Description of how to use the ncar graphics gks c-binding.
This section only briefly describes how to use the NCAR Graphics GKS C-binding. If you intend to use the GKS C-bindings heavily, you may want to get a copy of the American National Standard's "Computer Graphics - Graphical Kernel System (GKS) - Functional Description". If you want information on how to use the C-bindings for the NCAR Graphics utilities, please see ncarg_cbind(3NCARG) or the man page for any of the NCAR Graphics routines.
The NCAR Graphics GKS C-binding adheres to the ISO/IEC standard. Only the functions at level 0A have been implemented. At the time, not all of these functions are supported; only the ones that have man pages associated with them are supported. Below is a list of the currently supported NCAR Graphics GKS C-bindings:
gaccum_tran_matrix gactivate_ws gcell_array gclear_ws gclose_gks gclose_seg gclose_ws gcopy_seg_ws gcreate_seg gdeactivate_ws gdel_seg gescape geval_tran_matrix gfill_area ginq_asfs ginq_char_expan ginq_char_ht ginq_char_space ginq_char_up_vec ginq_clip ginq_colr_rep ginq_cur_norm_tran_num ginq_fill_colr_ind ginq_fill_int_style ginq_fill_style_ind ginq_line_colr_ind ginq_linetype ginq_linewidth ginq_marker_colr_ind ginq_marker_size ginq_marker_type ginq_max_norm_tran_num ginq_name_open_seg ginq_norm_tran ginq_op_st ginq_set_seg_names ginq_text_align ginq_text_colr_ind ginq_text_font_prec ginq_text_path gopen_gks gopen_ws gpolyline gpolymarker gsel_norm_tran gset_asfs gset_char_expan gset_char_ht gset_char_space gset_char_up_vec gset_clip_ind gset_colr_rep gset_fill_colr_ind gset_fill_int_style gset_fill_style_ind gset_line_colr_ind gset_linetype gset_linewidth gset_marker_colr_ind gset_marker_size gset_marker_type gset_seg_tran gset_text_align gset_text_colr_ind gset_text_font_prec gset_text_path gset_vp gset_win gtext gupd_ws
Please see the man page for any of these for more information on that particular function. In the future, as higher level GKS Fortran functions are implemented, there may be C-bindings created for them as well.
Notice that since the NCAR Graphics GKS C-binding adheres to the standard, the names for the C-bindings are not like the Fortran names. Instead, the functions names are more descriptive, like gset_fill_colr_ind which corresponds to the Fortran GKS routine GSFACI. If you know the name of the Fortran GKS routine and you need the C-binding name, you can look at the man page for the Fortran routine to get the name of the C-binding routine.
The argument list of each GKS C-binding closely corresponds with the argument list of the Fortran routine, but in many cases, the arguments are represented in the form of a C structure. These structures are defined in the include file <ncarg/gks.h>.
The GKS C-bindings are intended to be ANSI C compliant. To get the correct function prototypes, include <ncarg/gks.h> in your C program.
To compile your NCAR Graphics C program with the GKS C-bindings, use the application ncargcc. ncargcc will take care of loading in the necessary C/Fortran interface libraries as well as the NCAR Graphics C and Fortran libraries. You will either need to set the NCARG_ROOT or the NCARG_BIN, NCARG_LIB, and NCARG_INCLUDE environment variables in order to run ncargcc. See "man ncargintro" for more information.
If you do not wish to use ncargcc, then you can just run it with no arguments to see what the necessary libraries are, and then put this in your Makefile or whatever else you are using to compile your program.
An example of a C program that calls some of the NCAR Graphics GKS C-bindings has been provided. To copy this C program into your directory, and then compile, link, and run it, type ncargex c_gtxpac.
Online: ncarg_cbind(3NCARG), ncargex(1NCARG), ncargintro(5NCARG).
Hardcopy: NCAR Graphics Fundamentals, UNIX Version User's Guide for NCAR GKS-0A Graphics
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University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
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