The IDLgrClipboard::Draw procedure method draws the given picture to this graphics destination.

Writing to a File

The file type produced when the IDLgrClipboard::Draw method is passed an IDLgrView, IDLgrViewgroup, or IDLgrScene object depends upon keyword settings and the platform on which the call is issued. If the FILENAME keyword is set to a non-empty string, the name of the file IDL creates is specified by the string.

Keyword Settings

File Type Created (Windows)

File Type Created (UNIX)

VECTOR = 1, POSTSCRIPT = 1

Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)

Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)

VECTOR = 1, POSTSCRIPT = 0

Enhanced MetaFile (EMF) (Windows only)

Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)

VECTOR = 0, POSTSCRIPT = 1

Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)

Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)

VECTOR = 0, POSTSCRIPT = 0

Bitmap (BMP)

Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)

PDF=1

Portable Document Format (PDF)

Portable Document Format (PDF)

Writing to the Clipboard

Objects can be written to the operating system clipboard using IDLgrClipboard::Draw. When the FILENAME keyword equals an empty string (" "), equals 0 (zero), or is not specified, the output is written to the clipboard.

Note: The IDLgrClipboard object empties the Windows clipboard before writing to it.

Note: When VECT_SORTING=0, objects are drawn to the destination device in the order that they are added to the model, view, viewgroup, or scene object that contains them. Otherwise, objects are drawn to the destination device based on their average depth value.

Syntax

Obj->[IDLgrClipboard::]Draw [, Picture] [, /CMYK] [, FILENAME=string] [, /ISOLATIN1] [, POSTSCRIPT=value] [, VECT_SHADING={ 0 | 1 } ] [, VECT_SORTING={ 0 | 1 } ] [, VECT_TEXT_RENDER_METHOD={ 0 | 1 } ] [, VECTOR={ 0 | 1 } ]

Arguments

Picture

The view (an instance of an IDLgrView object), viewgroup (an instance of an IDLgrViewgroup object), or scene (an instance of an IDLgrScene object) to be drawn.

Keywords

CMYK

This keyword has an effect only when the output format is Encapsulated PostScript (POSTSCRIPT=1). Set this keyword to create a PostScript file using the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) color model. The default is a PostScript file using the RGB (red, green, blue) color model. This keyword applies to both bitmap and vector graphic PostScript files.

The CMYK format is a subtractive color model that is better suited for color printing. This color model allows some document processing applications and printer control software to easily adjust the overall brightness of an image by manipulating a single channel (K). PostScript files created with the CMYK color model must be processed by an interpreter capable of interpreting PostScript Language Level 2 or higher.

FILENAME

To write to a file, set this keyword to a file name string.

If the value is an empty string (" "), 0 (zero), or is not specified, the output is written to the clipboard.

Note: You can also set this keyword to a non-zero numeric value, and IDL creates a file named idl.extbased upon the values of the PDF, POSTSCRIPT, and VECTOR keywords, and the platform. The possible file types to create are listed in the section Writing to a File. However, you are strongly encouraged to specify a string for this value. The ability to specify a numeric value is maintained for backward compatibility, but its usage should be deprecated.

ISOLATIN1

Set this keyword to use Adobe ISO Latin 1 font encoding with any font that supports such coding. Use of this keyword allows access to many commonly-used foreign characters. This keyword is ignored if the generated output is not PostScript.

POSTSCRIPT

Set this keyword to a non-zero value to indicate that the generated output should be in Encapsulated PostScript format. By default, the generated output is in Bitmap format on Windows platforms and Encapsulated PostScript on UNIX platforms.

VECT_SHADING

This keyword has an effect only when generating vector output (VECTOR=1) and when the output format is Encapsulated PostScript (POSTSCRIPT=1).

This keyword controls the appearance of smooth (Gouraud) shaded IDLgrPolygon and IDLgrSurface objects. Valid values are:

  • 0 = disable smooth shading. This causes all polygons and surfaces to be rendered with flat shading. This may be valuable when using slower PostScript interpreters or when memory and stack space are limited. Smoothly shaded polygons require more resources as well as time.
  • 1 = enable smooth shading (default). This renders smooth (Gouraud) shaded polygons and surfaces in the Encapsulated PostScript file.

Note: Polygons and surfaces in Enhanced MetaFiles (EMF) files will be rendered using flat shading. (EMF is a Windows-only format.) Only the output in Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files is affected by this keyword, and only when the VECTOR keyword has been set.

VECT_SORTING

This keyword has an effect only when generating vector output (VECTOR=1).

This keyword controls the way object primitives in a picture appear in the destination. Valid values are:

  • 0 = disable sorting. The object primitives appear in the vector output file in the same order they are drawn on the display device. This is the order in which they appear in the graphics tree.
  • 1 = enable sorting (default). The objects are ordered from back to front based on each primitive object’s average depth value.

Note: Objects that intersect each other, IDLgrImage objects (which do not update the depth buffer), and objects contained within transparent views might not sort correctly.

VECT_TEXT_RENDER_METHOD

This keyword has an effect only when generating vector output (VECTOR=1).

This keyword controls the way text is rendered in a vector graphic file. Valid values are:

  • 0 = render text as text primitives (default). The output device renders the text as text primitives. This allows the text to be edited by object-based graphics programs.
  • 1 = render text as triangles. The text is rendered as a series of filled triangles in the vector file. This produces text that closely matches the text on the display device, but the output file size is larger, and the text can not be easily edited.

Note: The results of attempting to edit the text primitives depends upon the sophistication of the graphics program. An Enhanced MetaFile (EMF) inserted into a Microsoft Word document can be edited. However, not all versions of Microsoft Word support advanced 3-D graphic primitives such as those associated with obliquely or vertically aligned text. Choosing to edit a file with non-horizontally aligned text may result in the text being flattened into two dimensions. Typically, each letter becomes its own string and alignment is altered. To edit non-horizontal text and preserve the original quality, create an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file that can be modified in a more sophisticated object-oriented image editing program.

VECTOR

Set this keyword to indicate the type of graphics primitives generated. Valid values are:

  • 0 = generate bitmap graphics (default). Render the scene to a buffer and then copy the buffer to the clipboard or file in bitmap format. The bitmap retains the quality of the original image, but the bitmaps cannot be effectively scaled on all devices.
  • 1 = generate vector graphics. Render the scene using simple vector operations that result in a representation of the scene that is scalable. The vector representation does not retain all the attributes of the original image, but it can be effectively scaled on other devices. On Windows, the representation is the Windows Enhanced Metafile (EMF). On UNIX platforms, the representation is Encapsulated PostScript (EPS).

Note: Transparent objects in a view are not rendered in vector graphic files. Semi-transparent objects are rendered fully opaque.

Version History

5.1

Introduced

6.1

Added CMYK, VECT_SHADING, VECT_SORTING, and VECT_TEXT_RENDER_METHOD keywords

6.4

Added ISOLATIN1 keyword