Tk Built-In Commands photo(1T)
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NAME
photo - Full-color images
SYNOPSIS
image create photo ?name? ?options?
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DESCRIPTION
A photo is an image whose pixels can display any color or be
transparent. A photo image is stored internally in full
color (32 bits per pixel), and is displayed using ditheringif necessary. Image data for a photo image can be obtained
from a file or a string, or it can be supplied from C code through a procedural interface. At present, only GIF andPPM/PGM formats are supported, but an interface exists to allow additional image file formats to be added easily. A
photo image is transparent in regions where no image data
has been supplied or where it has been set transparent by | the transparency set subcommand. CREATING PHOTOSLike all images, photos are created using the image create
command. Photos support the following options:-data string
Specifies the contents of the image as a string. The string should contain binary data or, for some formats,base64-encoded data (this is currently guaranteed to be
supported for GIF images). The format of the string must be one of those for which there is an image file format handler that will accept string data. If boththe -data and -file options are specified, the -file
option takes precedence.-format format-name
Specifies the name of the file format for the dataspecified with the -data or -file option.
-file name
name gives the name of a file that is to be read tosupply data for the photo image. The file format must
be one of those for which there is an image file format handler that can read data.-gamma value
Specifies that the colors allocated for displaying thisimage in a window should be corrected for a non-linear
display with the specified gamma exponent value. (The intensity produced by most CRT displays is a power Tk Last change: 4.0 1Tk Built-In Commands photo(1T)
function of the input value, to a good approximation; gamma is the exponent and is typically around 2). The value specified must be greater than zero. The default value is one (no correction). In general, values greater than one will make the image lighter, and values less than one will make it darker.-height number
Specifies the height of the image, in pixels. This option is useful primarily in situations where the user wishes to build up the contents of the image piece by piece. A value of zero (the default) allows the image to expand or shrink vertically to fit the data stored in it.-palette palette-spec
Specifies the resolution of the color cube to be allo-
cated for displaying this image, and thus the number of colors used from the colormaps of the windows where itis displayed. The palette-spec string may be either a
single decimal number, specifying the number of shades of gray to use, or three decimal numbers separated by slashes (/), specifying the number of shades of red, green and blue to use, respectively. If the first form (a single number) is used, the image will be displayed in monochrome (i.e., grayscale).-width number
Specifies the width of the image, in pixels. This option is useful primarily in situations where the user wishes to build up the contents of the image piece by piece. A value of zero (the default) allows the image to expand or shrink horizontally to fit the data stored in it. IMAGE COMMANDWhen a photo image is created, Tk also creates a new command
whose name is the same as the image. This command may be used to invoke various operations on the image. It has the following general form: imageName option ?arg arg ...?Option and the args determine the exact behavior of the com-
mand. Those options that write data to the image generally expand the size of the image, if necessary, to accommodate the datawritten to the image, unless the user has specified non-zero
values for the -width and/or -height configuration options,
in which case the width and/or height, respectively, of the image will not be changed. Tk Last change: 4.0 2Tk Built-In Commands photo(1T)
The following commands are possible for photo images:
imageName blank Blank the image; that is, set the entire image to have no data, so it will be displayed as transparent, and the background of whatever window it is displayed in will show through. imageName cget option Returns the current value of the configuration option given by option. Option may have any of the valuesaccepted by the image create photo command.
imageName configure ?option? ?value option value ...? Query or modify the configuration options for the image. If no option is specified, returns a list describing all of the available options for imageName(see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of
this list). If option is specified with no value, then the command returns a list describing the one namedoption (this list will be identical to the correspond-
ing sublist of the value returned if no option isspecified). If one or more option-value pairs are
specified, then the command modifies the given option(s) to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty string. Option may have anyof the values accepted by the image create photo com-
mand. imageName copy sourceImage ?option value(s) ...? Copies a region from the image called sourceImage(which must be a photo image) to the image called
imageName, possibly with pixel zooming and/or subsam-
pling. If no options are specified, this commandcopies the whole of sourceImage into imageName, start-
ing at coordinates (0,0) in imageName. The following options may be specified:-from x1 y1 x2 y2
Specifies a rectangular sub-region of the source
image to be copied. (x1,y1) and (x2,y2) specify diagonally opposite corners of the rectangle. If x2 and y2 are not specified, the default value isthe bottom-right corner of the source image. The
pixels copied will include the left and top edges of the specified rectangle but not the bottom orright edges. If the -from option is not given,
the default is the whole source image.-to x1 y1 x2 y2
Specifies a rectangular sub-region of the destina-
tion image to be affected. (x1,y1) and (x2,y2) Tk Last change: 4.0 3Tk Built-In Commands photo(1T)
specify diagonally opposite corners of the rectan-
gle. If x2 and y2 are not specified, the default value is (x1,y1) plus the size of the sourceregion (after subsampling and zooming, if speci-
fied). If x2 and y2 are specified, the source region will be replicated if necessary to fill the destination region in a tiled fashion.-shrink
Specifies that the size of the destination image should be reduced, if necessary, so that theregion being copied into is at the bottom-right
corner of the image. This option will not affect the width or height of the image if the user hasspecified a non-zero value for the -width or
-height configuration option, respectively.
-zoom x y
Specifies that the source region should be magni-
fied by a factor of x in the X direction and y in the Y direction. If y is not given, the default value is the same as x. With this option, each pixel in the source image will be expanded into a block of x x y pixels in the destination image, all the same color. x and y must be greater than 0.-subsample x y
Specifies that the source image should be reduced in size by using only every xth pixel in the Xdirection and yth pixel in the Y direction. Nega-
tive values will cause the image to be flipped about the Y or X axes, respectively. If y is not given, the default value is the same as x.-compositingrule rule
Specifies how transparent pixels in the source | image are combined with the destination image. | When a compositing rule of overlay is set, the old | contents of the destination image are visible, as | if the source image were printed on a piece of | transparent film and placed over the top of the | destination. When a compositing rule of set is | set, the old contents of the destination image are |discarded and the source image is used as-is. The |
default compositing rule is overlay. imageName data ?option value(s) ...?Returns image data in the form of a string. The follow-
ing options may be specified:-background color
Tk Last change: 4.0 4Tk Built-In Commands photo(1T)
If the color is specified, the data will not con-
tain any transparency information. In all tran-
sparent pixels the color will be replaced by the specified color.-format format-name
Specifies the name of the image file format handler to be used. Specifically, this subcommand searches for the first handler whose name matchesan initial substring of format-name and which has
the capability to read this image data. If this option is not given, this subcommand uses the first handler that has the capability to read the image data.-from x1 y1 x2 y2
Specifies a rectangular region of imageName to be returned. If only x1 and y1 are specified, theregion extends from (x1,y1) to the bottom-right
corner of imageName. If all four coordinates are given, they specify diagonally opposite corners of the rectangular region, including x1,y1 and excluding x2,y2. The default, if this option is not given, is the whole image.-grayscale
If this options is specified, the data will not contain color information. All pixel data will be transformed into grayscale. imageName get x y Returns the color of the pixel at coordinates (x,y) in the image as a list of three integers between 0 and 255, representing the red, green and blue components respectively. imageName put data ?option value(s) ...? Sets pixels in imageName to the data specified in data. This command first searches the list of image file format handlers for a handler that can interpret the data in data, and then reads the image encoded within into imageName (the destination image). If datadoes not match any known format, an attempt to inter-
pret it as a (top-to-bottom) list of scan-lines is
made, with each scan-line being a (left-to-right) list
of pixel colors (see Tk_GetColor for a description of
valid colors.) Every scan-line must be of the same
length. Note that when data is a single color name, you are instructing Tk to fill a rectangular regionwith that color. The following options may be speci-
fied: Tk Last change: 4.0 5Tk Built-In Commands photo(1T)
-format format-name
Specifies the format of the image data in data. Specifically, only image file format handlerswhose names begin with format-name will be used
while searching for an image data format handler to read the data.-to x1 y1 ?x2 y2?
Specifies the coordinates of the top-left corner
(x1,y1) of the region of imageName into which data from filename are to be read. The default is (0,0). If x2,y2 is given and data is not large enough to cover the rectangle specified by this option, the image data extracted will be tiled so it covers the entire destination rectangle. Note that if data specifies a single color value, thena region extending to the bottom-right corner
represented by (x2,y2) will be filled with that color. imageName read filename ?option value(s) ...? Reads image data from the file named filename into the image. This command first searches the list of image file format handlers for a handler that can interpret the data in filename, and then reads the image in filename into imageName (the destination image). The following options may be specified:-format format-name
Specifies the format of the image data in filename. Specifically, only image file formathandlers whose names begin with format-name will
be used while searching for an image data format handler to read the data.-from x1 y1 x2 y2
Specifies a rectangular sub-region of the image
file data to be copied to the destination image. If only x1 and y1 are specified, the regionextends from (x1,y1) to the bottom-right corner of
the image in the image file. If all four coordi-
nates are specified, they specify diagonally oppo-
site corners or the region. The default, if this option is not specified, is the whole of the image in the image file.-shrink
If this option, the size of imageName will be reduced, if necessary, so that the region into which the image file data are read is at thebottom-right corner of the imageName. This option
will not affect the width or height of the image Tk Last change: 4.0 6Tk Built-In Commands photo(1T)
if the user has specified a non-zero value for the
-width or -height configuration option, respec-
tively.-to x y
Specifies the coordinates of the top-left corner
of the region of imageName into which data from filename are to be read. The default is (0,0). imageName reditherThe dithering algorithm used in displaying photo images
propagates quantization errors from one pixel to its neighbors. If the image data for imageName is supplied in pieces, the dithered image may not be exactly correct. Normally the difference is not noticeable, but if it is a problem, this command can be used to recalculate the dithered image in each window where the image is displayed. imageName transparency subcommand ?arg arg ...? Allows examination and manipulation of the transparency |information in the photo image. Several subcommands |
are available: | imageName transparency get x y || Returns a boolean indicating if the pixel at (x,y) | is transparent. | imageName transparency set x y boolean || Makes the pixel at (x,y) transparent if boolean is | true, and makes that pixel opaque otherwise. | imageName write filename ?option value(s) ...? Writes image data from imageName to a file named filename. The following options may be specified:-background color
If the color is specified, the data will not con-
tain any transparency information. In all tran-
sparent pixels the color will be replaced by the specified color.-format format-name
Specifies the name of the image file format handler to be used to write the data to the file. Specifically, this subcommand searches for thefirst handler whose name matches an initial sub-
string of format-name and which has the capability
to write an image file. If this option is not given, this subcommand uses the first handler that has the capability to write an image file. Tk Last change: 4.0 7Tk Built-In Commands photo(1T)
-from x1 y1 x2 y2
Specifies a rectangular region of imageName to be written to the image file. If only x1 and y1 are specified, the region extends from (x1,y1) to thebottom-right corner of imageName. If all four
coordinates are given, they specify diagonally opposite corners of the rectangular region. The default, if this option is not given, is the whole image.-grayscale
If this options is specified, the data will not contain color information. All pixel data will be transformed into grayscale. IMAGE FORMATSThe photo image code is structured to allow handlers for
additional image file formats to be added easily. The photo
image code maintains a list of these handlers. Handlers are added to the list by registering them with a call toTk_CreatePhotoImageFormat. The standard Tk distribution
comes with handlers for PPM/PGM and GIF formats, which are automatically registered on initialization.
When reading an image file or processing string data speci-
fied with the -data configuration option, the photo image
code invokes each handler in turn until one is found that claims to be able to read the data in the file or string. Usually this will find the correct handler, but if itdoesn't, the user may give a format name with the -format
option to specify which handler to use. In fact the photo
image code will try those handlers whose names begin withthe string specified for the -format option (the comparison
is case-insensitive). For example, if the user specifies
-format gif, then a handler named GIF87 or GIF89 may be
invoked, but a handler named JPEG may not (assuming that such handlers had been registered). When writing image data to a file, the processing of the-format option is slightly different: the string value given
for the -format option must begin with the complete name of
the requested handler, and may contain additional informa-
tion following that, which the handler can use, for example, to specify which variant to use of the formats supported by the handler. Note that not all image handlers may support | writing transparency data to a file, even where the target | image format does. COLOR ALLOCATIONWhen a photo image is displayed in a window, the photo image
code allocates colors to use to display the image and dith-
ers the image, if necessary, to display a reasonable Tk Last change: 4.0 8Tk Built-In Commands photo(1T)
approximation to the image using the colors that are avail-
able. The colors are allocated as a color cube, that is, the number of colors allocated is the product of the number of shades of red, green and blue. Normally, the number of colors allocated is chosen based onthe depth of the window. For example, in an 8-bit Pseu-
doColor window, the photo image code will attempt to allo-
cate seven shades of red, seven shades of green and fourshades of blue, for a total of 198 colors. In a 1-bit Sta-
ticGray (monochrome) window, it will allocate two colors,black and white. In a 24-bit DirectColor or TrueColor win-
dow, it will allocate 256 shades each of red, green and blue. Fortunately, because of the way that pixel values can be combined in DirectColor and TrueColor windows, this only requires 256 colors to be allocated. If not all of thecolors can be allocated, the photo image code reduces the
number of shades of each primary color and tries again. The user can exercise some control over the number of colorsthat a photo image uses with the -palette configuration
option. If this option is used, it specifies the maximum number of shades of each primary color to try to allocate. It can also be used to force the image to be displayed in shades of gray, even on a color display, by giving a single number rather than three numbers separated by slashes. CREDITSThe photo image type was designed and implemented by Paul
Mackerras, based on his earlier photo widget and some
suggestions from John Ousterhout.EXAMPLE
Load an image from a file and tile it to the size of a win-
dow, which is useful for producing a tiled background:# These lines should be called once
image create photo untiled -file "theFile.ppm"
image create photo tiled
# These lines should be called whenever .someWidget changes
# size; a
set width [winfo width .someWidget] set height [winfo height .someWidget]binding is useful here tiled copy untiled -to 0 0 $width $height -shrink
SEE ALSO
image(1T) KEYWORDSphoto, image, color
Tk Last change: 4.0 9Tk Built-In Commands photo(1T)
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:_______________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE|
|____________________|__________________|_
| Availability | runtime/tk-8 |
|____________________|__________________|_
| Interface Stability| Uncommitted ||____________________|_________________|
NOTES Source for Tk is available on http://opensolaris.org. Tk Last change: 4.0 10