Multi-resolution Images

The purpose of Java Enhancement Proposal 251 was to create a new API that supports multi-resolution images. Specifically, to allow a multi-resolution image to encapsulate several resolution variants of the same image. This new API will be located in the java.awt.image package. The following diagram shows how multi-resolution can encapsulate a set of images, with different resolutions, into a single image:

This new API will give developers the ability to retrieve all image variants or retrieve a resolution-specific image. This is a powerful set of capabilities. The java.awt.Graphics class will be used to retrieve the desired variant from the multi-resolution image.

Here is a quick look at the API:

    package java.awt.image;

    public interface MultiResolutionImage  
    {
      Image getResolutionVariant(float destinationImageWidth,
       float destinationImageHeight);

      public List <Image> getResolutionVariants();
    }

As you can see in the preceding code...