C++ How to create a bitmap file

Question

I am trying to figure out how to create a bitmap file in C++ VS. Currently I have taken in the file name and adding the ".bmp" extension to create the file. I want to know how I could change the pixels of the file by making it into different colors or patterns (ie. like a checkerboard) This is my function that I have and I believe that I have to send 3 different Bytes at a time in order to establish the color of the pixel.

void makeCheckerboardBMP(string fileName, int squaresize, int n) {
    ofstream ofs;
    ofs.open(fileName + ".bmp");
    writeHeader(ofs, n, n);

    for(int row = 0; row < n; row++) {
        for(int col = 0; col < n; col++) {

            if(col % 2 == 0) {
                ofs << 0;
                ofs << 0;
                ofs << 0;
            } else {
                ofs << 255;
                ofs << 255;
                ofs << 255;
            }
        }
    }
}

void writeHeader(ostream& out, int width, int height){
    if (width % 4 != 0) {
        cerr << "ERROR: There is a windows-imposed requirement on BMP that the width be a          
multiple of 4.\n";
        cerr << "Your width does not meet this requirement, hence this will fail.  You can fix     
this\n";
        cerr << "by increasing the width to a multiple of 4." << endl;
        exit(1);
    }

    BITMAPFILEHEADER tWBFH;
    tWBFH.bfType = 0x4d42;
    tWBFH.bfSize = 14 + 40 + (width*height*3);
    tWBFH.bfReserved1 = 0;
    tWBFH.bfReserved2 = 0;
    tWBFH.bfOffBits = 14 + 40;

    BITMAPINFOHEADER tW2BH;
    memset(&tW2BH,0,40);
    tW2BH.biSize = 40;
    tW2BH.biWidth = width;
    tW2BH.biHeight = height;
    tW2BH.biPlanes = 1;
    tW2BH.biBitCount = 24;
    tW2BH.biCompression = 0;

    out.write((char*)(&tWBFH),14);
    out.write((char*)(&tW2BH),40);
}

Answer 1

Given your writeHeader is properly implemented this is almost correct. You need to fix 2 issues though:

1. You are writing one int per color channel. This should be one byte instead. You need to cast the literals to unsigned char.
2. Scanlines in bitmaps need to be DWORD-aligned. After your inner loop over col you need to write additional bytes to account for this, unless the size in bytes of the row is a multiple of four.

Answer 2

These are the two functions I am using for my code (one greyscale, one RGB saving).

Might give you a hint whats going wrong. Note: they are done to work, not to be efficient.

void SaveBitmapToFile( BYTE* pBitmapBits, LONG lWidth, LONG lHeight,WORD wBitsPerPixel, LPCTSTR lpszFileName )
{
    RGBQUAD palette[256];
    for(int i = 0; i < 256; ++i)
    {
        palette[i].rgbBlue = (byte)i;
        palette[i].rgbGreen = (byte)i;
        palette[i].rgbRed = (byte)i;
    }

    BITMAPINFOHEADER bmpInfoHeader = {0};
    // Set the size
    bmpInfoHeader.biSize = sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER);
    // Bit count
    bmpInfoHeader.biBitCount = wBitsPerPixel;
    // Use all colors
    bmpInfoHeader.biClrImportant = 0;
    // Use as many colors according to bits per pixel
    bmpInfoHeader.biClrUsed = 0;
    // Store as un Compressed
    bmpInfoHeader.biCompression = BI_RGB;
    // Set the height in pixels
    bmpInfoHeader.biHeight = lHeight;
    // Width of the Image in pixels
    bmpInfoHeader.biWidth = lWidth;
    // Default number of planes
    bmpInfoHeader.biPlanes = 1;
    // Calculate the image size in bytes
    bmpInfoHeader.biSizeImage = lWidth* lHeight * (wBitsPerPixel/8);

    BITMAPFILEHEADER bfh = {0};
    // This value should be values of BM letters i.e 0x4D42
    // 0x4D = M 0×42 = B storing in reverse order to match with endian

    bfh.bfType = 'B'+('M' << 8);
    // <<8 used to shift ‘M’ to end

    // Offset to the RGBQUAD
    bfh.bfOffBits = sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER) + sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER) + sizeof(RGBQUAD) * 256;
    // Total size of image including size of headers
    bfh.bfSize = bfh.bfOffBits + bmpInfoHeader.biSizeImage;
    // Create the file in disk to write
    HANDLE hFile = CreateFile( lpszFileName,GENERIC_WRITE, 0,NULL,
        CREATE_ALWAYS, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,NULL);

    if( !hFile ) // return if error opening file
    {
        return;
    }

    DWORD dwWritten = 0;
    // Write the File header
    WriteFile( hFile, &bfh, sizeof(bfh), &dwWritten , NULL );
    // Write the bitmap info header
    WriteFile( hFile, &bmpInfoHeader, sizeof(bmpInfoHeader), &dwWritten, NULL );
    // Write the palette
    WriteFile( hFile, &palette[0], sizeof(RGBQUAD) * 256, &dwWritten, NULL );
    // Write the RGB Data
    if(lWidth%4 == 0)
    {
        WriteFile( hFile, pBitmapBits, bmpInfoHeader.biSizeImage, &dwWritten, NULL );
    }
    else
    {
        char* empty = new char[ 4 - lWidth % 4];
        for(int i = 0; i < lHeight; ++i)
        {
            WriteFile( hFile, &pBitmapBits[i * lWidth], lWidth, &dwWritten, NULL );
            WriteFile( hFile, empty,  4 - lWidth % 4, &dwWritten, NULL );
        }
    }
    // Close the file handle
    CloseHandle( hFile );
}

void SaveBitmapToFileColor( BYTE* pBitmapBits, LONG lWidth, LONG lHeight,WORD wBitsPerPixel, LPCTSTR lpszFileName )
{

    BITMAPINFOHEADER bmpInfoHeader = {0};
    // Set the size
    bmpInfoHeader.biSize = sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER);
    // Bit count
    bmpInfoHeader.biBitCount = wBitsPerPixel;
    // Use all colors
    bmpInfoHeader.biClrImportant = 0;
    // Use as many colors according to bits per pixel
    bmpInfoHeader.biClrUsed = 0;
    // Store as un Compressed
    bmpInfoHeader.biCompression = BI_RGB;
    // Set the height in pixels
    bmpInfoHeader.biHeight = lHeight;
    // Width of the Image in pixels
    bmpInfoHeader.biWidth = lWidth;
    // Default number of planes
    bmpInfoHeader.biPlanes = 1;
    // Calculate the image size in bytes
    bmpInfoHeader.biSizeImage = lWidth* lHeight * (wBitsPerPixel/8);

    BITMAPFILEHEADER bfh = {0};
    // This value should be values of BM letters i.e 0x4D42
    // 0x4D = M 0×42 = B storing in reverse order to match with endian

    bfh.bfType = 'B'+('M' << 8);
    // <<8 used to shift ‘M’ to end

    // Offset to the RGBQUAD
    bfh.bfOffBits = sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER) + sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER);
    // Total size of image including size of headers
    bfh.bfSize = bfh.bfOffBits + bmpInfoHeader.biSizeImage;
    // Create the file in disk to write
    HANDLE hFile = CreateFile( lpszFileName,GENERIC_WRITE, 0,NULL,
        CREATE_ALWAYS, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,NULL);

    if( !hFile ) // return if error opening file
    {
        return;
    }

    DWORD dwWritten = 0;
    // Write the File header
    WriteFile( hFile, &bfh, sizeof(bfh), &dwWritten , NULL );
    // Write the bitmap info header
    WriteFile( hFile, &bmpInfoHeader, sizeof(bmpInfoHeader), &dwWritten, NULL );
    // Write the palette
    //WriteFile( hFile, &palette[0], sizeof(RGBQUAD) * 256, &dwWritten, NULL );
    // Write the RGB Data
    if(lWidth%4 == 0)
    {
        WriteFile( hFile, pBitmapBits, bmpInfoHeader.biSizeImage, &dwWritten, NULL );
    }
    else
    {
        char* empty = new char[ 4 - lWidth % 4];
        for(int i = 0; i < lHeight; ++i)
        {
            WriteFile( hFile, &pBitmapBits[i * lWidth], lWidth, &dwWritten, NULL );
            WriteFile( hFile, empty,  4 - lWidth % 4, &dwWritten, NULL );
        }
    }
    // Close the file handle
    CloseHandle( hFile );
}

Answer 3

You need to force the output to be written in binary format, not text, this is chosen when you open your file/create your stream and to output all the values as bytes, not integers, this can be done in a number of ways possibly the easiest being write chr(0) or chr(255) - you also need to start your file with a header section - there are a number of formats that make this too long to go into in an answer here - some of them are down to preference as much as anything. There is a good summary in Wikipedia.

Basically you have to inform the receiving applications which format you are using, the number of rows, columns and how the colours are stored.