Revision as of 18:53, 21 May 2013

This is a definitive reference of the Sphere API: in other words, the functions that Sphere uses in its JavaScript engine. The page currently mimics the layout of docs/development/api.txt, but is undergoing reorganisation.

Alternatively, the whole Sphere API, sorted by category, with brief descriptions of the functions is available in the API text file mirror itself.

For assistance with using JavaScript itself, consult these links:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Core_JavaScript_1.5_Guide - Mozilla JavaScript Guide
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Core_JavaScript_1.5_Reference - Mozilla JavaScript Reference

General functions

• CreateStringFromCode(ascii_code): Translate a number to the matching character.
• GetVersion(): Get the version of Sphere as a number.

Script functions

• GarbageCollect(): Run JavaScript's garbage collector to free memory.

File inclusion

• EvaluateScript(filename): Include a script file unconditionally.
• EvaluateSystemScript(filename): Include a system script file unconditionally.
• RequireScript(filename): Include a script file once.
• RequireSystemScript(filename): Include a system script file once.

Engine functions

• GetVersionString(): Get the full Sphere version.

Game control

• Abort(): Exit with a message.
• Exit(): Exit unconditionally.
• RestartGame(): Restarts the game.

Acessing installed games

• Sphere Game object: Holds info about an installed Sphere game.
• GetGameList(): Get a list of installed Sphere games.
• ExecuteGame(directory): Execute Sphere game installed in directory.

System interfaces

Video

• ApplyColorMask(color): Fills the whole screen with color.
• FlipScreen(): Show the results of drawing to the screen.

Clipping

• Sphere Rectangle object: Holds dimensions for clipping rectangle functions.
• GetClippingRectangle(): Get the rectangle in which drawing is being clipped on screen.
• SetClippingRectangle(x, y, width, height): Set a rectangle to clip screen drawing.

Frame rate control

• GetFrameRate(): Get the frame rate that limits FlipScreen() call rate.
• SetFrameRate(frames_per_second): Limit the rate of FlipScreen() calls.

Graphics primitives

NOTE: Be sure to use FlipScreen() when you are done drawing.

• Point(x, y, color): Plot a point with color.

• PointSeries(array, color'): Plot a series of points from an array of objects using color.

• Line(x1, y1, x2, y2, color): Draw a line with color.

• GradientLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color1, color2): Draw a line that fades between colors.

• LineSeries(array, color [, type]): Draws a series of lines from an array of objects using color

 BezierCurve(color, step, Ax, Ay, Bx, By, Cx, Cy [, Dx, Dy])
   - Draws a series of points along a Bezier curve from A to C, controlled
     by B (A's control point) and D (optional, C's control point), with
     the color. step (0, 1] controls how many points are plotted
     (smaller step == more points).

• Triangle(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, color): Draw a triangle with color.

• GradientTriangle(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, color1, color2, color3): Draw a filled triangle that smoothly changes colors between the vertices.

 Polygon(array, color [, invert])
   - Draws a color-filled polygon using the array of objects 
     (each object must have a 'x' and 'y' property).
     If invert is true, all points in the bounding box of the polygon, but
     not in the polygon will be colored.

• OutlinedRectangle(x, y, width, height, color [, size]): Draws the outline of a rectangle.

• Rectangle(x, y, width, height, color): Draw a rectangle filled with color.

• GradientRectangle(x, y, width, height, color_ul, color_ur, color_lr, color_ll): Draw a rectangle filled with gradient colors.

• OutlinedEllipse(x, y, rx, ry, color): Draws the outline of an ellipse with color.

• FilledEllipse(x, y, rx, ry, color): Draws an ellipse filled with color.

• OutlinedCircle(x, y, radius, color [, antialias]): Draws the outline of a circle with color.

• FilledCircle(x, y, radius, color [, antialias]): Draws a circle filled with color.

• GradientCircle(x, y, radius, color1, color2 [, antialias]): Draws a circle filled with gradient colors.

 OutlinedComplex(rx, ry, rw, rh, cx, cy, cr, color [, antialias])
   - Draws a filled rectangle at (rx, ry) with rw width and rh height
     colored with color, with a circle with the radius cr cut out
     at (cx, cy) onto the video buffer.

 FilledComplex(rx, ry, rw, rh, cx, cy, cr, ca, cf, fill_empty, color1, color2)
   - Draws a filled rectangle at (rx, ry) with rw width and rh height
     colored with 'color1', with a circle with the radius cr and the
     color 'color2' drawn onto it.
     Part of the circle can be filled in by specifying the
     angular offset 'ca' and angular size 'cf'.
     If fill_empty is true, any part of the rectangle not filled by the arc
     will be filled with 'color1' instead of being left transparent.

 GradientComplex(rx, ry, rw, rh, cx, cy, cr, ca, cf, fill_empty, color1, color2, color3)
   - Similar to FilledComplex, but fills the circle/arc with a gradient
     from color2 (center) to color3 (edge). All other arguments
     are identical.

Screen size

• GetScreenWidth(): Get the width of the screen.
• GetScreenHeight(): Get the height of the screen.

Input

Player Input

 GetPlayerKey(player, player_key)
     - Returns the key constant associated with the configurable player key of 'player'.
       Allowed 'player' values are 0 - 3 or:
         PLAYER_1
         PLAYER_2
         PLAYER_3
         PLAYER_4
       Allowed 'player_key' values are:
         PLAYER_KEY_MENU
         PLAYER_KEY_UP
         PLAYER_KEY_DOWN
         PLAYER_KEY_LEFT
         PLAYER_KEY_RIGHT
         PLAYER_KEY_A
         PLAYER_KEY_B
         PLAYER_KEY_X
         PLAYER_KEY_Y

Keyboard

Key code translation

• GetKeyString(key, shift): Converts the given key into a string, KEY_A will become "a", etc. If shift is true, returns uppercase/special value of key. Control keys return an empty string.

Key status

• IsAnyKeyPressed(): Check if any key is being held down.
• IsKeyPressed(key): Check if the given key is being held down.

• GetToggleState(key): Checks if Caps Lock, Num Lock or Scroll Lock are active.
• Allowed key values:
  • KEY_CAPSLOCK
  • KEY_NUMLOCK
  • KEY_SCROLLOCK (Note: only two Ls)

Key queue

• AreKeysLeft(): Check if keys are left in the key buffer.
• GetKey(): Get a key from the key buffer, waits for one if there isn't.

Mouse

Cursor location

• GetMouseX(): Get X coordinate of mouse cursor on the screen.
• GetMouseY(): Get Y coordinate of mouse cursor on the screen.
• SetMousePosition(x, y): Set mouse cursor location.

Mouse button status

• IsMouseButtonPressed(mouse_button): Check if a mouse button is being held down.

Mouse wheel event queue

• GetMouseWheelEvent(): Returns a single mouse wheel event.
• GetNumMouseWheelEvents(): Returns the length of the mouse wheel event queue.

Joystick

• GetNumJoysticks(): Returns the number of joysticks available on the system.
• GetNumJoystickButtons(joystick): Returns the number of buttons available on this joystick.
• GetNumJoystickAxes(joystick): Returns the number of available axes on the given joystick.

• GetTalkActivationButton(): Get joystick button used to activate talk scripts.
• SetTalkActivationButton(button): Set joystick button used to activate talk scripts.

Button status

• IsJoystickButtonPressed(joystick, button): Find if a button on a joystick is being held down.

Orientation

• GetJoystickAxis(joystick, axis): Returns the current joystick axis position in normalized coordinates fro -1 to 1.
• Allowed axis values:
  • JOYSTICK_AXIS_X
  • JOYSTICK_AXIS_Y
  • JOYSTICK_AXIS_Z
  • JOYSTICK_AXIS_R (rotation)

Time

• GetTime(): Get the number of milliseconds since an arbitrary point in time.

Map object

• Sphere Map object: Holds map data.

• GetMapEngine(): Obtain the current Map object.
• Map.save(filename): Save a Map object to filename.
• Map.layerAppend(layer_width, layer_height, tile_index): Adds a new layer to the Map object.

ByteArray object

• Sphere ByteArray object: Holds an array of bytes.
• CreateByteArray(length): Create a new ByteArray.
• bytearray.concat(byte_array_object, byte_array_to_append): Returns bytearray with byte_array_to_append attached to the end of it
• bytearray.slice(start_slice [, end_slice]): Returns a slice of the bytearray starting at start, and ending at end or the end of the bytearray if end is omitted. If end is a negative number, the end point is started from the end of the bytearray.

Conversion to and from strings

• CreateByteArrayFromString(string): Create a ByteArray from string.
• CreateStringFromByteArray(byte_array): Convert a ByteArray into a string.

Data hashing

• HashByteArray(byte_array): Calculate MD5 'fingerprint' of data in byte_array.

Networking

• GetLocalAddress(): Get the local IP address.
• GetLocalName(): Get the local computer name.
• ListenOnPort(port): Wait for a connection and return a socket for it.
• OpenAddress(address, port): Connect to address on port.

Socket object

• Sphere Socket object: Has the ability to send/receive data over a network.
• Socket.close(): Close the socket.
• Socket.getPendingReadSize(): Get size of next incoming data block in bytes.
• Socket.isConnected(): Find if the socket is connected or not.
• Socket.read(size): Read size number of bytes into a ByteArray from socket.
• Socket.write(data): Send a ByteArray into the socket.

Map Engine

• MapEngine(map_filename, fps): Start the map engine at map_filename at speed fps.
• IsMapEngineRunning(): Check if the map engine is running or not.
• ExitMapEngine(): Flag the map engine to exit on the next update.

Engine control

• GetMapEngineFrameRate(): Get the frames per second the map engine is running at.
• SetMapEngineFrameRate(fps): Change map engine frame rate.
• RenderMap(): Draw all map layers and persons.
• UpdateMapEngine(): Update state of map entities, animations and events in map engine.

Map control

• GetCurrentMap(): Get the filename of the loaded map.
• ChangeMap(map_filename): Change the current map of the map engine.

Map scripts

• SetRenderScript(script): Set script to run after each time the map is drawn.
• SetUpdateScript(script): Set script to run after each map engine update.

• CallMapScript(map_event): Call map script associated with the current map.

• CallDefaultMapScript(map_event): Call map script set by SetDefaultMapScript().
• SetDefaultMapScript(map_event, script): Set map engine to run script when map_event occurs for any map.

• Map event constants:
  • SCRIPT_ON_ENTER_MAP
  • SCRIPT_ON_LEAVE_MAP
  • SCRIPT_ON_LEAVE_MAP_NORTH
  • SCRIPT_ON_LEAVE_MAP_EAST
  • SCRIPT_ON_LEAVE_MAP_SOUTH
  • SCRIPT_ON_LEAVE_MAP_WEST

• SetDelayScript(frames, script): Run script after frames delay.

Within the map engine

• SetColorMask(color, frames): Draws color over the map engine for frames duration.

Maps

Zones

• AreZonesAt(x, y, layer): Check if there are any zones at (x, y) on layer.
• ExecuteZones(x, y, layer): Run all scripts for zones that (x, y) on layer is in.
• GetNumZones(): Get the number of zones on the current map.

For each zone

• GetCurrentZone(): Get the current zone index in a zone script.
• ExecuteZoneScript(zone): Execute the script of zone.

Zone position

• GetZoneX(zone): Get the X coordinate of zone on the map.
• GetZoneY(zone): Get the Y coordinate of zone on the map.
• GetZoneWidth(zone): Get the pixel width of zone.
• GetZoneHeight(zone): Get the pixel height of zone.

• GetZoneLayer(zone): Get the map layer index of zone.
• SetZoneLayer(zone, layer): Sets the map layer of zone to layer.

Triggers

• IsTriggerAt(x, y, layer): Check if there is a trigger at pixel coords (x, y) on layer.

For each trigger

• ExecuteTrigger(x, y, layer): Activate the trigger at (x, y) on layer if one exists.

Layers

• GetNumLayers(): Get number of layers in the current map.

For each layer

• GetLayerName(layer): Get the name of layer.
• GetLayerWidth(layer): Get width of layer in tiles.
• GetLayerHeight(layer): Get height of layer in tiles.
• SetLayerWidth(layer, width): Set width of layer in tiles.
• SetLayerHeight(layer, height): Set height of layer in tiles.

• SetTile(tile_x, tile_y, layer, tile): Plot a tile at the given map location.

• GetLayerAngle(layer): Get layer angle in radians.
• SetLayerAngle(layer, angle): Set layer rotation to angle radians.

• GetLayerMask(layer): Get Color mask of layer.
• SetLayerMask(layer, color_mask): Mask the layer with color_mask.

• IsLayerReflective(layer): Find if layer shows person entity reflections.
• SetLayerReflective(layer, reflect): Set reflectivity of layer.

• IsLayerVisible(layer): Find if layer is visible.
• SetLayerVisible(layer, visible): Set visibility of layer.

• SetLayerScaleFactorX(layer, factor): Set width scaling of layer to factor.
• SetLayerScaleFactorY(layer, factor): Set height scaling of layer to factor.

• SetLayerRenderer(layer, script): Run script after layer has been rendered.

Tiles

• GetNumTiles(): Get the number of tiles in the current map tileset.
• GetTile(tile_x, tile_y, layer): Get the tileset index of the tile at the given map position.
• GetTileWidth(): Get the image width of tiles in the current map tileset.
• GetTileHeight(): Get the image height of tiles in the current map tileset.
• ReplaceTilesOnLayer(layer, old_tile, new_tile): Substitute all old_tile with new_tile on layer.

For each tile

• GetTileName(tile): Get the name of tile.

• GetTileImage(tile): Get the Image of tile in the current map tileset.
• SetTileImage(tile, image): Change the Image of tile.

• SetTileSurface(tile, surface): Change the Surface of tile.

Tile animations

• GetNextAnimatedTile(tile): Get next tile index of animation from tile.
• SetNextAnimatedTile(tile, next): Set next tile in a tile animation sequence.

• GetTileDelay(tile): Get frame delay of animated tile.
• SetTileDelay(tile, delay): Set a frame delay for this tile animation frame.

Input

Player input

• AttachInput(person): Give input control of person to the player.
• DetachInput(): Remove input control given by AttachInput() or AttachPlayerInput().

• AttachPlayerInput(person, player): Give input control of person to player.
• DetachPlayerInput(person): Remove input control from person given to a player.

• IsInputAttached(): Check if input is attached to a person or not.
• GetInputPerson(): Get the name of the person who holds player input.

Binding scripts to keys

• BindKey(key, on_key_down, on_key_up): Bind scripts to key events.
• UnbindKey(key): Remove script binding from the given key.

Binding scripts to joystick buttons

• BindJoystickButton(joystick, button, on_button_down, on_button_up): Bind scripts to joystick button events.
• UnbindJoystickButton(joystick, button): Unbind joystick buttons from scripts.

Camera

Following persons

• AttachCamera(person): Make the camera follow person.
• DetachCamera(): Stop the camera from following any person.

• IsCameraAttached(): Check if the camera is attached to a person.
• GetCameraPerson(): Get the name of the person the camera is attached to.

Camera position

• GetCameraX(): Get the map X coordinate the camera is focusing on.
• SetCameraX(x_pos): Set the X coordinate of the camera.

• GetCameraY(): Get the map Y coordinate the camera is focusing on.
• SetCameraY(y_pos): Set the Y coordinate of the camera.

Coordinate conversion

• MapToScreenX(layer, x): Convert a map X coordinate to screen X.
• MapToScreenY(layer, y): Convert a map Y coordinate to screen Y.
• ScreenToMapX(layer, x): Convert a screen X coordinate to map layer X.
• ScreenToMapY(layer, y): Convert a screen Y coordinate to map layer Y.

Persons

• GetPersonList(): Get an array of all named persons on the current map.

• CreatePerson(name, spriteset, destroy_with_map): Create a new person called name with spriteset (filename).
• DestroyPerson(name): Destroy the person called name.

Person position

• GetPersonX(name): Get the map X coordinate of name.
• GetPersonY(name): Get the map Y coordinate of name.
• GetPersonLayer(name): Get the map layer index of name.

• SetPersonX(name, x): Set the map X of name to x.
• SetPersonY(name, y): Set the map Y of name to y.
• SetPersonLayer(name, layer): Set the map layer of name to layer.

• GetPersonXFloat(name): Get the map X of name to floating point accuracy.
• GetPersonYFloat(name): Get the map Y of name to floating point accuracy.
• SetPersonXYFloat(name, x, y): Set the position of name with floating point accuracy.

Directions and animations

• GetPersonDirection(name): Get the animation direction of person name.
• SetPersonDirection(name, direction): Set animation direction of person name to direction.

• GetPersonFrame(name): gets the frame and direction that are currently being displayed.
• SetPersonFrame(name, frame): sets which frame from which direction to display.

• SetPersonFrameRevert(name, delay): sets the delay between when the person last moved and returning to first frame.
• GetPersonFrameRevert(name): gets the delay between when the person last moved and returning to first frame.

Movement speed

• SetPersonSpeed(name, speed): sets the person's speed.
• SetPersonSpeedXY(name, speed_x, speed_y): sets the person's x and y speed individually.

• GetPersonSpeedX(name): gets a person's x speed.
• GetPersonSpeedY(name): gets a person's y speed.

Appearance

 GetPersonOffsetX(name)
     - gets the horizontal offset used for blitting frames

 SetPersonOffsetX(name, x)
     - sets the horizontal offset to use for blitting frames
       e.g. setting it to 10 would result in the person frame blitted always 10 pixels
       to the right, while the person's x-position would remain unchanged.

 GetPersonOffsetY(name)
     - gets the vertical offset used for blitting frames

 SetPersonOffsetY(name, y)
     - sets the vertical offset to use for blitting frames
       e.g. setting it to 10 would result in the person frame blitted always 10 pixels 
       to the bottom, while the person's y-position would remain unchanged.

• GetPersonAngle(name): Get the rotation angle of the person name.
• SetPersonAngle(name, angle): Set the rotation angle of person name to angle radians.

• GetPersonMask(name): Get the masking color of the person name.
• SetPersonMask(name, color): Set the color-channel multiplying mask color of the person name.

• SetPersonScaleFactor(name, scale_w, scale_h): Rescales the sprite of person name by relative factors scale_w and scale_h.
• SetPersonScaleAbsolute(name, width, height): Rescales the sprite of person name to width * height pixels.

• GetPersonSpriteset(name): Get the spriteset of person name.
• SetPersonSpriteset(name, spriteset): Set the spriteset of person name to spriteset (Sphere Spriteset object).

• IsPersonVisible(name): Check if the person with name is visible or not. true: visible, false: not visible.
• SetPersonVisible(name, visible): Make person name visible or invisible. true: visible, false: not visible.

Obstruction

• GetPersonBase(name): Get a person's spriteset obstruction base.

• IsPersonObstructed(name, x, y): Check if person "name" would be obstructed at (x, y).

• IgnoreTileObstructions(person, ignore): Sets whether person "person" ignores tile obstructions.

• IsIgnoringTileObstructions(person): Checks whether "person" is ignoring tile obstructions.

 GetObstructingTile(name, x, y)
   - returns -1 if name isn't obstructed by a tile at x, y,
   - returns the tile index of the tile if name is obstructed at x, y

 GetObstructingPerson(name, x, y)
   - returns "" if name isn't obstructed by person at x, y,
   - returns the name of the person if name is obstructed at x, y

 IgnorePersonObstructions(person, ignore)
   - Sets whether 'person' should ignore other spriteset bases
 
 IsIgnoringPersonObstructions(person)
   - Returns true if 'person' is ignoring person obstructions, else false

 GetPersonIgnoreList(person)
   - Returns a list of people that 'name' is ignoring
 
 SetPersonIgnoreList(person, ignore_list)
   - Tells 'person' to ignore everyone in ignore_list
   e.g. SetPersonIgnoreList("White-Bomberman", ["bomb", "powerup"]);
   Tells White-Bomberman to not be obstructed by bombs or powerups

Talk interaction

 SetTalkActivationKey(key)
 GetTalkActivationKey()
   - set key used to activate talk scripts

 SetTalkDistance(pixels)
 GetTalkDistance()
   - set distance to check for talk script activation

Following other persons

• FollowPerson(name, leader, pixels): Makes a sprite follow behind another sprite.

Person data

 GetPersonData(name)
   - gets a data object assiocated with the person 'name'
   There are certain default properties/values filled in by the engine, they are:
   num_frames - the number of frames for the person's current direction
   num_directions - the number of directions for the person
   width - the width of the spriteset's current frame
   height - the height of the spriteset's current frame
   leader - the person that this person is following, or "" if no-one...
   Any other properties are free for you to fill with values,
   e.g.
     var data = GetPersonData("Jimmy");
     var num_frames = data["num_frames"];
 
 SetPersonData(name, data)
   - sets the 'data' object assiocated with the person 'name'
   e.g.
   var data = GetPersonData("Jimmy");
   data["talked_to_jimmy"] = true;
   SetPersonData("Jimmy", data);

 SetPersonValue(name, key, value)
   - SetPersonValue("Jimmy", "talked_to_jimmy", true); // same as code above
 
 GetPersonValue(name, key)
   - GetPersonValue("Jimmy", "num_frames"); // same as previous code above

Person control

• SetPersonScript(name, which, script)
• Person scripts:
  • SCRIPT_ON_CREATE
  • SCRIPT_ON_DESTROY
  • SCRIPT_ON_ACTIVATE_TOUCH
  • SCRIPT_ON_ACTIVATE_TALK
  • SCRIPT_COMMAND_GENERATOR
• CallPersonScript(name, which)

• GetCurrentPerson()

• QueuePersonCommand(name, command, immediate): add a command to the person's command queue.
• Person commands:
  • COMMAND_WAIT
  • COMMAND_ANIMATE
  • COMMAND_FACE_NORTH
  • COMMAND_FACE_NORTHEAST
  • COMMAND_FACE_EAST
  • COMMAND_FACE_SOUTHEAST
  • COMMAND_FACE_SOUTH
  • COMMAND_FACE_SOUTHWEST
  • COMMAND_FACE_WEST
  • COMMAND_FACE_NORTHWEST
  • COMMAND_MOVE_NORTH
  • COMMAND_MOVE_EAST
  • COMMAND_MOVE_SOUTH
  • COMMAND_MOVE_WEST
• QueuePersonScript(name, script, immediate): Queue a script command on the command queue of name.
• IsCommandQueueEmpty(name): Check if the command queue of the person is empty.
• ClearPersonCommands(name): Clears the command queue of the named person.

Sphere objects

Colors

• Sphere Color object: Holds RGBA data for a color.
• CreateColor(red, green, blue[, alpha]): Create a new Color object.

Blending colors

• BlendColors(c1, c2): Mix two Colors evenly.
• BlendColorsWeighted(c1, c2, c1_weight, c2_weight): Mix two Colors in given proportions.

Log object (debugging)

• OpenLog(filename): Create a new log file.

• Sphere Log object: Traces script execution by putting messages in a log file.
• Log.beginBlock(name): Create an indented block with name as title.
• Log.endBlock(): Close an open block.
• Log.write(message): Write a message to the log.

Spritesets

• Sphere Spriteset object: Holds appearance, direction and base data for a map person.
• LoadSpriteset(filename): Load a Sphere Spriteset from filename.
• CreateSpriteset(frame_width, frame_height, num_images, num_directions, num_frames): returns a blank spriteset object with the given dimensions
• Spriteset.save(filename): saves the spriteset object to 'filename'
• Spriteset.clone(): returns a copy of the spriteset object

• Sphere SpritesetBase object: Determines a person's collision box.
• Sphere SpritesetDirection object: Holds a direction name and animation sequence.
• Sphere SpritesetFrame object: A frame (image index, delay) in a SpritesetDirection.

Sounds

• Sphere Sound object: Holds a sound or piece of music that can be played.
• Sphere SoundEffect object: Holds a sound that can be played. This powerful object is designed mainly for sound effects.
• LoadSound(filename [, streaming]): Load a sound from filename, streaming from disk optional.

Sound object

• Sound.play(repeat): Play the sound, loop if repeat is true.
• Sound.pause(): Pause playback of the sound. Call Sound.play() to resume.
• Sound.stop(): Stop playback of the sound.

• Sound.reset(): Resets playback. No effect on MIDIs.
• Sound.setRepeat(repeat): Sets if the sound should be repeated.
• Sound.getRepeat(): Returns true if sound is set to repeat, otherwise false.

• Sound.isPlaying(): Check if the sound is currently playing.
• Sound.isSeekable(): Returns true if the sound is seekable. Not all sound types are seekable, Ogg is.
• Sound.getLength(): Gets the length of the sound.
• Sound.clone(): Returns a copy of the sound object.
• Sound.getPosition(): Returns the position of the sound, zero if the sound isn't seekable.
• Sound.setPosition(position): Sets the position of the sound. Does nothing if the sound isn't seekable.

• Sound.getVolume(): Get the volume of the sound (0-255). No effect on MIDIs.
• Sound.setVolume(volume): Set the volume of the sound (0-255). No effect on MIDIs.
• Sound.setPan(pan): Pan can be from -255 to 255. -255 = left, 255 = right. No effect on MIDIs.
• Sound.getPan(): Returns the current pan of the sound. No effect on MIDIs.
• Sound.setPitch(pitch): Sets the pitch for a sound. No effect on MIDIs.
• Sound.getPitch(): Returns the current pitch. No effect on MIDIs.

Sound Effect object

 LoadSoundEffect(filename [, type])
   - returns a sound effect object from 'filename'. If Sphere is unable to open
     the file, the engine will give an error message and exit.
     There are two types of sound effects: SE_SINGLE and SE_MULTIPLE.
     SE_SINGLE sound effects only allow the sound to be played once at a time.
     SE_MULTIPLE sound effects always open a new stream to the audio device
     for each time it is played (cleaning up or reusing old streams if possible).

 SoundEffect.play()
   - plays the sound effect.
     If the sound effect is of type SE_SINGLE, this plays the sound
     if it isn't playing yet, and starts it again if it is.
     If the sound effect is of type SE_MULTIPLE, play() simply starts
     playing the sound again.

 SoundEffect.stop()
   - stops playback
     If the sound is of type SE_SINGLE, stop the sound.
     If it is of type SE_MULTIPLE, stop all playing instances of the sound.

 SoundEffect.setVolume(volume)
   - sets the volume for the sound effect (0-255)
 
 SoundEffect.getVolume()
   - returns the sound effect's volume (0-255)

 SoundEffect.setPan(pan)
   - pan can be from -255 to 255.  -255 = left, 255 = right. pan defaults to 0 (center).
 
 SoundEffect.getPan()
   - returns the current pan of the sound effect

 SoundEffect.setPitch(pitch)
   - pitch ranges from 0.5 to 2.0.  0.5 is an octave down (and half as fast)
     while 2.0 is an octave up (and twice as fast).  pitch defaults to 1.0
 
 SoundEffect.getPitch()
   - returns the current pitch

Fonts

• Sphere Font object: The graphical representation of text.
• GetSystemFont(): Load the default system font.
• LoadFont(): Load a font file.

Font object

• Font.clone(): returns a copy of 'font_object'

Drawing text

• Font.drawText(x, y, text): Draw text at (x, y) using the font.
• Font.drawTextBox(x, y, width, height, y_offset, text): Draw wrapped text, shifted up/down by y_offset, in the box (x, y, width, height).
• Font.drawZoomedText(x, y, scale, text): Draw scaled text with upper-left corner (x, y) using the font.
• Font.wordWrapString(string, width): Splits a string into an array of lines as if it were wrapped using Font.drawTextBox().

Font size info

• Font.getHeight(): Get the height of chars in the font, in pixels.

• Font.getStringWidth(string): Determine the width of a string drawn with the font, in pixels.
• Font.getStringHeight(string, width): Determine the height of the string as if it was drawn by Font.drawTextBox() with width.

Font color masking

• Font.getColorMask(): Get the color mask being used by the font.
• Font.setColorMask(color): Set the color mask for a font to color (see color masking).

Font characters

• Font.getCharacterImage(code): returns the image in the font_object of the character based on the code, e.g. 65 is 'A'
• Font.setCharacterImage(code, image): sets the character image in the font_object based on the code

Saving to disk

• Font.save(filename): saves the Font_object as a font using the filename 'filename'

WindowStyles

• Sphere WindowStyle object: holds a windowstyle for drawing.
• GetSystemWindowStyle(): Get the default window style that comes with the Sphere engine.
• LoadWindowStyle(filename): returns a windowstyle object from 'filename'.

WindowStyle object

Drawing windows

• WindowStyle.drawWindow(x, y, w, h): Draw a window (x, y, w, h) with external borders.

WindowStyle color masking

• WindowStyle.getColorMask(): gets the color mask being used by the windowstyle object
• WindowStyle.setColorMask(color): sets the color mask for a windowstyle (see ApplyColorMask)

Images

• Sphere Image object: Holds a 2D bitmap for displaying.
• LoadImage(filename): Load an image from filename.
• GrabImage(x, y, width, height): Grab the screen contents at (x, y, width, height) and store it in a new Image object.

System images

• GetSystemArrow(): Get the right-pointing arrow image that comes with the Sphere engine.
• GetSystemUpArrow(): Get the up-pointing arrow image that comes with the Sphere engine.
• GetSystemDownArrow(): Get the down-pointing arrow image that comes with the Sphere engine.

Image object

• Image.clone(): returns a copy of 'image_object'

Blitting (drawing) images

• Image.blit(x, y): Draw the image with the top-left corner at (x, y).
• Image.blitMask(x, y, mask): Draw the image at (x, y) with mask as the tinting color.
• Image.rotateBlit(center_x, center_y, angle): Draw the image centered at (center_x, center_y), rotated by angle radians.
• Image.rotateBlitMask(center_x, center_y, angle, mask): rotateBlit + mask.
• Image.zoomBlit(x, y, factor): Draw the image zoomed by factor with the top-left corner at (x, y).
• Image.zoomBlitMask(x, y, factor, mask): zoomBlit + mask.
• Image.transformBlit(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4): Draw the image with top-left (x1, y1), top-right (x2, y2), bottom-right (x3, y3) and bottom-left (x4, y4).
• Image.transformBlitMask(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4, mask): Draw the image stretched to fit 4 coordinates clockwise from the top-left, with a masking color.

Surface conversion

• Image.createSurface(): Create a new Surface using the picture data in the image.

Surfaces

• CreateSurface(width, height, color): Create a Surface of dimensions (width, height), filled with color.

• LoadSurface(filename): Create a Surface from an image given by filename.

• GrabSurface(x, y, width, height): Grab the screen contents at (x, y, width, height) and store it in a new Surface.

Surface object

• Sphere Surface object: A picture canvas in memory that can be drawn to.

• Surface.setAlpha(alpha): sets the alpha of the surface
• Surface.clone(): Create a copy of the surface object.
• Surface.cloneSection(x, y, w, h): returns a new surface object with the height and width of h and w, with part of image at (x,y) from the surface_object with the width w and height h.

Drawing on surfaces

• Blend Modes
  • BLEND (default for drawing)
  • REPLACE
  • RGB_ONLY
  • ALPHA_ONLY
  • ADD
  • SUBTRACT
  • MULTIPLY (default for masking)
  • AVERAGE
  • INVERT

• Surface.setBlendMode(mode): Sets the blend mode of the surface, which will affect any drawing operation on the surface. 'mode' must be one of the available blend modes for surfaces.

• Surface.getPixel(x, y): Get the color of the pixel at (x, y) on the surface.
• Surface.setPixel(x, y, color): Set the pixel at (x, y) on the surface to color.
• Surface.replaceColor(oldColor, newColor): replace all pixels of the color oldColor in the surface with newColor

Primitives on surfaces

• Surface.pointSeries(array, color): plots a series of points colored with color onto the surface with array filled with objects (each object must have a 'x' and 'y' property)
• Surface.line(x1, y1, x2, y2, color): Draw a line onto the surface starting from (x1, y1) to (x2, y2) with color.
• Surface.gradientLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color1, color2): Draw a line onto the surface starting from (x1, y1) to (x2, y2) with a color fade from color1 to color2.
• Surface.lineSeries(array, color [, type]): draws a series of lines colored with color onto the surface with array filled with objects (each object must have a 'x' and 'y' property)
• Surface.bezierCurve(color, step, Ax, Ay, Bx, By, Cx, Cy [, Dx] [, Dy]): Draws a Bezier curve colored with color onto the surface with step being a floating point number in the range 0 < step <= 1.0 and the points:

  (Ax, Ay: coordinates of the endpoint A),

  (Bx, By: coordinates of A's control point B)

  (Cx, Cy: coordinates of the endpoint C)

  (Dx, Dy: optional, coordinates of C's control point D - if omitted, B is also C's control point)

• Surface.outlinedRectangle(x, y, width, height, color [, size]): Draw an outlined rectangle onto the surface at (x, y) of width and height colored with color and with size determining the thickness.
• Surface.rectangle(x1, y1, x2, y2, color): Draw a filled rectangle on the surface from (x1, y1) to (x2, y2) with color.
• Surface.gradientRectangle(x, y, w, h, c_ul, c_ur, c_lr, c_ll): Draws a gradient rectangle onto the surface at (x,y) with the height h and width w and a gradient of colors graduating from each corner of the rectangle as follows:

  c_ul = color of upper left corner

  c_ur = color of upper right corner

  c_lr = color of lower right corner

  c_ll = color of lower left corner

• Surface.triangle(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, color): Draw a filled triangle with points (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3) with color.
• Surface.gradientTriangle(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, c1, c2, c3): Draws a gradient triangle onto the surface with the points (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3), with each point (c1 = color of (x1, y1), c2 = color of (x2, y2), c3 = color of (x3, y3)) having a color to generate the gradient of the triangle
• Surface.polygon(array, color [, invert]): draws a filled polygon colored with color onto the surface with array filled with objects (each object must have a 'x' and 'y' property)

  If invert is true, all points in the bounding box of the polygon, but not in the polygon will be colored.

• Surface.outlinedEllipse(x, y, rx, ry, c): Draws an outlined ellipse at (x, y) with rx being the horizontal radius and ry the vertical radius onto the surface with the color c
• Surface.filledEllipse(x, y, rx, ry, c): Draws a filled ellipse at (x, y) with rx being the horizontal radius and ry the vertical radius onto the surface with the color c
• Surface.outlinedCircle(x, y, radius, color [, antialias]): Draws an outlined circle at (x, y) colored with color onto the surface if antialias is true, the circle will be antialiased
• Surface.filledCircle(x, y, radius, color [, antialias]): Draws a filled circle at (x, y) colored with color onto the surface if antialias is true, the circle will be antialiased
• Surface.gradientCircle(x, y, radius, color1, color2 [, antialias]): Draws a gradient circle at (x, y) onto the surface colored with a fading color from color1 to color2 if antialias is true, the circle will be antialiased

Text on surfaces

• Surface.drawText(font, x, y, text): draws 'text' at x, y with the font onto the surface_object
• Surface.drawZoomedText(font, x, y, scale, text): draws scaled text (1.0 = normal) with (x,y) as the upper left corner onto the surface_object
• Surface.drawTextBox(font, x, y, w, h, offset, text): draws a word-wrapped text at (x, y) onto the surface_object with the width w and height h. The offset is the number of pixels which the number of pixels from y which the actual drawing starts at. See Font.drawTextBox for more detail.

Manipulating surfaces

• Surface.rotate(angle, resize): Rotate the surface by angle radians, resize to fit if requested.
• Surface.resize(w, h): resizes the surface images. This does not stretch or shrink the image inside the surface.
• Surface.rescale(w, h): stretches or shrinks the surface to the new width w and height h
• Surface.flipHorizontally(): flips the surface horizontally
• Surface.flipVertically(): flips the surface vertically

Color effects

• Surface.applyLookup(x, y, w, h, red_lookup, green_lookup, blue_lookup, alpha_lookup): Apply a lookup table transformation to the pixels contained in x, y, w, h

  The lookup parameters are arrays of 256 elements containg the new pixel values, ex: var invert_lookup = [255, 254, 253, 252, 251, ..., 4, 3, 2, 1, 0];

• Surface.applyColorFX(x, y, w, h, colormatrix): Apply the colormatrix to the pixels contained in x, y, w, h (see CreateColorMatrix)
• Surface.applyColorFX4(x, y, w, h, cm_upperleft, cm_upperright, cm_lowerleft, cm_lowerright): Apply 4 color matrices. Each corner has a separate color matrix. (see CreateColorMatrix)

Drawing (blitting) surfaces

• Surface.blit(x, y): Draw the surface on the screen at (x, y).
• Surface.blitSurface(surface, x, y): draws 'surface' onto 'surface_object' at (x,y)
• Surface.blitImage(image_object, x, y): draws 'image' onto 'surface_object' at (x,y)
• Surface.blitMaskSurface(surface, x, y, mask [, mask_blend_mode]): draws 'surface' onto the surface_object at (x, y), except that the color passed as 'mask' tints 'surface'; optionally you can pass one of the blend modes for masking as mask_blend_mode
• Surface.rotateBlitSurface(surface, x, y, angle): draws 'surface' onto the surface_object at (x, y), except that 'surface' is rotated anti-clockwise in radians, with -2*PI <= angle <= 2*PI
• Surface.rotateBlitMaskSurface(surface, x, y, angle, mask [, mask_blend_mode]): rotateBlitSurface + blitMaskSurface
• Surface.zoomBlitSurface(surface, x, y, factor): draws 'surface' onto the surface_object at (x, y) with zooming, with the scaling depending on factor. Normally a factor of 1 will draw a normal looking 'surface' and between 0 and 1 will shrink it. Any values greater than 1 will stretch it's size.
• Surface.zoomBlitMaskSurface(surface, x, y, factor, mask [, mask_blend_mode]): zoomBlitSurface + blitMaskSurface
• Surface.transformBlitSurface(surface, x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4): draws 'surface' onto the surface_object with "transformation", where (x1, y1) is the upper left corner, (x2, y2) the upper right corner, (x3, y3) is the lower right corner, and (x4, y4) is the lower left corner.
• Surface.transformBlitMaskSurface(surface, x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4, mask [, mask_blend_mode]): transformBlitSurface + blitMaskSurface

Conversion to image

• Surface.createImage(): Create a new Image with the picture data in the surface.

Saving to disk

• Surface.save(filename): saves the surface_object as an image using the filename 'filename'; the image type is determined by the extension of the file, e.g. surface.save("test.png") saves a png image called test.png

Color matrices

• Sphere ColorMatrix object used to transform colors
• CreateColorMatrix(rn, rr, rg, rb, gn, gr, gg, gb, bn, br, bg, bb): Creates a ColorMatrix that is used to transform the colors contained in a pixel with the following formula:

  newcolor.red = rn + (rr * oldcolor.red + rg * oldcolor.green + rb * oldcolor.blue) / 255;

  newcolor.green = gn + (gr * oldcolor.red + gg * oldcolor.green + gb * oldcolor.blue) / 255;

  newcolor.blue = bn + (br * oldcolor.red + bg * oldcolor.green + bb * oldcolor.blue) / 255;

(see Surface.applyColorFX and Surface.applyColorFX4)

Animations

• Animation object
• LoadAnimation(filename): Load animation file and return an usable Animation object.

Animation frames

• Animation.getNumFrames(): Returns the number of frames the animation contains.
• Animation.getDelay(): Returns the delay between frames, in milliseconds.
• Animation.readNextFrame(): Readies the next frame for drawing.

Drawing animation frames

• Animation.drawFrame(x, y): Draws the current frame into the video buffer.
• Animation.drawZoomedFrame(x, y, scale): Draws the current frame into the video buffer with a specified zoom scale.

Directories

• GetDirectoryList(directory) directory = directory in which to enumerate directories, the current game's directory if not specified. Returns an array of strings, which contain the directory names that reside in the directory directory of the game.

• Rename(old, new): Renames or moves a file or directory.

• CreateDirectory(directory): Creates a new directory.

• RemoveDirectory(directory): Removes a directory.

Files

• RemoveFile(filename): Deletes a file.

• GetFileList(directory): Gets an array of strings containing the filenames in 'directory'.

• OpenFile(filename): Returns a file object with the filename.

• OpenRawFile(filename [, writeable]): Open or create a file, and grab a RawFile handle to it.

File object

 File.read(key, default)
   - reads a value from the key
     the value type returned depends on the default value. 
     + if the default is a number, read will return a number.
     + if the default is a text or string, read will return a string.
     + if the default is a boolean, read will return a boolean
     + if the key is not present in the file, it will return the default value.
 
 File.write(key, value)
   - writes a value (string, number, boolean) to the file under the key name

 File.flush()
   - writes the file to disk immediately...  this way you don't have
     to wait for it to save when the file object is garbage collected
 
 File.close()
   - closes the File object, after which it cannot be used anymore.
     Always remember to close opened files.

File keys

 File.getNumKeys()
   - returns the number of keys in the file
   
 File.getKey(index)
   - returns a string of the key at 'index'

RawFile object

• RawFile.read(num_bytes): Read num_bytes from the file, and return that data as a ByteArray.
• RawFile.write(byte_array): Write the data in byte_array into the file.

• RawFile.close(): Close (and flush) the RawFile object.

Size

• RawFile.getSize(): Get the size of the file in bytes.

File pointer position

• RawFile.getPosition(): Get the current position which the data is read from.
• RawFile.setPosition(position): Set the position that the file will be read from.

Hashing raw files

• HashFromFile(filename): Generate the MD5 'fingerprint' of a file. Identical files produce the same MD5 hash.