NPDS GIF Server Syntax

Draft (20201013)

Magic Pointer Syntax

Starting with GIF Server 1.3, NPDS can serve built-in Newton OS bitmap images using the following syntax:

/gif/magic/<newtonscript code>

The NewtonScript code starts with an @ (indicating what is known as a magic pointer) and should not contain parentheses or colons, for security reasons.

A list of built-in Newton images compiled by Jonathan Kipling Knight, can be downloaded here:

https://newted.org/newtsprism/BinHexer/pictures.hqx

For example, the image used by the Newton to indicate a sent message can be seen here:

http://messagepad.no-ip.org:2200/gif/magic/@779

Big Digit Counter Syntax

Another feature of GIF Server is that it can display a counter using the Newton’s built-in “big digit” images.

The syntax is:

/gif/counter/<number>

<number> actually can contain non-digits. Non-digits are replaced with a blank rectangle.

Examples:

http://messagepad.no-ip.org:2200/gif/counter/1234567890

http://messagepad.no-ip.org:2200/gif/counter/xx1y2z3t4u5v67890

This can be combined with the <COUNTER> SSI (server-side include) tag:

<img src="/gif/counter/<COUNTER>" alt="<COUNTER>">

If the number of digits is note likely to change between page requests, you can add width and height attributes to the HTML so the rendering of the page doesn’t change once the graphics are loaded.

Contact Information

To obtain help or ask questions, please subscribe to the NPDS mailing list.

This document was written by , based on release notes by . Comments are welcome.

Change history