Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hpcvlx!markc
From: markc@hpcvlx.HP.COM (Mark Cook)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: PAX Format Package
Message-ID: <100920057@hpcvlx.HP.COM>
Date: 23 Feb 89 21:36:24 GMT
References: <133@mirsa.inria.fr>
Organization: St. Vitus Hospital for the Terminally Amused
Lines: 27

What's wrong the I/O file format already in use by xwd and xwud?  I realize
that they don't constitute a 'standard' format, but they are already in wide
use (via the MIT distribution).  The XImage they use also provides a very
tight format for datafile storage of a Pixmap of arbitrary depth, allows for
all the different vendor hardware configurations that X11 supports, and
allows for the integration of the existing XImage calls with any I/O calls
you might want to write.  One really only needs to write 3 additional calls
to provide full I/O functionality: XReadImageFile(), XWriteImageFile(), and
XConvertImageColormap().  The only thing that this format does not lend it-
self to that the PAX format does, is the editing of a data file by a text
editor.  Considering the potential size of any useful Pixmap file, I don't
consider that capability a very high priority.

By the way, the 3 calls I suggest writing above involve very little work
if one already has access to the source code of xwd and/or xwud.

	Mark F. Cook

USMail: User Interface Technical Support
	Hewlett-Packard - Corvallis Workstation Operation
	1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330

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"The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of my employer,
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