Draw File Objects

Does anyone know if there is a definitive list of allocated draw file objects, and what os / package they are used / allocated too? Including RiscOS 6’s additional graphics formats? I’ve been trying to find the official documentation that defines the jpeg extension also.

Yes. There is a list.

Also bear in mind that drawfile object numbers are 16bit, not 32bit (little known fact). It doesn’t go wrong if you treat them as 32bit, you just might not recognise objects you could have.

As for “RiscOS 6” I’ve no idea.

I’ve been trying to find the official documentation that defines the jpeg extension also.

What, the standard RO3 JPEG drawfile object? 16 is it? (I forget). That’s well defined.

Yeah, object 16 is:

0  24  Usual header

24  4  Width (in draw units)

28  4  Height

32  4  xDPI

36  4  yDPI

40 24  Trans matrix

64  4  Length of JFIF stream

68  ?  JFIF stream

       padded to whole words, obviously

Vantage’s list of tag and object numbers (now a number of years out of date no doubt):

Obj0:Font table
Obj1:Text line
Obj2:Path
Obj3:Old rectangle
Obj4:Old ellipse
Obj5:Sprite
Obj6:Group
Obj7:Tag
Obj9:Text area
ObjA:Text area column
ObjB:Draw options
ObjC:Transformed text line
ObjD:Transformed sprite
Obj10:JPEG image

Obj4B:Fontician kerning data
Obj4D:TechWriter MSWord picture

Obj64:DrawPlus library object
Obj65/Obj65s:DrawPlus settings
Obj66:Vector static replicate
Obj67:Vector dynamic replicate
Obj68:Vector dynamic component
Obj69:Vector mask
Obj6A:Vector radiate
Obj6B:Vector static skeleton
Obj6C:Vector dynamic skeleton

ObjF0:Vantage old colour table
ObjF1:Paper
ObjF2:Vantage old clone
Obj43E:View settings
Obj43F:Undo buffer

Tag100:CC scanner info
Tag101:Equasor private info
Tag102:Impression EPS
Tag103:Artworks something

Tag204:Poster border
Tag205:Chameleon fancy fill
Tag206:Hatchback hatch fill

Tag320:VersaTile private info

Tag600:Wyddfa colourable object
Tag601:Wyddfa colourable path
Tag602:Wyddfa alterable text

Tag700:TableMate table
Tag701:TableMate row
Tag702:TableMate cell

TagB??:Schema2 object

TagD00:ArcWeb thing
TagD01:ArcWeb hyperlink
TagD02:ArcWeb form icon
TagD03:ArcWeb image URL
TagD04:ArcWeb background
TagD05:ArcWeb client map
TagD06:ArcWeb table
TagD07:ArcWeb table row
TagD08:ArcWeb table cell
TagD09:ArcWeb anchor
TagD0A:ArcWeb server map
TagD0B:ArcWeb form image
TagD0C:ArcWeb image place
TagD0D:ArcWeb table ok
TagD0E:ArcWeb table row ok
TagD0F:ArcWeb table cell ok
TagD??:Stewart Brodie object

TagCCC4:Publisher embedded object

TagD40001:Text story
TagD40001s:Text stories
TagD40002:Text on a curve
TagD40002s:Text on curves
TagD40003:Clone
TagD40004:Clipped object
TagD40005:Filled object
TagD40006:Fancy text line
TagD40007:EPS
TagD40008:Cog
TagD40009:Regular shape
TagD4000A:Button
TagD4000B:Distortion
TagD4000C:Arrow
TagD4000D:Tween
TagD4000E:Multiline
TagD4000F:Matrix
TagD4000Fs:Matrices
TagD40010:Object description
TagD40011:Linked picture
TagD40012:Transparent object
TagD40013:Text frame
TagD40014:Labelled object
TagD40015:Sprite fill
TagD40016:Live object
TagD40017:Insignia object
TagD40018:Shadow object
TagD40020:CAD object

TagD400F0:Colour table
TagD400F2:Genealogy
TagD400F3:Clone masters
TagD400F4:Guides
TagD400F5:Properties
TagD400FC:Arrowhead

Obj10?/Obj11?/Obj12?/Obj13?:TechSoft internal object
Obj14?/Obj15?/Obj16?/Obj17?:Clares unknown object
Obj18?/Obj19?/Obj1A?/Obj1B?:Armstrong Walker object
Obj1C?/Obj1D?/Obj1E?/Obj1F?:S Kilvington object
Obj20?/Obj21?/Obj22?/Obj23?:Computer Concepts object
Obj24?/Obj25?/Obj26?/Obj27?:Matrix unknown object
Obj28?/Obj29?/Obj2A?/Obj2B?:iSV unknown object
Obj2C?/Obj2D?/Obj2E?/Obj2F?:Oak unknown object
Obj30?/Obj31?/Obj32?/Obj33?:OMI unknown object
Obj34?/Obj35?/Obj36?/Obj37?:ArcWeb unknown object
Obj38?/Obj39?/Obj3A?/Obj3B?:LM? unknown object
Obj3C?/Obj3D?/Obj3E?/Obj3F?:Kiwi? unknown object
Obj40?/Obj41?/Obj42?/Obj43?:Vantage object

Tag1??:Computer Concepts unknown tag
Tag2??:4Mation unknown tag
Tag3??:Oak unknown tag
Tag4??:Periscope unknown tag
Tag5??:Techsoft unknown tag
Tag6??:Wyddfa unknown tag
Tag7??:Dalriada unknown tag
Tag8??:S Kilvington unknown tag
Tag9??:Longman Logotron unknown tag
TagA??:Computer Concepts unknown tag
TagB??:Clares unknown tag
TagC??:Kudlian unknown tag
TagD??:ArcWeb unknown tag
TagE??:KiwiSoft unknown tag
TagF??:Vantage tag

Hope that helps. (That list is wildcarded)

Do RiscOS 5 & 6 have seperate lists. Good too know about the 16bit doc I found said they were 32. Thanks for the info that was exactly what I was looking for.

There are separate lists, but they are supposed to be synchronised regularly. That does require a degree of generosity, courtesy and cooperation that it appears has not always been achieved.

I’ve been trying to find the email reply from Alan (who did allocations at the time) confirming my request (ipso facto) that objects be documented as 16bit numbers. Both Vector and Vantage already used the top 16 bits for their own purposes by that stage and Alan agreed that 65K object types was probably enough.

As has proven to be the case.

I can’t remember off the top of my head what Vector used them for (object locking?), but Vantage used them to encode metadata such as page number, family (like layers), invisibility etc. The idea is that an application could use those 16bits for its own object marking purposes.

The following link leads me to believe that there may be a png, gif, tiff obj:

http://www.apdl.co.uk/riscworld/volume8/issue2/ro6/index.htm

Although it could be that riscos 6 can convert back & forwards.

TIFF? I bet large amounts of money it doesn’t support many TIFF formats. :-(

GIF? Animated?!

Does nobody have a copy of RO6?

Does nobody have a copy of RO6?

You’re asking that here ?!?!? (^_^)

Does nobody have a copy of RO6?
You’re asking that here ?!?!? (^_^)

It’s a perfectly reasonable question, to which the answer is probably “only a couple of people” rather than “no”

I tend to work on acquiring information before deciding to do something and since ROL were as forthcoming with info as they were (not) I do not have a copy. Current development status means I’m not likely to get one either.

What would be useful is a number of people checking the features of v6 and looking to replicate in 5.1x (or is that 5.xx since 5.2x may be along soon?)

Does anyone know if there is a definitive list of allocated draw file objects,

Only some of such allocations will be ones recognised by the Draw module. There are ones, like text area objects, that have been defined for some time, but which Artworks and Impression Publisher do not handle correctly. Another example is a 256 colour new format sprite embedded in a draw file, which causes Artworks 2.X2 to crash.

I would have thought that all draw file objects recognised by the Draw module, e.g. the new JPEG object added in RISC OS 3.6, should be rendered correctly by any application that accepts Draw files as input.

Although it could be that riscos 6 can convert back & forwards.

It’s been a while since I was a Select subscriber, but I seem to remember that Draw used the ImageFileConvert module to convert any “foreign” files (except JPEG of course) to a Sprite and stored the images as a Sprite object internally.

The RO6 programmers manuals are online at http://select.riscos.com/prm/ but don’t seem to mention Draw files.

The a9home !Paint and !Draw works on my Beagle. The “ImageFileConvert module” not, I mean.

Edit: Works also on my RPi.

I would have thought that all draw file objects recognised by the Draw module, e.g. the new JPEG object added in RISC OS 3.6, should be rendered correctly by any application that accepts Draw files as input.

Computer Concepts in Impression and possible in some of their other programs had their own ‘GDraw’ a DrawFile renderer.

IIRC it used to be faster than Acorn’s and had some other plus points but it also has some Issues! Martin Wuerthner might know more!

Resurrecting this in case anyone has the definitive answer to how many bits the Draw object field actually is.

Looking at Jonathan Marten’s DrawView, which seems to succesfully render Vector & Poster files in addition to plain/compressed Draw, there is

Draw::object type = static_cast<Draw::object>(tag & 0x0000FF); // extract 'draw_tagtyp tag'
int layer = (tag & 0x00FF00)>>8; // extract 'draw_layer layer'
Draw::objflag objflag = static_cast<Draw::objflag>((tag & 0xFF0000)>>16); // extract 'draw_objflags flag'

where tag here is the object type word just read

“Does nobody have a copy of RO6?”

I’m here sometimes, and I use RO 6.20 every day.

Dave

Looking at Jonathan Marten’s DrawView

I’ve still not found the text of the email from Alan confirming my request to truncate the object type to 16bit, but I can confirm that it was dated 8th January 1999:

object%=&FFFF    :REM As agreed with Pineapple 8/1/99

The important point is that whatever Vector did was unofficial (and you can do what you like in your own program), but the “16bit” declaration was official – it had previously been all 32bits.

Note that the !Draw source still refers to the object type as a word. This has been wrong¹ since the start of 1999.

¹ Yeah but… the result of treating it as a word is to ignore objects that have any of the top 16bits set. These (since ‘99) have been reserved for the use of the file owner – indicated in the DrawFile header. Treating the type as 16bit means Draw would recognise the objects even when adorned.

Currently, treating it as a word, such objects will be unrecognised and therefore missing. Ignoring the top 16bits would mean the objects can be recognised, but the visual result may still not be correct – layers may have been intended to be invisible for example; Vantage uses them (indirectly) for page numbers.

As I recall, Vector et al do not use those bits when the file is saved as a plain DrawFile… but I may be wrong about that. Vantage definitely does (that’s why it was officially allocated).