Graphics Guide

Find everything you need to know about the Symbian Graphics package in this section.

The graphics documentation is organized around the collections and components in the Graphics package in the Symbian System Model.

Figure 1. The collections and components in the Graphics package

The following list gives links to high-level Graphics topics and the collections that make up the Graphics package:

• Graphics Quick Start
  The Graphics package provides Symbian devices with a means of visual communication. It is responsible for providing a system-wide interface with the physical display(s) and handles input events from physical input devices such as keypads and touch screens.
• What's New in Graphics in Symbian^3
  This section describes the changes introduced in the Graphics package in Symbian^3.
• Graphics Concepts
  This section provides overview material about some important graphics topics, including introductions to ScreenPlay and the graphics architecture when ScreenPlay is not enabled.
• Graphics Example Code
  Example code for the Graphics package.
• Graphics Tutorials
  
• Graphics Reference
  This section provides reference material that relates to the entire Graphics package or multiple collections within it.
• Windowing Collection
  The Windowing collection contains two components—the Window Server, which manages the use of the screen by applications, and the Window Server Plugins component.
• Graphics API Tests Collection
  The Graphics API Tests collection contains two test suites.
• Font and Bitmap Server Collection
  The Font and Bitmap Server collection contains only one component—the Font and Bitmap Server. As its name suggests, the Font and Bitmap Server manages fonts and bitmaps.
• Graphics Device Interface (GDI) Collection
  The Graphics Device Interface (GDI) collection provides important functionality within the Graphics subsystem. The functionality includes graphics device abstraction, linear digital differential analysis, font description and information, printer devices abstraction, line breaking and text rendering.
• OpenGLES Collection
  The components within the OpenGLES collection provide access to OpenGL ES on the Symbian platform. OpenGL ES, an open standard developed by the Khronos Group, provides an API for 2D and 3D graphics on embedded systems, such as smartphones.
• OpenVG Collection
  The components within the OpenVG collection provide access to OpenVG on the Symbian platform. OpenVG, an open standard developed by the Khronos Group, provides an API for hardware accelerated two-dimensional (2D) vector and raster graphics.
• EGL Collection
  The components within the EGL collection provide access to EGL on the Symbian platform. EGL, an open standard developed by the Khronos Group, provides an interface between rendering APIs such as OpenGL ES or OpenVG and an underlying native platform window system.
• Graphics Resource Services Collection
  The Graphics Resource Services collection provides an abstraction layer for the memory management of graphics data (which can be pixel data or non-pixel data, such as lists of OpenVG commands).
• Graphics Utilities Collection
  The Graphics Utilities collection provides some headers that are used by several graphics components and their clients.
• Graphics Composition Collection
  The Graphics Composition collection is a key part of ScreenPlay. The collection is made up of components that are concerned with composition. This is the process of putting together the output elements from various different sources to create the display that the viewer sees on the screen.
• Graphics Hardware Drivers Collection
  The Graphics Hardware Drivers collection provides optional hardware adaptation services.