NAME

wml::des::imgbg - Background Images

SYNOPSIS

 #use wml::des::imgbg
 <: $file = &imgbg($base, $direction, $content, $pixels, $format); :>
 <body ... background=<imgbg [attributes]> ...>

DESCRIPTION

The usual purpose of this tag is to create a PNG or GIF image containing a background image and to expand to its filename. Its contents is specified via the "content" attribute by use of size/color pairs.

ATTRIBUTES

"base"

Usually the created images are named imgbg-xxxxxx.png where "xxxxxx" is the content id of the image. When you use a "base=foo" attribute, then the resulting files are named foo.imgbg-xxxxxx.png. Actually you can even use a complete filename including a directory prefix, i.e. when you use "base=../../common/foo" attribute, then the images are created as ../../common/foo.imgbg-xxxxxx.png.

And for most flexibility when no base is specified and the variable "BGIMG_BASE" is defined (usually from within a .wmlrc file via "-DBGIMG_BASE~path/to/imgbg/dir/base") it is used. Use this feature to redirect the created images to a particular directory.

You may also use the variable "IMAGE_BASE" which defines in a single line all base names for images generated by WML.

"format"

By default, GIF images are generated. This attribute lets you use an alternate image format (actually only PNG and GIF are recognized). You may also change the default format with the variable "IMAGE_FORMAT".

"direction"

Specifies the color change direction of the image: ``"h"'' for horizontal (default) or ``"v"'' for vertical.

"pixels"

Size of the image in the other direction, 1 by default.

"content"

This is a comma-separated list of size/color specifications ``pixels":#"rrggbb":#"rrggbb":"slices''

The last two arguments are optional, only present for gradient images. In this case, a linear gradient line is drawn from color 1 to color 2, with slices different colors.

To get a background with two columns, a black one with 150 point in size and a white one which fills the rest of the page use ``"150:#000000,1200:#ffffff"''.

AUTHORS

 Ralf S. Engelschall
 rse@engelschall.com
 www.engelschall.com
 Denis Barbier
 barbier@engelschall.com

REQUIRES