#ifndef DOXYGEN_SKIP
/* $Id: gdal_drivertut.dox 21117 2010-11-11 13:28:59Z rouault $ */
#endif /* DOXYGEN_SKIP */

/*!
\page gdal_drivertut GDAL Driver Implementation Tutorial

\section gdal_drivertut_overall Overall Approach

In general new formats are added to GDAL by implementing format specific
drivers as subclasses of GDALDataset, and band accessors as subclasses
of GDALRasterBand.  As well, a GDALDriver instance is created for the 
format, and registered with the GDALDriverManager, to ensure that the system
<i>knows</i> about the format.

This tutorial will start with implementing a simple read-only driver
(based on the JDEM driver), and then proceed to utilizing the RawRasterBand
helper class, implementing creatable and updatable formats, and some 
esoteric issues.

It is strongly advised that the <a href="gdal_datamodel.html">GDAL Data Model
</a> description be reviewed and understood before attempting to implement a
GDAL driver.

\section gdal_drivertut_toc Contents

<ol>
<li> \ref gdal_drivertut_dataset
<li> \ref gdal_drivertut_rasterband
<li> \ref gdal_drivertut_driver
<li> \ref gdal_drivertut_addingdriver
<li> \ref gdal_drivertut_georef
<li> \ref gdal_drivertut_overviews
<li> \ref gdal_drivertut_creation
<li> \ref gdal_drivertut_raw
<li> \ref gdal_drivertut_metadata
</ol>

\section gdal_drivertut_dataset Implementing the Dataset

We will start showing minimal implementation of a read-only driver for
the Japanese DEM format (<a href="jdemdataset.cpp.html">jdemdataset.cpp</a>).  
First we declare a format
specific dataset class, JDEMDataset in this case.

\code
class JDEMDataset : public GDALPamDataset
{
    friend class JDEMRasterBand;

    FILE	*fp;
    GByte	abyHeader[1012];

  public:
		~JDEMDataset();
    
    static GDALDataset *Open( GDALOpenInfo * );

    CPLErr 	GetGeoTransform( double * padfTransform );
    const char *GetProjectionRef();
};
\endcode

In general we provide capabilities for a driver, by overriding the various
virtual methods on the GDALDataset base class.  However, the Open() method
is special.  This is not a virtual method on the base class, and we will
need a freestanding function for this operation, so we declare it static. 
Implementing it as a method in the JDEMDataset class is convenient because
we have privileged access to modify the contents of the database object. 

The open method itself may look something like this:

\verbatim
GDALDataset *JDEMDataset::Open( GDALOpenInfo * poOpenInfo )

{
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
//      Confirm that the header has what appears to be dates in the     //
//      expected locations.  Sadly this is a relatively weak test.      //
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
    if( poOpenInfo->nHeaderBytes < 50 )
        return NULL;

    // check if century values seem reasonable //
    if( (!EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+11,"19",2)
          && !EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+11,"20",2))
        || (!EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+15,"19",2)
             && !EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+15,"20",2))
        || (!EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+19,"19",2)
             && !EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+19,"20",2)) )
    {
        return NULL;
    }
    
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
//      Confirm the requested access is supported.                      //
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
    if( poOpenInfo->eAccess == GA_Update )
    {
        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_NotSupported, 
                  "The JDEM driver does not support update access to existing"
                  " datasets.\n" );
        return NULL;
    }

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
//      Create a corresponding GDALDataset.                             //
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
    JDEMDataset 	*poDS;

    poDS = new JDEMDataset();

    poDS->fp = VSIFOpenL( poOpenInfo->pszFilename, "rb" );
    
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
//      Read the header.                                                //
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
    VSIFReadL( poDS->abyHeader, 1, 1012, poDS->fp );

    poDS->nRasterXSize = JDEMGetField( (char *) poDS->abyHeader + 23, 3 );
    poDS->nRasterYSize = JDEMGetField( (char *) poDS->abyHeader + 26, 3 );
    if  (poDS->nRasterXSize <= 0 || poDS->nRasterYSize <= 0 )
    {
        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_AppDefined, 
                  "Invalid dimensions : %d x %d", 
                  poDS->nRasterXSize, poDS->nRasterYSize); 
        delete poDS;
        return NULL;
    }

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
//      Create band information objects.                                //
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
    poDS->SetBand( 1, new JDEMRasterBand( poDS, 1 ));

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
//      Initialize any PAM information.                                 //
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
    poDS->SetDescription( poOpenInfo->pszFilename );
    poDS->TryLoadXML();

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
//      Initialize default overviews.                                   //
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
    poDS->oOvManager.Initialize( poDS, poOpenInfo->pszFilename );
    return( poDS );
}
\endverbatim

The first step in any database Open function is to verify that the file
being passed is in fact of the type this driver is for.  It is important
to realize that each driver's Open function is called in turn till one
succeeds.  Drivers must quietly return NULL if the passed file is not of
their format.  They should only produce an error if the file does appear to
be of their supported format, but is for some reason unsupported or corrupt. 

The information on the file to be opened is passed in contained in a
GDALOpenInfo object.  The GDALOpenInfo includes the following public 
data members:

\code
    char	*pszFilename;
    char        **papszSiblingFiles;

    GDALAccess	eAccess; // GA_ReadOnly or GA_Update

    int 	bStatOK;
    int         bIsDirectory;
    
    FILE	*fp;

    int		nHeaderBytes;
    GByte	*pabyHeader;
\endcode

The driver can inspect these to establish if the file is supported.  If the
pszFilename refers to an object in the file system, the <b>bStatOK</b> flag 
will be set to TRUE.  As well, if the file was successfully opened, the first 
kilobyte or so is read in, and put in <b>pabyHeader</b>, with the exact size in
<b>nHeaderBytes</b>.

In this typical testing example it is verified that the file was successfully
opened, that we have at least enough header information to perform our test,
and that various parts of the header are as expected for this format.  In
this case, there are no <i>magic</i> numbers for JDEM format so we check
various date fields to ensure they have reasonable century values.  If the
test fails, we quietly return NULL indicating this file isn't of our supported
format. 

\code
    if( poOpenInfo->nHeaderBytes < 50 )
        return NULL;

    /* check if century values seem reasonable */
    if( (!EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+11,"19",2)
          && !EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+11,"20",2))
        || (!EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+15,"19",2)
             && !EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+15,"20",2))
        || (!EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+19,"19",2)
             && !EQUALN((char *)poOpenInfo->pabyHeader+19,"20",2)) )
    {
        return NULL;
    }
\endcode

It is important to make the <i>is this my format</i> test as stringent as
possible.  In this particular case the test is weak, and a file that happened
to have 19s or 20s at a few locations could be erroneously recognized as
JDEM format, causing it to not be handled properly.

Once we are satisfied that the file is of our format, we can do any other
tests that are necessary to validate the file is usable, and in particular
that we can provide the level of access desired.  Since the JDEM driver 

\code
    if( poOpenInfo->eAccess == GA_Update )
    {
        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_NotSupported, 
                  "The JDEM driver does not support update access to existing"
                  " datasets.\n" );
        return NULL;
    }
\endcode

Next we need to create an instance of the database class in which we will 
set various information of interest.

\code
    JDEMDataset 	*poDS;

    poDS = new JDEMDataset();

    poDS->fp = VSIFOpenL( poOpenInfo->pszFilename, "rb" );
\endcode

At this point we open the file, to acquire a file handle
for the dataset.  Whenever possible, we try to use the VSI*L GDAL API to
access files on disk.  This virtualized POSIX-style API allows some 
special capabilities like supporting large files, in-memory files 
and zipped files. 

Next the X and Y size are extracted from the header. The nRasterXSize and
nRasterYSize are data fields inherited from the GDALDataset base class, and
must be set by the Open() method.

\code
    VSIFReadL( poDS->abyHeader, 1, 1012, poDS->fp );

    poDS->nRasterXSize = JDEMGetField( (char *) poDS->abyHeader + 23, 3 );
    poDS->nRasterYSize = JDEMGetField( (char *) poDS->abyHeader + 26, 3 );

    if  (poDS->nRasterXSize <= 0 || poDS->nRasterYSize <= 0 )
    {
        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_AppDefined, 
                  "Invalid dimensions : %d x %d", 
                  poDS->nRasterXSize, poDS->nRasterYSize); 
        delete poDS;
        return NULL;
    }
\endcode

All the bands related to this dataset must be created and attached using
the SetBand() method.  We will explore the JDEMRasterBand() class shortly. 

\code
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
//      Create band information objects.                                //
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
    poDS->SetBand( 1, new JDEMRasterBand( poDS, 1 ));
\endcode

Finally we assign a name to the dataset object, and call the GDALPamDataset
TryLoadXML() method which can initialize auxilary information from an 
.aux.xml file if available.  For more details on these services review
the GDALPamDataset and related classes.

\code
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
//      Initialize any PAM information.                                 //
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- //
    poDS->SetDescription( poOpenInfo->pszFilename );
    poDS->TryLoadXML();

    return( poDS );
}
\endcode

\section gdal_drivertut_rasterband Implementing the RasterBand

Similar to the customized JDEMDataset class subclassed from GDALDataset, 
we also need to declare and implement a customized JDEMRasterBand derived
from GDALRasterBand for access to the band(s) of the JDEM file.  For
JDEMRasterBand the declaration looks like this:

\code
class JDEMRasterBand : public GDALPamRasterBand
{
  public:
    		JDEMRasterBand( JDEMDataset *, int );
    virtual CPLErr IReadBlock( int, int, void * );
};
\endcode

The constructor may have any signature, and is only called from the Open()
method.  Other virtual methods, such as IReadBlock() must be exactly 
matched to the method signature in gdal_priv.h.  

The constructor implementation looks like this:

\code
JDEMRasterBand::JDEMRasterBand( JDEMDataset *poDS, int nBand )

{
    this->poDS = poDS;
    this->nBand = nBand;
    
    eDataType = GDT_Float32;

    nBlockXSize = poDS->GetRasterXSize();
    nBlockYSize = 1;
}
\endcode

The following data members are inherited from GDALRasterBand, and should
generally be set in the band constructor. 

<ul>
<li> <b>poDS</b>: Pointer to the parent GDALDataset. 
<li> <b>nBand</b>: The band number within the dataset. 
<li> <b>eDataType</b>: The data type of pixels in this band. 
<li> <b>nBlockXSize</b>: The width of one block in this band. 
<li> <b>nBlockYSize</b>: The height of one block in this band. 
</ul>

The full set of possible GDALDataType values are declared in gdal.h, and 
include GDT_Byte, GDT_UInt16, GDT_Int16, and GDT_Float32.  The block size is 
used to establish a <i>natural</i> or efficient block size to access the data
with.  For tiled datasets this will be the size of a tile, while for most 
other datasets it will be one scanline, as in this case. 

Next we see the implementation of the code that actually reads the image
data, IReadBlock(). 

\code
CPLErr JDEMRasterBand::IReadBlock( int nBlockXOff, int nBlockYOff,
                                  void * pImage )

{
    JDEMDataset *poGDS = (JDEMDataset *) poDS;
    char	*pszRecord;
    int		nRecordSize = nBlockXSize*5 + 9 + 2;
    int		i;

    VSIFSeekL( poGDS->fp, 1011 + nRecordSize*nBlockYOff, SEEK_SET );

    pszRecord = (char *) CPLMalloc(nRecordSize);
    VSIFReadL( pszRecord, 1, nRecordSize, poGDS->fp );

    if( !EQUALN((char *) poGDS->abyHeader,pszRecord,6) )
    {
        CPLFree( pszRecord );

        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_AppDefined, 
                  "JDEM Scanline corrupt.  Perhaps file was not transferred\n"
                  "in binary mode?" );
        return CE_Failure;
    }
    
    if( JDEMGetField( pszRecord + 6, 3 ) != nBlockYOff + 1 )
    {
        CPLFree( pszRecord );

        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_AppDefined, 
                  "JDEM scanline out of order, JDEM driver does not\n"
                  "currently support partial datasets." );
        return CE_Failure;
    }

    for( i = 0; i < nBlockXSize; i++ )
        ((float *) pImage)[i] = JDEMGetField( pszRecord + 9 + 5 * i, 5) * 0.1;

    return CE_None;
}
\endcode

Key items to note are:

<ul>
<li> It is typical to cast the GDALRasterBand::poDS member to the derived 
type of the owning dataset.  If your RasterBand class will need privileged
access to the owning dataset object, ensure it is declared as a friend (omitted
above for brevity). 

<li> If an error occurs, report it with CPLError(), and return CE_Failure. 
Otherwise return CE_None.  

<li> The pImage buffer should be filled with one block of data.  The block
is the size declared in nBlockXSize and nBlockYSize for the raster band.  The
type of the data within pImage should match the type declared in 
eDataType in the raster band object. 

<li> The nBlockXOff and nBlockYOff are block offsets, so with 128x128 tiled 
datasets values of 1 and 1 would indicate the block going from (128,128) to 
(255,255) should be loaded.

</ul>

\section gdal_drivertut_driver The Driver

While the JDEMDataset and JDEMRasterBand are now ready to use to read image
data, it still isn't clear how the GDAL system knows about the new driver.
This is accomplished via the GDALDriverManager.  To register our format we
implement a registration function:

\code
CPL_C_START
void CPL_DLL GDALRegister_JDEM(void);
CPL_C_END

...

void GDALRegister_JDEM()

{
    GDALDriver	*poDriver;

    if (! GDAL_CHECK_VERSION("JDEM"))
        return;

    if( GDALGetDriverByName( "JDEM" ) == NULL )
    {
        poDriver = new GDALDriver();
        
        poDriver->SetDescription( "JDEM" );
        poDriver->SetMetadataItem( GDAL_DMD_LONGNAME, 
                                   "Japanese DEM (.mem)" );
        poDriver->SetMetadataItem( GDAL_DMD_HELPTOPIC, 
                                   "frmt_various.html#JDEM" );
        poDriver->SetMetadataItem( GDAL_DMD_EXTENSION, "mem" );

        poDriver->pfnOpen = JDEMDataset::Open;

        GetGDALDriverManager()->RegisterDriver( poDriver );
    }
}
\endcode

Note the use of GDAL_CHECK_VERSION macro (starting with GDAL 1.5.0).
This is an optional macro for drivers inside GDAL tree that don't depend on external libraries,
but that can be very usefull if you compile your driver as a plugin (that is to say, an out-of-tree
driver). As the GDAL C++ ABI may, and will, change between GDAL releases (for example from GDAL 1.5.0 to 1.6.0),
it may be necessary to recompile your driver against the header files of the GDAL version with
which you want to make it work. The GDAL_CHECK_VERSION macro will check that the GDAL version
with which the driver was compiled and the version against which it is running are compatible.

The registration function will create an instance of a GDALDriver object
when first called, and register it with the GDALDriverManager.  The
following fields can be set in the driver before 
registering it with the GDALDriverManager().

<ul>
<li> The description is the short name for the format.  This is a unique 
name for this format, often used to identity the driver in scripts and 
commandline programs.  Normally 3-5 characters in length, and matching the 
prefix of the format classes. (mandatory)

<li> GDAL_DMD_LONGNAME: A longer descriptive name for the file format,
but still no longer than 50-60 characters. (mandatory)

<li> GDAL_DMD_HELPTOPIC: The name of a help topic to display for this driver, 
if any.  In this case JDEM format is contained within the various format 
web page held in gdal/html.  (optional)

<li> GDAL_DMD_EXTENSION: The extension used for files of this type.  If more
than one pick the primary extension, or none at all. (optional)

<li> GDAL_DMD_MIMETYPE: The standard mime type for this file format, such as
"image/png". (optional)

<li> GDAL_DMD_CREATIONOPTIONLIST: There is evolving work on mechanisms
to describe creation options.  See the geotiff driver for an example of
this.  (optional)

<li> GDAL_DMD_CREATIONDATATYPES: A list of space separated data types
supported by this create when creating new datasets.  If a Create() method
exists, these will be will supported.  If a CreateCopy() method exists, this
will be a list of types that can be losslessly exported but it may include
weaker data types than the type eventually written.  For instance, a format
with a CreateCopy() method, and that always writes Float32 might also list
Byte, Int16, and UInt16 since they can losslessly translated to Float32.  An
example value might be "Byte Int16 UInt16". (required - if creation supported)

<li> pfnOpen: The function to call to try opening files of this format. 
(optional) 

<li> pfnCreate: The function to call to create new updatable datasets of this
format. (optional)

<li> pfnCreateCopy: The function to call to create a new dataset of this format
copied from another source, but not necessary updatable.  (optional)

<li> pfnDelete: The function to call to delete a dataset of this format.
(optional)

<li> pfnUnloadDriver: A function called only when the driver is destroyed.
Could be used to cleanup data at the driver level.  Rarely used.  (optional)

</ul>

\section gdal_drivertut_addingdriver Adding Driver to GDAL Tree

Note that the GDALRegister_JDEM() method must be called by the higher
level program in order to have access to the JDEM driver.  Normal practice
when writing new drivers is to:

<ol>
<li> Add a driver directory under gdal/frmts, with the directory name the same
as the short name.

<li> Add a GNUmakefile and makefile.vc in that directory modelled on those
from other similar directories (ie. the jdem directory). 

<li> Add the module with the dataset, and rasterband implementation.  
Generally this is called <short_name>dataset.cpp, with all the GDAL specific
code in one file, though that is not required.

<li> Add the registration entry point declaration (ie. GDALRegister_JDEM()) to
gdal/gcore/gdal_frmts.h.

<li> Add a call to the registration function to frmts/gdalallregister.cpp,
protected by an appropriate #ifdef.  

<li> Add the format short name to the GDAL_FORMATS macro in 
GDALmake.opt.in (and to GDALmake.opt). 

<li> Add a format specific item to the EXTRAFLAGS macro in frmts/makefile.vc. 
</ol>

Once this is all done, it should be possible to rebuild GDAL, and have
the new format available in all the utilities.  The gdalinfo utility can be
used to test that opening and reporting on the format is working, and the
gdal_translate utility can be used to test image reading. 

\section gdal_drivertut_georef Adding Georeferencing

Now we will take the example a step forward, adding georeferencing support. 
We add the following two virtual method overrides to JDEMDataset, taking
care to exactly match the signature of the method on the GDALRasterDataset
base class.

\code
    CPLErr 	GetGeoTransform( double * padfTransform );
    const char *GetProjectionRef();
\endcode

The implementation of GetGeoTransform() just copies the usual geotransform
matrix into the supplied buffer.  Note that GetGeoTransform() may be called
a lot, so it isn't generally wise to do a lot of computation in it.  In many
cases the Open() will collect the geotransform, and this method will just
copy it over.  Also note that the geotransform return is based on an 
anchor point at the top left corner of the top left pixel, not the center
of pixel approach used in some packages.

\code
CPLErr JDEMDataset::GetGeoTransform( double * padfTransform )

{
    double	dfLLLat, dfLLLong, dfURLat, dfURLong;

    dfLLLat = JDEMGetAngle( (char *) abyHeader + 29 );
    dfLLLong = JDEMGetAngle( (char *) abyHeader + 36 );
    dfURLat = JDEMGetAngle( (char *) abyHeader + 43 );
    dfURLong = JDEMGetAngle( (char *) abyHeader + 50 );
    
    padfTransform[0] = dfLLLong;
    padfTransform[3] = dfURLat;
    padfTransform[1] = (dfURLong - dfLLLong) / GetRasterXSize();
    padfTransform[2] = 0.0;
        
    padfTransform[4] = 0.0;
    padfTransform[5] = -1 * (dfURLat - dfLLLat) / GetRasterYSize();


    return CE_None;
}
\endcode

The GetProjectionRef() method returns a pointer to an internal string 
containing a coordinate system definition in OGC WKT format.  In this case
the coordinate system is fixed for all files of this format, but in more
complex cases a definition may need to be composed on the fly, in which case
it may be helpful to use the OGRSpatialReference class to help build the
definition.

\code
const char *JDEMDataset::GetProjectionRef()

{
    return( "GEOGCS[\"Tokyo\",DATUM[\"Tokyo\",SPHEROID[\"Bessel 1841\","
	"6377397.155,299.1528128,AUTHORITY[\"EPSG\",7004]],TOWGS84[-148,"
	"507,685,0,0,0,0],AUTHORITY[\"EPSG\",6301]],PRIMEM[\"Greenwich\","
	"0,AUTHORITY[\"EPSG\",8901]],UNIT[\"DMSH\",0.0174532925199433,"
	"AUTHORITY[\"EPSG\",9108]],AXIS[\"Lat\",NORTH],AXIS[\"Long\",EAST],"
	"AUTHORITY[\"EPSG\",4301]]" );
}
\endcode

This completes explanation of the features of the JDEM driver.  The full
source for <a href="jdemdataset.cpp.html">jdemdataset.cpp</a> can be reviewed 
as needed.

\section gdal_drivertut_overviews Overviews

GDAL allows file formats to make pre-built overviews available to applications
via the GDALRasterBand::GetOverview() and related methods.  However, 
implementing this is pretty involved, and goes beyond the scope of this 
document for now.  The GeoTIFF driver (gdal/frmts/gtiff/geotiff.cpp) and
related source can be reviewed for an example of a file format implementing
overview reporting and creation support. 

Formats can also report that they have arbitrary overviews, by overriding
the HasArbitraryOverviews() method on the GDALRasterBand, returning TRUE. 
In this case the raster band object is expected to override the RasterIO()
method itself, to implement efficient access to imagery with resampling. 
This is also involved, and there are a lot of requirements for correct
implementation of the RasterIO() method.  An example of this can be found
in the OGDI and ECW formats. 

However, by far the most common approach to implementing overviews is to 
use the default support in GDAL for external overviews stored in TIFF files
with the same name as the dataset, but the extension .ovr appended.  In 
order to enable reading and creation of this style of overviews it is necessary
for the GDALDataset to initialize the oOvManager object within itself.  This
is typically accomplished with a call like the following near the end of the
Open() method (after the PAM TryLoadXML()).

\code
    poDS->oOvManager.Initialize( poDS, poOpenInfo->pszFilename );
\endcode

This will enable default implementations for reading and creating overviews for
the format.  It is advised that this be enabled for all simple file system
based formats unless there is a custom overview mechanism to be tied into.

\section gdal_drivertut_creation File Creation

There are two approaches to file creation.  The first method is called the
CreateCopy() method, and involves implementing a function that can write a
file in the output format, pulling all imagery and other information needed
from a source GDALDataset.  The second method, the dynamic creation method,
involves implementing a Create method to create the shell of the file, and
then the application writes various information by calls to set methods. 

The benefits of the first method are that that all the information is available
at the point the output file is being created.  This can be especially
important when implementing file formats using external libraries which 
require information like colormaps, and georeferencing information at the
point the file is created.  The other advantage of this method is that the
CreateCopy() method can read some kinds of information, such as min/max, 
scaling, description and GCPs for which there are no equivalent set methods.

The benefits of the second method are that applications can create an
empty new file, and write results to it as they become available.  A complete
image of the desired data does not have to be available in advance.  

For very important formats both methods may be implemented, otherwise do 
whichever is simpler, or provides the required capabilities. 

\subsection gdal_drivertut_creation_createcopy CreateCopy

The GDALDriver::CreateCopy() method call is passed through directly, so 
that method should be consulted for details of arguments.  However, some 
things to keep in mind are:

<ul>
<li> If the bStrict flag is FALSE the driver should try to do something
reasonable when it cannot exactly represent the source dataset, transforming
data types on the fly, dropping georeferencing and so forth. 

<li> Implementing progress reporting correctly is somewhat involved.  The
return result of the progress function needs always to be checked for
cancellation, and progress should be reported at reasonable intervals.  The
JPEGCreateCopy() method demonstrates good handling of the progress function.

<li> Special creation options should be documented in the online help.
If the options take the format "NAME=VALUE" the papszOptions list can be
manipulated with CPLFetchNameValue() as demonstrated in the handling of
the QUALITY and PROGRESSIVE flags for JPEGCreateCopy(). 

<li> The returned GDALDataset handle can be in ReadOnly or Update mode.  
Return it in Update mode if practical, otherwise in ReadOnly mode is fine. 

</ul>

The full implementation of the CreateCopy function for JPEG (which is
assigned to pfnCreateCopy in the GDALDriver object) is here.

\verbatim
static GDALDataset *
JPEGCreateCopy( const char * pszFilename, GDALDataset *poSrcDS, 
                int bStrict, char ** papszOptions, 
                GDALProgressFunc pfnProgress, void * pProgressData )

{
    int  nBands = poSrcDS->GetRasterCount();
    int  nXSize = poSrcDS->GetRasterXSize();
    int  nYSize = poSrcDS->GetRasterYSize();
    int  nQuality = 75;
    int  bProgressive = FALSE;

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Some some rudimentary checks                                    
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    if( nBands != 1 && nBands != 3 )
    {
        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_NotSupported, 
                  "JPEG driver doesn't support %d bands.  Must be 1 (grey) "
                  "or 3 (RGB) bands.\n", nBands );

        return NULL;
    }

    if( poSrcDS->GetRasterBand(1)->GetRasterDataType() != GDT_Byte && bStrict )
    {
        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_NotSupported, 
                  "JPEG driver doesn't support data type %s. "
                  "Only eight bit byte bands supported.\n", 
                  GDALGetDataTypeName( 
                      poSrcDS->GetRasterBand(1)->GetRasterDataType()) );

        return NULL;
    }

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      What options has the user selected?                             
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    if( CSLFetchNameValue(papszOptions,"QUALITY") != NULL )
    {
        nQuality = atoi(CSLFetchNameValue(papszOptions,"QUALITY"));
        if( nQuality < 10 || nQuality > 100 )
        {
            CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_IllegalArg,
                      "QUALITY=%s is not a legal value in the range 10-100.",
                      CSLFetchNameValue(papszOptions,"QUALITY") );
            return NULL;
        }
    }

    if( CSLFetchNameValue(papszOptions,"PROGRESSIVE") != NULL )
    {
        bProgressive = TRUE;
    }

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Create the dataset.                                             
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    FILE	*fpImage;

    fpImage = VSIFOpen( pszFilename, "wb" );
    if( fpImage == NULL )
    {
        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_OpenFailed, 
                  "Unable to create jpeg file %s.\n", 
                  pszFilename );
        return NULL;
    }

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Initialize JPG access to the file.                              
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    struct jpeg_compress_struct sCInfo;
    struct jpeg_error_mgr sJErr;
    
    sCInfo.err = jpeg_std_error( &sJErr );
    jpeg_create_compress( &sCInfo );
    
    jpeg_stdio_dest( &sCInfo, fpImage );
    
    sCInfo.image_width = nXSize;
    sCInfo.image_height = nYSize;
    sCInfo.input_components = nBands;

    if( nBands == 1 )
    {
        sCInfo.in_color_space = JCS_GRAYSCALE;
    }
    else
    {
        sCInfo.in_color_space = JCS_RGB;
    }

    jpeg_set_defaults( &sCInfo );
    
    jpeg_set_quality( &sCInfo, nQuality, TRUE );

    if( bProgressive )
        jpeg_simple_progression( &sCInfo );

    jpeg_start_compress( &sCInfo, TRUE );

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Loop over image, copying image data.                            
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    GByte 	*pabyScanline;
    CPLErr      eErr;

    pabyScanline = (GByte *) CPLMalloc( nBands * nXSize );

    for( int iLine = 0; iLine < nYSize; iLine++ )
    {
        JSAMPLE      *ppSamples;

        for( int iBand = 0; iBand < nBands; iBand++ )
        {
            GDALRasterBand * poBand = poSrcDS->GetRasterBand( iBand+1 );
            eErr = poBand->RasterIO( GF_Read, 0, iLine, nXSize, 1, 
                                     pabyScanline + iBand, nXSize, 1, GDT_Byte,
                                     nBands, nBands * nXSize );
        }

        ppSamples = pabyScanline;
        jpeg_write_scanlines( &sCInfo, &ppSamples, 1 );
    }

    CPLFree( pabyScanline );

    jpeg_finish_compress( &sCInfo );
    jpeg_destroy_compress( &sCInfo );

    VSIFClose( fpImage );

    return (GDALDataset *) GDALOpen( pszFilename, GA_ReadOnly );
}
\endverbatim

\subsection gdal_drivertut_creation_create Dynamic Creation

In the case of dynamic creation, there is no source dataset.  Instead the
size, number of bands, and pixel data type of the desired file is provided
but other information (such as georeferencing, and imagery data) would be
supplied later via other method calls on the resulting GDALDataset.  

The following sample implement PCI .aux labelled raw raster creation.  It
follows a common approach of creating a blank, but valid file using non-GDAL
calls, and then calling GDALOpen(,GA_Update) at the end to return a writable
file handle.  This avoids having to duplicate the various setup actions in
the Open() function. 

\verbatim
GDALDataset *PAuxDataset::Create( const char * pszFilename,
                                  int nXSize, int nYSize, int nBands,
                                  GDALDataType eType,
                                  char ** // papszParmList  )

{
    char	*pszAuxFilename;

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Verify input options.                                           
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    if( eType != GDT_Byte && eType != GDT_Float32 && eType != GDT_UInt16
        && eType != GDT_Int16 )
    {
        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_AppDefined,
              "Attempt to create PCI .Aux labelled dataset with an illegal\n"
              "data type (%s).\n",
              GDALGetDataTypeName(eType) );

        return NULL;
    }

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Try to create the file.                                         
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    FILE	*fp;

    fp = VSIFOpen( pszFilename, "w" );

    if( fp == NULL )
    {
        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_OpenFailed,
                  "Attempt to create file `%s' failed.\n",
                  pszFilename );
        return NULL;
    }

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Just write out a couple of bytes to establish the binary        
//      file, and then close it.                                        
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    VSIFWrite( (void *) "\0\0", 2, 1, fp );
    VSIFClose( fp );

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Create the aux filename.                                        
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    pszAuxFilename = (char *) CPLMalloc(strlen(pszFilename)+5);
    strcpy( pszAuxFilename, pszFilename );;

    for( int i = strlen(pszAuxFilename)-1; i > 0; i-- )
    {
        if( pszAuxFilename[i] == '.' )
        {
            pszAuxFilename[i] = '\0';
            break;
        }
    }

    strcat( pszAuxFilename, ".aux" );

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Open the file.                                                  
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    fp = VSIFOpen( pszAuxFilename, "wt" );
    if( fp == NULL )
    {
        CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_OpenFailed,
                  "Attempt to create file `%s' failed.\n",
                  pszAuxFilename );
        return NULL;
    }
    
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      We need to write out the original filename but without any      
//      path components in the AuxilaryTarget line.  Do so now.         
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    int		iStart;

    iStart = strlen(pszFilename)-1;
    while( iStart > 0 && pszFilename[iStart-1] != '/'
           && pszFilename[iStart-1] != '\\' )
        iStart--;

    VSIFPrintf( fp, "AuxilaryTarget: %s\n", pszFilename + iStart );

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Write out the raw definition for the dataset as a whole.        
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    VSIFPrintf( fp, "RawDefinition: %d %d %d\n",
                nXSize, nYSize, nBands );

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Write out a definition for each band.  We always write band     
//      sequential files for now as these are pretty efficiently        
//      handled by GDAL.                                                
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    int		nImgOffset = 0;
    
    for( int iBand = 0; iBand < nBands; iBand++ )
    {
        const char * pszTypeName;
        int	     nPixelOffset;
        int	     nLineOffset;

        nPixelOffset = GDALGetDataTypeSize(eType)/8;
        nLineOffset = nXSize * nPixelOffset;

        if( eType == GDT_Float32 )
            pszTypeName = "32R";
        else if( eType == GDT_Int16 )
            pszTypeName = "16S";
        else if( eType == GDT_UInt16 )
            pszTypeName = "16U";
        else
            pszTypeName = "8U";

        VSIFPrintf( fp, "ChanDefinition-%d: %s %d %d %d %s\n",
                    iBand+1, pszTypeName,
                    nImgOffset, nPixelOffset, nLineOffset,
#ifdef CPL_LSB
                    "Swapped"
#else
                    "Unswapped"
#endif
                    );

        nImgOffset += nYSize * nLineOffset;
    }

// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
//      Cleanup                                                         
// -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    VSIFClose( fp );

    return (GDALDataset *) GDALOpen( pszFilename, GA_Update );
}
\endverbatim

File formats supporting dynamic creation, or even just update-in-place
access also need to implement an IWriteBlock() method
on the raster band class.  It has semantics similar to IReadBlock().  
As well, for various esoteric reasons, it is critical that a FlushCache()
method be implemented in the raster band destructor.  This is to ensure that
any write cache blocks for the band be flushed out before the destructor
is called.  

\section gdal_drivertut_raw RawDataset/RawRasterBand Helper Classes

Many file formats have the actual imagery data stored in a regular,
binary, scanline oriented format.  Rather than re-implement the access 
semantics for this for each formats, there are provided RawDataset and
RawRasterBand classes declared in gdal/frmts/raw that can be utilized to
implement efficient and convenient access.

In these cases the format specific band class may not be required, or if
required it can be derived from RawRasterBand.  The dataset class should
be derived from RawDataset. 

The Open() method for the dataset then instantiates raster bands passing
all the layout information to the constructor.  For instance, the PNM driver
uses the following calls to create it's raster bands.

\code
    if( poOpenInfo->pabyHeader[1] == '5' )
    {
        poDS->SetBand( 
            1, new RawRasterBand( poDS, 1, poDS->fpImage,
                                  iIn, 1, nWidth, GDT_Byte, TRUE ));
    }
    else 
    {
        poDS->SetBand( 
            1, new RawRasterBand( poDS, 1, poDS->fpImage,
                                  iIn, 3, nWidth*3, GDT_Byte, TRUE ));
        poDS->SetBand( 
            2, new RawRasterBand( poDS, 2, poDS->fpImage,
                                  iIn+1, 3, nWidth*3, GDT_Byte, TRUE ));
        poDS->SetBand( 
            3, new RawRasterBand( poDS, 3, poDS->fpImage,
                                  iIn+2, 3, nWidth*3, GDT_Byte, TRUE ));
    }
\endcode

The RawRasterBand takes the following arguments. 

<ul>
<li> <b>poDS</b>: The GDALDataset this band will be a child of.   This
dataset must be of a class derived from RawRasterDataset. 
<li> <b>nBand</b>: The band it is on that dataset, 1 based. 
<li> <b>fpRaw</b>: The FILE * handle to the file containing the raster data.
<li> <b>nImgOffset</b>: The byte offset to the first pixel of raster data for 
the first scanline. 
<li> <b>nPixelOffset</b>: The byte offset from the start of one pixel to the 
start of the next within the scanline. 
<li> <b>nLineOffset</b>: The byte offset from the start of one scanline to
the start of the next. 
<li> <b>eDataType</b>: The GDALDataType code for the type of the data on disk.
<li> <b>bNativeOrder</b>: FALSE if the data is not in the same endianness as
the machine GDAL is running on.  The data will be automatically byte swapped.
</ul>

Simple file formats utilizing the Raw services are normally placed all within
one file in the gdal/frmts/raw directory.  There are numerous examples there
of format implementation.<p>

\section gdal_drivertut_metadata Metadata, and Other Exotic Extensions

There are various other items in the GDAL data model, for which virtual 
methods exist on the GDALDataset and GDALRasterBand.  They include:

<ul>
<li> <b>Metadata</b>: Name/value text values about a dataset or band.  The
GDALMajorObject (base class for GDALRasterBand and GDALDataset) has built-in
support for holding metadata, so for read access it only needs to be
set with calls to SetMetadataItem() during the Open().  The SAR_CEOS 
(frmts/ceos2/sar_ceosdataset.cpp) and GeoTIFF drivers are examples of drivers
implementing readable metadata.

<li> <b>ColorTables</b>: GDT_Byte raster bands can have color tables associated
with them.  The frmts/png/pngdataset.cpp driver contains an example of a
format that supports colortables. 

<li> <b>ColorInterpretation</b>: The PNG driver contains an example of a
driver that returns an indication of whether a band should be treated as
a Red, Green, Blue, Alpha or Greyscale band. 

<li> <b>GCPs</b>: GDALDatasets can have a set of ground control points 
associated with them (as opposed to an explicit affine transform returned by
GetGeotransform()) relating the raster to georeferenced coordinates.  The
MFF2 (gdal/frmts/raw/hkvdataset.cpp) format is a simple example of a format
supporting GCPs.

<li> <b>NoDataValue</b>: Bands with known "nodata" values can implement
the GetNoDataValue() method.  See the PAux (frmts/raw/pauxdataset.cpp) for
an example of this. 

<li> <b>Category Names</b>: Classified images with names for each class can
return them using the GetCategoryNames() method though no formats currently
implement this.

</ul> 

\htmlonly
<p>
$Id: gdal_drivertut.dox 21117 2010-11-11 13:28:59Z rouault $
</p>
\endhtmlonly

*/
