Getting Digital Ink to the Desktop

One of the Newton 2.x OS Q&As
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This document was exported on 7/23/97.


Getting Digital Ink to the Desktop (1/17/97)

Q: I want to get ink (for instance, a signature) from my Newton device to a desktop machine. How do I do that?

A: The easiest way to get digital ink to the desktop is to convert it into a bitmap on the Newton device, and send the bitmap up to the desktop via the Desktop Integration Libraries (DILs). Another common technique is to convert the ink into an array of (x,y) points and send that array to the desktop for it to convert into whatever format is suitable.

Take a look at the DTS Sample Code projects, "InkForm" and "InkTranslate". They offer some pointers on how to do this. Depending on how and when you want to do the translation, you'll either want to use the view method ViewIntoBitmap, or the global function GetPointsArray, or a set of functions from the Recognition chapter, particularly GetStroke and GetStrokePointsArray.

If you need DIL sample code, the DTS Sample Code project "SoupDrink" may be helpful to you.