fxCanvas - HTML5 Canvas for Internet Explorer and other browsers
Intro ⁋
fxCanvas is an implementation of the HTML5 Canvas element for Internet Explorer (two-dimensional graphics only).
Requirements ⁋
- Flash player 9+ on Internet Explorer (some versions from 10.1 branch does not work properly, see Issue 5)
- Internet Explorer 5.5+ (IE9 not supported at this moment)
Contents ⁋
- Usage
- Compatibility
- Extended features
- Known bugs
- Demos and examples
- Applications
- Download and source
- References
- Related projects
- TODO
- Bugs and feedbacks
- News
Usage ⁋
Download package, unzip it into a public directory on the server and then paste in head section of the page following tags:
<head> <script type="text/javascript" src="/public/path/jooscript.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/public/path/fxcanvas.js"></script> <!--[if IE]><script type="text/javascript" src="/public/path/flash_backend.js"></script><![endif]--> <comment><script type="text/javascript" src="/public/path/canvas_backend.js"></script></comment> </head>
If you are not familiar with Canvas API, it may be useful to read this:
New! Images and text are now clipable.
fxCanvas also works properly with data: URIs in Internet Explorer. Example.
Compatibility ⁋
fxCanvas supports almost all the Canvas features. The differences is in:
Invoke command and chaining operations
Context commands are keeping in a buffer before they will be applyed (IE only), so that to get values you have to use method invoke():
<script type="text/javascript"> var cv = document.getElementById("cv"); var ctx = cv.getContext("2d"); ctx.setFillStyle("#ff0") .setStrokeStyle("#0ff") .strokeRect(10, 20, 30, 30) .fillRect(30, 40, 50, 50) .invoke("getImageData", 0, 0, cv.width, cv.height, function (imageData) { // ... processing image data }); </script>Images
Prior to using images you have to preload them:
<script type="text/javascript"> var cv = document.getElementById("cv"); var ctx = cv.getContext("2d"); var image_src = "sample.jpg"; cv.onload = function(img) { if (img.src.indexOf(image_src) > -1) { ctx.drawImage(img, 10, 10); } } cv.loadImages(image_src /* ... img1, img2, ... imgX */); </script>Image data array
We cannot use canvas image data as it declared in specs, because of IE using extremely ineffective memory manager so it may eats all available memory in some circumstances. So that fxCanvas is using slightly different image data format.
Take a look at example:
<script type="text/javascript"> var cv = document.getElementById("cv"); var ctx = cv.getContext("2d"); ctx.invoke("getImageData", 0, 0, cv.width, cv.height, function(buf) { for (var i = 0; i < cv.width*cv.width; i++) { var pixelValue = buf.data[i], // pixel value is 32-bit integer red = pixelValue >> 24 & 0xFF, green = pixelValue >> 16 & 0xFF, blue = pixelValue >> 8 & 0xFF, alpha = pixelValue & 0xFF; // // exchange color channels buf.data[ofs] = (blue << 24) + (red << 16) + (green << 8) + alpha; } ctx.invoke("putImageData", buf, 0, 0, function(){ // ... print out the buffer after the operation will be completed console.log("Image data dump:" + buf); } }); </script>
Further explanation can be founded here.
isPointInPath()
isPointInPath() in Internet Explorer returns true if point in bounding box of the path. To get accurate results, use ctx.invoke("isPointInPath", x, y, ...).
toDataURL()
To get canvas shot you have to call the function with data handler:
<script type="text/javascript"> var cv = document.getElementById("cv"); var type = "image/jpeg", quality = .4; // quality is optional argument cv.toDataURL(type, quality, function (png_data) { // draw slice of the canvas on the same canvas at top right corner var ctx = this.getContext("2d"); this.onload = function (img) { ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0, cv.width - 100, 0, 100, 100); } this.loadImages(png_data); }); </script>
Possible types: image/png, image/jpeg, .image/svg+xml
How-to create Canvas element in script
The simpliest way to dynamically create canvas element is:
<script type="text/javascript"> var cv = document.createElement("canvas"); cv.width = 200; cv.height = 100; document.body.appendChild(cv); // ... </script>
Note that if fxCanvas lib is loaded then in newly created elements will be using extended context by default. To disable this behavior and manually initialize extended context, use following code:
<script type="text/javascript"> $Import("buz.fxcanvas"); // don't forget to disable fxCanvas before page content will loaded fxcanvas.config.enable = false; window.onload = function(){ var cv = document.createElement("canvas"); fxcanvas.initElement(cv) // ... } </script>
Context and Backend
There are a few two-dimensional Canvas contexts: first is extended context canvas.getContext("2d"), second is original context canvas.getBackend("2d"). Use last one if you want native drawing speed.
Composite operations
Only source-over and lighter are supported.
Handling canvas resize event
There is a specific problem with canvas resizing due to asynchronous nature. You cannot draw graphics right after the canvas was resizing or it will be clear. As a solution I've added oncanvasresize event which is fired when canvas will be ready after resize. Note that oncanvasresize will not be triggered if the dimensions is the same or is changed style property.
<script type="text/javascript"> ctx.canvas.width = 400 ctx.canvas.height = 300 ctx.oncanvasresize = function(){ ctx.beginPath(); ctx.arc(75,75,50,0,Math.PI*2,true); ctx.stroke() } </script>
Text API
Text API is the most weak part. First is that transformed text looks awkward. Second is not supported method strokeText(). But measureText() returns even four values: width, height, ascent and descent (only for flash backend).
<script type="text/javascript"> ctx.font = "35px Arial" ctx.invoke("measureText", "abc", function(dim){ trace(dim.width, dim.height, dim.ascent, dim.descent) }) </script>
The things may change when I add a brand new text renderer.
Extended features ⁋
Extended context (global extCanvasRenderingContext2D) provides some new useful features for developers .
Animation
There are two ways to making animation on Canvas. First case is using setInterval(), second case is using oncanvasframe event:
<script type="text/javascript"> var ctx = document.getElementById("cv").getContext("2d"); /* * variant one */ setInterval(function() { // ... draw frame here }, 1000); /* * variant two */ ctx.canvas.frameDuration = 10; // in microseconds ctx.canvas.oncanvasframe = function(){ // frame event handler will fired with interval in 10ms // ... draw frame here }; // Warning: animations with complex graphics and tiny frameDuration value may hang on the browser! </script>
Using oncanvasframe event is strongly encouraged, as in Internet Explorer animation running on setInterval() will show incorrect frame rate. Besides in modern browsers (e.g. Firefox 4) animation will be play smoother on frame event (technically: synced with display refresh frame rate).
Note: oncanvasframe event is non-standard extension.
Default frameDuration is 100ms.
Canvas Path
Starting from version 0.2 is introduced a new experimental method for drawing complex curves. For that was added special interface CanvasPath, which allow developers to create array of path segments. It make fast drawings in IE even with complicated curves thanks to caching algorithm. In other browsers using CanvasPath will not give performance gain. To use this feature set ctx._useCanvasPath or fxcanvas.config.useCanvasPath as true. By default useCanvasPath is false.
A very generic example:
<script type="text/javascript"> var cv = document.createElement("canvas"); var ctx = cv.getContext("2d") var longPath = ctx.createPath() longPath.moveTo(0, 0) for(var i=0; i<1000; i++) { longPath.lineTo(i, i) } ctx.beginPath() ctx.appendPath(longPath) ctx.stroke() ctx.rotate(90*Math.PI/180) ctx.beginPath() ctx.appendPath(longPath) ctx.stroke() </script>
Path bounds
There are some new methods and properties:
- method
isPointInPathBounds(x, y) : boolean - method
getPathBounds() : Rectangle transformMatrixproperty
Internally they are used as replacement for isPointInPath in IE. To use these methods in another browsers other than IE, set ctx._tracePathBounds or fxcanvas.config.tracePathBounds property as true. By default tracePathBounds is true for IE and false for others.
These methods are available even if the flash is disabled.
<script type="text/javascript"> ctx.beginPath() ctx.rect(100, 100, 50, 50) var bounds = ctx.getPathBounds() trace(bounds.x, bounds.y, bounds.width, bounds.height) // will output 100 100 50 50 </script>
Basic geometry
JooScript provides some basic geometry primitives such as Point, Rectangle and Matrix2d. They can be used within extended context:
<script type="text/javascript"> $Import("geom.*") var p0 = new Point(10,10) var p1 = new Point(100,100) var rect = new Rectangle(20,10,300,300) var pointer = {x: 123, y: 45} ctx.beginPath() ctx.moveTo(p0) ctx.vectorTo(p1) ctx.rect(rect) ctx.stroke() if( ctx.isPointInPath(pointer) ) { // ... } </script>
Extended context also has transformMatrix property which is a 3x2 transformation matrix. It is available only if tracePathBounds is on.
For futher info refer to JooScript docs.
Known bugs ⁋
- Sometime if user switching from Internet Explorer window to another desktop window, canvas element have lost focus, after that mouse events will not be triggered. He must click somewhere on a page (not on the canvas element!) to restore events. Workaround for this bug seems to be either impossible or very hard to code.
- Dynamic canvas resize may not working properly with
setInterval. Useoncanvasresizeevent as workaround. Here is an example. - In IE canvas element will be disabled if HTML page is loaded from local filesystem.
Demos and examples ⁋
- Drawarea
- Colorize image
- Example of using image data
- Interferoplasma
- Watercolor
- all demos...
- all tests and examples...
Applications ⁋
- DrawForm is a graphical input form for web-pages
Download and source ⁋
Download zip or grab fresh trunk from SVN repo.
References ⁋
- WHATWG Canvas spec.
- fxCanvas is a fork of flashcanvas.
- FlashCanvas Pro offers commercial support.
Related projects ⁋
- Web Forkers, is a Web Workers fake for IE and other browsers.
- JooScript basics is a JavaScript library used for building complex web-apps.
- SVG Web, is a JS lib which provides SVG support on many browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.
Volunteers wanted! Couple of impossible tasks are there (TODO): ⁋
rewrite Cubic Bezier Curves approximation algorithm;rewrite arc drawing algorithm (see this bug);stroke to path conversion (=> patterns on strokes, strokeText() etc..) - seems to be impossible, required a new low level rendering system;fix;isPointInPath()- improve text API;
- improve drawImage:
,drawImage(canvasElement, ...)drawImage(videoElement, ...); - translation from Canvas to SVG and vice versa,
toDataURL("image/xml+svg"); - composite operations;
- shadows;
Bugs and feedbacks ⁋
What's up ⁋
fxCanvas 0.2 - Super Sonic ⁋
Beta 4 (2011-02-05)
It seems basic Canvas API is implemented. I wonder is it ready for production?
jooscript.jsis updated to the latest beta with bright shiny new features.oncanvasframenow based on new approach from Mozzila:mozRequestAnimationFramewhich gives pretty smooth playback for animations and games. Great introduction tomozRequestAnimationFrameis here.- Added demo Watercolor.
- (IE) Method
canvas.loadImagerenamed toloadImagesas it handle multiple arguments. - (IE) Fixed my mistake in load queue.
- (IE) Tangent approximation was replaced with Fixed MidPoint approach. In most cases end-users will not see any differences between two approaches (bezier curve will be wrong on extremal arguments only), but Fixed MidPoint algorithm will works a lot faster especially with complex graphic with tons of cubic bezier curves.
- (IE) In the same time was refactored arcs drawing method. And it became faster too.
- (IE) Now unexpected arguments will raise an exception.
- (IE) Now URLs with ports are supported (issue 6).
- (IE) Implemented accurate method
isPointInPath(viactx.invoke("isPointInPath", x, y, ...)).
Beta 3 (2010-12-25)
There are a lot of constructive changes and only a few new features.
- Added demo Colorize image.
- Added demo Interferoplasma.
- In Firefox 4 will be used new typed arrays for ImageData.
- (IE) Added distorted canvas resizing.
- (IE) Added
oncanvasresizeevent. Example. - (IE) Fixed other bugs.
onframeattribute renamed tooncanvasframe.- Fixed
frameDurationproperty for canvas backend. - (IE) Fixed canvas cursor style.
- (IE) Fixed canvas.loadImage() for series of images.
- (IE) Fixed canvas resizing.
Beta 1 (2010-11-12)
- Changed image data format, now it is array with length = image width
xheight where element is pixel value encoded in 32-bit integer. Data structure comparison. - Experimental implementation of reusable Canvas path.
- (IE) Images and text are now clipable.
- (IE) Improved Canvas Text API.
- (IE) Rewritten initialization routine.
- (IE) Some optimizations in Flash backend.
- (IE) Basic implementation of method
drawImage([Canvas element], ...). - (IE) Now it is possible to draw image from another domain via proxy script (required PHP and cURL).
fxCanvas 0.15d - Super Mario - (2010-05-26) ⁋
- Fixed extended context in modest browser (Chrome, Firefox and company).
fxCanvas 0.15c - Super Mario - (2010-05-01) ⁋

- Opera: added stub in
createImageData(); - Internet Explorer: added configurable brand new context menu;
- ..... and freeing (right-) click event;
- ..... and now mouse behavior similar to standard-compliant browsers;
- released extended canvas context (window.extCanvasRenderingContext2D), reasons: in some browsers native rendering context is not extendable;
- solved animation interval problem, as a solution introduced canvas parameters
onframeandframeDuration; - new, clear project structure;
- the code splitting into IE and non-IE part;
- fixed
HTMLCanvasElementandCanvasRenderingContext2Din Internet Explorer; - as usual cleaned the code up and small optimizations;
- ... some other minor updates;
fxCanvas 0.1a - Mario - (2010-04-14) ⁋
- Fixed probably all stupid bugs.
- Support of basic text API. (Thanks Fabien!)
- Image data support. (Thanks jamie!)
- Fixed isPointInPath() (on JS side).
- Fixed extended context in Safari 3.
- Clean up and code optimizations.
- Flash exceptions handling.
- drawImage chews Base64-encoded images and Canvas element.
- Sync with flashcanvas trunk.
- and other positive changes ...
Download source (don't forget to file an issue when you find something bad).
Updated: Sat Feb 05 21:15:18 +0300 2011
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