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<h1>6502bench SourceGen: Visualizations</h1>
<p><a href="index.html">Back to index</a></p>
<h2><a name="overview">Overview</a></h2>
<p>Programs are generally a combination of code and data. Sometimes
the data is graphical in nature, e.g. a bitmap used as a font or
game sprite. Being able to see the data in graphic form can make it
easier to determine the purpose of associated code.</p>
<p>While modern systems use GIF, JPEG, and PNG to hold 2D bitmaps,
graphical elements embedded in 6502 applications are almost always
in a platform-specific form. For this reason, the task of generating
images from data is performed by
<a href="advanced.html#extension-scripts">extension scripts</a>. Some
scripts for common formats are included in the SourceGen runtime directory.
If these don't do what you need, you can write your own scripts and
include them in your project.</p>
<p>The project file doesn't store the converted graphics. Instead, the
project file holds a string that identifies the converter, and a list of
parameters that are passed to the converter. Images are generated when
the project is first opened, and updated if the set of loaded extension
scripts changes.</p>
<p>Visualizations are not included in generated assembly output. They
may be included in HTML exports.</p>
<h2><a name="vis-and-sets">Visualizations and Visualization Sets</a></h2>
<p>Visualizations are essentially decorative: they do not affect the
assembled output, and do not change how code is analyzed. They are
contained in sets that are placed at arbitrary offsets. Each set can
contain multiple items. For example, if a file has data for
10 bitmaps, you can place a visualization near each, or create a single
visualization set with all 10 items and put it at the start of the file.</p>
<p>To create a visualization set, select a code or data line, and use
Actions &gt; Create/Edit Visualization Set. To edit a visualization set,
select it and use the same menu item, or just double-click on it. This
opens the Visualization Set Editor window.</p>
<p>The visualization set editor shows a list of visualizations associated
with the selected file offset. You can create a new visualization, edit
or remove an existing entry, or rearrange them.
If you select "New Bitmap" or edit an existing bitmap entry, the
Bitmap Visualization Editor window will open.</p>
<h4>Bitmap Visualization Editor</h4>
<p>The combo box at the top of the screen lists every bitmap visualization
generator defined by an active extension script. Select the one that is
appropriate for the data you're trying to visualize. Every visualizer may
have different parameters, so as you select different entries the set of
input parameters below the preview window may change.</p>
<p>The "tag" is a unique string that will be shown in the display list.
This is not a label, and may contain any characters you want (but leading
and trailing whitespace will be trimmed). The only requirement is that
it be unique among visualization tags.</p>
<p>The preview window shows the visualizer output. The generated image is
expanded to fill the window, so small images will be shown with very
large pixels.
If you resize the editor window, the preview window will expand, which
can make it easier to see detail on larger images.
If the generator fails, the preview window will show a red 'X', and an
error message will appear below it.</p>
<p>Parameters may be numeric or boolean. The latter use a simple checkbox,
the former a text entry field that accepts decimal and hexadecimal values.
The range of allowable values is shown to the right of the entry field.
If you enter an invalid value, the parameter description will turn red.</p>
<h2><a name="runtime">Scripts Included with SourceGen</a></h2>
<p>A number of visualization generation scripts are included with
SourceGen, in the platform-specific runtime data directories.</p>
<p>Most generators will take the file offset, bitmap width, and bitmap
height as parameters. Offsets are handled as they are elsewhere, i.e.
always in hexadecimal, with a leading '+'.
Some less-common parameters include:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Row stride</b> - number of bytes used to hold a row. This
is used when a row has padding on the end, e.g. a bitmap that's
7 bytes wide might be padded to 8 for easy indexing. If you set
this to zero the visualizer will default to no padding
(stride == width).</li>
<li><b>Column stride</b> - number of bytes used to hold a column.
This is uncommon, but could be used if (say) a pair of bitmaps
was stored with interleaved bytes. If you set this to zero the
visualizer will default to no interleave (stride == 1).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Apple II - VisHiRes</h3>
<p>There is no standard format for small hi-res bitmaps, but certain
arrangements are common. The script defines three generators:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Hi-Res Bitmap</b> - converts an MxN row-major bitmap.</li>
<li><b>Hi-Res Bitmap Font</b> - converts a series of MxN row-major
bitmaps. This is intended for hi-res fonts, which are typically
8 bytes per entry, stored one after another. These are always
converted as monochrome, and have a 1-pixel transparent gap
between elements.</li>
<li><b>Hi-Res Screen Image</b> - used for 8KiB screen images. The
data is linearized and converted to a 280x192 bitmap.</li>
</ul>
<p>Widths are specified in bytes, not pixels. Each byte represents 7
pixels (with some hand-waving).</p>
<p>In addition to offset, dimensions, and stride values, the bitmap
converter has a checkbox for monochrome or color, and a checkbox that
will cause the first byte to be treated as an odd column rather than
an event one. The odd/even setting affects green/purple and orange/blue,
but has no effect on black or white.</p>
<p>The converter generates one output pixel for every source pixel, so
half-pixel shifts are not rendered.</p>
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