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5.3 Graphics Context Attributes

The following paragraphs describe the CLX functions used to return or change the attributes of a gcontext. Functions that return the contents of a gcontext return nil if the last value stored is unknown (for example, if the gcontext was not cached or if the gcontext was not created by the inquiring client).


gcontext-arc-mode gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the arc-mode attribute of the specified graphics context.

The arc-mode attribute of a graphics context controls the kind of filling, if any, to be done by the draw-arcs function. A value of :chord specifies that arcs are filled inward to the chord between the end points of the arc. :pie-slice specifies that arcs are filled inward to the center point of the arc, creating a pie slice effect.

arc-mode
Either :chord or :pie-slice.

gcontext-background gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the background attribute of the specified graphics context.

The background attribute specifies the pixel value drawn for pixels that are not set in a bitmap and for pixels that are cleared by a graphics operation, such as the gaps in dashed lines.

background
Type card32.

gcontext-cache-p gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the local cache mode for the gcontext. If true, the state of the gcontext is cached by CLX and changes to its attributes have no effect unless the new value differs from its cached value.

cache-p
Type boolean.

gcontext-cap-style gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the cap-style attribute of the specified graphics context.

The cap-style attribute of a graphics context defines how the end points of a path are drawn. The possible values and their interpretations are as follows:
Cap-Style Interpretation
:butt Square at the end point (perpendicular to the slope of the line) with no projection beyond.
:not-last Equivalent to :butt, except that for a line-width of zero or one the final end point is not drawn.
:projecting Square at the end, but the path continues beyond the end point for a distance equal to half the line-width. This is equivalent to :butt for line-width zero or one.
:round A circular arc with the radius equal to 1/2 of the line-width, centered on the end point. This is equivalent to :butt for line-width zero or one.

The following table describes what happens when the end points of a line are identical. The effect depends on both the cap style and line width.
Cap-Style Line-Width Effect
:butt thin Device dependent, but the desired effect is that a single pixel is drawn.
:butt wide Nothing is drawn.
:not-last thin Device dependent, but the desired effect is that nothing is drawn.
:projecting thin Same as :butt with thin line-width.
:projecting wide The closed path is a square, aligned with the coordinate axes, centered at the end point, with sides equal to the line-width.
:round wide The closed path is a circle, centered at the end point, with diameter equal to the line-width.
:round thin Same as :butt with thin line-width.

cap-style
One of :butt, :not-last, :projecting, or :round.

gcontext-clip-mask gcontext & optional ordering Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.
ordering
One of :unsorted, :y-sorted, :yx-banded, :yx-sorted, or nil.

Returns and (with setf) changes the clip-mask attribute of the graphics context.

When changing the clip-mask attribute, the new clip-mask can be specified as a pixmap or a rect-seq or as the values :none or nil. The ordering argument can be specified only with setf when the new clip-mask is a rect-seq.

The clip-mask attribute of a graphics context affects all graphics operations and is used to restrict output to the destination drawable. The clip-mask does not clip the source of a graphics operation. A value of :none for clip-mask indicates that no clipping is to be done.

If a pixmap is specified as the clip-mask, it must have depth one and the same root as the specified graphics context. Pixels where the clip-mask has a one bit are drawn. Pixels outside the area covered by the clip-mask or where the clip-mask has a zero bit are not drawn.

If a sequence of rectangles is specified as the clip-mask, the output is clipped to remain contained within the rectangles. The rectangles should be non-intersecting, or the results of graphics operations will be undefined. The rectangle coordinates are interpreted relative to the clip origin. Note that the sequence of rectangles can be empty, which effectively disables output. This is the opposite of setting the clip-mask to :none.

If known by the client, the ordering of clip-mask rectangles can be specified to provide faster operation by the server. A value of :unsorted means the rectangles are in arbitrary order. A value of :y-sorted means that the rectangles are non-decreasing in their Y origin. A :yx-sorted value is like :y-sorted with the additional constraint that all rectangles with an equal Y origin are non-decreasing in their X origin. A :yx-banded value additionally constrains :yx-sorted by requiring that, for every possible Y scan line, all rectangles that include that scan line have an identical Y origins and Y extents. If incorrect ordering is specified, the X server may generate an error, but it is not required to do so. If no error is generated, the results of the graphics operations are undefined.


gcontext-clip-x gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the clip-x attribute of the specified graphics context.

The clip-x and clip-y attributes specify the origin for the clip-mask, whether it is a pixmap or a sequence of rectangles. These coordinates are interpreted relative to the origin of whatever destination drawable is specified in a graphics operation.

clip-x
Type int16.

gcontext-clip-y gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the clip-y attribute of the specified graphics context.

The clip-x and clip-y attributes specify the origin for the clip-mask, whether it is a pixmap or a sequence of rectangles. These coordinates are interpreted relative to the origin of whatever destination drawable is specified in a graphics operation.

clip-y
Type int16.

gcontext-dash-offset gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the dash-offset attribute of the specified graphics context.

The dash-offset attribute of a graphics context defines the phase of the pattern contained in the dashes attribute. This phase specifies how many elements (pixels) into the path the pattern should actually begin in any single graphics operation. Dashing is continuous through path elements combined with a join-style, but is reset to the dash-offset each time a cap-style is applied at a line end point.

dash-offset
Type card16.

gcontext-dashes gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the dashes attribute of the specified graphics context. The sequence must be non-empty and the elements must be non-zero card8 values.

The dashes attribute in a graphics context specifies the pattern that is used for graphics operations which use the dashed line styles. It is a non-nil sequence with each element representing the length of a single dash or space. The initial and alternating elements of the dashes are the even dashes, while the others are the odd dashes. An odd length sequence is equivalent to the same sequence concatenated with itself to produce an even length sequence. All of the elements of a dashes sequence must be non-zero.

Specifying a single integer value, N, for the dashes attribute is an abbreviated way of specifying a two element sequence with both elements equal to the specified value [N , N].

The unit of measure for dashes is the same as in the ordinary coordinate system. Ideally, a dash length is measured along the slope of the line, but server implementations are only required to match this ideal for horizontal and vertical lines.

dashes
Type sequence or card8.

gcontext-display gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns the display object associated with the specified gcontext.

display
Type display.

gcontext-equal gcontext-1 gcontext-2 Function
     
gcontext-1, gcontext-2
A gcontext.

Returns true if the two arguments refer to the same server resource, and nil if they do not.

equal-p
Type boolean.

gcontext-exposures gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the exposures attribute of the specified graphics context.

The exposures attribute in a graphics context controls the generation of :graphics-exposure events for calls to the copy-area and copy-plane functions. If :on, :graphics-exposure events will be reported when calling the copy-area and copy-plane functions with this graphics context. Otherwise, if :off, the events will not be reported.

exposures
Either :off or :on.

gcontext-fill-rule gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the fill-rule attribute of the specified graphics context.

The fill-rule attribute in a graphics context specifies the rule used to determine the interior of a filled area. It can be specified as either :even-odd or :winding.

The :even-odd rule defines a point to be inside if any infinite ray starting at the point crosses the border an odd number of times. Tangencies do not count as a crossing.

The :winding rule defines a point to be inside if any infinite ray starting at the point crosses an unequal number of clockwise and counterclockwise directed border segments. A clockwise directed border segment crosses the ray from left to right as observed from the point. A counterclockwise segment crosses the ray from right to left as observed from the point. The case where a directed line segment is coincident with the ray is uninteresting because you can simply choose a different ray that is not coincident with a segment.

For both :even-odd and :winding, a point is infinitely small, and the border is an infinitely thin line. A pixel is inside if the center point of the pixel is inside, and the center point is not on the border. If the center point is on the border, the pixel is inside if, and only if, the polygon interior is immediately to its right (x increasing direction). Pixels with centers along a horizontal edge are a special case and are inside if, and only if, the polygon interior is immediately below (y increasing direction).

fill-rule
Either :even-odd or :winding.

gcontext-fill-style gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the fill-style attribute of the specified graphics context.

The fill-style attribute of a graphics context defines the contents of the source for line, text, and fill graphics operations. It determines whether the source image is drawn with a solid color, a tile, or a stippled tile. The possible values and their meanings are as follows:
Fill-Style Meaning
:opaque-stippled Filled with a tile with the same width and height as stipple, but with the background value used everywhere stipple has a zero and the foreground pixel value used everywhere stipple has a one.
:solid Filled with the foreground pixel value.
:stippled Filled with the foreground pixel value masked by stipple.
:tiled Filled with tile.

When drawing lines with line-style :double-dash, the filling of the odd dashes are controlled by the fill-style in the following manner:
Fill-Style Effect
:opaque-stippled Same as for even dashes.
:solid Filled with the background pixel value.
:stippled Filled with the background pixel value masked by stipple.
:tiled Filled the same as the even dashes.

fill-style
One of :opaque-stippled, :solid, :stippled , or :tiled.

gcontext-font gcontext & optional metrics-p Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.
metrics-p
Specifies whether a pseudo-font is returned when the real font stored in the graphics context is not known. The default is nil, which means do not return a pseudo-font.

Returns and (with setf) changes the font attribute of the specified graphics context. If the stored font is known, it is returned. If it is not known and the metrics-p argument is nil, then nil is returned. If the font is not known and metrics-p is true, then a pseudo-font is constructed and returned. For a constructed pseudo-font, full metric and property information can be obtained, but it does not have a name or a resource ID, and attempts to use it where a resource ID is required results in an invalid-font error.

The font attribute in a graphics context defines the default text font used in text drawing operations. When setting the value of the font attribute, either a font object or a font name can be used. If a font name is passed, open-font is call automatically to get the font object.

font
Type font or null.

gcontext-foreground gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the foreground attribute of the specified graphics context.

The foreground attribute of a graphics context specifies the pixel value drawn for set bits in a bitmap and for bits set by a graphics operation.

foreground
Type card32.

gcontext-function gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns the function of the specified graphics context.

In all graphic operations, given a source pixel and a corresponding destination pixel, the resulting pixel drawn is computed bitwise on the bits of the source and destination pixels. That is, a logical operation is used to combine each bit plane of corresponding source and destination pixels. The graphics context function attribute specifies the logical operation used via one of the 16 operation codes defined by Common Lisp for the boole function.

The following table shows each of the logical operation codes that can be given by the function attribute. For each operation code, its result is shown as a logical function of a source pixel S and a destination pixel D.
Symbol Result
boole-1 S
boole-2 D
boole-andc1 (logandc1 S D)
boole-andc2 (logandc2 S D)
boole-and (logand S D)
boole-c1 (lognot S)
boole-c2 (lognot D)
boole-clr 0
boole-eqv (logeqv S D)
boole-ior (logior S D)
boole-nand (lognand S D)
boole-nor (lognor S D)
boole-orc1 (logorc1 S D)
boole-orc2 (logorc2 S D)
boole-set 1
boole-xor (logxor S D)

function
Type boole-constant.

gcontext-id gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns the unique ID that has been assigned to the specified graphics context.

id
Type resource-id .

gcontext-join-style gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the join-style attribute of the specified graphics context.

The join-style attribute of a graphics context defines how the segment intersections are drawn for wide polylines. The possible values and their interpretations are as follows:
Join-Style Interpretation
:bevel Uses :butt end point styles with the triangular notch filled.
:miter The outer edges of two lines extend to meet at an angle.
:round A circular arc with diameter equal to the line-width, centered on the join point.

When the end points of a polyline segment are identical, the effect is as if the segment was removed from the polyline. When a polyline is a single point, the effect is the same as when the cap-style is applied at both end points.

join-style
One of :bevel, :miter, or :round.

gcontext-line-style gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the line-style attribute of the specified graphics context.

The line-style attribute of a graphics context specifies how (which sections of) lines are drawn for a path in graphics operations. The possible values and their meanings are as follows:
Line-Style Meaning
:solid The full path is drawn.
:double-dash The full path is drawn, but the even dashes are filled differently than the odd dashes. The :butt style is used where even and odd dashes meet (see paragraph 5.4.7, Fill-Rule and Fill-Style).
:on-off-dash Only the even dashes are drawn, with cap-style applied to all internal ends of the individual dashes, except :not-last is treated as :butt.

line-style
One of :dash, :double-dash, or :solid.

gcontext-line-width gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns the line-width of the specified graphics context.

The line-width is measured in pixels and can be greater than or equal to one (wide line) or can be the special value zero (thin line).

Wide lines are drawn centered on the path described by the graphics operation. Unless otherwise specified by the join-style or cap-style, the bounding box of a wide line with end points [x1, y1], [x2, y2], and width w is a rectangle with vertices at the following real coordinates:

[x1 - (w*sin/2), y1 + (w*cos/2)], [x1+ (w*sin /2), y1 - (w*cos/2)],
[x2 - (w*sin/2), y2 + (w*cos/2)], [x2 + (w*sin /2), y2 - (w*cos/2)]

where sin is the sine of the angle of the line and cos is the cosine of the angle of the line. A pixel is part of the line and, hence, is drawn if the center of the pixel is fully inside the bounding box (which is viewed as having infinitely thin edges). If the center of the pixel is exactly on the bounding box, it is part of the line if, and only if, the interior is immediately to its right (x increasing direction). Pixels with centers on a horizontal edge are a special case and are part of the line if, and only if, the interior is immediately below (y increasing direction).

Thin lines (zero line-width) are always one pixel wide lines drawn using an unspecified, device dependent algorithm. There are only two constraints on this algorithm.

  1. If a line is drawn unclipped from [x1,y1] to [x2,y2] and if another line is drawn unclipped from [x1+dx,y1+dy] to [x2+dx,y2+dy], a point [x,y] is touched by drawing the first line if, and only if ,the point [x+dx,y+dy] is touched by drawing the second line.
  2. The effective set of points comprising a line cannot be affected by clipping. That is, a point is touched in a clipped line if, and only if, the point lies inside the clipping region and the point would be touched by the line when drawn unclipped.

A wide line drawn from [x1,y1] to [x2,y2] always draws the same pixels as a wide line drawn from [x2,y2] to [x1,y1], not counting cap-style and join-style. Implementors are encouraged to make this property true for thin lines, but it is not required. A line-width of zero may differ from a line-width of one in which pixels are drawn. This permits the use of many manufacturer's line drawing hardware, which may run much faster than the more precisely specified wide lines.

In general, drawing a thin line is faster than drawing a wide line of width one. However, because of their different drawing algorithms, thin lines may not mix well, aesthetically speaking, with wide lines. If it is desirable to obtain precise and uniform results across all displays, a client should always use a line-width of one, rather than a line-width of zero.

line-width
Type card16.

gcontext-p gcontext Function
     

Returns non-nil if the argument is a graphics context and nil otherwise.

gcontext
Type boolean.

gcontext-plane-mask gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns the plane-mask of the specified graphics context.

The plane-mask attribute of a graphics context specifies which bit planes of the destination drawable are modified during a graphic operation. The plane-mask is a pixel value in which a 1 bit means that the corresponding bit plane will be modified and a 0 bit means that the corresponding bit plane will not be affected during a graphic operations. Thus, the actual result of a graphic operation depends on both the function and plane-mask attributes of the graphics context and is given by the following expression:

(logior (logand
            (boole function source destination)
            plane-mask)

          (logandc2
            destination
             plane-mask))
                    
plane-mask
Type card32.

gcontext-plist gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) sets the property list for the specified gcontext. This function provides a hook where extensions can add data.

gcontext-p
Type list.

gcontext-stipple gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns the stipple of the specified graphics context.

The stipple attribute of a graphics context is a bitmap used to prevent certain pixels in the destination of graphics operations from being affected by tiling.

The stipple and tile have the same origin. This origin point is interpreted relative to the origin of whatever destination drawable is specified in a graphics request. The stipple pixmap must have depth one and must have the same root as the graphics context. The tile pixmap must have the same root and depth as the graphics context. For stipple operations where the fill-style is :stippled (but not :opaque-stippled ), the stipple pattern is tiled in a single plane and acts as an additional clip mask to be anded with the clip-mask. Any size pixmap can be used for stipple or tile, although some sizes may be faster to use than others.

Specifying a pixmap for stipple or tile in a graphics context might or might not result in a copy being made. If the pixmap is later used as the destination for a graphics operation, the change might or might not be reflected in the graphics context. If the pixmap is used both as the destination for a graphics operation and as a stipple or tile, the results are not defined.

Some displays have hardware support for tiling or stippling with patterns of specific sizes. Tiling and stippling operations that restrict themselves to those sizes may run much faster than such operations with arbitrary size patterns. CLX provides functions to determine the best size for stipple or tile (see query-best-stipple and query-best-tile).

stipple
Type pixmap.

gcontext-subwindow-mode gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns and (with setf) changes the subwindow-mode attribute of the specified graphics context.

The subwindow-mode attribute of a graphics context specifies whether subwindows obscure the contents of their parent window during a graphics operation. For a value of :clip-by-children , both source and destination windows are clipped by all viewable :input-output class children. This clipping is in addition to the clipping provided by the clip-mode attribute. For a value of :include-inferiors, neither the source nor destination window is clipped by its inferiors. This results in the inclusion of subwindow contents in the source and the drawing through of subwindow boundaries of the destination. The use of :include-inferiors on a window of one depth with mapped inferiors of differing depth is not illegal, but the semantics are not defined by the core protocol.

subwindow-mode
One of :clip-by-children or :include-inferiors.

gcontext-tile gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns the tile of the specified graphics context.

The tile attribute is a pixmap used to fill in areas for graphics operations. It is so named because copies of it are laid out side by side to fill the area.

The stipple and tile have the same origin. This origin point is interpreted relative to the origin of whatever destination drawable is specified in a graphics request. The stipple pixmap must have depth one and must have the same root as the graphics context. The tile pixmap must have the same root and depth as the graphics context. For stipple operations where the fill-style is :stippled (but not :opaque-stippled ), the stipple pattern is tiled in a single plane and acts as an additional clip mask to be anded with the clip-mask. Any size pixmap can be used for stipple or tile, although some sizes may be faster to use than others.

Specifying a pixmap for stipple or tile in a graphics context might or might not result in a copy being made. If the pixmap is later used as the destination for a graphics operation, the change might or might not be reflected in the graphics context. If the pixmap is used both as the destination for a graphics operation and as a stipple or tile, the results are not defined.

Some displays have hardware support for tiling or stippling with patterns of specific sizes. Tiling and stippling operations that restrict themselves to those sizes may run much faster than such operations with arbitrary size patterns. CLX provides functions to determine the best size for stipple or tile (see query-best-stipple and query-best-tile).

tile
Type pixmap.

gcontext-ts-x gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns the ts-x attribute of the specified graphics context.

The ts-x and ts-y attributes of a graphics context are the coordinates of the origin for tile pixmaps and the stipple.

ts-x
Type int16.

gcontext-ts-y gcontext Function
     
gcontext
A gcontext.

Returns the ts-y attribute of the specified graphics context.

The ts-x and ts-y attributes of a graphics context are the coordinates of the origin for tile pixmaps and the stipple.

ts-y
Type int16.

query-best-stipple width height drawable Function
     
width, height
Specifies the width and height of the desired stipple pattern.
drawable
A drawable.

Returns the best-width and best-height for stipple pixmaps on the drawable.

The drawable indicates the screen and possibly the window class and depth. An :input-only window cannot be specified as the drawable. The size is returned as width and height values.

best-width, best-height
Type card16.

query-best-tile width height drawable Function
     
width, height
Specifies the width and height of the desired tile pattern.
drawable
A drawable.

Returns the best-width and best-height for tile pixmaps on the drawable.

The drawable indicates the screen and possibly the window class and depth. An :input-only window cannot be specified as the drawable. The size is returned as width and height values.

best-width, best-height
Type card16.

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