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# KPixmapIO Class Reference

Fast QImage to/from QPixmap conversion. More...

`#include <kpixmapio.h>`

List of all members.

## Public Types
enum | ShmPolicies { ShmDontKeep, ShmKeepAndGrow }
## Public Member Functions
QPixmap | convertToPixmap (const QImage &image)
QImage | convertToImage (const QPixmap &pixmap)
void | putImage (QPixmap *dst, int dx, int dy, const QImage *src)
void | putImage (QPixmap *dst, const QPoint &offset, const QImage *src)
QImage | getImage (const QPixmap *src, int sx, int sy, int sw, int sh)
QImage | getImage (const QPixmap *src, const QRect &rect)
void | setShmPolicy (int policy)
void | preAllocShm (int size)

## Detailed Description

Fast QImage to/from QPixmap conversion.

Author:
  Geert Jansen <jansen@kde.org>

Version:
  Id
    kpixmapio.h 345236 2004-09-09 15:23:55Z dfaure

KPixmapIO implements a fast path for QPixmap to/from QImage conversions. It uses the MIT-SHM shared memory extension for this. If this extension is not available, it will fall back to standard Qt methods.

Typical usage:

You can use KPixmapIO for load/saving pixmaps.

     KPixmapIO io;
     pixmap = io.convertToPixmap(image);
     image = io.convertToImage(pixmap);

It also has functionality for partially updating/saving pixmaps, see putImage and getImage.

KPixmapIO vs. Qt speed comparison

Speed measurements were taken. These show that usage of KPixmapIO for images up to a certain threshold size, offers no speed advantage over the Qt routines. Below you can see a plot of these measurements.

Performance of KPixmapIO

The threshold size, amongst other causes, is determined by the shared memory allocation policy. If the policy is `ShmDontKeep`, the shared memory segment is discarded right after usage, and thus needs to be allocated before each transfer. This introduces a a setup penalty not present when the policy is `ShmKeepAndGrow`. In this case the shared memory segment is kept and resized when necessary, until the KPixmapIO object is destroyed.

The default policy is `ShmDontKeep`. This policy makes sense when loading pixmaps once. The corresponding threshold is taken at 5.000 pixels as suggested by experiments. Below this threshold, KPixmapIO will not use shared memory and fall back on the Qt routines.

When the policy is `ShmKeepAndGrow`, the threshold is taken at 2.000 pixels. Using this policy, you might want to use preAllocShm to pre-allocate a certain amount of shared memory, in order to avoid resizes. This allocation policy makes sense in a multimedia type application where you are constantly updating the screen.

Above a couple times the threshold size, KPixmapIO's and Qt's speed become linear in the number of pixels, KPixmapIO being at least 2, and mostly around 4 times faster than Qt, depending on the screen and image depth.

Speed difference seems to be the most at 16 bpp, followed by 32 and 24 bpp respectively. This can be explained by the relatively poor implementation of 16 bit RGB packing in Qt, while at 32 bpp we need to transfer more data, and thus gain more, than at 24 bpp.

Conclusion:

For large pixmaps, there's a definite speed improvement when using KPixmapIO. On the other hand, there's no speed improvement for small pixmaps. When you know you're only transferring small pixmaps, there's no point in using it.

Definition at line 87 of file kpixmapio.h.

## Member Enumeration Documentation

enum KPixmapIO::ShmPolicies

| Shared memory allocation policies. Definition at line 142 of file kpixmapio.h.

## Member Function Documentation

QPixmap KPixmapIO::convertToPixmap | ( | const QImage & | image | ) |

  | Convert an image to a pixmap. Parameters:
  | image | The image to convert.
Returns: The pixmap containing the image. Definition at line 181 of file kpixmapio.cpp. References QPixmap::convertFromImage(), QPixmap::height(), putImage(), and QPixmap::width(). Referenced by KRootPixmap::updateBackground().

QImage KPixmapIO::convertToImage | ( | const QPixmap & | pixmap | ) |

  | Convert a pixmap to an image. Parameters:
  | pixmap | The pixmap to convert.
Returns: The image. Definition at line 199 of file kpixmapio.cpp. References getImage(), QImage::height(), and QImage::width(). Referenced by KRootPixmap::updateBackground().

void KPixmapIO::putImage | ( | QPixmap * | dst,
|  | int | dx,
|  | int | dy,
|  | const QImage * | src
| ) |

  | Bitblt an image onto a pixmap. Parameters:
  | dst | The destination pixmap.
  | dx | Destination x offset.
  | dy | Destination y offset.
  | src | The image to load.
Definition at line 218 of file kpixmapio.cpp. References QPixmap::convertFromImage(), QPixmap::height(), QImage::height(), QPixmap::width(), and QImage::width(). Referenced by convertToPixmap(), and putImage().

void KPixmapIO::putImage | ( | QPixmap * | dst,
|  | const QPoint & | offset,
|  | const QImage * | src
| ) |

| This function is identical to the one above. It only differs in the arguments it accepts. Definition at line 211 of file kpixmapio.cpp. References putImage().

QImage KPixmapIO::getImage | ( | const QPixmap * | src,
|  | int | sx,
|  | int | sy,
|  | int | sw,
|  | int | sh
| ) |

  | Transfer (a part of) a pixmap to an image. Parameters:
  | src | The source pixmap.
  | sx | Source x offset.
  | sy | Source y offset.
  | sw | Source width.
  | sh | Source height.
Returns: The image. Definition at line 252 of file kpixmapio.cpp. References QPixmap::convertToImage(), QImage::height(), and QImage::width(). Referenced by convertToImage(), and getImage().

QImage KPixmapIO::getImage | ( | const QPixmap * | src,
|  | const QRect & | rect
| ) |

| This function is identical to the one above. It only differs in the arguments it accepts. Definition at line 246 of file kpixmapio.cpp. References getImage().

void KPixmapIO::setShmPolicy | ( | int | policy | ) |

  | Set the shared memory allocation policy. See the introduction for KPixmapIO for a discussion. Parameters:
  | policy | The alloction policy.
Definition at line 892 of file kpixmapio.cpp.

void KPixmapIO::preAllocShm | ( | int | size | ) |

  | Pre-allocate shared memory. KPixmapIO will be able to transfer images up to this size without resizing. Parameters:
  | size | The size of the image in `pixels`.
Definition at line 891 of file kpixmapio.cpp.

The documentation for this class was generated from the following files:

- kpixmapio.h
- kpixmapio.cpp

This file is part of the documentation for kdeui Library Version 3.4.1.
Documentation copyright © 1996-2004 the KDE developers.
Generated on Sat Jun 11 20:21:52 2005 by doxygen 1.4.1 written by Dimitri van Heesch, © 1997-2003