Using FastPro

In this chapter we will learn about Using the FastPro extension.

This extension is added to the Ring language starting from Ring 1.19.

Contents:

  • Bytes2List() function

  • List2Bytes() function

  • UpdateList() function

  • UpdateColumn() function

  • UpdateBytesColumn() function

  • AddBytesColumn() function

Bytes2List() function

Syntax:

Bytes2List(cBytes,nWidth,nHeight,nChannels) —> aList // [[R,G,B],…]

List2Bytes() function

Syntax:

List2Bytes(aList,nChannels) —> cBytes // “RGBA….”

UpdateList() function

A function that could update 1D and 2D lists and provide very high performance.

This function support using numbers only.

Syntax:

updateList(<aList>,<cCommand>,<cSelection>,<nPara1>,[<nPara2>],[nPara3])

cCommand could be :set, :add, :sub, :mul, :div, :merge and :copy

cSelection could be :col, :row, :manycols, :manyrows and :items

Example:

updateList(<aList>,:set,:row,<nRow>,<nValue>)
updateList(<aList>,:set,:col,<nCol>,<nValue>)
updateList(<aList>,:set,:manyrows,<nRowStart>,<nRowEnd>,<nValue>)
updateList(<aList>,:set,:manycols,<nColStart>,<nColEnd>,<nValue>)
updateList(<aList>,:set,:items,<nValue>)
updateList(<aList>,:copy,:row,<nRowSrc>,<nRowDest>)
updateList(<aList>,:copy,:col,<nColSrc>,<nColDest>)
updateList(<aList>,:merge,:row,<nRowDest>,<nRow>)
updateList(<aList>,:merge,:col,<nColDest>,<nCol>)

The required parameters depend on the cCommand/cSelection.

The parameters could be columns/rows numbers.

Also, some commands requires a value like the set command.

Example:

load "fastpro.ring"

aList = [ [1,2,3],
          [4,5,6],
          7:9 ]

# Set the values of the first row to 10
        updateList(aList,:set,:row,1,10)
# Add 10 to each value in the first row
        updateList(aList,:add,:row,1,10)
# Sub 5 from each value in the first row
        updateList(aList,:sub,:row,1,5)
# Multiply each value in the first row by 10
        updateList(aList,:mul,:row,1,10)
# Divide each value in the first row by 2
        updateList(aList,:div,:row,1,2)
# Copy the first row values to the second row
        updateList(aList,:copy,:row,1,2)
# Sum the third row and the second row
# And the result will be in the third row
        updateList(aList,:merge,:row,3,2)

? aList

Output:

The list will be [ [75,75,75], [75,75,75], [82,83,84] ]

75
75
75
75
75
75
82
83
84

Using :col as the third parameter we can do operations on the list columns.

Example:

load "fastpro.ring"

# Store [ [1,2,3], [4,5,6], [7,8,9] ] in aList
aList = [ 1:3,
          4:6,
          7:9 ]

updateList(aList,:set,:col,1,100)
updateList(aList,:mul,:col,2,10)
updateList(aList,:div,:col,3,3)

? aList

Output:

The list will be [ [100,20,1], [100,50,2], [100,80,3] ]

100
20
1
100
50
2
100
80
3

Using :manyrows or :manycols we can do operations on many rows/columns

Example:

load "fastpro.ring"

aList = [
        1:3,
        4:6,
        7:9
]

# Starting from row 1 to row 2, set each value to 100
updateList(aList,:set,:manyrows,1,2,100)
# Starting from row 2 to row 3, multiply each value by 10
updateList(aList,:mul,:manyrows,2,3,10)

? aList

Output:

100
100
100
1000
1000
1000
70
80
90

Using :items as the third parameter we can do operations on 1D lists.

Example:

load "fastpro.ring"

aList = 1:5

updateList(aList,:set,:items,1000)
updateList(aList,:mul,:items,2)
? aList

Output:

The list will be [2000,2000,2000,2000,2000]

2000
2000
2000
2000
2000

UpdateColumn() function

Syntax:

updateColumn(<aList>, [<cCommand>,<nPara1>,[<nPara2>],[nPara3]],…)

Using this function we can execute many commands on the list columns.

Instead of using updateList() many times and each time we pass :col as the third parameter, we can use updateColumn().

This function support using numbers only.

Note

The ImagePixel application uses a similar function called updateBytesColumn() to process bytes directly.

Generate Image

The next example generate an image using a string that contain bytes

Then uses Bytes2List() to convert the generated image to Ring List

Using updateColumn() the list is updated and the colors are converted to Gray

Then using List2Bytes() we get another string contains bytes that represent the Gray Image

Then using the drawBytes() method in RingQt - QPainter class we draw the generated images

Note

We can update the string bytes directly without conversion to a Ring list

Tip

It’s better to use the updateBytesColumn() function to reduce memory usage and have better performance

load "stbimage.ring"
load "fastpro.ring"
load "lightguilib.ring"

width    = 640
height   = 480
channels = 3
cImage   = space(width*height*channels)

RVALUE   = 1
GVALUE   = 2
BVALUE   = 3

WindowWidth = Width*2 + 100

nIndex=0
for x=1 to height
        for y=1 to width
                cImage[nIndex++] = x*x
                cImage[nIndex++] = x*y
                cImage[nIndex++] = x*2
        next
next

aList = Bytes2List(cImage,Width,Height,Channels,255)
updateColumn(aList,:mul,RVALUE,0.3,             # R *= 0.3
                   :mul,GVALUE,0.59,            # G *= 0.59
                   :mul,BVALUE,0.11,            # B *= 0.11
                   :merge,RVALUE,GVALUE,        # R += G
                   :merge,RVALUE,BVALUE,        # R += B
                   :copy,RVALUE,GVALUE,         # G = R
                   :copy,RVALUE,BVALUE)         # B = R
cGrayImage = list2Bytes(aList,Channels,255)

MyApp = new QApp
{
        win1 = new QWidget()
        {
                setwindowtitle("Generate Image & Convert it to Gray")
                setgeometry(0,0,WindowWidth,Height)
                Canvas = new QLabel(win1)
                {
                        MonaLisa  = new QPixMap2( WindowWidth, Height)
                        daVinci = new QPainter()
                        {
                                begin(MonaLisa)
                                drawbytes(0,0,cImage,width,Height,channels)
                                drawbytes(width+10,0,cGrayImage,width,Height,channels)
                                endpaint()
                        }
                        setPixMap(MonaLisa)
                }
                show()
        }
        exec()
}

Output:

gengrayimage

A faster version of the previous sample could be written by replacing the next code

aList = Bytes2List(cImage,Width,Height,Channels,255)
updateColumn(aList,:mul,RVALUE,0.3,             # R *= 0.3
                   :mul,GVALUE,0.59,            # G *= 0.59
                   :mul,BVALUE,0.11,            # B *= 0.11
                   :merge,RVALUE,GVALUE,        # R += G
                   :merge,RVALUE,BVALUE,        # R += B
                   :copy,RVALUE,GVALUE,         # G = R
                   :copy,RVALUE,BVALUE)         # B = R
cGrayImage = list2Bytes(aList,Channels,255)

With this code

cGrayImage = updateBytesColumn(cImage,Channels,Width*Height,255,
           :mul,RVALUE,0.3,             # R *= 0.3
           :mul,GVALUE,0.59,            # G *= 0.59
           :mul,BVALUE,0.11,            # B *= 0.11
           :merge,RVALUE,GVALUE,        # R += G
           :merge,RVALUE,BVALUE,        # R += B
           :copy,RVALUE,GVALUE,         # G = R
           :copy,RVALUE,BVALUE)         # B = R

UpdateBytesColumn() function

Using this function we can process the Bytes directly instead of using Bytes2List() & List2Bytes()

Syntax:

updateBytesColumn(cBytes, nColumns, nCount, nDiv, [cCommand,nPara1,nPara2,[nPara3]],…) —> cNewBytes

Example:

load "stbimage.ring"
load "fastpro.ring"

RVALUE = 1
GVALUE = 2
BVALUE = 3

CIMAGE = "ring.jpg"

# Image Information
        width=0 height=0 channels=0
# Ring will Free cData automatically in the end of the program
        ? "Load image: " + CIMAGE
        cData = stbi_load(CIMAGE,:width,:height,:channels,STBI_rgb)

# Convert to Gray
        cNewData = updateBytesColumn(cData,channels,width*height,255,
                  :mul,RVALUE,0.3,             # R *= 0.3
                  :mul,GVALUE,0.59,            # G *= 0.59
                  :mul,BVALUE,0.11,            # B *= 0.11
                  :merge,RVALUE,GVALUE,        # R += G
                  :merge,RVALUE,BVALUE,        # R += B
                  :copy,RVALUE,GVALUE,         # G = R
                  :copy,RVALUE,BVALUE)         # B = R

# Write the image
        ? "Writing mynewimage.bmp"
        stbi_write_bmp("mynewimage.bmp", width, height, channels, cNewData)
        system("mynewimage.bmp")

This function is used in the ImagePixel application to convert the image to Gray.

updatecolumncode

AddBytesColumn() function

If we have an image that uses three channels (R,G,B) and is represented through a string of bytes

We can use AddBytesColumn() function to add an extra channel like the Alpha channel.

Syntax:

addBytesColumn(cBytes, nColumns, nCount) —> cNewBytes

Example:

cImageFile     = "ring.jpg"
nImageWidth    = 0
nImageHeight   = 0
nImageChannels = 0

stbi_info(cImageFile,:nImageWidth,:nImageHeight,:nImageChannels)

if nImageChannels = 3
        cImageData     = stbi_load(cImageFile,:nImageWidth,:nImageHeight,:nImageChannels,STBI_rgb)
        cImageData     = addBytesColumn(cImageData,nImageChannels,nImageWidth*nImageHeight)
        nImageChannels = 4
else
        cImageData = stbi_load(cImageFile,:nImageWidth,:nImageHeight,:nImageChannels,STBI_rgb_alpha)
ok