bitmap conundrum

[rwg]

hi

i'm having a bad time with bitmaps and would like any help from out there !

the overall program i'm writing involves, in part, the plotting of XY coordinates.

my scrollable graphics window is set to width 740 and height 750 (for various reasons).

if my plotted coordinates fall to the right of this window, or to the upper side, i can scroll to locate them.

(there is a limit of course as to how far i can scroll).

but i'm happy to scroll across - it all seems to be working.

i'd like to be able to create a bitmap showing all my plotted points - even if they're beyond the 740,750 dimensions.

here's a simplistic bit of code to demonstrate my problem .....

the graphics window is set to 740 pixels wide

i'm printing the text "12345" at  900 , 80 pixels  - that's 160 beyond the set width.

this is great - i can scroll across to see my plotted text.

so i'd like  save the bitmap as x.bmp, hoping that points outside the 740,750 dimensions ill be saved.

           WindowWidth =  740
           WindowHeight = 750
           UpperLeftX = 610
           UpperLeftY = 1
           open "my plot" for graphics as #1
           B$="place "+STR$(900)+" "+STR$(80)
           print #1,B$
           print #1,"\12345"
           print #1,"FLUSH"
           print #1,"getbmp myimage 0 0 740 750"
           bmpsave "myimage", "x.bmp"
           close #1

ok, so later on i want to load the bitmap x.bmp.

after loading, i'll print the text "67890" at 900,110.

           filedialog " Select Bitmap File ","*.bmp",A$
           loadbmp "test", A$
           open "my plot" for graphics as #5
           print #5, "Drawbmp test 0 0"
           'print #5,"CLS"
           B$="place "+STR$(900)+" "+STR$(110)
           print #5,B$
           print #5,"\67890"
           print #5,"FLUSH"

sometimes i get the text "12345" included, other times i don't.

it's quite random. i always get some junk - eg faded scrollbars etc on the graphics screen.

when i    print #5,"CLS"    after   print #5, "Drawbmp test 0 0"  it clears the junk  but also clears my points obviously.

i've tried every combination of dimensions but i can't get it right.

i must be missing the point.

thanks all

[Rod]

I am afraid the getbmp command can only capture visible parts of the screen. Don't know of a workround. There may be an API solution to create and save the .bmp you desire but I don't have code for that. Someone might.


Rather than save a .bmp why not just save your point data. Then when you want to see it all again just read in the data and replot the points.

[rwg]

thanks Rod - i thought as much

[btgraham]

Why not write a "Zoom All" routine to fit the entire database of points in the display then print that.

This program of mine does just that.
users.tpg.com.au/btgraham/FreeCOGO.html

[Rod]

The question was about redisplaying the data. It is perfectly possible to draw and PRINT unseen large graphic boxes. What you can’t do is GETBMP large unseen graphicboxes.

[rwg]

thanks btgraham - checked out FreeCogo - very snazzy. Bit of work has gone into that I'd say.

thanks Rod - yes i've had success printing large unseen graphic boxes especially printing to pdf. shame i can't GETBMP

[cundo]

Hi there rwg, before drawing anything, and if you need to print graphics to an area larger than your windows, first draw a BoxFilled of the required size , then FLUSH. This should "reserve" the space you need in memory.

[rwg]

thanks btgraham - checked out FreeCogo - very snazzy. Bit of work has gone into that I'd say.

thanks Rod - yes i've had success printing large unseen graphic boxes especially printing to pdf. shame i can't GETBMP