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1<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> 2<html lang="en"> 3<HEAD> 4<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> 5<TITLE>FAQ XPM</TITLE> 6</HEAD> 7 8<body> 9<h1 align="center">The XPM<br> 10Frequently Asked Questions</h1> 11<p> 12This article contains the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about the 13XPM format and/or library. If you don't find the answer to your problem here, 14then you can mail either to lehors@sophia.inria.fr or to the mailing list 15xpm-talk@sophia.inria.fr. 16 17 18<h2>Contents</h2> 19 20<ol> 21<li><a href="#Q1">How do I convert my images to or from XPM ?</a> 22<li><a href="#Q2">Why are my XPM files said to be invalid ?</a> 23<li><a href="#Q3">Why does my program core dumps using XPM ?</a> 24<li><a href="#Q4">Why does my program core dumps using XPM with a widget ?</a> 25<li><a href="#Q5">How can I get a non rectangular icon using XPM ?</a> 26<li><a href="#Q6">What exactly triggers the creation of a mask when using XPM ?</a> 27<li><a href="#Q7">How should I use the mask ?</a> 28<li><a href="#Q8">Is there a string to pixmap converter somewhere ?</a> 29<li><a href="#Q9">How can I edit XPM icons ?</a> 30<li><a href="#Q10">Is there a collection of icons somewhere ?</a> 31<li><a href="#Q11">The documentation fails to print out. Why ?</a> 32<li><a href="#copy">Copyright</a> 33</ol> 34 35 36<h2><a name="Q1">1. How do I convert my images to or from XPM ?</a></h2> 37<p> 38 Netpbm is surely the best image conversion package that I know of. It defines 39 formats for color, gray and monochrome images and provides a set of filters. 40 Thus a GIF image can be converted to XPM with something like: 41<p> 42 $ giftoppm youricon.gif | ppmtoxpm > youricon.xpm 43<p> 44 The latest release can be found at least from wuarchive.wustl.edu 45 (128.252.135.4), directory /graphics/graphics/packages/NetPBM 46 47 48<h2><a name="Q2">2. Why are my XPM files said to be invalid ?</a></h2> 49<p> 50 There are three official versions of the XPM format. The XPM library since 51 version 3.3 can read all them but writes out only XPM 3. Also the small 52 program called sxpm which is part of the XPM library package can be used to 53 automatically translate XPM 1 and 2 files to XPM 3 with a command such as: 54<p> 55 $ sxpm -nod yourxpm1or2file -o yourxpm3file 56<p> 57 Also, the XPM format defines "None" to be the color name meaning 58 "transparent", but IXI used to hack the XPM library in its early days to 59 handle transparency as "#Transparent". This makes IXI format not compatible 60 with the official XPM format, and so not readable neither by the official XPM 61 library nor any of the programs built on top of it. 62<p> 63 The only solutions are either to stick on IXI programs which can deal with 64 their format or convert your files to the standard XPM format. This can be 65 done simply by changing "#Transparent" to "None". 66 67 68<h2><a name="Q3">3. Why does my program core dumps using XPM ?</a></h2> 69<p> 70 Be sure the XpmAttributes structure you pass by reference has a valid 71 valuemask. You can give NULL instead if you don't want to use an 72 XpmAttributes but if you do, you MUST initialize its valuemask component to 73 some valid value, at least 0, otherwise unpredictable errors can occur. 74<p> 75 So instead of doing something like: 76<pre> 77 XpmAttributes attrib; 78 79 XpmReadFileToPixmap(dpy, d, filename, &pixmap, &mask, &attrib); 80</pre> 81<p> 82 you should do: 83<pre> 84 XpmAttributes attrib; 85 86 attrib.valuemask = 0; 87 XpmReadFileToPixmap(dpy, d, filename, &pixmap, &mask, &attrib); 88</pre> 89 90 91<h2><a name="Q4">4. Why does my program core dumps using XPM with a widget ?</a></h2> 92<ul> 93<li>First the XPM library is Xlib level, so don't pass your widget as a 94 Drawable parameter. A Drawable is either a Window or a Pixmap. The widget's 95 window can do the job but: 96 97<li>Then a widget only gets a Window when realized, so passing XtWindow(widget) 98 with a not yet realized widget is wrong. Either realize you widget first or 99 use another window. Since the Drawable parameter is only used to specify 100 the screen to which the pixmap must be created on, most of the time the 101 default root window is just fine. 102</ul> 103 104 105<h2><a name="Q5">5. How can I get a non rectangular icon using XPM ?</a></h2> 106<p> 107 The X Window System does not support transparent color. However there are 108 several ways you can use to get the same visual effect using XPM: 109<ul> 110<li>First you can use the None color to get a shape mask and use it as 111 explained below (question 7). 112 113<li>Second you can define a symbolic color name such as "mask" in the XPM 114 format file, then use the color overriding mechanism to set this symbolic 115 color to the color of the underlying object. Note that in this case the XPM 116 library won't create a shape mask, and that if the color of the underlying 117 object is changed then you'll have to create a new pixmap. 118</ul> 119 120 121<h2><a name="Q6">6. What exactly triggers the creation of a mask when using XPM ?</a></h2> 122<p> 123 Basically a mask is created if "None" is used as one of the color of the 124 pixmap. Be aware that this is not only true if it is used in the XPM of the 125 pixmap since the colors can be overridden at load time. So a mask is created 126 if the "None" color is used at load time, coming either from the XPM 127 definition or the color overriding. 128 129 130<h2><a name="Q7">7. How should I use the mask ?</a></h2> 131<p> 132 There are basically two ways of using the mask: 133<ul> 134<li>Use the mask as a shapemask with the X11 Nonrectangular Saphe Window 135 Extension. Typically this is what should be done when the icon is used in a 136 desktop. 137 138<li>Use the mask as a clipmask in the GC you pass to XCopyArea when drawing the 139 pixmap. So the "transparent" pixels being not actually drawn will get the 140 underlying pixels colors. 141</ul> 142 143 144<h2><a name="Q8">8. Is there a string to pixmap converter for Motif ?</a></h2> 145<p> 146 Yes, Motif 2.0 or later does support XPM pixmaps as well as XBM bitmaps. 147 148 149<h2><a name="Q9">9. How can I edit XPM icons ?</a></h2> 150<p> 151 As listed below several editors either commercial or not are supporting the 152 XPM format. However, pixmap is the one I would recommend since it is freely 153 available and, being fully dedicated to XPM, it allows to edit all the 154 special things, such as the symbolic color names, which makes XPM different 155 from all the other image formats. Pixmap can always be found by ftp from 156 ftp.x.org (contrib) and avahi.inria.fr (pub/pixmap). 157<p> 158Last Update: 3 August 1994 159<table border=1> 160<caption>XPM Icon Editors</caption> 161<tr><th>Program<th>Infos<th>Source/Author<th>Platforms<th>SA<th>XPM<th>cost 162<tr><td>pixmap<td><ul> 163 <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> 164 <li>requires 3.4 or higher revision of Xpm lib. 165 <li>supports all XPM format features 166 <li>current version doesn't work on 24-plane displays 167</ul> 168<td>Lionel Mallet<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC 169 170<tr><td>pixt<td><ul> 171 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/pixt.tar.Z">ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/pixt.tar.Z</a> 172 <li>doesn't work on 24-plane displays 173 <li>last updated November 1991 174</ul> 175<td>J. Michael Flanery<td>source<td>yes<td>1<td>NC 176 177<tr><td>pixed<td><ul> 178 <li>part of X.desktop 179 <li>current version doesn't work on 24-plane displays 180</ul> 181<td>IXI<td>Many UNIX<td>no<td>3<td>N/A 182 183<tr><td>olpixmap<td><ul> 184 <li>packaged with the OLIT (OpenLook) toolkit 185</ul> 186<td>USL<td>Sun, SVR4.2, UnixWare<td>no<td>1<td>N/A 187 188<tr><td>xfedor<td><ul> 189 <li>only uses XLIB 190 <li>doesn't work on 24-plane displays 191</ul> 192<td>Daniel Dardailler<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC 193 194<tr><td>SCOpaint<td><ul> 195 <li>included with the ODT package 196</ul> 197<td>SCO/Wing Eng<td>ODT<td>yes<td>2.8<td>N/A 198 199<tr><td>pme.icn<td><ul> 200 <li>written in the Icon language 201</ul> 202<td>Icon Project<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC 203 204<tr><td>PixEditT<td><ul> 205 <li>there is currently no support for editing the colormap 206</ul> 207<td>Free Widget Foundation<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC 208 209<tr><td>xscribble<td><ul> 210 <li>requires the FWF, 8-bit pseudocolor 211 <li><a href="ftp://ftp.cis.ufl.edu/pub/thoth">ftp://ftp.cis.ufl.edu/pub/thoth</a> 212 <li>Alpha version (last updated April 1993) 213</ul> 214<td>Robert Forsman<td>source<td>yes<td>?<td>NC 215 216<tr><td>vueicon<td><ul> 217 <li>included with Vue3.0 218</ul> 219<td>Hewlett-Packard<td>HP<td>yes<td>3<td>N/A 220 221<tr><td>iconedit V3<td> <td>SunSoft<td>Sparc/Sun3<td>yes<td>2<td>N/A 222 223<tr><td>Pixmap Editor<td><ul> 224 <li>this is a Widget, not a complete program 225</ul> 226<td>ICS<td>?<td>yes<td>?<td>? 227 228<tr><td>ezX<td> <td>Sunrise Softwarey<td>?<td>?<td>?<td>N/A 229 230<tr><td>XPaint<td><ul> 231 <li>full featured, works on all displays 232 <li>current release is 2.1.1 (last update January 1994) 233</ul> 234<td>David Koblas<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC 235 236<tr><td>Phoenix<td><ul> 237 <li>full featured, 24-bit painting program, requires Motif. 238 <li><a href="ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/graphics/packages/phoenix">ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/graphics/packages/phoenix</a> 239 <li>Beta version (last updated September 1993) 240</ul> 241<td>ohtcolor@niksula.hut.fi<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC 242 243<tr><td>pixed<td><ul> 244 <li>pixed is part of the TeleUSE UIMS 245 <li>More info is available from service@ignite.alsys.com 246</ul> 247<td>Alsys<td>Many UNIX<td>yes<td>3<td>N/A 248 249<tr><td>display<td><ul> 250 <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> 251 <li>lots of image conversion and manipulation features 252</ul> 253<td>John Cristy<td>source<td>yes<td>3<td>NC 254</table> 255 256<p> 257SA - Stand Alone program<br> 258NC - No Charge (i.e. free); most programs are copyrighted.<br> 259XPM - XPM format supported<br> 260source - built from source code; likely works on all standard X platforms<br> 261N/A - icon editor is normally distributed with other software 262 263<p> 264Send updates, additions, corrections, etc. to <a 265href="mailto:dan@bristol.com">dan@bristol.com</a> 266 267 268<h2><a name="Q10">10. Is there a collection of icons somewhere ?</a></h2> 269<p> 270 At least there is one freely available: Anthony's X Icon Library. You can 271 found it on several ftp servers, such as <a href="ftp://server.berkeley.edu/pub/AIcons">server.berkeley.edu/pub/AIcons</a>. It 272 contains only small icons (less than about 100x100 pixels in size) which are 273 stored in groups in a logical way. Color icons are stored in XPM format and 274 Black & White icons in XBM. 275 276 277<h2><a name="Q11">11. The documentation fails to print out. Why ?</a></h2> 278<p> 279 The PostScript documentation file is formatted for US letter paper. Frame 280 Maker tries very hard to ensure that you have the right paper and punts if 281 you don't. However, you can easily work around this problem by applying the 282 following patch. If for some reason applying the patch fails, you can still 283 do it by hand. Just locate the corresponding block in the PS file and remove 284 the lines with a leading '-' character. 285 By the way, this applies to any doc generated by Frame Maker. The 286 corresponding block might be slightly different depending on which version of 287 Frame Maker was used, but it is still easy to locate. 288 289<pre> 290*** xpm.PS Wed Sep 11 15:47:43 1996 291--- xpm-A4.PS Thu Nov 21 09:27:28 1996 292*************** 293*** 647,668 **** 294 0 ne /edown exch def 295 /yscale exch def 296 /xscale exch def 297- FMLevel1 { 298- manualfeed {setmanualfeed} if 299- /FMdicttop countdictstack 1 add def 300- /FMoptop count def 301- setpapername 302- manualfeed {true} {papersize} ifelse 303- {manualpapersize} {false} ifelse 304- {desperatepapersize} {false} ifelse 305- { (Can't select requested paper size for Frame print job!) FMFAILURE } if 306- count -1 FMoptop {pop pop} for 307- countdictstack -1 FMdicttop {pop end} for 308- } 309- {{1 dict dup /PageSize [paperwidth paperheight]put setpagedevice}stopped 310- { (Can't select requested paper size for Frame print job!) FMFAILURE } if 311- {1 dict dup /ManualFeed manualfeed put setpagedevice } stopped pop } 312- ifelse 313 314 FMPColor { 315 currentcolorscreen 316--- 647,652 ---- 317</pre> 318 319 320<hr> 321<h2><a name="copy">Copyright (C) 1989-95 GROUPE BULL</a></h2> 322<p> 323Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy 324of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to 325deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the 326rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or 327sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is 328furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: 329<p> 330The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in 331all copies or substantial portions of the Software. 332<p> 333THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR 334IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, 335FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL 336GROUPE BULL BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN 337AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN 338CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. 339<p> 340Except as contained in this notice, the name of GROUPE BULL shall not be 341used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings 342in this Software without prior written authorization from GROUPE BULL. 343</body> 344</html>