A Jimp-compatible library for working with GIFs
gifwrap is a minimalist library for working with GIFs in Javascript, supporting both single- and multi-frame GIFs. It reads GIFs into an internal representation that's easy to work with and allows for making GIFs from scratch. The frame class is structured to make it easy to move images between Jimp and gifwrap for more sophisticated image manipulation in Jimp, but the module has no dependency on Jimp.
The library uses Dean McNamee's omggif GIF encoder/decoder by default, but it employs an abstraction that allows using other encoders and decoders as well, once suitably wrapped.
At present, the module only works in Node.js. Includes Typescript typings.
npm install gifwrap --save
or
yarn add gifwrap
You can work with either GIF files or GIF encodings, and you can create GIFs from scratch.
The GifFrame class represents a single image frame, and the library largely represents a GIF as an array of GifFrame instances. For example, here is how you create a GIF from scratch:
const { GifFrame, GifUtil, GifCodec } = require('gifwrap');
const width = 200, height = 100;
const frames = [];
let frame = new GifFrame(width, height, { delayCentisecs: 10 });
// modify the pixels at frame.bitmap.data
frames.push(frame);
frame = new GifFrame(width, height, { delayCentisecs: 15 });
// modify the pixels at frame.bitmap.data
frames.push(frame);
// add more frames as desired...
// to write to a file...
GifUtil.write("my-creation.gif", frames, { loops: 3 }).then(gif => {
console.log("written");
});
// to get the byte encoding without writing to a file...
const codec = new GifCodec();
codec.encodeGif(frames, { loops: 3 }).then(gif => {
// byte encoding is now in gif.buffer
});Images are represented within a GifFrame exactly as they are in a Jimp image. In particular, each GifFrame instance has a bitmap property having the following structure:
frame.bitmap.width- Width of image in pixelsframe.bitmap.height- Height of image in pixelsframe.bitmap.data- A Node.js Buffer that can be accessed like an array of bytes. Every 4 adjacent bytes represents the RGBA values of a single pixel. These 4 bytes correspond to red, green, blue, and alpha, in that order. Each pixel begins at an index that is a multiple of 4.
GIFs do not support partial transparency, so within frame.bitmap.data, pixels having alpha value 0x00 are treated as transparent and pixels of non-zero alpha value are treated as opaque. The encoder ignores the RGB values of transparent pixels.
gifwrap also provides utilities for reading GIF files and for parsing raw encodings:
const { GifUtil } = require('gifwrap');
GifUtil.read("fancy.gif").then(inputGif => {
inputGif.frames.foreach(frame => {
const buf = frame.bitmap.data;
frame.scanAllCoords((x, y, bi) => {
// Halve all grays on right half of image.
if (x > inputGif.width / 2) {
const r = buf[bi];
const g = buf[bi + 1];
const b = buf[bi + 2];
const a = buf[bi + 3];
if (r === g && r === b && a === 0xFF) {
buf[bi] /= 2;
buf[bi + 1] /= 2;
buf[bi + 2] /= 2;
}
}
});
});
// Pass inputGif to write() to preserve the original GIF's specs.
return GifUtil.write("modified.gif", inputGif.frames, inputGif).then(outputGif => {
console.log("modified");
});
});const { GifUtil, GifCodec } = require('gifwrap');
const codec = new GifCodec();
const byteEncodingBuffer = getByteEncodingForSomeGif();
codec.decodeGif(byteEncodingBuffer).then(sourceGif => {
const edgeLength = Math.min(sourceGif.width, sourceGif.height);
sourceGif.frames.forEach(frame => {
// Make each frame a centered square of size edgeLength x edgeLength.
// Note that frames may vary in size and that reframe() works even if
// the frame's image is smaller than the square. Should this happen,
// the space surrounding the original image will be transparent.
const xOffset = (frame.bitmap.width - edgeLength)/2;
const yOffset = (frame.bitmap.height - edgeLength)/2;
frame.reframe(xOffset, yOffset, edgeLength, edgeLength);
});
// The encoder determines GIF size from the frames, not the provided spec (sourceGif).
return GifUtil.write("modified.gif", sourceGif.frames, sourceGif).then(outputGif => {
console.log("modified");
});
});Notice that both encoding and decoding yields a GIF object. This is an instance of class Gif, and it provides information about the GIF, such as its size and how many times it loops. Notice also that you never call the Gif constructor to create a GIF. Instead, GIFs are created by providing a GifFrame array and a specification of GIF options. That specification is a subset of the properties of a Gif, so you can pass a previously-loaded Gif as a specification when writing or encoding. The encoder only uses the properties that can't be inferred from the frames -- namely, how many times the GIF loops and how to attempt to package the color tables within the encoding.
This module was originally written as a wrapper around Jimp images -- hence its name -- and then with frames as subclasses of Jimp images. Neither approach worked out well. The final approach requires just a tad of legwork to use gifwrap images within Jimp.
Both Jimp images and GifFrame instances share the bitmap property. By transferring this property back and forth between Jimp images and GifFrame instances, an image can be moved back and forth between the two libraries.
You can construct a GifFrame from a Jimp image as follows:
const { BitmapImage, GifFrame } = require('gifwrap');
const Jimp = require('jimp');
const j = new Jimp(200, 100, 0xFFFFFFFF);
// create a frame clone of a Jip bitmap
const fCopied = new GifFrame(new BitmapImage(j));
// create a frame that shares a bitmap with Jimp (one way)
const fShared1 = new GifFrame(j);
// create a frame that shares a bitmap with Jimp (another way)
const fShared2 = new GifFrame(1, 1, 0); // any GifFrame
fShared2.bitmap = j.bitmap;And you can construct a Jimp instance from a GifFrame image as follows:
const { BitmapImage, GifFrame } = require('gifwrap');
const Jimp = require('jimp');
const f = new Frame(200, 100, 0xFFFFFFFF);
// create a Jimp containing a clone of the frame bitmap
const jCopied = new Jimp(1, 1, 0); // any Jimp
jCopied.bitmap = new BitmapImage(f);
// create a Jimp that shares a bitmap with the frame
const jShared = new Jimp(1, 1, 0); // any Jimp
jShared.bitmap = f.bitmap;You may want to create helper functions to encapsulate this behavior. In order to avoid creating a dependency on Jimp, such helper functions do not appear in gifwrap.
gifwrap provides a default GIF encoder/decoder, but it is architected to be able to work with other encoders and decoders. The encoder and decoder may even be separate implementations. Encoders and decoders have varying capabilities, performance measures, and levels of reliability.
GifCodec is the default implementation, and it's both an encoder and a decoder. It's an adapter that wraps the omggif module. omggif appears to support a broad variety of GIFs, although it cannot produce an interlaced encoding (which there is little need for anyway). Although omggif doesn't include a test suite at present, gifwrap's test suite happens to test it reasonably well by virtue of using omggif underneath.
An encoder need only implement GifCodec's encodeGif() method, and a decoder need only implement its decodeGif() method. See the descriptions of those methods for the requirement details. Although GifCodec is stateless, so that instances an be reused across multiple encodings and decodings, third party encoders and decoders need not be. However, applications that use the library with stateful encoders will need to be aware of the need to create new instances.
To use a third-party encoder or decoder with the GifUtil write() and read() functions, just pass an instance of the encoder or decoder as the last parameter to write() or read(), respectively. For example:
const { GifUtil } = require('gifwrap');
const SnazzyDecoder = require('gifwrap-snazzy-decoder');
const AwesomeEncoder = require('gifwrap-awesome-encoder');
GifUtil.read("fancy.gif", new SnazzyDecoder()).then(gif =>
/*...*/
return GifUtil.write("modified.gif", gif.frames, gif, new AwesomeEncoder()).then(newGif => {
console.log("modified");
});
});The Typescript typings provide an exact specification of the API and also serve as a cheat sheet. The classes and namespaces follow:
-
gifwrap
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| buffer | Buffer |
A Buffer containing the encoded bytes |
| frames | Array.<GifFrame> |
Array of frames found in the encoding |
| spec | object |
Properties of the encoding as listed above |
Gif is a class representing an encoded GIF. It is intended to be a read-only representation of a byte-encoded GIF. Only encoders and decoders should be creating instances of this class.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| width | width of the GIF at its widest |
| height | height of the GIF at its highest |
| loops | the number of times the GIF should loop before stopping; 0 => loop indefinately |
| usesTransparency | boolean indicating whether at least one frame contains at least one transparent pixel |
| colorScope | the scope of the color tables as encoded within the GIF; either Gif.GlobalColorsOnly (== 1) or Gif.LocalColorsOnly (== 2). |
| frames | a array of GifFrame instances, one for each frame of the GIF |
| buffer | a Buffer holding the encoding's byte data |
Its constructor should only ever be called by the GIF encoder or decoder.
BitmapImage is a class that hold an RGBA (red, green, blue, alpha) representation of an image. It's shape is borrowed from the Jimp package to make it easy to transfer GIF image frames into Jimp and Jimp images into GIF image frames. Each instance has a bitmap property having the following properties:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| bitmap.width | width of image in pixels |
| bitmap.height | height of image in pixels |
| bitmap.data | a Buffer whose every four bytes represents a pixel, each sequential byte of a pixel corresponding to the red, green, blue, and alpha values of the pixel |
Its constructor supports the following signatures:
- new BitmapImage(bitmap: { width: number, height: number, data: Buffer })
- new BitmapImage(bitmapImage: BitmapImage)
- new BitmapImage(width: number, height: number, buffer: Buffer)
- new BitmapImage(width: number, height: number, backgroundRGBA?: number)
When a BitmapImage is provided, the constructed BitmapImage is a deep clone of the provided one, so that each image's pixel data can subsequently be modified without affecting each other.
backgroundRGBA is an optional parameter representing a pixel as a single number. In hex, the number is as follows: 0xRRGGBBAA, where RR is the red byte, GG the green byte, BB, the blue byte, and AA the alpha value. An AA of 0x00 is considered transparent, and all non-zero AA values are treated as opaque.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| toImage | BitmapImage |
Image into which to copy the square |
| toX | number |
x-coord in toImage of upper-left corner of receiving square |
| toY | number |
y-coord in toImage of upper-left corner of receiving square |
| fromX | number |
x-coord in this image of upper-left corner of source square |
| fromY | number |
y-coord in this image of upper-left corner of source square |
Copy a square portion of this image into another image.
Returns: BitmapImage - The present image to allow for chaining.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| rgba | number |
Color with which to fill image, expressed as a singlenumber in the form 0xRRGGBBAA, where AA is 0x00 for transparent and any other value for opaque. |
Fills the image with a single color.
Returns: BitmapImage - The present image to allow for chaining.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| x | number |
x-coord of pixel |
| y | number |
y-coord of pixel |
Gets the RGBA number of the pixel at the given coordinate in the form 0xRRGGBBAA, where AA is the alpha value, with alpha 0x00 encoding to transparency in GIFs.
Returns: number - RGBA of pixel in 0xRRGGBBAA form
Gets a set of all RGBA colors found within the image.
Returns: Set - Set of all RGBA colors that the image contains.
Converts the image to greyscale using inferred Adobe metrics.
Returns: BitmapImage - The present image to allow for chaining.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| xOffset | number |
The x-coord offset of the upper-left pixel of the desired image relative to the present image. |
| yOffset | number |
The y-coord offset of the upper-left pixel of the desired image relative to the present image. |
| width | number |
The width of the new image after reframing |
| height | number |
The height of the new image after reframing |
| fillRGBA | number |
The color with which to fill space added to the image as a result of the reframing, in 0xRRGGBBAA format, where AA is 0x00 to indicate transparent and a non-zero value to indicate opaque. This parameter is only required when the reframing exceeds the original boundaries (i.e. does not simply perform a crop). |
Reframes the image as if placing a frame around the original image and replacing the original image with the newly framed image. When the new frame is strictly within the boundaries of the original image, this method crops the image. When any of the new boundaries exceed those of the original image, the fillRGBA must be provided to indicate the color with which to fill the extra space added to the image.
Returns: BitmapImage - The present image to allow for chaining.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| factor | number |
The factor by which to scale up the image. Must be an integer >= 1. |
Scales the image size up by an integer factor. Each pixel of the original image becomes a square of the same color in the new image having a size of factor x factor pixels.
Returns: BitmapImage - The present image to allow for chaining.
See: scanAllIndexes
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| scanHandler | function |
A function(x: number, y: number, bi: number) to be called for each pixel of the image with that pixel's x-coord, y-coord, and index into the data buffer. The function accesses the pixel at this coordinate by accessing the this.data at index bi. |
Scans all coordinates of the image, handing each in turn to the provided handler function.
See: scanAllCoords
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| scanHandler | function |
A function(bi: number) to be called for each pixel of the image with that pixel's index into the data buffer. The pixels is found at index 'bi' within this.data. |
Scans all pixels of the image, handing the index of each in turn to the provided handler function. Runs a bit faster than scanAllCoords(), should the handler not need pixel coordinates.
GifFrame is a class representing an image frame of a GIF. GIFs contain one or more instances of GifFrame.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| xOffset | x-coord of position within GIF at which to render the image (defaults to 0) |
| yOffset | y-coord of position within GIF at which to render the image (defaults to 0) |
| disposalMethod | GIF disposal method; only relevant when the frames aren't all the same size (defaults to 2, disposing to background color) |
| delayCentisecs | duration of the frame in hundreths of a second |
| interlaced | boolean indicating whether the frame renders interlaced |
Its constructor supports the following signatures:
- new GifFrame(bitmap: {width: number, height: number, data: Buffer}, options?)
- new GifFrame(bitmapImage: BitmapImage, options?)
- new GifFrame(width: number, height: number, buffer: Buffer, options?)
- new GifFrame(width: number, height: number, backgroundRGBA?: number, options?)
- new GifFrame(frame: GifFrame)
See the base class BitmapImage for a discussion of all parameters but options and frame. options is an optional argument providing initial values for the above-listed GifFrame properties. Each property within option is itself optional.
Provide a frame to the constructor to create a clone of the provided frame. The new frame includes a copy of the provided frame's pixel data so that each can subsequently be modified without affecting each other.
Get a summary of the colors found within the frame. The return value is an object of the following form:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| colors | An array of all the opaque colors found within the frame. Each color is given as an RGB number of the form 0xRRGGBB. The array is sorted by increasing number. Will be an empty array when the image is completely transparent. |
| usesTransparency | boolean indicating whether there are any transparent pixels within the frame. A pixel is considered transparent if its alpha value is 0x00. |
| indexCount | The number of color indexes required to represent this palette of colors. It is equal to the number of opaque colors plus one if the image includes transparency. |
Returns: object - An object representing a color palette as described above.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| frames | Array.<GifFrame> |
An array of GifFrame instances to clone |
cloneFrames() clones provided frames. It's a utility method for cloning an entire array of frames at once.
Returns: Array.<GifFrame> - An array of GifFrame clones of the provided frames.
Throws:
GifErrorWhen any frame requires more than 256 color indexes.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| frames | Array.<GifFrame> |
Frames to examine for color and transparency. |
| maxGlobalIndex | number |
Maximum number of color indexes (including one for transparency) allowed among the returned compilation of colors. colors and indexCount are not returned if the number of color indexes required to accommodate all frames exceeds this number. Returns colors and indexCount by default. |
getColorInfo() gets information about the colors used in the provided frames. The method is able to return an array of all colors found across all frames.
maxGlobalIndex controls whether the computation short-circuits to avoid doing work that the caller doesn't need. The method only returns colors and indexCount for the colors across all frames when the number of indexes required to store the colors and transparency in a GIF (which is the value of indexCount) is less than or equal to maxGlobalIndex. Such short-circuiting is useful when the caller just needs to determine whether any frame includes transparency.
Returns: object - Object containing at least palettes and usesTransparency. palettes is an array of all the palettes returned by GifFrame#getPalette(). usesTransparency indicates whether at least one frame uses transparency. If maxGlobalIndex is not exceeded, the object also contains colors, an array of all colors (RGB) found across all palettes, sorted by increasing value, and indexCount indicating the number of indexes required to store the colors and the transparency in a GIF.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| frames | Array.<GifFrame> |
Frames to measure for their aggregate maximum dimensions. |
getMaxDimensions() returns the pixel width and height required to accommodate all of the provided frames, according to the offsets and dimensions of each frame.
Returns: object - An object of the form {maxWidth, maxHeight} indicating the maximum width and height required to accommodate all frames.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| imageOrImages | BitmapImage | Array.<BitmapImage> |
Image or array of images (such as GifFrame instances) to be color-quantized. Quantizing across multiple images ensures color consistency from frame to frame. |
| maxColorIndexes | number |
The maximum number of color indexes that will exist in the palette after completing quantization. Defaults to 256. |
| dither | object |
(optional) An object configuring the dithering to apply. The properties are as followings, imported from the image-q package without explanation: { ditherAlgorithm: One of 'FloydSteinberg', 'FalseFloydSteinberg', 'Stucki', 'Atkinson', 'Jarvis', 'Burkes', 'Sierra', 'TwoSierra', 'SierraLite'; minimumColorDistanceToDither: (optional) A number defaulting to 0; serpentine: (optional) A boolean defaulting to true; calculateErrorLikeGIMP: (optional) A boolean defaulting to false. } |
Quantizes colors so that there are at most a given number of color indexes (including transparency) across all provided images. Uses an algorithm by Anthony Dekker.
The method treats different RGBA combinations as different colors, so if the frame has multiple alpha values or multiple RGB values for an alpha value, the caller may first want to normalize them by converting all transparent pixels to the same RGBA values.
The method may increase the number of colors if there are fewer than the provided maximum.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| imageOrImages | BitmapImage | Array.<BitmapImage> |
Image or array of images (such as GifFrame instances) to be color-quantized. Quantizing across multiple images ensures color consistency from frame to frame. |
| maxColorIndexes | number |
The maximum number of color indexes that will exist in the palette after completing quantization. Defaults to 256. |
| histogram | string |
(optional) Histogram method: 'top-pop' for global top-population, 'min-pop' for minimum-population threshhold within subregions. Defaults to 'min-pop'. |
| dither | object |
(optional) An object configuring the dithering to apply, as explained for quantizeDekker(). |
Quantizes colors so that there are at most a given number of color indexes (including transparency) across all provided images. Uses an algorithm by Leon Sorokin. This quantization method differs from the other two by likely never increasing the number of colors, should there be fewer than the provided maximum.
The method treats different RGBA combinations as different colors, so if the frame has multiple alpha values or multiple RGB values for an alpha value, the caller may first want to normalize them by converting all transparent pixels to the same RGBA values.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| imageOrImages | BitmapImage | Array.<BitmapImage> |
Image or array of images (such as GifFrame instances) to be color-quantized. Quantizing across multiple images ensures color consistency from frame to frame. |
| maxColorIndexes | number |
The maximum number of color indexes that will exist in the palette after completing quantization. Defaults to 256. |
| significantBits | number |
(optional) This is the number of significant high bits in each RGB color channel. Takes integer values from 1 through 8. Higher values correspond to higher quality. Defaults to 5. |
| dither | object |
(optional) An object configuring the dithering to apply, as explained for quantizeDekker(). |
Quantizes colors so that there are at most a given number of color indexes (including transparency) across all provided images. Uses an algorithm by Xiaolin Wu.
The method treats different RGBA combinations as different colors, so if the frame has multiple alpha values or multiple RGB values for an alpha value, the caller may first want to normalize them by converting all transparent pixels to the same RGBA values.
The method may increase the number of colors if there are fewer than the provided maximum.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| source | string | Buffer |
Source to decode. When a string, it's the GIF filename to load and parse. When a Buffer, it's an encoded GIF to parse. |
| decoder | object |
An optional GIF decoder object implementing the decode method of class GifCodec. When provided, the method decodes the GIF using this decoder. When not provided, the method uses GifCodec. |
read() decodes an encoded GIF, whether provided as a filename or as a byte buffer.
Returns: Promise - A Promise that resolves to an instance of the Gif class, representing the decoded GIF.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| path | string |
Filename to write GIF out as. Will overwrite an existing file. |
| frames | Array.<GifFrame> |
Array of frames to be written into GIF. |
| spec | object |
An optional object that may provide values for loops and colorScope, as defined for the Gif class. However, colorSpace may also take the value Gif.GlobalColorsPreferred (== 0) to indicate that the encoder should attempt to create only a global color table. loop defaults to 0, looping indefinitely, and colorScope defaults to Gif.GlobalColorsPreferred. |
| encoder | object |
An optional GIF encoder object implementing the encode method of class GifCodec. When provided, the method encodes the GIF using this encoder. When not provided, the method uses GifCodec. |
write() encodes a GIF and saves it as a file.
Returns: Promise - A Promise that resolves to an instance of the Gif class, representing the encoded GIF.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| options | object |
Optionally takes an objection whose only possible property is transparentRGB. Images are internally represented in RGBA format, where A is the alpha value of a pixel. When transparentRGB is provided, this RGB value (excluding alpha) is assigned to transparent pixels, which are also given alpha value 0x00. (All opaque pixels are given alpha value 0xFF). The RGB color of transparent pixels shouldn't matter for most applications. Defaults to 0x000000. |
GifCodec is a class that both encodes and decodes GIFs. It implements both the encode() method expected of an encoder and the decode() method expected of a decoder, and it wraps the omggif GIF encoder/decoder package. GifCodec serves as this library's default encoder and decoder, but it's possible to wrap other GIF encoders and decoders for use by gifwrap as well. GifCodec will not encode GIFs with interlacing.
Instances of this class are stateless and can be shared across multiple encodings and decodings.
Its constructor takes one option argument:
Throws:
GifErrorError upon encountered an encoding-related problem with a GIF, so that the caller can distinguish between software errors and problems with GIFs.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| buffer | Buffer |
Bytes of an encoded GIF to decode. |
Decodes a GIF from a Buffer to yield an instance of Gif. Transparent pixels of the GIF are given alpha values of 0x00, and opaque pixels are given alpha values of 0xFF. The RGB values of transparent pixels default to 0x000000 but can be overridden by the constructor's transparentRGB option.
Returns: Promise - A Promise that resolves to an instance of the Gif class, representing the encoded GIF.
Throws:
GifErrorError upon encountered an encoding-related problem with a GIF, so that the caller can distinguish between software errors and problems with GIFs.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| frames | Array.<GifFrame> |
Array of frames to encode |
| spec | object |
An optional object that may provide values for loops and colorScope, as defined for the Gif class. However, colorSpace may also take the value Gif.GlobalColorsPreferred (== 0) to indicate that the encoder should attempt to create only a global color table. loop defaults to 0, looping indefinitely, and colorScope defaults to Gif.GlobalColorsPreferred. |
Encodes a GIF from provided frames. Each pixel having an alpha value of 0x00 renders as transparent within the encoding, while all pixels of non-zero alpha value render as opaque.
Returns: Promise - A Promise that resolves to an instance of the Gif class, representing the encoded GIF.
| Param | Type |
|---|---|
| messageOrError | string | Error |
GifError is a class representing a GIF-related error
MIT License
Copyright © 2017 Joseph T. Lapp
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.