sane-test - SANE backend for testing frontends

The sane-test library implements a SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) backend that allows testing the SANE installation and SANE frontends. It provides access to a (nearly) unlimited number of virtual devices. There is no support for real scanners or cameras. However, the backend simulates scanning and setting options.

The idea is not only to find bugs in frontends but also to show all capabilities of SANE. Therefore sane-test implements functions and options that are not (or seldomly) found in other backends.

The backend is commented out in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf, so either the comment character must be removed or the backend must be called explicitely. E.g. `scanimage -d test' or `xscanimage test'.

Option mode selects the scan mode (Gray or Color).

Option depth determines the number of bits per sample (1. 8, or 16). Keep in mind, that this value refers to the sample, not the pixel. So depth=16 results in 48 bits per pixel in color mode. The most usual combinations are mode=Gray, depth=1 for lineart, mode=Gray, depth=8 for gray and mode=Color, depth=8 for color mode. The combination of color and 1-bit mode is quite obscure (8 colors) but allowed in the SANE standard. However, the meaning of bits is not defined. Currently 1 = high intensity and 0 = low intensity is used.

Setting option hand-scanner results in the test-backend behaving like a hand-scanner. Hand-scanners do not know the image height a priori. Instead, they return a height of -1. Setting this option allows to test whether a frontend can handle this correctly. This option also enables a fixed width of 11 cm.

Setting option three-pass simulates a three-pass scanner. Older color scanners needed to scan the image once per color (reg/green/blue) to get the full image. Therefore, in this mode three single frames are transmitted in color mode.

Option three-pass-order provides support for changing the order of the three frames (see option three-pass above). A frontend should support all orders.

Option resolution sets the resolution of the image in dots per inch.

Option test-picture allows to set the image that's returned to the frontend. While "Solid white" and "Solid black" are quite obvious, the other options need some more explanation. Color patterns are used to determine if all modes and their colors are reprented correctly by the frontend. The grid should look like the same in every mode and resolution. A table of all the test pictures can be found at: http://www.meier-geinitz.de/sane/test-backend/test-pictures.html.

If option invert-endianess is set, the upper and lower bytes of image data in 16 bit modes are exchanged. This option can be used to test the 16 bit modes of frontends, e.g. if the frontend uses the correct endianess.

If option read-limit is set, the maximum amount of data tranferred with each call to sane_read() is limited.

Option read-limit-size sets the limit for option read-limit. A low limit slows down scanning. It can be used to detect errors in frontend that occur because of wrong assumptions on the size of the buffer or timing problems.

Option read-delay enables delaying data to the frontend.

Option read-delay-duration selects the number of microseconds the backends waits after each transfer of a buffer. This option is useful to find timing-related bugs, especially if used over the network.

If option read-return-value is different from "Default", the selected status will be returned by every call to sane_read(). This is useful to test the frontend's handling of the SANE statii.

If option ppl-loss is different from 0, it determines the number of pixels that are "lost" at the end of each line. That means, lines are padded with unused data.

Option fuzzy-parameters selects that fuzzy (inexact) parameters are returned as long as the scan hasn't been started. This option can be used to test if the frontend uses the parameters it got before the start of the scan (which it shouldn't).

Option non-blocking determines if non-blocking IO for sane_read() should be used if supported by the frontend.

If option select-fd is set, the backend offers a select filedescriptor for detecting if sane_read() will return data.

If option enable-test-options is set, a fairly big list of options for testing the various SANE option types is enabled.

Option print-options can be used to print a list of all options to standard error.

Option tl-x determines the top-left x position of the scan area.

Option tl-y determines the top-left y position of the scan area.

Option br-x determines the bottom-right x position of the scan area.

Option br-y determines the bottom-right y position of the scan area.

There are 6 bool test options in total. Each option is numbered. (3/6) means: this is option 3 of 6. The numbering scheme is inetended for easier detection of options not displayed by the frontend (bevause of missing support or bugs).

Option bool-soft-select-soft-detect (1/6) is a bool test option that has soft select and soft detect (and advanced) capabilities. That's just a normal bool option.

Option bool-hard-select-soft-detect (2/6) is a bool test option that has hard select and soft detect (and advanced) capabilities. That means the option can't be set by the frontend but by the user (e.g. by pressing a button at the device).

Option bool-hard-select (3/6) is a bool test option that has hard select (and advanced) capabilities. That means the option can't be set by the frontend but by the user (e.g. by pressing a button at the device) and can't be read by the frontend.

Option bool-soft-detect (4/6) is a bool test option that has soft detect (and advanced) capabilities. That means the option is read-only.

Option bool-soft-select-soft-detect-emulated (5/6) is a Bool test option that has soft select, soft detect, and emulated (and advanced) capabilities.

Option bool-soft-select-soft-detect-auto (6/6) is a Bool test option that has soft select, soft detect, and automatic (and advanced) capabilities. This option can be automatically set by the backend.

There are 6 int test options in total.

Option int (1/6) is an int test option with no unit and no constraint set.

Option int-constraint-range (2/6) is an int test option with unit pixel and constraint range set. Minimum is 4, maximum 192, and quant is 2.

Option int-constraint-word-list (3/6) is an int test option with unit bits and constraint word list set.

Option int-constraint-array (4/6) is an int test option with unit mm and using an array without constraints.

Option int-constraint-array-constraint-range (5/6) is an int test option with unit mm and using an array with a range constraint. Minimum is 4, maximum 192, and quant is 2.

Option int-constraint-array-constraint-word-list (6/6) is an int test option with unit percent and using an array a word list constraint.

There are 3 fixed test options in total.

Option fixed (1/3) is a fixed test option with no unit and no constraint set.

Option fixed-constraint-range (2/3) is a fixed test option with unit microsecond and constraint range set. Minimum is -42.17, maximum 32767.9999, and quant is 2.0.

Option fixed-constraint-word-list (3/3) is a Fixed test option with no unit and constraint word list set.

There are 3 string test options in total.

Option string (1/3) is a string test option without constraint.

Option string-constraint-string-list (2/3) is a string test option with string list constraint.

Option string-constraint-long-string-list (3/3) is a string test option with string list constraint. Contains some more entries...

Option button (1/1) is a Button test option. Prints some text...

/etc/sane.d/test.conf

The backend configuration file (see also description of SANE_CONFIG_DIR below). The initial values of most of the basic SANE options can be configured in this file. A template containing all the default values is provided together with this backend. One of the more interesting values may be number_of_devices. It can be used to check the frontend's ability to show a long list of devices. The config values concerning resolution and geometry can be useful to test the handling of big file sizes.

/usr/lib/sane/libsane-test.a

The static library implementing this backend.

/usr/lib/sane/libsane-test.so

The shared library implementing this backend (present on systems that support dynamic loading).

SANE_CONFIG_DIR

This environment variable specifies the list of directories that may contain the configuration file. Under UNIX, the directories are separated by a colon (`:'), under OS/2, they are separated by a semi-colon (`;'). If this variable is not set, the configuration file is searched in two default directories: first, the current working directory (".") and then in /etc/sane.d. If the value of the environment variable ends with the directory separator character, then the default directories are searched after the explicitly specified directories. For example, setting SANE_CONFIG_DIR to "/tmp/config:" would result in directories "tmp/config", ".", and "/etc/sane.d" being searched (in this order).

SANE_DEBUG_TEST

If the library was compiled with debug support enabled, this environment variable controls the debug level for this backend. Higher debug levels increase the verbosity of the output.

Example: export SANE_DEBUG_TEST=4

sane(7), http://www.meier-geinitz.de/sane/test-backend/

Henning Meier-Geinitz <henning@meier-geinitz.de>

- config file values aren't tested for correctness