BSave
 
Saves an array of arbitrary data and palette information to a file on disk

Syntax

Declare Function BSave ( ByRef filename As Const String, ByVal source As Any Ptr, ByVal size As Ulong = 0, ByVal pal As Any Ptr = 0, ByVal bitsperpixel As Long = 0 ) As Long

Usage

result = BSave( filename, source [,[ size ][,[ pal ][, bitsperpixel ]]] )

Parameters

filename
the name of the file to create for storing the pixel and palette data.
source
the address of the data to store, or null (0) to store pixel data from the current screen work page.
size
optional, the total number of bytes of data to store. This value is needed unless the output is a BMP file.
pal
optional, the address of a buffer holding 256 Palette colors, or null (0) for the current screen palette.
bitsperpixel
optional, a requested bit depth for the output BMP image.

Return Value

Returns zero (0) if successful, or a non-zero error code to indicate a failure. (throws a runtime error)

Description

BSave is used for saving arbitrary data from memory into a file, using a file format specific to FB, or saving images into a standard BMP image file, replacing an existing file if necessary.

BSave outputs a total of size bytes of arbitrary data located at source to a specified file. If source is null (0), then BSave outputs a maximum of size bytes from the current work page's pixel buffer, which is structured in the current screen mode's internal pixel format. (This data is not compatible with the image buffer format as it has no header.) For 8-bit images, palette information is obtained from pal if present and non-null, or if pal omitted or null (0), from the current screen palette.

A BMP image file can be created if filename has a file extension of ".bmp" (case insensitive). source is assumed to point to a valid image buffer whose entire pixel data will be stored in the BMP file. If source is null (0), the contents of the current work page will be stored instead. For 8-bit images, palette information is obtained from pal if non-null, or if null (0), from the current screen palette. The size parameter is ignored when saving BMP files.

The default bit depth for BMP files is 8-bit for 8-bit (palette) images, 24-bit for 16-bit images, and 32-bit for 32-bit images. The bitsperpixel parameter can be used to request 24-bit output for 8-bit images, or 24-bit output for 32-bit images.

Runtime errors:
BSave throws one of the following runtime errors:

(1) Illegal function call
    • size is less than zero (0), or size is zero and source is non-null, or a problem is detected with the image buffer.
(2) File not found
    • The file could not be created.
(3) File I/O error
    • The file could not be written to.

Example

' Set gfx mode
ScreenRes 320, 200, 32

' Clear with black on white
Color RGB(0, 0, 0), RGB(255, 255, 255)
Cls

Locate 13, 15: Print "Hello world!"

' Save as BMP
BSave "hello.bmp", 0


Differences from QB

  • Support for saving more than 64KiB of arbitrary data is new to FreeBASIC.
  • Support for saving BMP files is new to FreeBASIC.
  • QB cannot use BLoad to load files created with BSave in FreeBASIC, but FreeBASIC can use BLoad to load files created with BSave in QB

See also