How do you create a new filled_map via the API?

[sshipway]

So, I am trying to create a new microsoft:filled_map item.  It's pretty easy to make an empty one, or even one that will fill from the world map, but how do I set the contents dynamically?

 

If the game were offline, I could increment the counter in the idcounts.dat NBT, then create a new maps/map_#.dat file for the new ID, and create the item with the appropriate id set.  However, I'd like to do this online...

 

Is there an API call that I can use to set the map data (creating the map_#.dat and incrementing the idcounts.dat) from a colors array?

 

The intention for this is to be able to create a 'picture' (actually a filled map) in game from either an external file, or a view via a 'camera' object, that can be placed in an item frame for display.

 

Thanks for any suggestions or help...

[sshipway]

Many thanks for the tip.  Your camera mod looks awesome, though it does not generate a filled_map but a custom photo object; if only this were available for 1.7.10 or 1.8 I'd install it immediately.  Fortunately for me, my chosen niche is not yet completely filled, as I'm planning on doing in-game conversion from external jpgs to filled_map objects.  I'll skip the 'camera' object part as you've already done that so well...