Base Types

The SANE standard is based on just two SANE-specific base types: the SANE byte and word.

typedef some-scalar-type SANE_Byte;
typedef some-scalar-type SANE_Word;

SANE_Byte must correspond to some scalar C type that is capable of holding values in the range 0 to 255. SANE_Word must be capable of holding any of the following:

• the truth values SANE_FALSE and SANE_TRUE
• signed integers in the range $-2^{31}\ldots2^{31}-1$
• fixed point values in the range $-32768\ldots32767.9999$ with a resolution of $1/65536$
• 32 bits (for bit sets)

Note that the SANE standard does not define what C type SANE_Byte and SANE_Word map to. For example, on some platforms, the latter may map to long int whereas on others it may map to int. A portable SANE frontend or backend must therefore not depend on a particular mapping.