NAME

       Tk_AllocColorFromObj,   Tk_GetColor,   Tk_GetColorFromObj,
       Tk_GetColorByValue,  Tk_NameOfColor,  Tk_FreeColorFromObj,
       Tk_FreeColor - maintain database of colors


SYNOPSIS

       #include <tk.h>

       XColor *                                                   |
       Tk_AllocColorFromObj(interp, tkwin, objPtr)                |

       XColor *                                                   |
       Tk_GetColor(interp, tkwin, name)                           |

       XColor *                                                   |
       Tk_GetColorFromObj(tkwin, objPtr)                          |

       XColor *
       Tk_GetColorByValue(tkwin, prefPtr)

       char *
       Tk_NameOfColor(colorPtr)

       GC
       Tk_GCForColor(colorPtr, drawable)

       Tk_FreeColorFromObj(tkwin, objPtr)                         |

       Tk_FreeColor(colorPtr)


ARGUMENTS

       Tcl_Interp   *interp     (in)      Interpreter  to use for
                                          error reporting.

       Tk_Window    tkwin       (in)      Token  for  window   in
                                          which   color  will  be
                                          used.

       Tcl_Obj      *objPtr     (in/out)                                 ||
                                          String  value describes |
                                          desired color; internal |
                                          rep will be modified to |
                                          cache pointer to corre­ |
                                          sponding (XColor *).    |

       char         *name       (in)                                     ||
                                          Same as  objPtr  except |
                                          description of color is |
                                          passed as a string  and |
                                          resulting   (XColor  *) |
                                          isn't cached.

                                          and blue intensities of
                                          desired color.

       XColor       *colorPtr   (in)      Pointer  to   X   color
                                          information.  Must have
                                          been allocated by  pre­
                                          vious call to Tk_Alloc­
                                          ColorFromObj,   Tk_Get­
                                          Color or Tk_GetColorBy­
                                          Value,   except    when
                                          passed   to  Tk_NameOf­
                                          Color.

       Drawable     drawable    (in)      Drawable in  which  the
                                          result graphics context
                                          will  be  used.    Must
                                          have  same  screen  and
                                          depth as the window for
                                          which   the  color  was
                                          allocated.
_________________________________________________________________


DESCRIPTION

       These procedures manage the colors  being  used  by  a  Tk |
       application.  They allow colors to be shared whenever pos­ |
       sible, so that colormap space is preserved, and they  pick |
       closest available colors when colormap space is exhausted. |

       Given a textual description of a color,  Tk_AllocColorFro­ |
       mObj  locates a pixel value that may be used to render the |
       color in a particular window.  The desired color is speci­ |
       fied  with  an  object whose string value must have one of |
       the following forms:

       colorname           Any of the valid textual names  for  a
                           color  defined  in  the server's color
                           database file, such as red  or  Peach­
                           Puff.

       #RGB

       #RRGGBB

       #RRRGGGBBB

       #RRRRGGGGBBBB       A  numeric  specification  of the red,
                           green, and blue intensities to use  to
                           display  the  color.   Each R, G, or B
                           represents a single hexadecimal digit.
                           The  four  forms  permit  colors to be
                           specified with 4-bit, 8-bit, 12-bit or
                           16-bit  values.   When  fewer  than 16

                           represent the most significant bits of
                           the color.  For example, #3a7  is  the
                           same as #3000a0007000.

       Tk_AllocColorFromObj returns a pointer to an XColor struc­ |
       ture;  the structure indicates the  exact  intensities  of |
       the  allocated color (which may differ slightly from those |
       requested, depending on the limitations of the screen) and |
       a  pixel  value that may be used to draw with the color in |
       tkwin.  If an error occurs in  Tk_AllocColorFromObj  (such |
       as  an  unknown  color  name) then NULL is returned and an |
       error message is stored in interp's result if interp isn't |
       NULL.   If  the colormap for tkwin is full, Tk_AllocColor­ |
       FromObj will use the closest existing color  in  the  col­ |
       ormap.   Tk_AllocColorFromObj caches information about the |
       return value in objPtr, which speeds up  future  calls  to |
       procedures  such  as Tk_AllocColorFromObj and Tk_GetColor­ |
       FromObj.                                                   |

       Tk_GetColor is identical  to  Tk_AllocColorFromObj  except |
       that  the  description  of  the  color is specified with a |
       string instead of an object.   This  prevents  Tk_GetColor |
       from  caching  the  return  value,  so Tk_GetColor is less |
       efficient than Tk_AllocColorFromObj.                       |

       Tk_GetColorFromObj  returns  the  token  for  an  existing |
       color, given the window and description used to create the |
       color.  Tk_GetColorFromObj  doesn't  actually  create  the |
       color;  the  color  must  already have been created with a |
       previous call to Tk_AllocColorFromObj or Tk_GetColor.  The |
       return  value  is cached in objPtr, which speeds up future |
       calls to  Tk_GetColorFromObj  with  the  same  objPtr  and |
       tkwin.

       Tk_GetColorByValue  is  similar to Tk_GetColor except that
       the desired color is indicated with the  red,  green,  and
       blue fields of the structure pointed to by colorPtr.

       This  package  maintains a database of all the colors cur­
       rently in use.  If the same color  is  requested  multiple
       times  from  Tk_GetColor  or Tk_AllocColorFromObj (e.g. by
       different  windows),  or  if  the  same  intensities   are
       requested  multiple  times  from  Tk_GetColorByValue, then
       existing pixel values will be re-used.  Re-using an exist­
       ing  pixel  avoids any interaction with the window server,
       which makes the allocation  much  more  efficient.   These
       procedures  also  provide  a portable interface that works
       across all platforms.  For this reason, you should  gener­
       ally  use Tk_AllocColorFromObj, Tk_GetColor, or Tk_GetCol­
       orByValue instead of lower level procedures  like  XAlloc­
       Color.

       Since  different calls to this package may return the same

       of  a  pixel  returned  by the procedures.  If you need to
       change a color value dynamically, you should  use  XAlloc­
       ColorCells to allocate the pixel value for the color.

       The  procedure  Tk_NameOfColor  is  roughly the inverse of
       Tk_GetColor.  If its  colorPtr  argument  was  created  by
       Tk_AllocColorFromObj  or Tk_GetColor then the return value
       is the string that was used to create the color.  If  col­
       orPtr  was  created by a call to Tk_GetColorByValue, or by
       any other mechanism, then the return  value  is  a  string
       that  could  be  passed  to Tk_GetColor to return the same
       color.  Note:  the string returned  by  Tk_NameOfColor  is
       only guaranteed to persist until the next call to Tk_Name­
       OfColor.

       Tk_GCForColor returns a graphics context whose  foreground
       field  is the pixel allocated for colorPtr and whose other
       fields all have default values.  This provides an easy way
       to do basic drawing with a color.  The graphics context is
       cached with the color and will exist only as long as  col­
       orPtr exists;  it is freed when the last reference to col­
       orPtr is freed by calling Tk_FreeColor.

       When a color is no longer  needed  Tk_FreeColorFromObj  or |
       Tk_FreeColor should be called to release it.  For Tk_Free­ |
       ColorFromObj the color to release is  specified  with  the |
       same  information  used to create it; for Tk_FreeColor the |
       color to release is specified with a pointer to its XColor |
       structure.   There  should be exactly one call to Tk_Free­ |
       ColorFromObj or Tk_FreeColor for each call to Tk_AllocCol­ |
       orFromObj, Tk_GetColor, or Tk_GetColorByValue.


KEYWORDS

       color, intensity, object, pixel value


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