.\" RCSid "$Id: meta.3,v 1.2 2003/12/09 15:59:07 greg Exp $"
.TH META 3 11/15/93 Radiance
.SH NAME
libmeta.a - simplified interface to metafile(5)
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B extern FILE  *pout;
.PP
.B mline(x, y, type, thick, color)
.PP
.B mpoly(x, y, border, pat, color)
.PP
.B mdraw(x, y)
.PP
.B mtext(x, y, s, cpi, color)
.br
.B char  *s;
.PP
mvstr(xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax, s, d, thick, color)
.br
.B char  *s;
.PP
mrectangle(xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax, pat, color)
.PP
mtriangle(xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax, d, pat, color)
.PP
msegment(xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax, sname, d, thick, color)
.br
.B char  *sname;
.PP
.B msetpat(pat, pattern)
.br
.B char  *pattern;
.PP
.B mopenseg(sname)
.br
.B char  *sname;
.PP
.B mcloseseg()
.PP
.B minclude(fname)
.br
.B char  *fname;
.PP
.B mendpage()
.PP
.B mdone()
.SH DESCRIPTION
The routines in
.I libmeta
provide a simple interface to the metafile(5) 2D graphics stream.
Output from these routines is sent to 
.I pout.
.I Pout
defaults to the standard output,
and should be piped to the appropriate device driver.
.PP
All coordinates range from 0 to 16383 and map to a square area on
the output device.
.I D
values are one of 'r', 'u', 'l' and 'd' corresponding to right,
up, left, and down respectively.
.I Color
values range from 0 to 3 and normally correspond to black,
cyan, green and blue.
.I Pattern
values range from 0 to 3 and default to solid, thick lines,
thin lines, and candystripe.
Pattern value mapping may be changed via
.I setpat.
All strings are null-terminated, and do not contain newlines.
.PP
.I Mline
starts a line at the given coordinates.
The line
.I type
is a number from 0 to 3 corresponding to solid, dashed, dotted,
and dot-dashed.
The line thickness,
.I thick,
is a number from 0 to 3.
Connected lines are drawn with successive calls to
.I mdraw.
.PP
.I Mpoly
starts a polygon at the given coordinates.
The boolean
.I border
specifies whether or not a border is desired around the polygon.
.I Mdraw
is used to add vertices to the polygon.
The polygon will be closed automatically after the last call.
.PP
.I Mtext
prints a string of hardware characters starting at the given
coordinates.
The characters per inch are
.I cpi.
Text is always oriented to the right.
.PP
.I Mvstr
places a vector character string within the given boundaries.
The string is oriented according to
.I d.
The character line thickness is given by
.I thick.
.PP
.I Mrectangle
fills the given box with
.I pat.
.I Mtriangle
fills the half-box with orientation
.I d
in the given boundaries.
Right corresponds to a triangle in the lower right half of the
box.
Up corresponds to a triangle in the upper right, left is upper
left, and down is lower left.
.PP
.I Msegment
places an instance of the segment
.I sname
within the given boundaries.
The segment is oriented according to
.I d,
where 'r' is null rotation.
If either
.I thick
or
.I color
is nonzero,
its value will replace corresponding values in the segment
primitives.  (For area filling, thick changes the fill pattern.)
.PP
.I Msetpat
maps
.I pat
to
.I pattern.
.I Pattern
is a string of the form "Pn" where n is a number between 0 and 11.
.PP
.I Mopenseg
opens the segment named
.I sname.
All graphics calls up to a matching call to
.I mcloseseg
are stored under
.I sname.
An instance of the segment is obtained with a call to
.I msegment.
Segments can be nested to any level, and redefining segments
is allowed.
Beware of calls to
.I mtext
within a segment, since text will not rotate or scale.
.PP
.I Minclude
includes the graphics metafile
.I fname
in the output stream.
.I Mendpage
advances to the next screen or page.
On a terminal, the bell rings and a line is read to prevent
premature erasure.
.I Mdone
completes metafile output, and is the only required call.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
None.
.SH SEE ALSO
t4014(1), mx80(1), impress(1), primout(3), metafile(5)