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devguide.htmlDeveloper's Guide devguide-9.htmlThe Document and Graphics Classes Curve Objects
A curve object represents a single continuous curve. A curve is a
sequence of segments with each segment starting at the end point of the
preceding segment (except the first segment, of which only the end point
is used as the start point of the second segment).
There are two kinds of segments, line segments and bezier segments.
A line segment is defined by its end point, p, and it defines a straight
line from the preceding segment's end point to p.
A bezier segment consists of an end point, p, and two auxiliary points,
p1 and p2. It defines a bezier curve starting at the preceding segment's
end point, approximating p1 and p2 and ending at p.
The end points of the segments are usually called nodes. There are
two special properties associated with them.
The first property is the continuity. The continuity can be
`angle', `smooth' or `symmetrical'. This results in constraints in the
editor when the user modifies a bezier object's auxiliary points:
angleNo constraint.
smoothThe node, the auxiliary points p2 of the node's segment, and p1
of the following segment must be collinear.
symmetricalThe node, the auxiliary points p2 of the node's segment, and p1
of the following segment must be collinear and the node is the
arithmetic mean of the two auxiliary points.
The second property is only used during editing and has not effect on
the appearance of the curve. It is a flag that indicates whether the
node is selected or not.
Segments are numbered from zero, just like other sequences in Python.
Constructors
CreatePath()Return an empty curve object.
Attributes
lenThe number of segments. An empty curve has zero
length, a curve with just one node has length 1.
closedTrue (1) if the curve is closed, false (0) 
otherwise. 
Methods
Segment Construction
When an empty curve has been created, segments can be appended using the
functions listed in this section. The first segment of a curve must be a
line segment.
AppendLine(p[, cont])AppendLine(x, y[, cont])Append a line segment to self. p must be a devguide-5.html#N11PointSpec .
cont is the continuity at the end node and defaults to
ContAngle.
AppendBezier(p1, p2, p[, cont])AppendBezier(x1, y1, x2, y2,
x, y[, cont])Append a bezier segment to self. p, p1, and p2must be 
devguide-5.html#N11PointSpecs . The control points of
the bezier segment are the current end point of the curve,
p1 and p2 (which are only approximated) and p.
cont is the continuity at the end node and defaults to
ContAngle. 
AppendSegment(CurveLine, (), p[, cont])AppendSegment(CurveBezier, (p1, p2), p[,
cont])Append a segment. If the first parameter is CurveLine, this
method is equivalent to 
AppendLine(p, cont),
with 
cont defaulting to ContAngle.
If the first parameter is CurveBezier, this method is
equivalent to 
AppendLine(p1, p2, p,
cont), with cont defaulting to ContAngle.
This method is mainly supplied as the opposite of the method
#N11Segment .
Querying the Curve Geometry
The following methods usually take the index of a segment as argument.
This index counts from 0 to 
len - 1. If the index is negative it
counts from the end, just like for other sequences.
Segment(i)Return the segment number i as a 4-tuple.
If the segment is a line segment the result is of the form:
(CurveLine, (), p, cont)
if it is a bezier segment the result has the form:
(CurveBezier, (p1, p2), p, cont)
The result is suitable as argument tuple to #N9AppendSegment .
Node(i)Return the ith node as a point object.
Continuity(i)Return the continuity at node i. 
SegmentType(i)Return the type of the ith segment (either CurveLineor 
CurveBezier). 
Modifying a Curve Object
SetLine(i, p[, cont])SetLine(i, x, y[, cont])Replace the ith segment by a line segment. The arguments
p, x, y and cont are used as in #N7AppendLine .
SetBezier(i, p1, p2, p[, cont])SetBezier(i, x1, y1, x2, y2,
x, y[, cont])Replace the ith segment by a bezier segment. The rest of
the arguments are used as in 
#N8AppendBezier .
SetSegment(i, CurveLine, (), p[, cont])SetSegment(i, CurveBezier, (p1, p2), p[, cont])Replace the ith segment by the segment described by the
rest of arguments, which are used as in 
#N9AppendSegment .
ClosePath()Close the curve.
Transform(trafo)Apply the transformation trafo (a trafo object) to the
path. The path is modified in place.
Translate(offset)Translate the path by offset, a point object. The path is
modified in place.
Managing the Selection
SegmentSelected(i)Return true (1) if the ith segment is selected, false (0)
otherwise. 
SelectSegment(i, [flag])Mark the ith segment as selected if flag is true and
as unselected otherwise. 
flag defaults to true.
Constants
ContAngle, ContSmooth, ContSymmetricalThe values for the continuity property of the nodes.
CurveLine, CurveBezierThe two different segment types. Used for #N9AppendSegment  and #N11Segment .
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