Revision as of 09:07, 19 June 2017

This is a definitive reference of the **legacy** Sphere 1.5 API. In other words, the functions that Sphere 1.5 uses in its JavaScript engine.

For the newer Sphere 2 API, please check API:Functions.

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

Engine functions

• GetVersion(): Get the version of Sphere as a number.
• GetVersionString(): Get the full Sphere version.

Game control

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

Accessing 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.

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.

Time

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

Conversion

• CreateStringFromCode(ascii_code): Translate a number to the matching character.

System interfaces

Video

• FlipScreen(): Show the results of drawing to the screen.
• GetFrameRate(): Get the frame rate that limits FlipScreen() call rate.
• SetFrameRate(frames_per_second): Limit the rate of FlipScreen() calls.
• ApplyColorMask(color): Fills the whole screen with color.

Screen size

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

Clipping

• Sphere ClippingRectangle 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.

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 of the given color along a Bezier curve from A to C, controlled by B (A's control point) and D (optional, C's control point).

  step (0, 1] controls how many points are plotted (smaller step == more points).

• 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.

• 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.

• Rectangle(x, y, width, height, color): Draw a rectangle filled with color.
• OutlinedRectangle(x, y, width, height, color [, size]): Draws the outline of a rectangle.
• GradientRectangle(x, y, width, height, color_ul, color_ur, color_lr, color_ll): Draw a rectangle filled with gradient colors.

• FilledCircle(x, y, radius, color [, antialias]): Draws a circle filled with color.
• OutlinedCircle(x, y, radius, color [, antialias]): Draws the outline of a circle with color.
• GradientCircle(x, y, radius, color1, color2 [, antialias]): Draws a circle filled with gradient colors.
• FilledEllipse(x, y, rx, ry, color): Draws an ellipse filled with color.
• OutlinedEllipse(x, y, rx, ry, color): Draws the outline of an ellipse with color.

• 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.

• 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.
• 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.

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

API:Functions/Input/Keyboard

API:Functions/Input/Mouse

API:Functions/Input/Joystick

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.

API:Functions/Networking/Socket

Map Engine

Map and map engine control

• MapEngine(map_filename, fps): Start the map engine at map_filename at speed fps.
• GetCurrentMap(): Get the filename of the loaded map.
• ChangeMap(map_filename): Change the current map of the map engine.
• IsMapEngineRunning(): Check if the map engine is running or not.
• UpdateMapEngine(): Update state of map entities, animations and events in map engine.
• ExitMapEngine(): Flag the map engine to exit on the next update.

• RenderMap(): Draw all map layers and persons to the back buffer.
• GetMapEngineFrameRate(): Get the frames per second the map engine is running at.
• SetMapEngineFrameRate(fps): Change map engine frame rate.
• SetColorMask(color, frames): Draws color over the map engine for frames duration.

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.

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.

Map Elements

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.
• 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.

• 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.
• 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.
• GetTileWidth(): Get the image width of tiles in the current map tileset.
• GetTileHeight(): Get the image height 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.
• SetTile(tile_x, tile_y, layer, tile): Plot a tile at the given map location.
• ReplaceTilesOnLayer(layer, old_tile, new_tile): Substitute all old_tile with new_tile on layer.

• 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

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

Binding scripts to input devices

Note: Binding a key or joystick button overrides whatever input has already been associated with it via AttachInput or AttachPlayerInput!

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

• 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 entities

• GetCameraPerson(): Get the name of the person the camera is attached to.
• IsCameraAttached(): Check if the camera is attached to a person.
• AttachCamera(person): Make the camera follow person.
• DetachCamera(): Stop the camera from following any person.

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

Coordinate conversion translates the current map position to screen coordinates based on the current camera position, and vice versa. Some functions (like checking obstructions) require map coordinates, while others (like image blitting) require screen coordinates. Both map and screen coordinates consider the top-left corner to be (0,0) and extend right-ward and down-ward for X and Y position, respectively.

• 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

NOTE: Entities are known in script as "persons" for legacy reasons.

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

Entity 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

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

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

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 the tile index of the tile if name is obstructed at x, y

  returns -1 if name isn't obstructed by a tile at x, y,

• GetObstructingPerson(name, x, y): returns the name of the person if name is obstructed at x, y

  returns "" if name isn't obstructed by any person 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): set key used to activate talk scripts
• GetTalkActivationKey(): return the key code used to activate talk scripts
• SetTalkDistance(pixels): set maximum distance to check for talk script activation
• GetTalkDistance(): return the maximum distance to check for talk script activation

Entity data

• GetPersonData(name): gets a data object associated 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 associated 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

Controlling entities in script

• GetCurrentPerson()
• SetPersonScript(name, which, script)
  • Available Person scripts:

    SCRIPT_ON_CREATE

    SCRIPT_ON_DESTROY

    SCRIPT_ON_ACTIVATE_TOUCH

    SCRIPT_ON_ACTIVATE_TALK

    SCRIPT_COMMAND_GENERATOR

• CallPersonScript(name, which)

• QueuePersonCommand(name, command, immediate): add a command to the person's command queue.
  • Available 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

Besides the above, Sphere has a set of built-in objects for more generalized use within projects. Most are loaded from external resource files, but a few (Color, ColorMatrix) are defined solely in script and remain only in-memory during the running of the project.

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

• Sphere SoundEffect object
• LoadSoundEffect(filename [, type]): returns a SoundEffect 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 ranges 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

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.

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)

Spritesets

• Sphere Spriteset object: Holds appearance, direction and base data for a map person.

• Spriteset.images[]: an array of all images in the spriteset.
• Sphere Spriteset.base: contains a SpritesetBase object which holds coordinates of the spriteset's collision box/obstruction base relative to the Spriteset dimensions.
• Sphere Spriteset.directions[]: an array of SpritesetDirection objects, each of which containing a direction name and a sequence of SpritesetFrame objects determining the order of images used and delays between animation.

• 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

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

Animations

• Sphere 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.

• 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.

Filesystem

• 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.
• GetFileList(directory): Gets an array of strings containing the filenames in 'directory'.
• RemoveFile(filename): Deletes a file.
• Rename(old, new): Renames or moves a file or directory.
• CreateDirectory(directory): Creates a new directory.
• RemoveDirectory(directory): Removes a directory.

Files

• Sphere File object is a handle to an INI-like key=value structured text file.
• Sphere RawFile object is a handle to a raw file with no inference as to structure and by default processes as binary; scripts have been written to process RawFiles according to their proper formats.
• OpenFile(filename): Returns a Sphere 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.

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.

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

• 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.