342 lines
8.5 KiB
HTML
342 lines
8.5 KiB
HTML
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
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content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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<meta name="Author"
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content="David Turner">
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<title>FreeType 2 Internals - I/O Frames</title>
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</head>
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<body text="#000000"
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bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
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link="#0000EF"
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vlink="#51188E"
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alink="#FF0000">
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<h1 align=center>
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FreeType 2.0 I/O Frames
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</h1>
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<h3 align=center>
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© 2000 David Turner
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(<a href="mailto:david@freetype.org">david@freetype.org</a>)<br>
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© 2000 The FreeType Development Team
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(<a href="http://www.freetype.org">www.freetype.org</a>)
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</h3>
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<center>
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<table width="70%">
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<tr><td>
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<hr>
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<h2>
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Introduction
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</h2>
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<p>This document explains the concept of I/O <b>frames</b> as used in the
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FreeType 2 source code. It also enumerates the various functions and
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macros that can be used to read them.</p>
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<p>It is targeted to FreeType hackers, or more simply to developers who
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would like a better understanding of the library's source code.</p>
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<hr>
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<h2>
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I. What frames are
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</h2>
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<p>Simply speaking, a frame is an array of bytes in a font file that is
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"preloaded" into memory in order to be rapidly parsed. Frames are useful
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to ensure that every "load" is checked against end-of-file overruns, and
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provides nice functions to extract data in a variety of distinct
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formats.</p>
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<p>But an example is certainly more meaningful than anything else. The
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following code</p>
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<font color="blue">
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<pre>
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error = read_short( stream, &str.value1 );
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if ( error ) goto ...
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error = read_ulong( stream, &str.value2 );
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if ( error ) goto ...
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error = read_ulong( stream, &str.value3 );
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if ( error ) goto ...</pre>
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</font>
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<p>can easily be replaced with</p>
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<font color="blue">
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<pre>
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error = FT_Access_Frame( stream, 2 + 4 + 4 );
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if ( error ) goto ...
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str.value1 = FT_Get_Short( stream );
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str.value2 = FT_Get_ULong( stream );
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str.value3 = FT_Get_ULong( stream );
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FT_Forget_Frame( stream );</pre>
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</font>
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<p>Here, the call to <tt>FT_Access_Frame()</tt> will</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<p>Ensure that there are at least 2+4+4=10 bytes left in the
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stream.</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p>"Preload" (for disk-based streams) 10 bytes from the current
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stream position.</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p>Set the frame "cursor" to the first byte in the frame.</p>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>Each <tt>FT_Get_Short()</tt> or <tt>FT_Get_ULong()</tt> call will read
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a big-endian integer from the stream (2 bytes for
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<tt>FT_Get_Short()</tt>, 4 bytes for <tt>FT_Get_ULong</tt>) and
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advance the frame cursor accordingly.</p>
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<p><tt>FT_Forget_Frame()</tt> "releases" the frame from memory.</p>
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<p>There are several advantages to using frames:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<p>Single-check when loading tables.</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p><em>Making code clearer</em> by providing simple parsing functions
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<em>while keeping code safe</em> from file over-runs and invalid
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offsets.</p>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<hr>
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<h2>
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II. Accessing and reading a frame with macros
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</h2>
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<p>By convention in the FreeType source code, macros are able to use two
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implicit variables named <tt>error</tt> and <tt>stream</tt>. This is
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useful because these two variables are extremely often used in the
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library, and doing this only reduces our typing requirements and make the
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source code much clearer.</p>
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<p>Note that <tt>error</tt> must be a local variable of type
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<tt>FT_Error</tt>, while <tt>stream</tt> must be a local variable or
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argument of type <tt>FT_Stream</tt>.</p>
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<p>The macro used to access a frame is <font
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color="purple"><tt><b>ACCESS_Frame(_size_)</b></tt></font>, it will
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translate to</p>
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<font color="blue">
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<pre>
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( error = FT_Access_Frame( stream, _size_ ) )
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!= FT_Err_Ok</tt></pre>
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</font>
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<p>Similarly, the macro <font
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color="purple"><b><tt>FORGET_Frame()</tt></b></font> translates to</p>
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<font color="blue">
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<pre>
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<tt>FT_Forget_Frame( stream )</tt></pre>
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</font>
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<p>Extracting integers can be performed with the <tt>GET_xxx()</tt>
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macros, like</p>
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<table align=center>
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<tr valign="top">
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<td>
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<b>Macro name</b>
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</td>
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<td>
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Translation
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</td>
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<td>
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Description
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign="top">
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<td>
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<font color="purple"><tt><b>GET_Byte()</b></tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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<font color="blue"><tt>FT_Get_Byte(stream)</tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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<p>Reads an 8-bit unsigned byte.</p>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign="top">
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<td>
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<font color="purple"><tt><b>GET_Char()</b></tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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<font color="blue"><tt>(FT_Char)<br>
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FT_Get_Byte(stream)</tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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<p>Reads an 8-bit <em>signed</em> byte.</p>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign="top">
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<td>
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<font color="purple"><tt><b>GET_Short()</b></tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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<font color="blue"><tt>FT_Get_Short(stream)</tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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Reads a 16-bit signed big-endian integer.
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign="top">
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<td>
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<font color="purple"><tt><b>GET_UShort()</b></tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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<font color="blue"><tt>(FT_UShort)<br>
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FT_Get_Short(stream)</tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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Reads a 16-bit unsigned big-endian integer.
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign="top">
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<td>
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<font color="purple"><tt><b>GET_Offset()</b></tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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<font color="blue"><tt>FT_Get_Offset(stream)</tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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Reads a 24-bit signed big-endian integer.
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign="top">
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<td>
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<font color="purple"><tt><b>GET_UOffset()</b></tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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<font color="blue"><tt>(FT_UOffset)<br>
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FT_Get_Offset(stream)</tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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Reads a 24-bit unsigned big-endian integer.
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign="top">
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<td>
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<font color="purple"><tt><b>GET_Long()</b></tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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<font color="blue"><tt>FT_Get_Long(stream)</tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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Reads a 32-bit signed big-endian integer.
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr valign="top">
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<td>
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<font color="purple"><tt><b>GET_ULong()</b></tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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<font color="blue"><tt>(FT_ULong)<br>
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FT_Get_Long(stream)</tt></font>
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</td>
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<td>
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Reads a 32-bit unsigned big-endian integer.
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<p>(Note that an <b>Offset</b> is an integer stored with 3 bytes on
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the file.)</p>
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<p>All this means that the following code</p>
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<font color="blue">
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<pre>
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error = FT_Access_Frame( stream, 2 + 4 + 4 );
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if ( error ) goto ...
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str.value1 = FT_Get_Short( stream );
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str.value2 = FT_Get_ULong( stream );
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str.value3 = FT_Get_ULong( stream );
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FT_Forget_Frame( stream );</pre>
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</font>
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<p>can be simplified with macros:</p>
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<font color="blue">
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<pre>
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if ( ACCESS_Frame( 2 +4 + 4 ) ) goto ...
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str.value1 = GET_Short();
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str.value2 = GET_ULong();
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str.value3 = GET_ULong();
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FORGET_Frame();</pre>
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</font>
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<p>Which is clearer. Notice that <tt>error</tt> and <tt>stream</tt>
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must be defined locally though for this code to work!</p>
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<hr>
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<h2>
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III. Alternatives
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</h2>
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<p>It is sometimes useful to read small integers from a font file without
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using a frame. Some functions have been introduced in FreeType 2 to
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do just that, and they are of the form <font
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color="blue"><tt>FT_Read_xxxx</tt></font>.</p>
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<p>For example, <font color="blue"><tt>FT_Read_Short(stream,
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&error)</tt></font> reads and returns a 2-byte big-endian integer from a
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<tt>stream</tt>, and places an error code in the <tt>error</tt>
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variable.</p>
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<p>Thus, reading a single big-endian integer is shorter than using a frame
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for it.</p>
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<p>Note that there are also macros <font
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color="purple"><tt>READ_xxx()</tt></font> which translate to</p>
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<font color="blue">
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<pre>
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FT_Read_xxx( stream, &error ), error != FT_Err_Ok</pre>
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</font>
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<p>and can be used as in</p>
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<font color="blue">
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<pre>
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if ( READ_UShort( variable1 ) ||
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READ_ULong ( variable2 ) )
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goto Fail;</pre>
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</font>
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<p>if <tt>error</tt> and <tt>stream</tt> are already defined locally.</p>
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</td></tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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</body>
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</html>
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