wmf graphics format on Linux, and windows.h

Zbigniew Koziol softquake-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
Thu Dec 11 23:14:03 UTC 2008


WMF stands for Windows Meta File. This is an interesting format. It 
contains actually calls to internal windows functions to draw vector 
graphics. It may contain also bitmap data.

I bought an Atlas of Moscow a few months ago, when there. It was very 
helpful and detailed, and it contained a CD with all the data there, 
with maps. These maps are stored just in wmf format. I can find the maps 
on CD. I could not view them, however, by using Linux. An ugly error 
message is generated (when using, for instance, display command, but 
also when using other available around tools).

So, I found out documentation for wmf format on the internet, analyzed 
carefully the content of wmf files I have and finally found that 
changing a value of one, one of the last bytes in these files, allows me 
to view them! The data were designed on windows and the aim was to use 
them on windows. It seems that programmers did some sort of mistake that 
is tolerated on windows but not Linux, which has more strict checking 
of  file format.  That all is done by libwmf, which unfortunately does 
not seem to be developing anymore. An error message on Linux asks me to 
report problem to http://www.wvware.com - but try to access that site 
yourself...

I want to play more with these wmf files. They use function calls that 
are defined in windows.h . Does any one around has by chance windows.h ? 
I would appreciate receiving a copy.

zb.


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