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QPixmap Class Reference

The QPixmap class is an off-screen, pixel-based paint device. More...

#include <qpixmap.h>

Inherits QPaintDevice and Qt.

Inherited by QBitmap and QCanvasPixmap.

List of all member functions.

Public Members

Static Public Members

Related Functions


Detailed Description

The QPixmap class is an off-screen, pixel-based paint device.

QPixmap is one of the two classes Qt provides for dealing with images; the other is QImage. QPixmap is designed and optimized for drawing; QImage is designed and optimized for I/O and for direct pixel access/manipulation. There are (slow) functions to convert between QImage and QPixmap: convertToImage() and convertFromImage().

One common use of the QPixmap class is to enable smooth updating of widgets. Whenever something complex needs to be drawn, you can use a pixmap to obtain flicker-free drawing, like this:

  1. Create a pixmap with the same size as the widget.
  2. Fill the pixmap with the widget background color.
  3. Paint the pixmap.
  4. bitBlt() the pixmap contents onto the widget.

Pixel data in a pixmap is internal and is managed by the underlying window system. Pixels can be accessed only through QPainter functions, through bitBlt(), and by converting the QPixmap to a QImage.

You can easily display a QPixmap on the screen using QLabel::setPixmap(). For example, all the QButton subclasses support pixmap use.

The QPixmap class uses copy-on-write, so it is practical to pass QPixmap objects by value.

You can retrieve the width(), height(), depth() and size() of a pixmap. The enclosing rectangle is given by rect(). Pixmaps can be filled with fill() and resized with resize(). You can create and set a mask with createHeuristicMask() and setMask(). Use selfMask() to see if the pixmap is identical to its mask.

In addition to loading a pixmap from file using load() you can also loadFromData(). You can control optimization with setOptimization() and obtain a transformed version of the pixmap using xForm()

Note regarding Windows 95 and 98: on Windows 9x the system crashes if you create more than about 1000 pixmaps, independent of the size of the pixmaps or installed RAM. Windows NT and 2000 do not have this limitation.

Qt tries to work around the resource limitation. If you set the pixmap optimization to QPixmap::MemoryOptim and the width of your pixmap is less than or equal to 128 pixels, Qt stores the pixmap in a way that is very memory-efficient when there are many pixmaps.

If your application uses dozens or hundreds of pixmaps (for example on tool bar buttons and in popup menus), and you plan to run it on Windows 95 or Windows 98, we recommend using code like this:

        QPixmap::setDefaultOptimization( QPixmap::MemoryOptim );
        while ( ... ) {
            // load tool bar pixmaps etc.
            QPixmap *pixmap = new QPixmap(fileName);
        }
        QPixmap::setDefaultOptimization( QPixmap::NormalOptim );
    

See also QBitmap, QImage, QImageIO, Shared Classes, Graphics Classes, Image Processing Classes, and Implicitly and Explicitly Shared Classes.


Member Type Documentation

QPixmap::ColorMode

This enum type defines the color modes that exist for converting QImage objects to QPixmap.

QPixmap::Optimization

QPixmap has the choice of optimizing for speed or memory in a few places; the best choice varies from pixmap to pixmap but can generally be derived heuristically. This enum type defines a number of optimization modes that you can set for any pixmap to tweak the speed/memory tradeoffs:

We recommend using DefaultOptim.


Member Function Documentation

QPixmap::QPixmap ()

Constructs a null pixmap.

See also isNull().

QPixmap::QPixmap ( const QImage & image )

Constructs a pixmap from the QImage image.

See also convertFromImage().

QPixmap::QPixmap ( int w, int h, int depth = -1, Optimization optimization = DefaultOptim )

Constructs a pixmap with w width, h height and depth bits per pixel. The pixmap is optimized in accordance with the optimization value.

The contents of the pixmap is uninitialized.

The depth can be either 1 (monochrome) or the depth of the current video mode. If depth is negative, then the hardware depth of the current video mode will be used.

If either w or h is zero, a null pixmap is constructed.

See also isNull() and QPixmap::Optimization.

QPixmap::QPixmap ( const QSize & size, int depth = -1, Optimization optimization = DefaultOptim )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Constructs a pixmap of size size, depth bits per pixel, optimized in accordance with the optimization value.

QPixmap::QPixmap ( const QString & fileName, const char * format = 0, ColorMode mode = Auto )

Constructs a pixmap from the file fileName. If the file does not exist or is of an unknown format, the pixmap becomes a null pixmap.

The fileName, format and mode parameters are passed on to load(). This means that the data in fileName is not compiled into the binary. If fileName contains a relative path (e.g. the filename only) the relevant file must be found relative to the runtime working directory.

See also QPixmap::ColorMode, isNull(), load(), loadFromData(), save(), and imageFormat().

QPixmap::QPixmap ( const QString & fileName, const char * format, int conversion_flags )

Constructs a pixmap from the file fileName. If the file does not exist or is of an unknown format, the pixmap becomes a null pixmap.

The fileName, format and conversion_flags parameters are passed on to load(). This means that the data in fileName is not compiled into the binary. If fileName contains a relative path (e.g. the filename only) the relevant file must be found relative to the runtime working directory.

If the image needs to be modified to fit in a lower-resolution result (e.g. converting from 32-bit to 8-bit), use the conversion_flags to specify how you'd prefer this to happen.

See also Qt::ImageConversionFlags, isNull(), load(), loadFromData(), save(), and imageFormat().

QPixmap::QPixmap ( const char * xpm[] )

Constructs a pixmap from xpm, which must be a valid XPM image.

Errors are silently ignored.

Note that it's possible to squeeze the XPM variable a little bit by using an unusual declaration:

        static const char * const start_xpm[]={
            "16 15 8 1",
            "a c #cec6bd",
        ....
    

The extra const makes the entire definition read-only, which is slightly more efficient (for example, when the code is in a shared library) and ROMable when the application is to be stored in ROM.

In order to use that sort of declaration you must cast the variable back to const char ** when you create the QPixmap.

QPixmap::QPixmap ( const QByteArray & img_data )

Constructs a pixmaps by loading from img_data. The data can be in any image format supported by Qt.

See also loadFromData().

QPixmap::QPixmap ( const QPixmap & pixmap )

Constructs a pixmap that is a copy of pixmap.

QPixmap::~QPixmap ()

Destroys the pixmap.

bool QPixmap::convertFromImage ( const QImage & img, int conversion_flags )

Converts image img and sets this pixmap. Returns TRUE if successful; otherwise returns FALSE.

The conversion_flags argument is a bitwise-OR of the Qt::ImageConversionFlags. Passing 0 for conversion_flags sets all the default options.

Note that even though a QPixmap with depth 1 behaves much like a QBitmap, isQBitmap() returns FALSE.

If a pixmap with depth 1 is painted with color0 and color1 and converted to an image, the pixels painted with color0 will produce pixel index 0 in the image and those painted with color1 will produce pixel index 1.

See also convertToImage(), isQBitmap(), QImage::convertDepth(), defaultDepth(), and QImage::hasAlphaBuffer().

Examples: canvas/canvas.cpp and themes/wood.cpp.

bool QPixmap::convertFromImage ( const QImage & image, ColorMode mode = Auto )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Converts image and sets this pixmap using color mode mode. Returns TRUE if successful; otherwise returns FALSE.

See also QPixmap::ColorMode.

QImage QPixmap::convertToImage () const

Converts the pixmap to a QImage. Returns a null image if it fails.

If the pixmap has 1-bit depth, the returned image will also be 1 bit deep. If the pixmap has 2- to 8-bit depth, the returned image has 8-bit depth. If the pixmap has greater than 8-bit depth, the returned image has 32-bit depth.

Note that for the moment, alpha masks on monochrome images are ignored.

See also convertFromImage().

Example: qmag/qmag.cpp.

QBitmap QPixmap::createHeuristicMask ( bool clipTight = TRUE ) const

Creates and returns a heuristic mask for this pixmap. It works by selecting a color from one of the corners and then chipping away pixels of that color, starting at all the edges.

The mask may not be perfect but it should be reasonable, so you can do things such as the following:

    pm->setMask( pm->createHeuristicMask() );
    

This function is slow because it involves transformation to a QImage, non-trivial computations and a transformation back to a QBitmap.

If clipTight is TRUE the mask is just large enough to cover the pixels; otherwise, the mask is larger than the data pixels.

See also QImage::createHeuristicMask().

int QPixmap::defaultDepth () [static]

Returns the default pixmap depth, i.e. the depth a pixmap gets if -1 is specified.

See also depth().

Optimization QPixmap::defaultOptimization () [static]

Returns the default pixmap optimization setting.

See also setDefaultOptimization(), setOptimization(), and optimization().

int QPixmap::depth () const

Returns the depth of the pixmap.

The pixmap depth is also called bits per pixel (bpp) or bit planes of a pixmap. A null pixmap has depth 0.

See also defaultDepth(), isNull(), and QImage::convertDepth().

void QPixmap::detach () [virtual]

This is a special-purpose function that detaches the pixmap from shared pixmap data.

A pixmap is automatically detached by Qt whenever its contents is about to change. This is done in all QPixmap member functions that modify the pixmap (fill(), resize(), convertFromImage(), load(), etc.), in bitBlt() for the destination pixmap and in QPainter::begin() on a pixmap.

It is possible to modify a pixmap without letting Qt know. You can first obtain the system-dependent handle() and then call system-specific functions (for instance, BitBlt under Windows) that modify the pixmap contents. In such cases, you can call detach() to cut the pixmap loose from other pixmaps that share data with this one.

detach() returns immediately if there is just a single reference or if the pixmap has not been initialized yet.

void QPixmap::fill ( const QColor & fillColor = Qt::white )

Fills the pixmap with the color fillColor.

Examples: chart/setdataform.cpp, desktop/desktop.cpp, grapher/grapher.cpp, hello/hello.cpp, t10/cannon.cpp, themes/metal.cpp, and xform/xform.cpp.

void QPixmap::fill ( const QWidget * widget, int xofs, int yofs )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Fills the pixmap with the widget's background color or pixmap. If the background is empty, nothing is done. xofs, yofs is an offset in the widget.

void QPixmap::fill ( const QWidget * widget, const QPoint & ofs )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Fills the pixmap with the widget's background color or pixmap. If the background is empty, nothing is done.

The ofs point is an offset in the widget.

The point ofs is a point in the widget's coordinate system. The pixmap's top-left pixel will be mapped to the point ofs in the widget. This is significant if the widget has a background pixmap; otherwise the pixmap will simply be filled with the background color of the widget.

Example:

    void CuteWidget::paintEvent( QPaintEvent *e )
    {
        QRect ur = e->rect();            // rectangle to update
        QPixmap pix( ur.size() );        // Pixmap for double-buffering
        pix.fill( this, ur.topLeft() );  // fill with widget background

        QPainter p( &pix );
        p.translate( -ur.x(), -ur.y() ); // use widget coordinate system
                                         // when drawing on pixmap
        //    ... draw on pixmap ...

        p.end();

        bitBlt( this, ur.topLeft(), &pix );
    }
    

QPixmap QPixmap::fromMimeSource ( const QString & abs_name ) [static]

Convenience function. Gets the data associated with the absolute name abs_name from the default mime source factory and decodes it to a pixmap.

See also QMimeSourceFactory, QImage::fromMimeSource(), and QImageDrag::decode().

QPixmap QPixmap::grabWidget ( QWidget * widget, int x = 0, int y = 0, int w = -1, int h = -1 ) [static]

Creates a pixmap and paints widget in it.

If the widget has any children, then they are also painted in the appropriate positions.

If you specify x, y, w or h, only the rectangle you specify is painted. The defaults are 0, 0 (top-left corner) and -1,-1 (which means the entire widget).

(If w is negative, the function copies everything to the right border of the window. If h is negative, the function copies everything to the bottom of the window.)

If widget is 0, or if the rectangle defined by x, y, the modified w and the modified h does not overlap the widget->rect(), this function will return a null QPixmap.

This function actually asks widget to paint itself (and its children to paint themselves). QPixmap::grabWindow() grabs pixels off the screen, which is a bit faster and picks up exactly what's on-screen. This function works by calling paintEvent() with painter redirection turned on. If there are overlaying windows, grabWindow() will see them, but not this function.

If there is overlap, it returns a pixmap of the size you want, containing a rendering of widget. If the rectangle you ask for is a superset of widget, the areas outside widget are covered with the widget's background.

If an error occurs when trying to grab the widget, such as the size of the widget being too large to fit in memory, an isNull() pixmap is returned.

See also grabWindow(), QPainter::redirect(), and QWidget::paintEvent().

QPixmap QPixmap::grabWindow ( WId window, int x = 0, int y = 0, int w = -1, int h = -1 ) [static]

Grabs the contents of the window window and makes a pixmap out of it. Returns the pixmap.

The arguments (x, y) specify the offset in the window, whereas (w, h) specify the width and height of the area to be copied.

If w is negative, the function copies everything to the right border of the window. If h is negative, the function copies everything to the bottom of the window.

Note that grabWindow() grabs pixels from the screen, not from the window. If there is another window partially or entirely over the one you grab, you get pixels from the overlying window, too.

Note also that the mouse cursor is generally not grabbed.

The reason we use a window identifier and not a QWidget is to enable grabbing of windows that are not part of the application, window system frames, and so on.

Warning: Grabbing an area outside the screen is not safe in general. This depends on the underlying window system.

Warning: X11 only: If window is not the same depth as the root window and another window partially or entirely obscures the one you grab, you will not get pixels from the overlying window. The contests of the obscured areas in the pixmap are undefined and uninitialized.

See also grabWidget().

Example: qmag/qmag.cpp.

bool QPixmap::hasAlpha () const

Returns TRUE if painting with this pixmap might not necessarily paint all pixels in its rectangular area.

int QPixmap::height () const

Returns the height of the pixmap.

See also width(), size(), and rect().

Examples: desktop/desktop.cpp, movies/main.cpp, scribble/scribble.cpp, scrollview/scrollview.cpp, t10/cannon.cpp, and xform/xform.cpp.

const char * QPixmap::imageFormat ( const QString & fileName ) [static]

Returns a string that specifies the image format of the file fileName, or 0 if the file cannot be read or if the format cannot be recognized.

The QImageIO documentation lists the supported image formats.

See also load() and save().

bool QPixmap::isNull () const

Returns TRUE if this is a null pixmap; otherwise returns FALSE.

A null pixmap has zero width, zero height and no contents. You cannot draw in a null pixmap or bitBlt() anything to it.

Resizing an existing pixmap to (0, 0) makes a pixmap into a null pixmap.

See also resize().

Examples: movies/main.cpp, qdir/qdir.cpp, qmag/qmag.cpp, and scrollview/scrollview.cpp.

bool QPixmap::isQBitmap () const

Returns TRUE if this is a QBitmap; otherwise returns FALSE.

bool QPixmap::load ( const QString & fileName, const char * format, int conversion_flags )

Loads a pixmap from the file fileName at runtime. Returns TRUE if successful; otherwise returns FALSE.

If format is specified, the loader attempts to read the pixmap using the specified format. If format is not specified (default), the loader reads a few bytes from the header to guess the file's format.

See the convertFromImage() documentation for a description of the conversion_flags argument.

The QImageIO documentation lists the supported image formats and explains how to add extra formats.

See also loadFromData(), save(), imageFormat(), QImage::load(), and QImageIO.

Examples: picture/picture.cpp, scrollview/scrollview.cpp, and xform/xform.cpp.

bool QPixmap::load ( const QString & fileName, const char * format = 0, ColorMode mode = Auto )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Loads a pixmap from the file fileName at runtime.

If format is specified, the loader attempts to read the pixmap using the specified format. If format is not specified (default), the loader reads a few bytes from the header to guess the file's format.

The mode is used to specify the color mode of the pixmap.

See also QPixmap::ColorMode.

bool QPixmap::loadFromData ( const uchar * buf, uint len, const char * format, int conversion_flags )

Loads a pixmap from the binary data in buf (len bytes). Returns TRUE if successful; otherwise returns FALSE.

If format is specified, the loader attempts to read the pixmap using the specified format. If format is not specified (default), the loader reads a few bytes from the header to guess the file's format.

See the convertFromImage() documentation for a description of the conversion_flags argument.

The QImageIO documentation lists the supported image formats and explains how to add extra formats.

See also load(), save(), imageFormat(), QImage::loadFromData(), and QImageIO.

bool QPixmap::loadFromData ( const uchar * buf, uint len, const char * format = 0, ColorMode mode = Auto )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Loads a pixmap from the binary data in buf (len bytes) using color mode mode. Returns TRUE if successful; otherwise returns FALSE.

If format is specified, the loader attempts to read the pixmap using the specified format. If format is not specified (default), the loader reads a few bytes from the header to guess the file's format.

See also QPixmap::ColorMode.

bool QPixmap::loadFromData ( const QByteArray & buf, const char * format = 0, int conversion_flags = 0 )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

const QBitmap * QPixmap::mask () const

Returns the mask bitmap, or 0 if no mask has been set.

See also setMask() and QBitmap.

int QPixmap::metric ( int m ) const [virtual]

Internal implementation of the virtual QPaintDevice::metric() function.

Use the QPaintDeviceMetrics class instead.

m is the metric to get.

QPixmap & QPixmap::operator= ( const QPixmap & pixmap )

Assigns the pixmap pixmap to this pixmap and returns a reference to this pixmap.

QPixmap & QPixmap::operator= ( const QImage & image )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Converts the image image to a pixmap that is assigned to this pixmap. Returns a reference to the pixmap.

See also convertFromImage().

Optimization QPixmap::optimization () const

Returns the optimization setting for this pixmap.

The default optimization setting is QPixmap::NormalOptim. You can change this setting in two ways:

See also setOptimization(), setDefaultOptimization(), and defaultOptimization().

QRect QPixmap::rect () const

Returns the enclosing rectangle (0,0,width(),height()) of the pixmap.

See also width(), height(), and size().

Example: xform/xform.cpp.

void QPixmap::resize ( int w, int h )

Resizes the pixmap to w width and h height. If either w or h is 0, the pixmap becomes a null pixmap.

If both w and h are greater than 0, a valid pixmap is created. New pixels will be uninitialized (random) if the pixmap is expanded.

Examples: desktop/desktop.cpp and grapher/grapher.cpp.

void QPixmap::resize ( const QSize & size )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Resizes the pixmap to size size.

bool QPixmap::save ( const QString & fileName, const char * format, int quality = -1 ) const

Saves the pixmap to the file fileName using the image file format format and a quality factor quality. quality must be in the range [0,100] or -1. Specify 0 to obtain small compressed files, 100 for large uncompressed files, and -1 to use the default settings. Returns TRUE if successful; otherwise returns FALSE.

See also load(), loadFromData(), imageFormat(), QImage::save(), and QImageIO.

Example: qmag/qmag.cpp.

bool QPixmap::selfMask () const

Returns TRUE if the pixmap's mask is identical to the pixmap itself; otherwise returns FALSE.

See also mask().

int QPixmap::serialNumber () const

Returns a number that uniquely identifies the contents of this QPixmap object. This means that multiple QPixmap objects can have the same serial number as long as they refer to the same contents.

An example of where this is useful is for caching QPixmaps.

See also QPixmapCache.

void QPixmap::setDefaultOptimization ( Optimization optimization ) [static]

Sets the default pixmap optimization.

All new pixmaps that are created will use this default optimization. You may also set optimization for individual pixmaps using the setOptimization() function.

The initial default optimization setting is QPixmap::Normal.

See also defaultOptimization(), setOptimization(), and optimization().

void QPixmap::setMask ( const QBitmap & newmask )

Sets a mask bitmap.

The newmask bitmap defines the clip mask for this pixmap. Every pixel in newmask corresponds to a pixel in this pixmap. Pixel value 1 means opaque and pixel value 0 means transparent. The mask must have the same size as this pixmap.

Warning: Setting the mask on a pixmap will cause any alpha channel data to be cleared. For example:

        QPixmap alpha( "image-with-alpha.png" );
        QPixmap alphacopy = alpha;
        alphacopy.setMask( alphacopy.mask() );
    
Now, alpha and alphacopy are visually different.

Setting a null mask resets the mask.

See also mask(), createHeuristicMask(), and QBitmap.

void QPixmap::setOptimization ( Optimization optimization )

Sets pixmap drawing optimization for this pixmap.

The optimization setting affects pixmap operations, in particular drawing of transparent pixmaps (bitBlt() a pixmap with a mask set) and pixmap transformations (the xForm() function).

Pixmap optimization involves keeping intermediate results in a cache buffer and using the cache to speed up bitBlt() and xForm(). The cost is more memory consumption, up to twice as much as an unoptimized pixmap.

Use the setDefaultOptimization() to change the default optimization for all new pixmaps.

See also optimization(), setDefaultOptimization(), and defaultOptimization().

Example: desktop/desktop.cpp.

QSize QPixmap::size () const

Returns the size of the pixmap.

See also width(), height(), and rect().

Example: movies/main.cpp.

QWMatrix QPixmap::trueMatrix ( const QWMatrix & matrix, int w, int h ) [static]

Returns the actual matrix used for transforming a pixmap with w width and h height and matrix matrix.

When transforming a pixmap with xForm(), the transformation matrix is internally adjusted to compensate for unwanted translation, i.e. xForm() returns the smallest pixmap containing all transformed points of the original pixmap.

This function returns the modified matrix, which maps points correctly from the original pixmap into the new pixmap.

See also xForm() and QWMatrix.

int QPixmap::width () const

Returns the width of the pixmap.

See also height(), size(), and rect().

Examples: desktop/desktop.cpp, movies/main.cpp, scribble/scribble.cpp, scrollview/scrollview.cpp, and xform/xform.cpp.

QPixmap QPixmap::xForm ( const QWMatrix & matrix ) const

Returns a copy of the pixmap that is transformed using matrix. The original pixmap is not changed.

The transformation matrix is internally adjusted to compensate for unwanted translation, i.e. xForm() returns the smallest image that contains all the transformed points of the original image.

This function is slow because it involves transformation to a QImage, non-trivial computations and a transformation back to a QPixmap.

See also trueMatrix(), QWMatrix, QPainter::setWorldMatrix(), and QImage::xForm().

Examples: desktop/desktop.cpp, fileiconview/qfileiconview.cpp, movies/main.cpp, qmag/qmag.cpp, and xform/xform.cpp.


Related Functions

QDataStream & operator<< ( QDataStream & s, const QPixmap & pixmap )

Writes the pixmap pixmap to the stream s as a PNG image.

See also QPixmap::save() and Format of the QDataStream operators.

QDataStream & operator>> ( QDataStream & s, QPixmap & pixmap )

Reads a pixmap from the stream s into the pixmap pixmap.

See also QPixmap::load() and Format of the QDataStream operators.


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Qt version 3.1.2