automatically translate XPM 1 and 2 files to XPM 3 with a command such as:
<p>
  $ sxpm -nod yourxpm1or2file -o yourxpm3file
<p>
  Also, the XPM format defines "None" to be the color name meaning
  "transparent", but IXI used to hack the XPM library in its early days to
  handle transparency as "#Transparent". This makes IXI format not compatible
  with the official XPM format, and so not readable neither by the official XPM
  library nor any of the programs built on top of it.
<p>
  The only solutions are either to stick on IXI programs which can deal with
  their format or convert your files to the standard XPM format. This can be
  done simply by changing "#Transparent" to "None".


<h2><a name="Q3">3. Why does my program core dumps using XPM ?</a></h2>
<p>
  Be sure the XpmAttributes structure you pass by reference has a valid
  valuemask. You can give NULL instead if you don't want to use an
  XpmAttributes but if you do, you MUST initialize its valuemask component to
  some valid value, at least 0, otherwise unpredictable errors can occur.
<p>
  So instead of doing something like:
<pre>
      XpmAttributes attrib;

      XpmReadFileToPixmap(dpy, d, filename, &amp;pixmap, &amp;mask, &amp;attrib);
</pre>
<p>
  you should do:
<pre>
      XpmAttributes attrib;

      attrib.valuemask = 0;
      XpmReadFileToPixmap(dpy, d, filename, &amp;pixmap, &amp;mask, &amp;attrib);
</pre>


<h2><a name="Q4">4. Why does my program core dumps using XPM with a widget ?</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>First the XPM library is Xlib level, so don't pass your widget as a
    Drawable parameter. A Drawable is either a Window or a Pixmap. The widget's
    window can do the job but:

<li>Then a widget only gets a Window when realized, so passing XtWindow(widget)
    with a not yet realized widget is wrong. Either realize you widget first or
    use another window. Since the Drawable parameter is only used to specify
    the screen to which the pixmap must be created on, most of the time the
    default root window is just fine.
</ul>


<h2><a name="Q5">5. How can I get a non rectangular icon using XPM ?</a></h2>
<p>
  The X Window System does not support transparent color. However there are
  several ways you can use to get the same visual effect using XPM:
<ul>
<li>First you can use the None color to get a shape mask and use it as
    explained below (question 7).

<li>Second you can define a symbolic color name such as "mask" in the XPM
    format file, then use the color overriding mechanism to set this symbolic
    color to the color of the underlying object. Note that in this case the XPM
    library won't create a shape mask, and that if the color of the underlying
    object is changed then you'll have to create a new pixmap.
</ul>


<h2><a name="Q6">6. What exactly triggers the creation of a mask when using XPM ?</a></h2>
<p>
  Basically a mask is created if "None" is used as one of the color of the
  pixmap. Be aware that this is not only true if it is used in the XPM of the
  pixmap since the colors can be overridden at load time. So a mask is created
  if the "None" color is used at load time, coming either from the XPM
  definition or the color overriding.


<h2><a name="Q7">7. How should I use the mask ?</a></h2>
<p>
  There are basically two ways of using the mask:
<ul>
<li>Use the mask as a shapemask with the X11 Nonrectangular Saphe Window
    Extension. Typically this is what should be done when the icon is used in a
    desktop.

<li>Use the mask as a clipmask in the GC you pass to XCopyArea when drawing the
    pixmap. So the "transparent" pixels being not actually drawn will get the
    underlying pixels colors.
</ul>


<h2><a name="Q8">8. Is there a string to pixmap converter for Motif ?</a></h2>
<p>
 Yes, Motif 2.0 or later does support XPM pixmaps as well as XBM bitmaps.


<h2><a name="Q9">9. How can I edit XPM icons ?</a></h2>
<p>
  As listed below several editors either commercial or not are supporting the
  XPM format. However, pixmap is the one I would recommend since it is freely
  available and, being fully dedicated to XPM, it allows to edit all the
  special things, such as the symbolic color names, which makes XPM different
  from all the other image formats. Pixmap can always be found by ftp from
  ftp.x.org (contrib) and avahi.inria.fr (pub/pixmap).
<p>
Last Update: 3 August 1994
<table border=1>
<caption>XPM Icon Editors</caption>
<tr><th>Program<th>Infos<th>Source/Author<th>Platforms<th>SA<th>XPM<th>cost
<tr><td>pixmap<td><ul>
   <li><a href="ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/application/pixmap/pixmap2.6.tar.gz">ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/application/pixmap/pixmap2.6.tar.gz</a>
   <li>requires 3.4 or higher revision of Xpm lib.
   <li>supports all XPM format features
   <li>current version doesn't work on 24-plane displays
</ul>
<td>Lionel Mallet<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC

<tr><td>pixt<td><ul>
   <li><a href="ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/pixt.tar.Z">ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/pixt.tar.Z</a>
   <li>doesn't work on 24-plane displays
   <li>last updated November 1991
</ul>
<td>J. Michael Flanery<td>source<td>yes<td>1<td>NC

<tr><td>pixed<td><ul>
   <li>part of X.desktop
   <li>current version doesn't work on 24-plane displays
</ul>
<td>IXI<td>Many UNIX<td>no<td>3<td>N/A

<tr><td>olpixmap<td><ul>
   <li>packaged with the OLIT (OpenLook) toolkit
</ul>
<td>USL<td>Sun, SVR4.2, UnixWare<td>no<td>1<td>N/A

<tr><td>xfedor<td><ul>
   <li>only uses XLIB
   <li>doesn't work on 24-plane displays
</ul>
<td>Daniel Dardailler<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC

<tr><td>SCOpaint<td><ul>
   <li>included with the ODT package
</ul>
<td>SCO/Wing Eng<td>ODT<td>yes<td>2.8<td>N/A

<tr><td>pme.icn<td><ul>
   <li>written in the Icon language
</ul>
<td>Icon Project<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC

<tr><td>PixEditT<td><ul>
   <li>there is currently no support for editing the colormap
</ul>
<td>Free Widget Foundation<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC

<tr><td>xscribble<td><ul>
   <li>requires the FWF, 8-bit pseudocolor
   <li><a href="ftp://ftp.cis.ufl.edu/pub/thoth">ftp://ftp.cis.ufl.edu/pub/thoth</a>
   <li>Alpha version (last updated April 1993)
</ul>
<td>Robert Forsman<td>source<td>yes<td>?<td>NC

<tr><td>vueicon<td><ul>
   <li>included with Vue3.0
</ul>
<td>Hewlett-Packard<td>HP<td>yes<td>3<td>N/A

<tr><td>iconedit V3<td>&nbsp;<td>SunSoft<td>Sparc/Sun3<td>yes<td>2<td>N/A

<tr><td>Pixmap Editor<td><ul>
   <li>this is a Widget, not a complete program
</ul>
<td>ICS<td>?<td>yes<td>?<td>?

<tr><td>ezX<td>&nbsp;<td>Sunrise Softwarey<td>?<td>?<td>?<td>N/A

<tr><td>XPaint<td><ul>
     <li>full featured, works on all displays
     <li>current release is 2.1.1 (last update January 1994)
</ul>
<td>David Koblas<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC

<tr><td>Phoenix<td><ul>
    <li>full featured, 24-bit painting program, requires Motif.
    <li><a href="ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/graphics/packages/phoenix">ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/graphics/packages/phoenix</a>
    <li>Beta version (last updated September 1993)
</ul>
<td>ohtcolor@niksula.hut.fi<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC

<tr><td>pixed<td><ul>
    <li>pixed is part of the TeleUSE UIMS
    <li>More info is available from service@ignite.alsys.com
</ul>
<td>Alsys<td>Many UNIX<td>yes<td>3<td>N/A

<tr><td>display<td><ul>
   <li><a href="ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/application/ImageMagick/ImageMagick-3.2.tar.gz">ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/application/ImageMagick/ImageMagick-3.2.tar.gz</a>
   <li>lots of image conversion and manipulation features
</ul>
<td>John Cristy<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC
</table>

<p>
SA - Stand Alone program<br>
NC - No Charge (i.e. free); most programs are copyrighted.<br>
XPM - XPM format supported<br>
source - built from source code; likely works on all standard X platforms<br>
N/A - icon editor is normally distributed with other software

<p>
Send updates, additions, corrections, etc. to <a
href="mailto:dan@bristol.com">dan@bristol.com</a>


<h2><a name="Q10">10. Is there a collection of icons somewhere ?</a></h2>
<p>
  At least there is one freely available: Anthony's X Icon Library. You can
  found it on several ftp servers, such as <a href="ftp://server.berkeley.edu/pub/AIcons">server.berkeley.edu/pub/AIcons</a>. It
  contains only small icons (less than about 100x100 pixels in size) which are
  stored in groups in a logical way. Color icons are stored in XPM format and
  Black & White icons in XBM.


<h2><a name="Q11">11. The documentation fails to print out. Why ?</a></h2>
<p>
  The PostScript documentation file is formatted for US letter paper. Frame
  Maker tries very hard to ensure that you have the right paper and punts if
  you don't. However, you can easily work around this problem by applying the
  following patch. If for some reason applying the patch fails, you can still
  do it by hand. Just locate the corresponding block in the PS file and remove
  the lines with a leading '-' character.
  By the way, this applies to any doc generated by Frame Maker. The
  corresponding block might be slightly different depending on which version of
  Frame Maker was used, but it is still easy to locate.

<pre>
*** xpm.PS      Wed Sep 11 15:47:43 1996
--- xpm-A4.PS   Thu Nov 21 09:27:28 1996
***************
*** 647,668 ****
        0 ne /edown exch def 
        /yscale exch def
        /xscale exch def
-       FMLevel1 {
-               manualfeed {setmanualfeed} if
-               /FMdicttop countdictstack 1 add def 
-               /FMoptop count def 
-               setpapername 
-               manualfeed {true} {papersize} ifelse 
-               {manualpapersize} {false} ifelse 
-               {desperatepapersize} {false} ifelse 
-               { (Can't select requested paper size for Frame print job!) FMFAILURE } if
-               count -1 FMoptop {pop pop} for
-               countdictstack -1 FMdicttop {pop end} for 
-               }
-               {{1 dict dup /PageSize [paperwidth paperheight]put setpagedevice}stopped
-               { (Can't select requested paper size for Frame print job!) FMFAILURE } if
-                {1 dict dup /ManualFeed manualfeed put setpagedevice } stopped pop }
-       ifelse 
        
        FMPColor {
                currentcolorscreen
--- 647,652 ----
</pre>


<hr>
<h2><a name="copy">Copyright (C) 1989-95 GROUPE BULL</a></h2>
<p>
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to
deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the
rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
<p>
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
<p>
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
GROUPE BULL BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
<p>
Except as contained in this notice, the name of GROUPE BULL shall not be
used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings
in this Software without prior written authorization from GROUPE BULL.
</body>
</html>