berger@datacube.UUCP (01/15/87)
Does anyone have a document that describes the MacDraw file format?
Or better yet some C code that would parse the MacDraw file format!
I'm planning to write some code for taking a MacDraw file and convert it
to other formats (in particular MIF for Frame maker, pic for unix maybe).
If anyone has any tips or suggestions (or they've done something like
this already), please drop me a note. I'll sumarize for the net.
Bob Berger
Datacube Inc. Systems / Software Group 4 Dearborn Rd. Peabody, Ma 01960
VOICE: 617-535-6644; FAX: (617) 535-5643; TWX: (710) 347-0125
UUCP: ihnp4!datacube!berger
{seismo,cbosgd,cuae2,mit-eddie}!mirror!datacube!bergerhoward@amdahl.UUCP (01/17/87)
In article <105800001@datacube> berger@datacube.UUCP writes: > >Does anyone have a document that describes the MacDraw file format? I believe Tech Note #27 is the source of all knowledge in this area. >I'm planning to write some code for taking a MacDraw file and convert it >to other formats (in particular MIF for Frame maker, pic for unix maybe). Don't ask me why, but the other night I wondered just how hard it would be to turn a PICT format file into Unix pic format. Well I have a prototype. It handles lines, rects, roundrects (as rects), ellipses, rudimentary text, and various opcodes that don't translate to a pic environment. In the process, I learned some hard, cold reasons why diagramming on the Mac beats pic hands down (*I* needed no convincing). The main problem is that pic is vector oriented, not raster. So you can't really "paint a rect" or erase a rect. Most of the best features of MacDraw/Superpaint/whatever won't work in a pic environment. The best you can do is reasonable transfer of "wire frame" diagrams. Well I have yet to implement polys and do something with regions (does anyone know the format of region data?). And improve text processing. When I'm done, I'll see if I can post it to the net. No promises though, this is a software development shop. -- "Plan for the future because that's where you Howard C. Simonson are going to spend the rest of your life." {hplabs,ihnp4,nsc}!amdahl!howard - Mark Twain - [ The disclaimer for this message may be found in my next article ]
weber@brand.UUCP (Allan G. Weber) (01/22/87)
> > Does anyone have a document that describes the MacDraw file format? > Or better yet some C code that would parse the MacDraw file format! > I have just what you need. Sometime back I wrote a program called "drawimp" that translates a MacDraw picture saved in MacDraw format into Impress commands for printing on an Imagen laser printer. In the process of writing the program I had to decipher much of the MacDraw internal file format. I can send you (or post) a file with my notes on the file format, or if there is enough interest, I can do the same with the whole drawimp program. We use the program quite a bit here for changing MacDraw pictures into Impress so they can be merged with the output of TeX and LaTeX documents to eliminate cutting and pasting of pictures. It's not too elegant or sophisticated, but it works. Allan Weber USC Signal & Image Processing Inst. Arpa: weber%brand@usc-oberon.usc.edu UUCP: ...sdcrdcf!usc-oberon!brand!weber
dgold@apple.UUCP (01/23/87)
In article <835@brand.UUCP> weber@brand.UUCP (Allan G. Weber) writes: >... Sometime back I wrote a program called >"drawimp" that translates a MacDraw picture saved in MacDraw format >into Impress commands for printing on an Imagen laser printer. In the >process of writing the program I had to decipher much of the MacDraw >internal file format. It's really not a good idea to depend on the format of MacDraw format files. Apple has stated in the past that this format is subject to change in the future. The PICT format option in MacDraw is there precisely to satisfy the needs of people for transferring information out. For those not familiar with the PICT format, it's described in Tech Note #27. Basically, it consists of a 512 byte header, followed by a regular QuickDraw picture. This picture can be interpreted by either reading it into a handle and playing it back (you can use the QD bottleneck procs to get the data coming out of the picture and convert it to another format), or by setting the QD bottleneck which gets picture bytes and pulling it out of the file directly (if the picture is too big to fit in memory all at once). By using MacDraw PICT format and the QuickDraw bottleneck procs, you can insulate yourself from changes in both the MacDraw file format and the format of a QuickDraw picture. -- David Goldsmith Apple Computer, Inc. MacApp Group AppleLink: GOLDSMITH1 UUCP: {nsc,dual,sun,voder,ucbvax!mtxinu}!apple!dgold CSNET: dgold@apple.CSNET, dgold%apple@CSNET-RELAY
segall@caip.UUCP (01/26/87)
Please, please post or send the info about decoding MacDraw files. I
would very much like to be able to automatically decode them.
Thanks,
Ed Segall
PS Does this decode anything produced by MacDraw, or are there
restrictions?
{seismo, harvard, ut-sally}!topaz!caip!segall
segall@caip.rutgers.edudorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu.UUCP (01/28/87)
> It's really not a good idea to depend on the format of MacDraw format files. > Apple has stated in the past that this format is subject to change in the > future. Unfortunately, I don't agree. I've been waiting a long time for Bug fixes for MacDraw, and haven't seen diddly. So if Apple isn't fixing bugs, I can't imagine they are going to change file formats. It rather seems that MacDraw is an orphan (or at least disinherited). This is a shame, because it is really a nice program. Or do you know something we don't? > The PICT format option in MacDraw is there precisely to satisfy the > needs of people for transferring information out. In my opinion, the PICT format option in MacDraw is there so MacDraw can remember which fonts I used if I used one further down than 11 in the menu, or if I switch system disks. I don't use the MacDraw format for ANYTHING anymore. If only I'd figured this out before having used the program for a year. > -- > David Goldsmith > Apple Computer, Inc. > MacApp Group -- Steve Dorner dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu
liberte@uiucdcsb.UUCP (01/29/87)
I understand from a friend that in order to *generate* a PICT file that MacDraw can read, you do NOT want to put PICT as the first four bytes of the header since MacDraw looks at the rest of the 512byte header and there is no easy way to figure that part out. Instead, put 0s in the first four bytes, and MacDraw won't look at the rest of the header. Dan LaLiberte liberte@b.cs.uiuc.edu liberte@uiuc.csnet ihnp4!uiucdcs!liberte
spry@uiucdcsm.UUCP (01/29/87)
While we are discussing PICT vs. MacDraw formats, how can you modify
MacDraw so that it will produce PICT format output files by default? I would
assume that you can do it with ResEdit or REdit. I haven`t poked around to
find a way yet so if someone has already done it it will save me the time of
looking for it. I would like to use the PICT format outputs but too often I
forget to click on the radio button to change the format before saving a file.
Andy Spry
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+-----------------------------------------------+erikl@inmet (10/20/89)
Can anyone tell me where to find documentation for the internal file format used in MacDraw? I want to compute the total length of a lot of circuits, each consisting of mutiple line segments, in a scaled drawing. Thanks, -Erik Leo erikl@inmet.inmet.com erikl%inmet@uunet.uu.net uunet!inmet!erikl