For other information, see the Ghostscript overview.
This document describes the Ghostscript library, a set of procedures to implement the graphics and filtering capabilities that are primitive operations in the PostScript language and in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).
Ghostscript is actually two programs: a language interpreter, and a graphics library. The library provides, in the form of C procedures, all the graphics functions of the language, that is, approximately those facilities listed in section 8.1 of the PostScript Language Reference Manual, starting with the graphics state operators. In addition, the library provides some lower-level graphics facilities that offer higher performance in exchange for less generality.
The highest level of the library, which is the one that most clients will
use, directly implements the PostScript graphics operators with procedures
named gs_XXX
, for instance gs_moveto and
gs_fill
. Nearly all of these procedures take graphics
state objects as their first arguments, such as
int gs_moveto(gs_state *, double, double);
Nearly every procedure returns an integer code which is >= 0 for a
successful return or <0 for a failure. The failure codes correspond
directly to PostScript errors, and are defined in
gserrors.h
.
The library implements all the operators in the following sections of the
PostScript Language Reference Manual, with the indicated
omissions and with the APIs defined in the indicated .h
files. A header of the form A.h(B.h) indicates that
A.h is included in B.h, so
A.h need not be included explicitly if B.h
is included. Operators marked with * in the "omissions" column are not
implemented directly; the library provides lower-level procedures that can
be used to implement the operator.
There are slight differences in the operators that return multiple values,
since C's provisions for this are awkward. Also, the control structure for
the operators involving callback procedures (pathforall
,
image
, colorimage,
imagemask
) is partly inverted: the client calls a procedure
to set up an enumerator object, and then calls another procedure for each
iteration. The ...show
operators,
charpath
, and stringwidth also use an
inverted control structure.
Section
(operators)Headers Omissions
Graphics state -- device-independent gscolor.h
(gsstate.h)
gscolor1.h
gscolor2.h
gscspace.h
gshsb.h
gsline.h(gsstate.h)
gsstate.hGraphics state -- device-dependent gscolor.h
(gsstate.h)
gscolor1.h
gscolor2.h
gsht.h(gsht1.h,gsstate.h)
gsht1.h
gsline.h(gsstate.h)Coordinate system and matrix gscoord.h
gsmatrix.h*matrix
, *identmatrix, *concatmatrix, *invertmatrixPath construction gspath.h
gspath2.h*arct
, *pathforall, ustrokepath, uappend, upath, ucachePainting gsimage.h
gspaint.h
gspath2.h*image
, *colorimage, *imagemask, ufill, ueofill, ustrokeForm and pattern gscolor2.h
execform
Device setup and output gsdevice.h
*showpage
, *set/currentpagedeviceCharacter and font gschar.h
gsfont.h*(all the show
operators), definefont, undefinefont, findfont, *scalefont, *makefont, selectfont, [Global]FontDirectory, Standard/ISOLatin1Encoding, findencoding
The following procedures from the list above operate differently from their PostScript operator counterparts, as explained here:
gs_makepattern(gscolor2.h)
gs_makepattern
.
gs_setpattern(gscolor2.h)
gs_setcolor(gscolor2.h)
gs_currentcolor(gscolor2.h)
gs_client_color
rather than a set of color
parameter values. See below for more details on
gs_setpattern
.
gs_currentdash_length/pattern/offset(gsline.h)
currentdash
into three separate procedures.
gs_screen_init/currentpoint/next/install(gsht.h)
setscreen
.
(gs_setscreen
is also implemented.)
gs_rotate/scale/translate(gscoord.h)
gs_[i][d]transform(gscoord.h)
gsmatrix.h
and
have different names.
gs_path_enum_alloc/init/next/cleanup(gspath.h)
pathforall
.
gs_image_enum_alloc(gsimage.h)
gs_image_init/next/cleanup(gsimage.h)
image
, imagemask, and
colorimage
. In the gs_image_t,
ColorSpace
provides an explicit color space, rather than
using the current color space in the graphics state;
ImageMask
distinguishes imagemask from
[color]image
.
gs_get/putdeviceparams(gsdevice.h)
gs_param_list
for specifying or receiving the
parameter values. See gsparam.h
for more details.
gs_show_enum_alloc/release(gschar.h)
gs_xxxshow_[n_]init(gschar.h)
gs_show_next(gschar.h)
This level of the library also implements the following operators from other sections of the Manual:
Section
(operators)Headers Operators
Interpreter parameter gsfont.h
cachestatus
, setcachelimit, *set/currentcacheparamsDisplay PostScript gsstate.h
set/currenthalftonephase
In order to obtain the full PostScript Level 2 functionality listed above,
FEATURE_DEVS
must be set in the makefile to include at least the following:
FEATURE_DEVS=patcore.dev cmykcore.dev psl2core.dev dps2core.dev ciecore.dev path1core.dev hsbcore.dev
The *lib.mak
makefiles mentioned below do not always
include all of these features.
Files named gs*.c
implement the higher level of the
graphics library. As might be expected, all procedures, variables, and
structures available at this level begin with "gs_
".
Structures that appear in these interfaces, but whose definitions may be
hidden from clients, also have names beginning with "gs_
",
that is, the prefix, not the implementation, reflects at what level the
abstraction is made available.
Patterns are the most complicated PostScript language objects that the library API deals with. As in PostScript, defining a pattern color and using the color are two separate operations.
gs_makepattern
defines a pattern color. Its arguments are as follows:
gs_client_color *
The resulting Pattern
color is stored here. This is different from PostScript, which has no color objects per se, and hence returns a modified copy of the dictionary.const gs_client_pattern *
The analogue of the original Pattern
dictionary, described in detail just below.const gs_matrix *
Corresponds to the matrix argument of the makepattern
operator.gs_state *
The current graphics state. gs_memory_t *
The allocator to use for allocating the saved data for the Pattern
color. If this isNULL
, gs_makepattern uses the same allocator that allocated the graphics state. Library clients should probably always useNULL
.
The gs_client_pattern
structure defined in
gscolor2.h
corresponds to the Pattern
dictionary that is the argument to the PostScript language
makepattern
operator. This structure has one extra member,
void *client_data
, which is a place for clients to
store a pointer to additional data for the PaintProc
; this
provides the same functionality as putting additional keys in the
Pattern
dictionary at the PostScript language level. The
PaintProc
is an ordinary C procedure that takes as
parameters a gs_client_color *
, which is the
Pattern
color that is being used for painting, and a
gs_state *
, which is the same graphics state that
would be presented to the PaintProc
in PostScript.
Currently the gs_client_color *
is always the current
color in the graphics state, but the PaintProc
should not
rely on this. The PaintProc
can retrieve the
gs_client_pattern *
from the
gs_client_color *
with the
gs_getpattern
procedure, also defined in
gscolor2.h
, and from there, it can retrieve the
client_data
pointer.
The normal way to set a Pattern
color is to call
gs_setpattern
with the graphics state and with the
gs_client_color
returned by gs_makepattern.
After that, one can use gs_setcolor
to set further
Pattern
colors (colored, or uncolored with the same
underlying color space); the rules are the same as those in PostScript.
Note that for gs_setpattern
, the
paint.values
in the gs_client_color must be
filled in for uncolored patterns; this corresponds to the additional
arguments for the PostScript setpattern
operator in the
uncolored case.
There is a special procedure gs_makebitmappattern
for creating bitmap-based
patterns. Its API is documented in gscolor2.h
; its implementation, in
gspcolor.c
, may be useful as an example of a pattern using a particularly
simple PaintProc.
Files named gx*.c
implement the lower level of the graphics
library. The interfaces at the gx
level are less stable,
and expose more of the implementation detail, than those at the
gs
level: in particular, the gx interfaces
generally use device coordinates in an internal fixed-point representation,
as opposed to the gs
interfaces that use floating point
user coordinates. Named entities at this level begin with
gx_
.
Files named gz*.c
and gz*.h are internal to
the Ghostscript implementation, and are not designed to be called by
clients.
Visual Trace instructions may be inserted in code to provide debug output in
a graphical form. Graphics Library doesn't provide a rasterisation of the
output, because it is platform dependent. Instead this, client application
shpuld set vd_trace0
external variable to Graphics Library,
passing a set of callbacks which provide the rasterization.
Visual Trace instructions are defined in vdtrace.h
.
Debug output must be opened with vd_get_dc
instruction,
which obtains a drawing context for the debug output, and must be closed
with vd_release_dc
instruction. After opening the output,
scale, origin and shift to be set for mapping the debugee coordinate space
to window coordinate space. Than painting instructions to be used.
Painting may be either immediate or indirect.
Indirect painting uses vd_beg_path
before
line output and vd_end_path
after line output,
to store a path into a temporary storage. After this
vd_stroke
may be used for stroking the path,
or vd_fill
may be used for filling the region inside the path.
Immediate painting happens when path construction instructions are
involved without vd_beg_path
and vd_end_path
.
In this case lines and curves are being drawed immediately, when a path construction
instruction is executed.
The following table explains the semantics of Visual Trace instructions.
Visual Trace instructions | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Instruction | Function | Parameters | ||
vd_get_dc
| Obtain drawing context | -T option flag value, for which the subsequent output is enabled.
| ||
vd_release_dc
| Release drawing context | |||
vd_enabled
| Is trace currently enabled ? | |||
vd_get_size_unscaled_x
| Get the horizontal size of the output window in pixels. | |||
vd_get_size_unscaled_y
| Get the vertical size of the output window in pixels. | |||
vd_get_size_caled_x
| Get the horizontal size of the output window in debuggee coordinate units. | |||
vd_get_size_caled_y
| Get the vertical size of the output window in debuggee coordinate units. | |||
vd_get_scale_x
| Get the horizontal scale. | |||
vd_get_scale_y
| Get the vertical scale. | |||
vd_get_origin_x
| Get the horizontal position of the draft origin in debuggee coordinate space. | |||
vd_get_origin_y
| Get the vertical position of the draft origin in debuggee coordinate space. | |||
vd_set_scale(s)
| Set isotripic scale. | Debugee space to window space mapping scale, same for both dimentions. | ||
vd_set_scaleXY(sx,sy)
| Set anisotripic scale. | Debugee space to window space mapping scale, one for each dimention. | ||
vd_set_origin(x,y)
| Set the draft origin. | Origin of the draft in debugee space. | ||
vd_set_shift(x,y)
| Set the draft position. | Position of the draft origin in window space (in pixels). | ||
vd_set_central_shift
| Set the draft position to window center. | |||
vd_erase(c)
| Fill entire window. | Color to fill. | ||
vd_beg_path
| Begin path construction. | |||
vd_end_path
| End path construction. | |||
vd_moveto(x,y)
| Path construction : Set the draft current point. | Debugee coordinates. | ||
vd_lineto(x,y)
| Path construction : Line from current point to specified point. | Debugee coordinates. | ||
vd_lineto_mupti(p,n)
| Path construction : Poliline from current point to specified points. | Array of points and its size, debugee coordinates. | ||
vd_curveto(x0,y0,x1,y1,x2,y2)
| Path construction : Curve (3rd-order Bezier) from current point to specified point, with specified poles. | 2 poles and the curve ending point, debuggee coordinates. | ||
vd_closepath
| Path construction : Close the path (is necessary for filling an area). | |||
vd_bar(x0,y0,x1,y1,w,c)
| Bar from point to point. | 2 points (debugee coordinates), width (in pixels) and color. | ||
vd_square(x0,y0,w,c)
| Square with specified center and size. | The center (debugee coordinates), size (in pixels) and color. | ||
vd_rect(x0,y0,x1,y1,w,c)
| Canonic rectangle with specified coordinites. | Coordinates of boundaries (debugee coordinates), line width (in pixels) and color. | ||
vd_quad(x0,y0,x1,y1,x2,y2,x3,y3,w,c)
| Quadrangle with specified coordinites. | Coordinates of vertices (debugee coordinates), line width (in pixels) and color. | ||
vd_curve(x0,y0,x1,y1,x2,y2,x3,y3,c,w)
| Curve with width. | 4 curve poles (debugee coordinates), color, and width (in pixels). | ||
vd_circle(x,y,r,c)
| Circle. | Center (debugee coordinates), radius (in pixels) and color. | ||
vd_round(x,y,r,c)
| Filled circle. | Center (debugee coordinates), radius (in pixels) and color. | ||
vd_stroke
| Stroke a path constructed with vd_beg_path, vd_moveto, vd_lineto, vd_curveto, vd_closepath, vd_end_path. | |||
vd_fill
| Fill a path constructed with vd_beg_path, vd_moveto, vd_lineto, vd_curveto, vd_closepath, vd_end_path. | |||
vd_setcolor(c)
| Set a color. | Color (an integer consisting of red, green, blue bytes). | ||
vd_setlinewidth(w)
| Set line width. | Width (in pixels). | ||
vd_text(x,y,s,c)
| Paint a text. | Origin point (debugee coordinates), a string, and a color. | ||
vd_wait
| Delay execution until a resuming command is entered through user interface. |
Graphics Library doesn't provide a rasterization of the debug output.
Instead it calls callbacks, which are specified by a client, and which may
have a platform dependent implementation. The implementation must not
use Graphics Library to exclude recursive calls to it from Visual Trace
instructions. The callbacks and auxiliary data are collected in
the structure vd_trace_interface
, explained in the table below.
vd_trace_interface structure | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Field | Purpose | Parameters | ||
host
| A pointer to the rasterizer control block - to be provided by client application. The type of the fild is client dependent. | |||
scale_x, scale_y
| Scale of debugee coordinate to window coordinate mapping - internal work data, don't change. | |||
orig_x, orig_y
| Draft origin in debugee coordinates - internal work data, don't change. | |||
shift_x, shift_y
| Draft shift in window coordinates - internal work data, don't change. | |||
get_size_x(I)
| Get window width in pixels. | |||
get_size_y(I)
| Get window height in pixels. | |||
get_dc(I,I1)
| Obtain drawing context. | Pointer to interface block, and pointer to copy of the pointer. Implementation must set *I1 if it succeeds to get a drawing context. | ||
release_dc(I,I1)
| Release drawing context. | Pointer to interface block, and pointer to copy of the pointer. Implementation must reset *I1 if it succeeds to release the drawing context. | ||
erase(I,c)
| Erase entire window. | Background color. | ||
beg_path(I)
| Begin path construction. | |||
end_path(I)
| End path construction. | |||
moveto(I,x,y)
| Set current point. | A point in window coordinates. | ||
lineto(I,x,y)
| Line from current point to specified point. | A point in window coordinates. | ||
curveto(I,x0,y0,x1,y1,x2,y2)
| Curve from current point with specified poles to specified point. | 3 points in window coordinates. | ||
closepath(I)
| Close the path. | |||
circle(I,x,y,r)
| Circle. | Center and radius, window coordinates. | ||
round(I,x,y,r)
| Filled circle. | Center and radius, window coordinates. | ||
fill(I)
| Fill the path. | |||
stroke(I)
| Stroke the path. | |||
setcolor(I,c)
| Set color. | An integer, consisting of red, green, blue bytes. | ||
setlinewidth(I,w)
| Set line width. | Line width in pixels. | ||
text(I,x,y,s)
| Draw a text. | Coodrinates in pixels, and a string. | ||
wait(I)
| Delay execution untill resume command is inputted from user. |
The file gslib.c
in the Ghostscript fileset is a complete
example program that initializes the library and produces output using it;
files named *lib.mak
(such as ugcclib.mak
and bclib.mak
) are makefiles using gslib.c
as the main program. The following annotated excerpts from this file are
intended to provide a roadmap for applications that call the library.
/* Capture stdin/out/err before gs.h redefines them. */ #include <stdio.h> static FILE *real_stdin, *real_stdout, *real_stderr; static void get_real(void) { real_stdin = stdin, real_stdout = stdout, real_stderr = stderr; }
Any application using Ghostscript should include the fragment above at the very beginning of the main program.
#include "gx.h"
The gx.h
header includes a wealth of declarations related
to the Ghostscript memory manager, portability machinery, debugging
framework, and other substrate facilities. Any application file that calls
any Ghostscript API functions should probably include gx.h
.
/* Configuration information imported from gconfig.c. */ extern gx_device *gx_device_list[]; /* Other imported procedures */ /* from gsinit.c */ extern void gs_lib_init(P1(FILE *)); extern void gs_lib_finit(P2(int, int)); /* from gsalloc.c */ extern gs_ref_memory_t *ialloc_alloc_state(P2(gs_memory_t *, uint));
The externs above are needed for initializing the library.
gs_ref_memory_t *imem; #define mem ((gs_memory_t *)imem) gs_state *pgs; gx_device *dev = gx_device_list[0]; gp_init(); get_real(); gs_stdin = real_stdin; gs_stdout = real_stdout; gs_stderr = real_stderr; gs_lib_init(stdout); .... imem = ialloc_alloc_state(&gs_memory_default, 20000); imem->space = 0; .... pgs = gs_state_alloc(mem);
The code above initializes the library and its memory manager. pgs
now
points to the graphics state that will be passed to the drawing routines in
the library.
gs_setdevice_no_erase(pgs, dev); /* can't erase yet */ { gs_point dpi; gs_screen_halftone ht; gs_dtransform(pgs, 72.0, 72.0, &dpi); ht.frequency = min(fabs(dpi.x), fabs(dpi.y)) / 16.001; ht.angle = 0; ht.spot_function = odsf; gs_setscreen(pgs, &ht); }
The code above initializes the default device and sets a default halftone screen. (For brevity, we have omitted the definition of odsf, the spot function.)
/* gsave and grestore (among other places) assume that */ /* there are at least 2 gstates on the graphics stack. */ /* Ensure that now. */ gs_gsave(pgs);
The call above completes initializing the graphics state. When the program is finished, it should execute:
gs_lib_finit(0, 0);
Copyright © 2000-2006 Artifex Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
This software is provided AS-IS with no warranty, either express or implied. This software is distributed under license and may not be copied, modified or distributed except as expressly authorized under the terms of that license. Refer to licensing information at http://www.artifex.com/ or contact Artifex Software, Inc., 7 Mt. Lassen Drive - Suite A-134, San Rafael, CA 94903, U.S.A., +1(415)492-9861, for further information.
Ghostscript version 8.64, 3 February 2009