Basic Drawing Types

Basically, there are three kinds of drawings in Views: lines, regions, and strings, with the attributes applied depending on the individual drawing needs and capabilities.

Lines

This category includes straight lines, curves and open-ended sets of connected straight lines or curves. Attributes are applied to lines as follows:

  • Color  Straight lines or curves are drawn with the current foreground color.

  • Line Style  The current line style (such as solid, dots or dashes) determines how the straight lines or curves are drawn.

  • Line Width  An unsigned integer indicates the current line width.

  • Pattern  Using monochrome (two-color), lines are drawn with the current pattern, but this is noticeable only with thick lines.

  • Color Pattern  Using color, lines are drawn with the current color pattern. Here again, this effect is noticeable only for thick lines.

Regions

This term designates closed sets of connected lines or curves. Attributes are applied to regions as follows:

  • Color  The closed curve around a region retains its original color; that is, the current foreground color.

  • Pattern  Regions are filled with the current fill pattern or fill mask pattern.

  • Color Pattern  Regions are filled with the current color pattern.

  • Fill Style  This value determines if patterns are to be handled as masks, monochrome patterns or color patterns.

  • Fill Rule  Determines the fill strategy for self-intersecting polygons. For details see Fill Rule.

  • Arc Mode  Determines how an arc is closed for filling. For details see Arc Mode.

Strings

Attributes are applied to strings as follows:

  • Color  The actual characters are printed with the foreground color.

  • Font  The font in which the string is printed.