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  18         <h1>Using The TIFF Library
</h1> 
  20           <tt>libtiff
</tt> is a set of C functions (a library) that support
 
  21           the manipulation of TIFF image files.
 
  22           The library requires an ANSI C compilation environment for building
 
  23           and presumes an ANSI C environment for use.
 
  31     provides interfaces to image data at several layers of abstraction (and cost).
 
  32     At the highest level image data can be read into an 
8-bit/sample,
 
  33     ABGR pixel raster format without regard for the underlying data organization,
 
  34     colorspace, or compression scheme.  Below this high-level interface
 
  35     the library provides scanline-, strip-, and tile-oriented interfaces that
 
  36     return data decompressed but otherwise untransformed.  These interfaces
 
  37     require that the application first identify the organization of stored
 
  38     data and select either a strip-based or tile-based API for manipulating
 
  39     data.  At the lowest level the library
 
  40     provides access to the raw uncompressed strips or tiles,
 
  41     returning the data exactly as it appears in the file.
 
  44     The material presented in this chapter is a basic introduction
 
  45     to the capabilities of the library; it is not an attempt to describe
 
  46     everything a developer needs to know about the library or about TIFF.
 
  47     Detailed information on the interfaces to the library are given in
 
  48     the 
<a href=
"http://www.remotesensing.org/libtiff/man/index.html">UNIX 
 
  49     manual pages
</a> that accompany this software.
 
  52     Michael Still has also written a useful introduction to libtiff for the
 
  53     IBM DeveloperWorks site available at
 
  54     <a href=
"http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-libtiff">http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-libtiff
</a>.
 
  57     The following sections are found in this chapter:
 
  60     <li><a href=
"#version">How to tell which version you have
</a></li> 
  61     <li><a href=
"#typedefs">Library Datatypes
</a></li> 
  62     <li><a href=
"#mman">Memory Management
</a></li> 
  63     <li><a href=
"#errors">Error Handling
</a></li> 
  64     <li><a href=
"#fio">Basic File Handling
</a></li> 
  65     <li><a href=
"#dirs">TIFF Directories
</a></li> 
  66     <li><a href=
"#tags">TIFF Tags
</a></li> 
  67     <li><a href=
"#compression">TIFF Compression Schemes
</a></li> 
  68     <li><a href=
"#byteorder">Byte Order
</a></li> 
  69     <li><a href=
"#dataplacement">Data Placement
</a></li> 
  70     <li><a href=
"#tiffrgbaimage">TIFFRGBAImage Support
</a></li> 
  71     <li><a href=
"#scanlines">Scanline-based Image I/O
</a></li> 
  72     <li><a href=
"#strips">Strip-oriented Image I/O
</a></li> 
  73     <li><a href=
"#tiles">Tile-oriented Image I/O
</a></li> 
  74     <li><a href=
"#other">Other Stuff
</a></li> 
  77   <h2 id=
"version">How to tell which version you have
</h2> 
  79     The software version can be found by looking at the file named
 
  81     that is located at the top of the source tree; the precise alpha number
 
  82     is given in the file 
<tt>dist/tiff.alpha
</tt>.
 
  83     If you have need to refer to this
 
  84     specific software, you should identify it as:
 
  86   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
  87     <tt>TIFF 
<<i>version
</i>> <<i>alpha
</i>></tt> 
  90     where 
<tt><<i>version
</i>></tt> is whatever you get from
 
  91     <tt>"cat VERSION"</tt> and 
<tt><<i>alpha
</i>></tt> is
 
  92     what you get from 
<tt>"cat dist/tiff.alpha"</tt>.
 
  95     Within an application that uses 
<tt>libtiff
</tt> the 
<tt>TIFFGetVersion
</tt> 
  96     routine will return a pointer to a string that contains software version
 
  98     The library include file 
<tt><tiffio.h
></tt> contains a C pre-processor
 
  99     define 
<tt>TIFFLIB_VERSION
</tt> that can be used to check library
 
 100     version compatiblity at compile time.
 
 103   <h2 id=
"typedefs">Library Datatypes
</h2> 
 105     <tt>libtiff
</tt> defines a portable programming interface through the
 
 106     use of a set of C type definitions.
 
 107     These definitions, defined in in the files 
<b>tiff.h
</b> and
 
 109     isolate the 
<tt>libtiff
</tt> API from the characteristics
 
 110     of the underlying machine.
 
 111     To insure portable code and correct operation, applications that use
 
 112     <tt>libtiff
</tt> should use the typedefs and follow the function
 
 113     prototypes for the library API.
 
 116   <h2 id=
"mman">Memory Management
</h2> 
 118     <tt>libtiff
</tt> uses a machine-specific set of routines for managing
 
 119     dynamically allocated memory.
 
 120     <tt>_TIFFmalloc
</tt>, 
<tt>_TIFFrealloc
</tt>, and 
<tt>_TIFFfree
</tt> 
 121     mimic the normal ANSI C routines.
 
 122     Any dynamically allocated memory that is to be passed into the library
 
 123     should be allocated using these interfaces in order to insure pointer
 
 124     compatibility on machines with a segmented architecture.
 
 125     (On 
32-bit UNIX systems these routines just call the normal 
<tt>malloc
</tt>,
 
 126     <tt>realloc
</tt>, and 
<tt>free
</tt> routines in the C library.)
 
 129     To deal with segmented pointer issues 
<tt>libtiff
</tt> also provides
 
 130     <tt>_TIFFmemcpy
</tt>, 
<tt>_TIFFmemset
</tt>, and 
<tt>_TIFFmemmove
</tt> 
 131     routines that mimic the equivalent ANSI C routines, but that are
 
 132     intended for use with memory allocated through 
<tt>_TIFFmalloc
</tt> 
 133     and 
<tt>_TIFFrealloc
</tt>.
 
 136   <h2 id=
"errors">Error Handling
</h2> 
 138     <tt>libtiff
</tt> handles most errors by returning an invalid/erroneous
 
 139     value when returning from a function call.
 
 140     Various diagnostic messages may also be generated by the library.
 
 141     All error messages are directed to a single global error handler
 
 142     routine that can be specified with a call to 
<tt>TIFFSetErrorHandler
</tt>.
 
 143     Likewise warning messages are directed to a single handler routine
 
 144     that can be specified with a call to 
<tt>TIFFSetWarningHandler
</tt> 
 147   <h2 id=
"fio">Basic File Handling
</h2> 
 149     The library is modeled after the normal UNIX stdio library.
 
 150     For example, to read from an existing TIFF image the
 
 151     file must first be opened:
 
 153   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 154     <tt>#include "tiffio.h"
<br> 
 157         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("foo.tif", "r");
<br> 
 158         ... do stuff ...
<br> 
 159         TIFFClose(tif);
<br> 
 163     The handle returned by 
<tt>TIFFOpen
</tt> is 
<i>opaque
</i>, that is
 
 164     the application is not permitted to know about its contents.
 
 165     All subsequent library calls for this file must pass the handle
 
 169     To create or overwrite a TIFF image the file is also opened, but with
 
 170     a 
<tt>"w"</tt> argument:
 
 172   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 173     <tt>#include "tiffio.h"
<br> 
 176         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("foo.tif", "w");
<br> 
 177         ... do stuff ...
<br> 
 178         TIFFClose(tif);
<br> 
 182     If the file already exists it is first truncated to zero length.
 
 186       <td valign=top
><img src=
"images/warning.gif" width=
"40" height=
"40" alt=
""></td> 
 187       <td><i>Note that unlike the stdio library TIFF image files may not be
 
 188         opened for both reading and writing;
 
 189         there is no support for altering the contents of a TIFF file.
</i></td> 
 193     <tt>libtiff
</tt> buffers much information associated with writing a
 
 194     valid TIFF image.  Consequently, when writing a TIFF image it is necessary
 
 195     to always call 
<tt>TIFFClose
</tt> or 
<tt>TIFFFlush
</tt> to flush any
 
 196     buffered information to a file.  Note that if you call 
<tt>TIFFClose
</tt> 
 197     you do not need to call 
<tt>TIFFFlush
</tt>.
 
 200   <h2 id=
"dirs">TIFF Directories
</h2> 
 202     TIFF supports the storage of multiple images in a single file.
 
 203     Each image has an associated data structure termed a 
<i>directory
</i> 
 204     that houses all the information about the format and content of the
 
 206     Images in a file are usually related but they do not need to be; it
 
 207     is perfectly alright to store a color image together with a black and
 
 209     Note however that while images may be related their directories are
 
 211     That is, each directory stands on its own; their is no need to read
 
 212     an unrelated directory in order to properly interpret the contents
 
 216     <tt>libtiff
</tt> provides several routines for reading and writing
 
 217     directories.  In normal use there is no need to explicitly
 
 218     read or write a directory: the library automatically reads the first
 
 219     directory in a file when opened for reading, and directory information
 
 220     to be written is automatically accumulated and written when writing
 
 221     (assuming 
<tt>TIFFClose
</tt> or 
<tt>TIFFFlush
</tt> are called).
 
 224     For a file open for reading the 
<tt>TIFFSetDirectory
</tt> routine can
 
 225     be used to select an arbitrary directory; directories are referenced by
 
 226     number with the numbering starting at 
0.  Otherwise the
 
 227     <tt>TIFFReadDirectory
</tt> and 
<tt>TIFFWriteDirectory
</tt> routines can
 
 228     be used for sequential access to directories.
 
 229     For example, to count the number of directories in a file the following
 
 232   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 233     <tt>#include "tiffio.h"
<br> 
 234     main(int argc, char* argv[])
<br> 
 236         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen(argv[
1], "r");
<br> 
 237         if (tif) {
<br> 
 238             int dircount = 
0;
<br> 
 239             do {
<br> 
 240                 dircount++;
<br> 
 241             } while (TIFFReadDirectory(tif));
<br> 
 242             printf("%d directories in %s\n", dircount, argv[
1]);
<br> 
 243             TIFFClose(tif);
<br> 
 244         }
<br> 
 245         exit(
0);
<br> 
 249     Finally, note that there are several routines for querying the
 
 250     directory status of an open file:
 
 251     <tt>TIFFCurrentDirectory
</tt> returns the index of the current
 
 253     <tt>TIFFLastDirectory
</tt> returns an indication of whether the
 
 254     current directory is the last directory in a file.
 
 255     There is also a routine, 
<tt>TIFFPrintDirectory
</tt>, that can
 
 256     be called to print a formatted description of the contents of
 
 257     the current directory; consult the manual page for complete details.
 
 260   <h2 id=
"tags">TIFF Tags
</h2> 
 262     Image-related information such as the image width and height, number
 
 263     of samples, orientation, colorimetric information, etc.
 
 264     are stored in each image
 
 265     directory in 
<i>fields
</i> or 
<i>tags
</i>.
 
 266     Tags are identified by a number that is usually a value registered
 
 267     with the Aldus (now Adobe) Corporation.
 
 268     Beware however that some vendors write
 
 269     TIFF images with tags that are unregistered; in this case interpreting
 
 270     their contents is usually a waste of time.
 
 273     <tt>libtiff
</tt> reads the contents of a directory all at once
 
 274     and converts the on-disk information to an appropriate in-memory
 
 275     form.  While the TIFF specification permits an arbitrary set of
 
 276     tags to be defined and used in a file, the library only understands
 
 277     a limited set of tags.
 
 278     Any unknown tags that are encountered in a file are ignored.
 
 279     There is a mechanism to extend the set of tags the library handles
 
 280     without modifying the library itself;
 
 281     this is described 
<a href=
"addingtags.html">elsewhere
</a>.
 
 284     <tt>libtiff
</tt> provides two interfaces for getting and setting tag
 
 285     values: 
<tt>TIFFGetField
</tt> and 
<tt>TIFFSetField
</tt>.
 
 286     These routines use a variable argument list-style interface to pass
 
 287     parameters of different type through a single function interface.
 
 288     The 
<i>get interface
</i> takes one or more pointers to memory locations
 
 289     where the tag values are to be returned and also returns one or
 
 290     zero according to whether the requested tag is defined in the directory.
 
 291     The 
<i>set interface
</i> takes the tag values either by-reference or
 
 293     The TIFF specification defines
 
 294     <i>default values
</i> for some tags.
 
 295     To get the value of a tag, or its default value if it is undefined,
 
 296     the 
<tt>TIFFGetFieldDefaulted
</tt> interface may be used.
 
 299     The manual pages for the tag get and set routines specifiy the exact data types
 
 300     and calling conventions required for each tag supported by the library.
 
 303   <h2 id=
"compression">TIFF Compression Schemes
</h2> 
 305     <tt>libtiff
</tt> includes support for a wide variety of
 
 306     data compression schemes.
 
 307     In normal operation a compression scheme is automatically used when
 
 308     the TIFF 
<tt>Compression
</tt> tag is set, either by opening a file
 
 309     for reading, or by setting the tag when writing.
 
 312     Compression schemes are implemented by software modules termed 
<i>codecs
</i> 
 313     that implement decoder and encoder routines that hook into the
 
 314     core library i/o support.
 
 315     Codecs other than those bundled with the library can be registered
 
 316     for use with the 
<tt>TIFFRegisterCODEC
</tt> routine.
 
 317     This interface can also be used to override the core-library
 
 318     implementation for a compression scheme.
 
 321   <h2 id=
"byteorder">Byte Order
</h2> 
 323     The TIFF specification says, and has always said, that
 
 325     reader must handle images in big-endian and little-endian byte order
</em>.
 
 326     <tt>libtiff
</tt> conforms in this respect.
 
 327     Consequently there is no means to force a specific
 
 328     byte order for the data written to a TIFF image file (data is
 
 329     written in the native order of the host CPU unless appending to
 
 330     an existing file, in which case it is written in the byte order
 
 331     specified in the file).
 
 334   <h2 id=
"dataplacement">Data Placement
</h2> 
 336     The TIFF specification requires that all information except an
 
 337     8-byte header can be placed anywhere in a file.
 
 338     In particular, it is perfectly legitimate for directory information
 
 339     to be written after the image data itself.
 
 340     Consequently TIFF is inherently not suitable for passing through a
 
 341     stream-oriented mechanism such as UNIX pipes.
 
 342     Software that require that data be organized in a file in a particular
 
 343     order (e.g. directory information before image data) does not
 
 344     correctly support TIFF.
 
 345     <tt>libtiff
</tt> provides no mechanism for controlling the placement
 
 346     of data in a file; image data is typically written before directory
 
 350   <h2 id=
"tiffrgbaimage">TIFFRGBAImage Support
</h2> 
 352     <tt>libtiff
</tt> provides a high-level interface for reading image
 
 353     data from a TIFF file.  This interface handles the details of
 
 354     data organization and format for a wide variety of TIFF files;
 
 355     at least the large majority of those files that one would normally
 
 356     encounter.  Image data is, by default, returned as ABGR
 
 357     pixels packed into 
32-bit words (
8 bits per sample).  Rectangular
 
 358     rasters can be read or data can be intercepted at an intermediate
 
 359     level and packed into memory in a format more suitable to the
 
 361     The library handles all the details of the format of data stored on
 
 362     disk and, in most cases, if any colorspace conversions are required:
 
 363     bilevel to RGB, greyscale to RGB, CMYK to RGB, YCbCr to RGB, 
16-bit
 
 364     samples to 
8-bit samples, associated/unassociated alpha, etc.
 
 367     There are two ways to read image data using this interface.  If
 
 368     all the data is to be stored in memory and manipulated at once,
 
 369     then the routine 
<tt>TIFFReadRGBAImage
</tt> can be used:
 
 372   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 373     <tt>#include "tiffio.h"
<br> 
 374     main(int argc, char* argv[])
<br> 
 376         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen(argv[
1], "r");
<br> 
 377         if (tif) {
<br> 
 378             uint32 w, h;
<br> 
 379             size_t npixels;
<br> 
 380             uint32* raster;
<br> 
 381             <br> 
 382             TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGEWIDTH, 
&w);
<br> 
 383             TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGELENGTH, 
&h);
<br> 
 384             npixels = w * h;
<br> 
 385             raster = (uint32*) _TIFFmalloc(npixels * sizeof (uint32));
<br> 
 386             if (raster != NULL) {
<br> 
 387                 if (TIFFReadRGBAImage(tif, w, h, raster, 
0)) {
<br> 
 388                     ...process raster data...
<br> 
 389                 }
<br> 
 390                 _TIFFfree(raster);
<br> 
 391             }
<br> 
 392             TIFFClose(tif);
<br> 
 393         }
<br> 
 394         exit(
0);
<br> 
 398     Note above that 
<tt>_TIFFmalloc
</tt> is used to allocate memory for
 
 399     the raster passed to 
<tt>TIFFReadRGBAImage
</tt>; this is important
 
 400     to insure the ``appropriate type of memory'' is passed on machines
 
 401     with segmented architectures.
 
 404     Alternatively, 
<tt>TIFFReadRGBAImage
</tt> can be replaced with a
 
 405     more low-level interface that permits an application to have more
 
 406     control over this reading procedure.  The equivalent to the above
 
 409   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 410     <tt>#include "tiffio.h"
<br> 
 411     main(int argc, char* argv[])
<br> 
 413         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen(argv[
1], "r");
<br> 
 414         if (tif) {
<br> 
 415             TIFFRGBAImage img;
<br> 
 416             char emsg[
1024];
<br> 
 417             <br> 
 418             if (TIFFRGBAImageBegin(
&img, tif, 
0, emsg)) {
<br> 
 419                 size_t npixels;
<br> 
 420                 uint32* raster;
<br> 
 421                 <br> 
 422                 npixels = img.width * img.height;
<br> 
 423                 raster = (uint32*) _TIFFmalloc(npixels * sizeof (uint32));
<br> 
 424                 if (raster != NULL) {
<br> 
 425                     if (TIFFRGBAImageGet(
&img, raster, img.width, img.height)) {
<br> 
 426                         ...process raster data...
<br> 
 427                     }
<br> 
 428                     _TIFFfree(raster);
<br> 
 429                 }
<br> 
 430                 TIFFRGBAImageEnd(
&img);
<br> 
 431             } else
<br> 
 432                 TIFFError(argv[
1], emsg);
<br> 
 433             TIFFClose(tif);
<br> 
 434         }
<br> 
 435         exit(
0);
<br> 
 439     However this usage does not take advantage of the more fine-grained
 
 440     control that's possible.  That is, by using this interface it is
 
 444     <li>repeatedly fetch (and manipulate) an image without opening
 
 445       and closing the file
</li> 
 446     <li>interpose a method for packing raster pixel data according to
 
 447       application-specific needs (or write the data at all)
</li> 
 448     <li>interpose methods that handle TIFF formats that are not already
 
 449       handled by the core library
</li> 
 452     The first item means that, for example, image viewers that want to
 
 453     handle multiple files can cache decoding information in order to
 
 454     speedup the work required to display a TIFF image.
 
 457     The second item is the main reason for this interface.  By interposing
 
 458     a "put method" (the routine that is called to pack pixel data in
 
 459     the raster) it is possible share the core logic that understands how
 
 460     to deal with TIFF while packing the resultant pixels in a format that
 
 461     is optimized for the application.  This alternate format might be very
 
 462     different than the 
8-bit per sample ABGR format the library writes by
 
 463     default.  For example, if the application is going to display the image
 
 464     on an 
8-bit colormap display the put routine might take the data and
 
 465     convert it on-the-fly to the best colormap indices for display.
 
 468     The last item permits an application to extend the library
 
 469     without modifying the core code.
 
 470     By overriding the code provided an application might add support
 
 471     for some esoteric flavor of TIFF that it needs, or it might
 
 472     substitute a packing routine that is able to do optimizations
 
 473     using application/environment-specific information.
 
 476     The TIFF image viewer found in 
<b>tools/sgigt.c
</b> is an example
 
 477     of an application that makes use of the 
<tt>TIFFRGBAImage
</tt> 
 481   <h2 id=
"scanlines">Scanline-based Image I/O
</h2> 
 483     The simplest interface provided by 
<tt>libtiff
</tt> is a
 
 484     scanline-oriented interface that can be used to read TIFF
 
 485     images that have their image data organized in strips
 
 486     (trying to use this interface to read data written in tiles
 
 487     will produce errors.)
 
 488     A scanline is a one pixel high row of image data whose width
 
 489     is the width of the image.
 
 490     Data is returned packed if the image data is stored with samples
 
 491     packed together, or as arrays of separate samples if the data
 
 492     is stored with samples separated.
 
 493     The major limitation of the scanline-oriented interface, other
 
 494     than the need to first identify an existing file as having a
 
 495     suitable organization, is that random access to individual
 
 496     scanlines can only be provided when data is not stored in a
 
 497     compressed format, or when the number of rows in a strip
 
 498     of image data is set to one (
<tt>RowsPerStrip
</tt> is one).
 
 501     Two routines are provided for scanline-based i/o:
 
 502     <tt>TIFFReadScanline
</tt> 
 504     <tt>TIFFWriteScanline
</tt>.
 
 505     For example, to read the contents of a file that
 
 506     is assumed to be organized in strips, the following might be used:
 
 508   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 509     <tt>#include "tiffio.h"
<br> 
 512         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
<br> 
 513         if (tif) {
<br> 
 514             uint32 imagelength;
<br> 
 515             tdata_t buf;
<br> 
 516             uint32 row;
<br> 
 517             <br> 
 518             TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGELENGTH, 
&imagelength);
<br> 
 519             buf = _TIFFmalloc(TIFFScanlineSize(tif));
<br> 
 520             for (row = 
0; row 
< imagelength; row++)
<br> 
 521                 tiffreadscanline(tif, buf, row);
<br> 
 522             _tifffree(buf);
<br> 
 523             tiffclose(tif);
<br> 
 524         }
<br> 
 528     <tt>TIFFScanlineSize
</tt> returns the number of bytes in
 
 529     a decoded scanline, as returned by 
<tt>TIFFReadScanline
</tt>.
 
 530     Note however that if the file had been create with samples
 
 531     written in separate planes, then the above code would only
 
 532     read data that contained the first sample of each pixel;
 
 533     to handle either case one might use the following instead:
 
 535   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 536     <tt>#include "tiffio.h"
<br> 
 539         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
<br> 
 540         if (tif) {
<br> 
 541             uint32 imagelength;
<br> 
 542             tdata_t buf;
<br> 
 543             uint32 row;
<br> 
 544             <br> 
 545             TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGELENGTH, 
&imagelength);
<br> 
 546             TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_PLANARCONFIG, 
&config);
<br> 
 547             buf = _TIFFmalloc(TIFFScanlineSize(tif));
<br> 
 548             if (config == PLANARCONFIG_CONTIG) {
<br> 
 549                 for (row = 
0; row 
< imagelength; row++)
<br> 
 550                     tiffreadscanline(tif, buf, row);
<br> 
 551             } else if (config == planarconfig_separate) {
<br> 
 552                 uint16 s, nsamples;
<br> 
 553                 <br> 
 554                 tiffgetfield(tif, tifftag_samplesperpixel, 
&nsamples);
<br> 
 555                 for (s = 
0; s 
< nsamples; s++)
<br> 
 556                     for (row = 
0; row 
< imagelength; row++)
<br> 
 557                         tiffreadscanline(tif, buf, row, s);
<br> 
 558             }
<br> 
 559             _tifffree(buf);
<br> 
 560             tiffclose(tif);
<br> 
 561         }
<br> 
 565     Beware however that if the following code were used instead to
 
 566     read data in the case 
<tt>PLANARCONFIG_SEPARATE
</tt>,...
 
 568   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 569     <tt>            for (row = 
0; row 
< imagelength; row++)
<br> 
 570                     for (s = 
0; s 
< nsamples; s++)
<br> 
 571                         tiffreadscanline(tif, buf, row, s);
</tt> 
 574     ...then problems would arise if 
<tt>RowsPerStrip
</tt> was not one
 
 575     because the order in which scanlines are requested would require
 
 576     random access to data within strips (something that is not supported
 
 577     by the library when strips are compressed).
 
 580   <h2 id=
"strips">Strip-oriented Image I/O
</h2> 
 582     The strip-oriented interfaces provided by the library provide
 
 583     access to entire strips of data.  Unlike the scanline-oriented
 
 584     calls, data can be read or written compressed or uncompressed.
 
 585     Accessing data at a strip (or tile) level is often desirable
 
 586     because there are no complications with regard to random access
 
 587     to data within strips.
 
 590     A simple example of reading an image by strips is:
 
 592   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 593     <tt>#include "tiffio.h"
<br> 
 596         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
<br> 
 597         if (tif) {
<br> 
 598             tdata_t buf;
<br> 
 599             tstrip_t strip;
<br> 
 600             <br> 
 601             buf = _TIFFmalloc(TIFFStripSize(tif));
<br> 
 602             for (strip = 
0; strip 
< tiffnumberofstrips(tif); strip++)
<br> 
 603                 tiffreadencodedstrip(tif, strip, buf, (tsize_t) -
1);
<br> 
 604             _tifffree(buf);
<br> 
 605             tiffclose(tif);
<br> 
 606         }
<br> 
 610     Notice how a strip size of 
<tt>-
1</tt> is used; 
<tt>TIFFReadEncodedStrip
</tt> 
 611     will calculate the appropriate size in this case.
 
 614     The above code reads strips in the order in which the
 
 615     data is physically stored in the file.  If multiple samples
 
 616     are present and data is stored with 
<tt>PLANARCONFIG_SEPARATE
</tt> 
 617     then all the strips of data holding the first sample will be
 
 618     read, followed by strips for the second sample, etc.
 
 621     Finally, note that the last strip of data in an image may have fewer
 
 622     rows in it than specified by the 
<tt>RowsPerStrip
</tt> tag.  A
 
 623     reader should not assume that each decoded strip contains a full
 
 627     The following is an example of how to read raw strips of data from
 
 630   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 631     <tt>#include "tiffio.h"
<br> 
 634         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
<br> 
 635         if (tif) {
<br> 
 636             tdata_t buf;
<br> 
 637             tstrip_t strip;
<br> 
 638             uint32* bc;
<br> 
 639             uint32 stripsize;
<br> 
 640             <br> 
 641             TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_STRIPBYTECOUNTS, 
&bc);
<br> 
 642             stripsize = bc[
0];
<br> 
 643             buf = _TIFFmalloc(stripsize);
<br> 
 644             for (strip = 
0; strip 
< tiffnumberofstrips(tif); strip++) {
<br> 
 645                 if (bc[strip] 
> stripsize) {
<br> 
 646                     buf = _TIFFrealloc(buf, bc[strip]);
<br> 
 647                     stripsize = bc[strip];
<br> 
 648                 }
<br> 
 649                 TIFFReadRawStrip(tif, strip, buf, bc[strip]);
<br> 
 650             }
<br> 
 651             _TIFFfree(buf);
<br> 
 652             TIFFClose(tif);
<br> 
 653         }
<br> 
 657     As above the strips are read in the order in which they are
 
 658     physically stored in the file; this may be different from the
 
 659     logical ordering expected by an application.
 
 662   <h2 id=
"tiles">Tile-oriented Image I/O
</h2> 
 664     Tiles of data may be read and written in a manner similar to strips.
 
 665     With this interface, an image is
 
 666     broken up into a set of rectangular areas that may have dimensions
 
 667     less than the image width and height.  All the tiles
 
 668     in an image have the same size, and the tile width and length must each
 
 669     be a multiple of 
16 pixels.  Tiles are ordered left-to-right and
 
 670     top-to-bottom in an image.  As for scanlines, samples can be packed
 
 671     contiguously or separately.  When separated, all the tiles for a sample
 
 672     are colocated in the file.  That is, all the tiles for sample 
0 appear
 
 673     before the tiles for sample 
1, etc.
 
 676     Tiles and strips may also be extended in a z dimension to form
 
 677     volumes.  Data volumes are organized as "slices".  That is, all the
 
 678     data for a slice is colocated.  Volumes whose data is organized in
 
 679     tiles can also have a tile depth so that data can be organized in
 
 683     There are actually two interfaces for tiles.
 
 684     One interface is similar to scanlines,  to read a tiled image,
 
 685     code of the following sort might be used:
 
 687   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 690         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
<br> 
 691         if (tif) {
<br> 
 692             uint32 imageWidth, imageLength;
<br> 
 693             uint32 tileWidth, tileLength;
<br> 
 694             uint32 x, y;
<br> 
 695             tdata_t buf;
<br> 
 696             <br> 
 697             TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGEWIDTH, 
&imageWidth);
<br> 
 698             TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_IMAGELENGTH, 
&imageLength);
<br> 
 699             TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_TILEWIDTH, 
&tileWidth);
<br> 
 700             TIFFGetField(tif, TIFFTAG_TILELENGTH, 
&tileLength);
<br> 
 701             buf = _TIFFmalloc(TIFFTileSize(tif));
<br> 
 702             for (y = 
0; y 
< imagelength; y += tilelength)
<br> 
 703                 for (x = 
0; x 
< imagewidth; x += tilewidth)
<br> 
 704                     tiffreadtile(tif, buf, x, y, 
0);
<br> 
 705             _tifffree(buf);
<br> 
 706             tiffclose(tif);
<br> 
 707         }
<br> 
 711     (once again, we assume samples are packed contiguously.)
 
 714     Alternatively a direct interface to the low-level data is provided
 
 715     a la strips.  Tiles can be read with
 
 716     <tt>TIFFReadEncodedTile
</tt> or 
<tt>TIFFReadRawTile
</tt>,
 
 717     and written with 
<tt>TIFFWriteEncodedTile
</tt> or
 
 718     <tt>TIFFWriteRawTile
</tt>. For example, to read all the tiles in an image:
 
 720   <p style=
"margin-left: 40px"> 
 721     <tt>#include "tiffio.h"
<br> 
 724         TIFF* tif = TIFFOpen("myfile.tif", "r");
<br> 
 725         if (tif) {
<br> 
 726             tdata_t buf;
<br> 
 727             ttile_t tile;
<br> 
 728             <br> 
 729             buf = _TIFFmalloc(TIFFTileSize(tif));
<br> 
 730             for (tile = 
0; tile 
< tiffnumberoftiles(tif); tile++)
<br> 
 731                 tiffreadencodedtile(tif, tile, buf, (tsize_t) -
1);
<br> 
 732             _tifffree(buf);
<br> 
 733             tiffclose(tif);
<br> 
 734         }
<br> 
 738   <h2 id=
"other">Other Stuff
</h2> 
 740     Some other stuff will almost certainly go here...
 
 744     Last updated: $Date: 
2005/
12/
28 06:
53:
18 $