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4Using The TIFF Library
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9<H1>
10<IMG SRC=images/cat.gif WIDTH=113 HEIGHT=146 BORDER=2 ALIGN=left HSPACE=6>
11Using The TIFF Library
12</H1>
13
14<P>
15<TT>libtiff</TT> is a set of C functions (a library) that support
16the manipulation of TIFF image files.
17The library requires an ANSI C compilation environment for building
18and presumes an ANSI C environment for use.
19
20<P>
21<TT>libtiff</TT>
22provides interfaces to image data at several layers of abstraction (and cost).
23At the highest level image data can be read into an 8-bit/sample,
24ABGR pixel raster format without regard for the underlying data organization,
25colorspace, or compression scheme.  Below this high-level interface
26the library provides scanline-, strip-, and tile-oriented interfaces that
27return data decompressed but otherwise untransformed.  These interfaces
28require that the application first identify the organization of stored
29data and select either a strip-based or tile-based API for manipulating
30data.  At the lowest level the library
31provides access to the raw uncompressed strips or tiles,
32returning the data exactly as it appears in the file.
33
34<P>
35The material presented in this chapter is a basic introduction
36to the capabilities of the library; it is not an attempt to describe
37everything a developer needs to know about the library or about TIFF.
38Detailed information on the interfaces to the library are given in
39the <A HREF="http://www.libtiff.org/man/index.html">
40UNIX manual pages</A> that accompany this software.
41
42<P>
43The following sections are found in this chapter:
44
45<UL>
46<LI><A HREF=#Version>How to tell which version you have</A>
47<LI><A HREF=#Typedefs>Library Datatypes</A>
48<LI><A HREF=#Mman>Memory Management</A>
49<LI><A HREF=#Errors>Error Handling</A>
50<LI><A HREF=#FIO>Basic File Handling</A>
51<LI><A HREF=#Dirs>TIFF Directories</A>
52<LI><A HREF=#Tags>TIFF Tags</A>
53<LI><A HREF=#Compression>TIFF Compression Schemes</A>
54<LI><A HREF=#ByteOrder>Byte Order</A>
55<LI><A HREF=#DataPlacement>Data Placement</A>
56<LI><A HREF=#TIFFRGBAImage>TIFFRGBAImage Support</A>
57<LI><A HREF=#Scanlines>Scanline-based Image I/O</A>
58<LI><A HREF=#Strips>Strip-oriented Image I/O</A>
59<LI><A HREF=#Tiles>Tile-oriented Image I/O</A>
60<LI><A HREF=#Other>Other Stuff</A>
61</UL>
62
63
64<A NAME="Version"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>How to tell which version you have</H3></A>
65
66The software version can be found by looking at the file named
67<TT>VERSION</TT>
68that is located at the top of the source tree; the precise alpha number
69is given in the file <TT>dist/tiff.alpha</TT>.
70If you have need to refer to this
71specific software, you should identify it as:
72
73<PRE>
74    TIFF &lt;<I>version</I>&gt; &lt;<I>alpha</I>&gt;
75</PRE>
76
77where &lt;<I>version</I>&gt; is whatever you get from
78<KBD>"cat VERSION"</KBD> and &lt;<I>alpha</I>&gt; is
79what you get from <KBD>"cat dist/tiff.alpha"</KBD>.
80
81<P>
82Within an application that uses <TT>libtiff</TT> the <TT>TIFFGetVersion</TT>
83routine will return a pointer to a string that contains software version
84information.
85The library include file <TT>&lt;tiffio.h&gt;</TT> contains a C pre-processor
86define <TT>TIFFLIB_VERSION</TT> that can be used to check library
87version compatiblity at compile time.
88
89<A NAME="Typedefs"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>Library Datatypes</H3></A>
90
91<TT>libtiff</TT> defines a portable programming interface through the
92use of a set of C type definitions.
93These definitions, defined in in the files <B>tiff.h</B> and
94<B>tiffio.h</B>,
95isolate the <TT>libtiff</TT> API from the characteristics
96of the underlying machine.
97To insure portable code and correct operation, applications that use
98<TT>libtiff</TT> should use the typedefs and follow the function
99prototypes for the library API.
100
101<A NAME="Mman"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>Memory Management</H3></A>
102
103<TT>libtiff</TT> uses a machine-specific set of routines for managing
104dynamically allocated memory.
105<TT>_TIFFmalloc</TT>, <TT>_TIFFrealloc</TT>, and <TT>_TIFFfree</TT>
106mimic the normal ANSI C routines.
107Any dynamically allocated memory that is to be passed into the library
108should be allocated using these interfaces in order to insure pointer
109compatibility on machines with a segmented architecture.
110(On 32-bit UNIX systems these routines just call the normal <TT>malloc</TT>,
111<TT>realloc</TT>, and <TT>free</TT> routines in the C library.)
112
113<P>
114To deal with segmented pointer issues <TT>libtiff</TT> also provides
115<TT>_TIFFmemcpy</TT>, <TT>_TIFFmemset</TT>, and <TT>_TIFFmemmove</TT>
116routines that mimic the equivalent ANSI C routines, but that are
117intended for use with memory allocated through <TT>_TIFFmalloc</TT>
118and <TT>_TIFFrealloc</TT>.
119
120<A NAME="Errors"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>Error Handling</H3></A>
121
122<TT>libtiff</TT> handles most errors by returning an invalid/erroneous
123value when returning from a function call.
124Various diagnostic messages may also be generated by the library.
125All error messages are directed to a single global error handler
126routine that can be specified with a call to <TT>TIFFSetErrorHandler</TT>.
127Likewise warning messages are directed to a single handler routine
128that can be specified with a call to <TT>TIFFSetWarningHandler</TT>
129
130<A NAME="FIO"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>Basic File Handling</H3></A>
131
132The library is modeled after the normal UNIX stdio library.
133For example, to read from an existing TIFF image the
134file must first be opened:
135
136<UL><LISTING>
137#include "tiffio.h"
138main()
139{
140    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("foo.tif", "r");
141    ... do stuff ...
142    TIFFClose(tif);
143}
144</LISTING></UL>
145
146The handle returned by <TT>TIFFOpen</TT> is <I>opaque</I>, that is
147the application is not permitted to know about its contents.
148All subsequent library calls for this file must pass the handle
149as an argument.
150
151<P>
152To create or overwrite a TIFF image the file is also opened, but with
153a <TT>"w"</TT> argument:
154
155<UL><LISTING>
156#include "tiffio.h"
157main()
158{
159    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("foo.tif", "w");
160    ... do stuff ...
161    TIFFClose(tif);
162}
163</LISTING></UL>
164
165If the file already exists it is first truncated to zero length.
166
167<P>
168<IMG SRC=images/warning.gif ALIGN=left HSPACE=6>
169<EM>Note that unlike the stdio library TIFF image files may not be
170opened for both reading and writing;
171there is no support for altering the contents of a TIFF file.
172</EM>
173
174<P>
175<TT>libtiff</TT> buffers much information associated with writing a
176valid TIFF image.  Consequently, when writing a TIFF image it is necessary
177to always call <TT>TIFFClose</TT> or <TT>TIFFFlush</TT> to flush any
178buffered information to a file.  Note that if you call <TT>TIFFClose</TT>
179you do not need to call <TT>TIFFFlush</TT>.
180
181<A NAME="Dirs"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>TIFF Directories</H3></A>
182
183TIFF supports the storage of multiple images in a single file.
184Each image has an associated data structure termed a <I>directory</I>
185that houses all the information about the format and content of the
186image data.
187Images in a file are usually related but they do not need to be; it
188is perfectly alright to store a color image together with a black and
189white image.
190Note however that while images may be related their directories are
191not.
192That is, each directory stands on its own; their is no need to read
193an unrelated directory in order to properly interpret the contents
194of an image.
195
196<P>
197<TT>libtiff</TT> provides several routines for reading and writing
198directories.  In normal use there is no need to explicitly
199read or write a directory: the library automatically reads the first
200directory in a file when opened for reading, and directory information
201to be written is automatically accumulated and written when writing
202(assuming <TT>TIFFClose</TT> or <TT>TIFFFlush</TT> are called).
203
204<P>
205For a file open for reading the <TT>TIFFSetDirectory</TT> routine can
206be used to select an arbitrary directory; directories are referenced by
207number with the numbering starting at 0.  Otherwise the
208<TT>TIFFReadDirectory</TT> and <TT>TIFFWriteDirectory</TT> routines can
209be used for sequential access to directories.
210For example, to count the number of directories in a file the following
211code might be used:
212
213<UL><LISTING>
214#include "tiffio.h"
215main(int argc, char* argv[])
216{
217    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen(argv[1], "r");
218    if (tif) {
219	int dircount = 0;
220	do {
221	    dircount++;
222	} while (TIFFReadDirectory(tif));
223	printf("%d directories in %s\n", dircount, argv[1]);
224	TIFFClose(tif);
225    }
226    exit(0);
227}
228</LISTING></UL>
229
230<P>
231Finally, note that there are several routines for querying the
232directory status of an open file:
233<TT>TIFFCurrentDirectory</TT> returns the index of the current
234directory and
235<TT>TIFFLastDirectory</TT> returns an indication of whether the
236current directory is the last directory in a file.
237There is also a routine, <TT>TIFFPrintDirectory</TT>, that can
238be called to print a formatted description of the contents of
239the current directory; consult the manual page for complete details.
240
241<A NAME="Tags"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>TIFF Tags</H3></A>
242
243Image-related information such as the image width and height, number
244of samples, orientation, colorimetric information, etc.
245are stored in each image
246directory in <I>fields</I> or <I>tags</I>.
247Tags are identified by a number that is usually a value registered
248with the Aldus (now Adobe) Corporation.
249Beware however that some vendors write
250TIFF images with tags that are unregistered; in this case interpreting
251their contents is usually a waste of time.
252
253<P>
254<TT>libtiff</TT> reads the contents of a directory all at once
255and converts the on-disk information to an appropriate in-memory
256form.  While the TIFF specification permits an arbitrary set of
257tags to be defined and used in a file, the library only understands
258a limited set of tags.
259Any unknown tags that are encountered in a file are ignored.
260There is a mechanism to extend the set of tags the library handles
261without modifying the library itself;
262this is described <A HREF=../contrib/tags/README>elsewhere</A>.
263
264<P>
265<TT>libtiff</TT> provides two interfaces for getting and setting tag
266values: <TT>TIFFGetField</TT> and <TT>TIFFSetField</TT>.
267These routines use a variable argument list-style interface to pass
268parameters of different type through a single function interface.
269The <I>get interface</I> takes one or more pointers to memory locations
270where the tag values are to be returned and also returns one or
271zero according to whether the requested tag is defined in the directory.
272The <I>set interface</I> takes the tag values either by-reference or
273by-value.
274The TIFF specification defines
275<I>default values</I> for some tags.
276To get the value of a tag, or its default value if it is undefined,
277the <TT>TIFFGetFieldDefaulted</TT> interface may be used.
278
279<P>
280The manual pages for the tag get and set routines specifiy the exact data types
281and calling conventions required for each tag supported by the library.
282
283<A NAME="Compression"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>TIFF Compression Schemes</H3></A>
284
285<TT>libtiff</TT> includes support for a wide variety of
286data compression schemes.
287In normal operation a compression scheme is automatically used when
288the TIFF <TT>Compression</TT> tag is set, either by opening a file
289for reading, or by setting the tag when writing.
290
291<P>
292Compression schemes are implemented by software modules termed <I>codecs</I>
293that implement decoder and encoder routines that hook into the
294core library i/o support.
295Codecs other than those bundled with the library can be registered
296for use with the <TT>TIFFRegisterCODEC</TT> routine.
297This interface can also be used to override the core-library
298implementation for a compression scheme.
299
300<A NAME="ByteOrder"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>Byte Order</H3></A>
301
302The TIFF specification says, and has always said, that
303<EM>a correct TIFF
304reader must handle images in big-endian and little-endian byte order</EM>.
305<TT>libtiff</TT> conforms in this respect.
306Consequently there is no means to force a specific
307byte order for the data written to a TIFF image file (data is
308written in the native order of the host CPU unless appending to
309an existing file, in which case it is written in the byte order
310specified in the file).
311
312
313<A NAME="DataPlacement"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>Data Placement</H3></A>
314
315The TIFF specification requires that all information except an
3168-byte header can be placed anywhere in a file.
317In particular, it is perfectly legitimate for directory information
318to be written after the image data itself.
319Consequently TIFF is inherently not suitable for passing through a
320stream-oriented mechanism such as UNIX pipes.
321Software that require that data be organized in a file in a particular
322order (e.g. directory information before image data) does not
323correctly support TIFF.
324<TT>libtiff</TT> provides no mechanism for controlling the placement
325of data in a file; image data is typically written before directory
326information.
327
328<A NAME="TIFFRGBAImage"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>TIFFRGBAImage Support</H3></A>
329
330<TT>libtiff</TT> provides a high-level interface for reading image
331data from a TIFF file.  This interface handles the details of
332data organization and format for a wide variety of TIFF files;
333at least the large majority of those files that one would normally
334encounter.  Image data is, by default, returned as ABGR
335pixels packed into 32-bit words (8 bits per sample).  Rectangular
336rasters can be read or data can be intercepted at an intermediate
337level and packed into memory in a format more suitable to the
338application.
339The library handles all the details of the format of data stored on
340disk and, in most cases, if any colorspace conversions are required:
341bilevel to RGB, greyscale to RGB, CMYK to RGB, YCbCr to RGB, 16-bit
342samples to 8-bit samples, associated/unassociated alpha, etc.
343
344<P>
345There are two ways to read image data using this interface.  If
346all the data is to be stored in memory and manipulated at once,
347then the routine <TT>TIFFReadRGBAImage</TT> can be used:
348
349<UL><LISTING>
350#include "tiffio.h"
351main(int argc, char* argv[])
352{
353    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen(argv[1], "r");
354    if (tif) {
355	uint32 w, h;
356	size_t npixels;
357	uint32* raster;
358
359	TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGEWIDTH, &w);
360	TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGELENGTH, &h);
361	npixels = w * h;
362	raster = (uint32*) _TIFFmalloc(npixels * sizeof (uint32));
363	if (raster != NULL) {
364	    if (TIFFReadRGBAImage(tif, w, h, raster, 0)) {
365		...process raster data...
366	    }
367	    _TIFFfree(raster);
368	}
369	TIFFClose(tif);
370    }
371    exit(0);
372}
373</LISTING></UL>
374
375Note above that <TT>_TIFFmalloc</TT> is used to allocate memory for
376the raster passed to <TT>TIFFReadRGBAImage</TT>; this is important
377to insure the ``appropriate type of memory'' is passed on machines
378with segmented architectures.
379
380<P>
381Alternatively, <TT>TIFFReadRGBAImage</TT> can be replaced with a
382more low-level interface that permits an application to have more
383control over this reading procedure.  The equivalent to the above
384is:
385
386<UL><LISTING>
387#include "tiffio.h"
388main(int argc, char* argv[])
389{
390    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen(argv[1], "r");
391    if (tif) {
392	TIFFRGBAImage img;
393	char emsg[1024];
394
395	if (TIFFRGBAImageBegin(&img, tif, 0, emsg)) {
396	    size_t npixels;
397	    uint32* raster;
398
399	    npixels = img.width * img.height;
400	    raster = (uint32*) _TIFFmalloc(npixels * sizeof (uint32));
401	    if (raster != NULL) {
402		if (TIFFRGBAImageGet(&img, raster, img.width, img.height)) {
403		    ...process raster data...
404		}
405		_TIFFfree(raster);
406	    }
407	    TIFFRGBAImageEnd(&img);
408	} else
409	    TIFFError(argv[1], emsg);
410	TIFFClose(tif);
411    }
412    exit(0);
413}
414</LISTING></UL>
415
416However this usage does not take advantage of the more fine-grained
417control that's possible.  That is, by using this interface it is
418possible to:
419
420<UL>
421<LI>repeatedly fetch (and manipulate) an image without opening
422   and closing the file
423<LI>interpose a method for packing raster pixel data according to
424   application-specific needs (or write the data at all)
425<LI>interpose methods that handle TIFF formats that are not already
426   handled by the core library
427</UL>
428
429The first item means that, for example, image viewers that want to
430handle multiple files can cache decoding information in order to
431speedup the work required to display a TIFF image.
432
433<P>
434The second item is the main reason for this interface.  By interposing
435a ``put method'' (the routine that is called to pack pixel data in
436the raster) it is possible share the core logic that understands how
437to deal with TIFF while packing the resultant pixels in a format that
438is optimized for the application.  This alternate format might be very
439different than the 8-bit per sample ABGR format the library writes by
440default.  For example, if the application is going to display the image
441on an 8-bit colormap display the put routine might take the data and
442convert it on-the-fly to the best colormap indices for display.
443
444<P>
445The last item permits an application to extend the library
446without modifying the core code.
447By overriding the code provided an application might add support
448for some esoteric flavor of TIFF that it needs, or it might
449substitute a packing routine that is able to do optimizations
450using application/environment-specific information.
451
452<P>
453The TIFF image viewer found in <B>tools/sgigt.c</B> is an example
454of an application that makes use of the <TT>TIFFRGBAImage</TT>
455support.
456
457<A NAME="Scanlines"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>Scanline-based Image I/O</H3></A>
458
459The simplest interface provided by <TT>libtiff</TT> is a
460scanline-oriented interface that can be used to read TIFF
461images that have their image data organized in strips
462(trying to use this interface to read data written in tiles
463will produce errors.)
464A scanline is a one pixel high row of image data whose width
465is the width of the image.
466Data is returned packed if the image data is stored with samples
467packed together, or as arrays of separate samples if the data
468is stored with samples separated.
469The major limitation of the scanline-oriented interface, other
470than the need to first identify an existing file as having a
471suitable organization, is that random access to individual
472scanlines can only be provided when data is not stored in a
473compressed format, or when the number of rows in a strip
474of image data is set to one (<TT>RowsPerStrip</TT> is one).
475
476<P>
477Two routines are provided for scanline-based i/o:
478<TT>TIFFReadScanline</TT>
479and
480<TT>TIFFWriteScanline</TT>.
481For example, to read the contents of a file that
482is assumed to be organized in strips, the following might be used:
483
484<UL><LISTING>
485#include "tiffio.h"
486main()
487{
488    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
489    if (tif) {
490	uint32 imagelength;
491	tdata_t buf;
492	uint32 row;
493
494	TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGELENGTH, &imagelength);
495	buf = _TIFFmalloc(TIFFScanlineSize(tif));
496	for (row = 0; row < imagelength; row++)
497	    TIFFReadScanline(tif, buf, row);
498	_TIFFfree(buf);
499	TIFFClose(tif);
500    }
501}
502</LISTING></UL>
503
504<TT>TIFFScanlineSize</TT> returns the number of bytes in
505a decoded scanline, as returned by <TT>TIFFReadScanline</TT>.
506Note however that if the file had been create with samples
507written in separate planes, then the above code would only
508read data that contained the first sample of each pixel;
509to handle either case one might use the following instead:
510
511<UL><LISTING>
512#include "tiffio.h"
513main()
514{
515    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
516    if (tif) {
517	uint32 imagelength;
518	tdata_t buf;
519	uint32 row;
520
521	TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGELENGTH, &imagelength);
522	TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_PLANARCONFIG, &config);
523	buf = _TIFFmalloc(TIFFScanlineSize(tif));
524	if (config == PLANARCONFIG_CONTIG) {
525	    for (row = 0; row < imagelength; row++)
526		TIFFReadScanline(tif, buf, row);
527	} else if (config == PLANARCONFIG_SEPARATE) {
528	    uint16 s, nsamples;
529
530	    TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_SAMPLESPERPIXEL, &nsamples);
531	    for (s = 0; s < nsamples; s++)
532		for (row = 0; row < imagelength; row++)
533		    TIFFReadScanline(tif, buf, row, s);
534	}
535	_TIFFfree(buf);
536	TIFFClose(tif);
537    }
538}
539</LISTING></UL>
540
541Beware however that if the following code were used instead to
542read data in the case <TT>PLANARCONFIG_SEPARATE</TT>,
543
544<UL><LISTING>
545	    for (row = 0; row < imagelength; row++)
546		for (s = 0; s < nsamples; s++)
547		    TIFFReadScanline(tif, buf, row, s);
548</LISTING></UL>
549
550then problems would arise if <TT>RowsPerStrip</TT> was not one
551because the order in which scanlines are requested would require
552random access to data within strips (something that is not supported
553by the library when strips are compressed).
554
555<A NAME="Strips"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>Strip-oriented Image I/O</H3></A>
556
557The strip-oriented interfaces provided by the library provide
558access to entire strips of data.  Unlike the scanline-oriented
559calls, data can be read or written compressed or uncompressed.
560Accessing data at a strip (or tile) level is often desirable
561because there are no complications with regard to random access
562to data within strips.
563
564<P>
565A simple example of reading an image by strips is:
566
567<UL><LISTING>
568#include "tiffio.h"
569main()
570{
571    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
572    if (tif) {
573	tdata_t buf;
574	tstrip_t strip;
575
576	buf = _TIFFmalloc(TIFFStripSize(tif));
577	for (strip = 0; strip < TIFFNumberOfStrips(tif); strip++)
578		TIFFReadEncodedStrip(tif, strip, buf, (tsize_t) -1);
579	_TIFFfree(buf);
580	TIFFClose(tif);
581    }
582}
583</LISTING></UL>
584
585Notice how a strip size of <TT>-1</TT> is used; <TT>TIFFReadEncodedStrip</TT>
586will calculate the appropriate size in this case.
587
588<P>
589The above code reads strips in the order in which the
590data is physically stored in the file.  If multiple samples
591are present and data is stored with <TT>PLANARCONFIG_SEPARATE</TT>
592then all the strips of data holding the first sample will be
593read, followed by strips for the second sample, etc.
594
595<P>
596Finally, note that the last strip of data in an image may have fewer
597rows in it than specified by the <TT>RowsPerStrip</TT> tag.  A
598reader should not assume that each decoded strip contains a full
599set of rows in it.
600
601<P>
602The following is an example of how to read raw strips of data from
603a file:
604
605<UL><LISTING>
606#include "tiffio.h"
607main()
608{
609    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
610    if (tif) {
611	tdata_t buf;
612	tstrip_t strip;
613	uint32* bc;
614	uint32 stripsize;
615
616	TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_STRIPBYTECOUNTS, &bc);
617	stripsize = bc[0];
618	buf = _TIFFmalloc(stripsize);
619	for (strip = 0; strip < TIFFNumberOfStrips(tif); strip++) {
620		if (bc[strip] > stripsize) {
621			buf = _TIFFrealloc(buf, bc[strip]);
622			stripsize = bc[strip];
623		}
624		TIFFReadRawStrip(tif, strip, buf, bc[strip]);
625	}
626	_TIFFfree(buf);
627	TIFFClose(tif);
628    }
629}
630</LISTING></UL>
631
632As above the strips are read in the order in which they are
633physically stored in the file; this may be different from the
634logical ordering expected by an application.
635
636<A NAME="Tiles"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>Tile-oriented Image I/O</H3></A>
637
638Tiles of data may be read and written in a manner similar to strips.
639With this interface, an image is
640broken up into a set of rectangular areas that may have dimensions
641less than the image width and height.  All the tiles
642in an image have the same size, and the tile width and length must each
643be a multiple of 16 pixels.  Tiles are ordered left-to-right and
644top-to-bottom in an image.  As for scanlines, samples can be packed
645contiguously or separately.  When separated, all the tiles for a sample
646are colocated in the file.  That is, all the tiles for sample 0 appear
647before the tiles for sample 1, etc.
648
649<P>
650Tiles and strips may also be extended in a z dimension to form
651volumes.  Data volumes are organized as "slices".  That is, all the
652data for a slice is colocated.  Volumes whose data is organized in
653tiles can also have a tile depth so that data can be organized in
654cubes.
655
656<P>
657There are actually two interfaces for tiles.
658One interface is similar to scanlines,  to read a tiled image,
659code of the following sort might be used:
660
661<UL><LISTING>
662main()
663{
664    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
665    if (tif) {
666	uint32 imageWidth, imageLength;
667	uint32 tileWidth, tileLength;
668	uint32 x, y;
669	tdata_t buf;
670
671	TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGEWIDTH, &imageWidth);
672	TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGELENGTH, &imageLength);
673	TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_TILEWIDTH, &tileWidth);
674	TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_TILELENGTH, &tileLength);
675	buf = _TIFFmalloc(TIFFTileSize(tif));
676	for (y = 0; y < imageLength; y += tileLength)
677	    for (x = 0; x < imageWidth; x += tileWidth)
678		TIFFReadTile(tif, buf, x, y, 0);
679	_TIFFfree(buf);
680	TIFFClose(tif);
681    }
682}
683</LISTING></UL>
684
685(once again, we assume samples are packed contiguously.)
686
687<P>
688Alternatively a direct interface to the low-level data is provided
689a la strips.  Tiles can be read with
690<TT>TIFFReadEncodedTile</TT> or
691<TT>TIFFReadRawTile</TT>,
692and written with
693<TT>TIFFWriteEncodedTile</TT> or
694<TT>TIFFWriteRawTile</TT>.
695For example, to read all the tiles in an image:
696
697<UL><LISTING>
698#include "tiffio.h"
699main()
700{
701    TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
702    if (tif) {
703	tdata_t buf;
704	ttile_t tile;
705
706	buf = _TIFFmalloc(TIFFTileSize(tif));
707	for (tile = 0; tile < TIFFNumberOfTiles(tif); tile++)
708		TIFFReadEncodedTile(tif, tile, buf, (tsize_t) -1);
709	_TIFFfree(buf);
710	TIFFClose(tif);
711    }
712}
713</LISTING></UL>
714
715
716
717<A NAME="Other"><P><HR WIDTH=65% ALIGN=right><H3>Other Stuff</H3></A>
718
719<P>
720<I>Some other stuff will almost certainly go here...</I>
721
722<P>
723<HR>
724
725Last updated: $Date: 2001-01-07 19:10:29 $
726
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