Index pitfalls

From Vectorlab

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Below a list of index pitfalls.

[edit] Line Style (dash)

negative index = line style dash

lineStyle is a negative index, consistent with the document default indices for line styles, with a value in the range -1 to -n. Line Styles are sometimes referred to as Dash Styles. (n = the number of line or dash styles in the document).

• Document:

  FPenPat: INTEGER;

  active pen pattern setting.

  PenPat(patNumber:INTEGER);

  sets the active line style for the document.

• Object:

  GetLS(h:HANDLE): INTEGER;

  gets the line style of the referenced object.

  SetLS(h:HANDLE; lineStyle:INTEGER);

  sets the line style of the referenced object.

• Classes:

  GetClLS(className:STRING):INTEGER;

  gets the line style of the referenced class.

  SetClLS(className:STRING; lineStyle:INTEGER);

  sets the line style of the referenced class.

• Dialogs:

  GetLineStyleChoice(dialogID:LONGINT; itemID:LONGINT; VAR lineStyle:INTEGER);

  list of linestyles available in current document as pop-up choice menu.

  SetLineStyleChoice(dialogID:LONGINT; itemID:LONGINT; lineStyle:INTEGER);

  list of linestyles available in current document as pop-up choice menu.

positive index = line style dash

styleIndex is a positive index, position according to the available list of dash styles in current document, but NOT as everywhere else negative.

• List Browsers:

  GetLBItemDashStyle(dialogID, componentID:LONGINT; itemIndex:INTEGER; subItemIndex:INTEGER; VAR styleIndex, VAR lineWeight:INTEGER): BOOLEAN;

  Gets the specified list browser item's dash style.

  SetLBItemDashStyle(dialogID:LONGINT; componentID:LONGINT; itemIndex:INTEGER; subItemIndex:INTEGER; styleIndex:INTEGER; lineWeight:INTEGER): BOOLEAN;

  Sets the specified list browser item's dash style.

[edit] Line (pen) Pattern

positive index range 0 to 71 = pen pattern

linePattern is a positive index, consistent with the document's indices for Pen and Fill Patterns, with a value in the range 0 to 71 (try to avoid using patterns over number 8 as the results are very much printer dependent).

• Document:

  FPenPat: INTEGER;

  gets the active pen pattern index (document defaults).

  PenPat(patNumber:INTEGER);

  sets the active pen pattern index (document defaults).

• Object:

  GetLS(h:HANDLE): INTEGER

  gets the pen pattern index of the referenced object.

  SetLS(h:HANDLE; lineStyle:INTEGER);

  sets the pen pattern index of the referenced object.

• Classes:

  GetClLS(className:STRING):INTEGER;

  gets the pen pattern index of the referenced class.

  SetClLS(className:STRING; lineStyle:INTEGER);

  sets the pen pattern index of the referenced class.

negative index = line style dash

if is a negative index then is a lineStyle, see above: Line Style.

[edit] Arrowheads (marker) style

Document defaults routines gets and sets arrowheads using bit values in pairs of 4, while object and class routines use flags in range 0-6. Some Modern Dialogs routines use a 1-based index.

ARROW TYPE	INDEX 1-BASED	FLAG	BIT VALUE
arrowheads	Dialogs - Modern: GetMarkerChoice, SetMarkerChoice only when using predefined arrowheads, and you use the choice index parameter, otherwise using the style parameter pass the 0-based flag (on the right)! GetMarkerPopupSelectedItem deprecated routine!	Object: GetMarker, SetMarker GetObjArrow, SetObjArrow Classes: GetClassArrow, SetClassArrow	Document defaults: FMarker, Marker
Solid arrow	1	0	0=none, 1=start, 2=end, 3=both
Hollow Arrow	2	1	4=none, 5=start, 6=end, 7=both
Open Arrow	3	2	8=none, 9=start, 10=end, 11=both
Dot	4	3	12=none, 13=start, 14=end, 15=both
Circle	5	4	16=none, 17=start, 18=end, 19=both
Slash	6	5	20=none, 21=start, 22=end, 23=both
Cross	7	6	24=none, 25=start, 26=end, 27=both

A value between 0-6

for all object and class marker styles. The object routines allow for checking start and end of marker through boolean values, not all routines allow for checking the angle (and not all markers have an angle parameter, like dots, for example). Class routines do allow for checking end and start marker only since VW 12.5.

Note (objects' markers)

GetMarker, SetMarker do not set the marker's angle!

Use GetObjArrow, SetObjArrow instead

Note (classes' markers)

GetClassArrow, SetClassArrow do not set start and end marker, whereby as to the present VW edition (12.5.1) it is not possible to set different markers for start or end using the "Class Edit" dialog. This might hint to a feature yet to come.

The following vailable routines are not recognized by VW 12.5 Fundamentals:

• GetClassBeginningMarker, SetClassBeginningMarker
• GetClassEndMarker, SetClassEndMarker

[edit] Fill Type

The fill type of a referenced object can be retrived through the standard routines FFillPat, GetFPat, GetClFPat, etc, or through the object preference flag 696. The fill index is returned by the previously mentioned routines, while GetObjectVariableLongint(h, 695) seems to return always the same value, no matter how the object attributes are:

FILL	FILL TYPE and STYLE INDEX	FILL TYPE	FILL STYLE INDEX
patterns	FFillPat, FillPat GetFPat, SetFPat GetClFPat, SetClFPat	GetObjectVariableInt (h, 696) read only	GetObjectVariableLongint (h, 695) should be read/write
none (no fill)	0	1	unchanging longint value
solid	1	2	unchanging longint value
bitmap pattern	0-71	3	unchanging longint value
hatch	negative index value	4	unchanging longint value
gradient	negative index value	5	unchanging longint value
image	negative index value	6	unchanging longint value

Example

AlrtDialog(Concat(
'Fill type with obj prefs: ', GetObjectVariableInt(FSActLayer, 696), Chr(13), 
'Fill index with obj prefs: ', GetObjectVariableInt(FSActLayer, 695), Chr(13), 
'Fill index with getFPat: ', GetFPat(FSActLayer)
)); { fill type and fill style of the first selected object }

[edit] Poly and Poly3D

The following polygon/polyline routines are toggling the index base from 0-based to 1-based. Special care is needed.

Index 1-based	Index 0-based
GetPolyPt	GetPolyPt3D from VW 13 it returns z-value adding the layer's Z
SetPolyPt	SetPolyPt3D from VW 13 it sets z-value subtracting the layer's Z

[edit] Colors

Colors are a theme for itself. Please read Colours (isma) for a more extensive discussion about the topic. Let here only be given a short comparison list of the different values used.

Undocumented feature

While most routines should accept a LONGINT triplet value in range 0-65535, many basic attributes routines also accept a color index. The routines labelled with 1 or 2 have this feature. This might come handy in many cases, saving needless conversions through: RGBToColorIndex or the other way around ColorIndexToRGB.

Known bug

SetFillBack, SetFillFore will remove the "ByClass" attribute of the PEN as well.

SetPenBack, SetPenFore will remove the "ByClass" attribute of the FILL.

Remember to parse for the "ByClass" attribute and restore it (up to VW 13).

COLOR INDEX (color palette)	INT VALUE 0-255	LONGINT VALUE 0-65535
Document defaults: PenBack[1], PenFore[1] FillBack[1], FillFore[1] Object: SetPenBack[1], SetPenFore[1] SetFillBack[1], SetFillFore[1] Classes: SetClPenBack[1], SetClPenFore[1] SetClFillBack[1], SetClFillFore[1] Layer: LPenBack[1], LPenFore[1] LFillBack[1]. LFillFore[1] Hatches: AddVectorFillLayer, BeginVectorFillN Dialog - Modern: GetColorChoice, SetColorChoice GetPatternData, SetPatternData GetGradientSliderData, SetGradientSliderData Worksheet: GetWSCellFill, SetWSCellFill GetWSCellTextColor, SetWSCellTextColor	Gradient (document defaults): GetGradientData, SetGradientData GetGradientSpotColor, GetGradientSpotColor InsertGradientSegment List Browser: GetLBItemFillBackColor, SetLBItemFillBackColor GetLBItemFillForeColor, SetLBItemFillForeColor GetLBItemPenBackColor, SetLBItemPenBackColor GetLBItemPenForeColor, SetLBItemPenForeColor GetLBItemTextColor, SetLBItemTextColor	Document defaults: FPenBack, PenBack[2] FPenFore, PenFore[2] FFillBack, FillBack[2] FFillFore, FillFore[2] Object: GetPenBack, SetPenBack[2] GetPenFore, SetPenFore[2] GetFillBack, SetFillBack[2] GetFillFore, SetFillFore[2] Classes: GetClPenBack, SetClPenBack[2] GetClPenFore, SetClPenFore[2] GetClFillBack, SetClFillBack[2] GetClFillFore, SetClFillFore[2] Layer: LPenBack[2], LPenFore[2] LFillBack[2]. LFillFore[2] Light: GetLightColorRGB, SetLightColorRGB GetLayerAmbientColor, SetLayerAmbientColor Dialog - Modern: GetColorButton, SetColorButton

Exceptions:

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15} Officially documented for accepting three LONGINT values in range 0-65535, this routine also accept a single color index value corresponding to the color palette.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15} Also accepts a single parameter of type INTEGER corresponding to one of the 256 Colors defined in the document's Color Palette.