doc/src/platforms/x11overlays.qdoc
author eckhart.koppen@nokia.com
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/****************************************************************************
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**
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** Copyright (C) 2010 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
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** All rights reserved.
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** Contact: Nokia Corporation (qt-info@nokia.com)
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**
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** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
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**
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** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:LGPL$
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** No Commercial Usage
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** This file contains pre-release code and may not be distributed.
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** You may use this file in accordance with the terms and conditions
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** contained in the Technology Preview License Agreement accompanying
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** this package.
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**
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** GNU Lesser General Public License Usage
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** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Lesser
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** General Public License version 2.1 as published by the Free Software
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** Foundation and appearing in the file LICENSE.LGPL included in the
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** packaging of this file.  Please review the following information to
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** ensure the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 requirements
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** will be met: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html.
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**
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** In addition, as a special exception, Nokia gives you certain additional
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** rights.  These rights are described in the Nokia Qt LGPL Exception
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** version 1.1, included in the file LGPL_EXCEPTION.txt in this package.
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**
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** If you have questions regarding the use of this file, please contact
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** Nokia at qt-info@nokia.com.
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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** $QT_END_LICENSE$
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**
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****************************************************************************/
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/*!
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    \page x11overlays.html
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    \title How to Use X11 Overlays with Qt
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    X11 overlays are a powerful mechanism for drawing
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    annotations etc., on top of an image without destroying it, thus saving
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    a great deal of image rendering time. For more information, see the highly
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    recommended book \e{OpenGL Programming for the X Window System} (Mark
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    Kilgard, Addison Wesley Developers Press 1996).
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    \warning The Qt OpenGL Extension includes direct support for the
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    use of OpenGL overlays. For many uses of overlays, this makes the
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    technique described below redundant. The following is a discussion
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    on how to use non-QGL widgets in overlay planes.
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    In the typical case, X11 overlays can easily be used together with the
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    current version of Qt and the Qt OpenGL Extension. The following
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    requirements apply:
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    \list 1
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    \i Your X server and graphics card/hardware must support overlays.
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       For many X servers, overlay support can be turned on with
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       a configuration option; consult your X server installation
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       documentation.
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    \i Your X server must (be configured to) use an overlay visual as the
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       default visual. Most modern X servers do this, since this has the
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       added advantage that pop-up menus, overlapping windows etc., will
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       \e not affect underlying images in the main plane, thereby
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       avoiding expensive redraws.
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    \i The best (deepest) visual for OpenGL rendering is in the main
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       plane. This is the normal case. Typically, X servers that support
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       overlays provide a 24-bit \c TrueColor visual in the main plane,
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       and an 8-bit \c PseudoColor (default) visual in the overlay plane.
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    \endlist
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    Assuming that the requirements mentioned above are met, a
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    QGLWidget will default to using the main plane visual, while all
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    other widgets will use the overlay visual. Thus, we can place a
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    normal widget on top of the QGLWidget, and do drawing on it,
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    without affecting the image in the OpenGL window. In other words,
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    we can use all the drawing capabilities of QPainter to draw
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    annotations, rubberbands, etc. For the typical use of overlays,
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    this is much easier than using OpenGL for rendering annotations.
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    An overlay plane has a specific color called the transparent
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    color. Pixels drawn in this color will not be visible; instead
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    the underlying OpenGL image will show through.
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    To use this technique, you must not use the
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    QApplication::ManyColor or QApplication::TrueColor color
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    specification for QApplication, because this will force the
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    normal Qt widgets to use a \c TrueColor visual, which will
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    typically be in the main plane, not in the overlay plane as
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    desired.
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*/