Contents
 	FineDraw Help Contents

FineDraw is a sample application for the VBX Artist and PicScroll custom controls.
(Both Windows Bitmap and Metafile formats are supported)

FineDraw Cmmands and Controls

Click at the part of the FineDraw window you want to learn about:

Shortcut Keys

File Menu

Edit Menu

Options Menu

Help Menu

About the Bennet-Tec software

Who are we ?


About the Scrollable Picture Box
About the product

This product is copyrighted by

(C) Bennet-Tec Information Systems, 1993

Software was written by

Vadim Kouklev
Alexei Reatov

Contact Information:

Bennet-Tec Information Systems,

10 Steuben Drive, Jericho, NY 11753

Phone (516) 433-6283

Fax (516) 822-2679

E-Mail: 71201.1075@Compuserve.Com


File Menu Shortcut Keys

To choose	Press

Save	SHIFT+F12
Save As	F12
Exit	ALT+F4


Edit Menu Shortcut Keys

To choose	Press

Undo	ALT+BACKSPACE
Copy	CTRL+INS


Options Menu Shortcut Keys

To choose	Press

Font	CTRL+F
Brush	CTRL+B
Font Orientation	CTRL+O


Help Menu Shortcut Keys

To choose	Press

Help Contents	F1


 File Menu

New

This command clears the editing area and creates a new picture.

If there are any unsaved changes in the editing area when you select the New command, FineDraw asks if you want to save the changes.  FineDraw then clears the editing area and changes the Title bar to [Untitled].

Open

Use this command to open an existing picture for editing.  When FineDraw opens the selected picture it changes the Title bar to the name of the selected picture file.

Save

This command saves changes made to the picture in the editing area.  If the Title bar shows that the picture is untitled, the Save dialog box appears so you can give the picture file a name.

Save As

This command saves the picture in the editing area.  The Save picture dialog box appears so you can save the picture in a different file.

Exit

This command closes the FineDraw. If the picture in the editing area has unsaved changes, FineDraw prompts you to save to the file.


 Edit Menu

Undo

This command removes any changes from the picture since the time you changed editing tools or selected another picture.

Copy

This command copies the whole picture to the Clipboard. The editing area is not affected.


 View Menu

XXX% compressed or enlarged

These commands change the scaling of the picture in the editing area.

Stretch to fit

This command causes the picture to fit the size of the editing area


Tools Menu
 Tools

How to Select a Tool

You can select tools by clicking on the picture for the tool in the Tool Bar

Pen Tool

This tool paints pixels in the editing area according to the selected foreground color

To use the Pen tool, press the left mouse button in the editing area and drag to begin painting.

 Line Tool

This tool draws straight lines.

To use the Line tool, press the left mouse button in the editing area to anchor one end of the line.  Drag the mouse until the mouse reaches the other end of the line you want to draw.  Release the mouse button to draw the line in the picture.  The width of the line corresponds to the current  line size.  The color of the line is the current foreground color.

Brush And [image] AirBrush Tools

The Brush and AirBrush tools paint pixels in the editing area according to the selected brush.

To use these tools, press the left mouse button in the editing area and drag to begin painting.

 Fill Tool

The Fill tool fills a closed area using the current brush attributes (see "Options/Select Brush" command).

To use the Fill tool, click in the area to be filled.  The Fill tool fills adjacent pixels which are the same color as the starting pixel.

 Text Tool

The Text tool prints text  with the selected color, font, font styles and font orientation.

To use the Text tool, click the mouse in the editing area and print the text. You should press the Enter key or click the mouse again to print the text into the picture.

 Eraser Tool

This tool paints pixels in the editing area according to the selected background color.

To use these tools, press the left mouse button in the editing area and drag to begin painting.

Square And [image] Square With Rounded CornersTools

These tools draw rectangles and squares.

To use one of the Square tools, press the left mouse button in the editing area to anchor one corner of the square. Drag the mouse until the square is the size and shape you want.  When the square or rectangle is the right size and shape, release the mouse button.  The line size determines width of the box's border.  The color of the outline of the square is determined by the foreground color.

Filled Square And [image] Filled Square With Rounded CornesTools

These tools draw filled rectangles and squares.

To use one of the Filled Square tools, press the left mouse button in the editing area to anchor one corner of the square. Drag the mouse until the square is the size and shape you want, then release the mouse button. The brush size determines width of the box's border.  The color that fills in the square is determined by the by the foreground color.

The border of the square is a line and therefore cannot be drawn using dithered colors.  If you select a dithered color the border of the square will appear in the nearest solid color.  If you want the entire square to be drawn with a dithered color, first draw the square with a solid color then use the Fill tool to fill it in with the desired dithered color.

Circle Tool

This tool draws circles and ellipses.

To use the Circle tool, press the left mouse button in the editing area to anchor one corner of a flexible box containing an ellipse.  The box appears while you draw to show the anchor point and current mouse position.   It disappears when you finish drawing.  Drag the mouse until the ellipse is the size and shape you want.  When the circle or ellipse is the right size and shape, release the mouse button.  The brush size determines the border width of the circle or ellipse border.  The color of the circle or ellipse border is determined by the foreground color.

Filled Circle Tool

This tool draws filled circles and ellipses.

To use the Filled Circle tool, press the left mouse button in the editing area to anchor one corner of a flexible box containing an ellipse.  The box appears while you draw to show the anchor point and current mouse position.   It disappears when you finish drawing.  Drag the mouse until the ellipse is the size and shape you want.  When the circle or ellipse is the right size and shape, release the mouse button.  The brush size determines the border width of the circle or ellipse border.  The color that fills the circle or ellipse is determined by the foreground color.

The border of the ellipse is a line and therefore cannot be drawn using dithered colors.  If you select a dithered color the border of the ellipse will appear in the nearest solid color.  If you want the entire ellipse to be drawn with a dithered color, first draw the ellipse with a solid color then use the Fill tool to fill it in with the desired dithered color.

Copy And [image] Cut Tools

These two tools Copy or Cut a selected rectangular region of a picture to the clipboard.

To use either tool, press the left mouse button in the editing area to anchor one corner of the area you want to select.  Drag the mouse until the flexible box that appears surrounds the area you want to select, then release the mouse button.

Paste Tool

This tool copies the picture from the clipboard into the selected rectangular region of the picture.

To use the Paste tool, press the left mouse button in the editing area to anchor one corner of the area you want to select.  Drag the mouse until the flexible box that appears surrounds the area you want to select, then release the mouse button.

If there is a picture in the clipboard it is copied to the selected region. If the 'Stretch Paste' command in the Options menu is checked, the size of the copied picture will be fitted to the size of the region. If  Stretch Paste is not checked the picture will be copied to the selected region as is.


  Options Menu

Font

This command shows the dialog box that helps you to set the font that you need.

Brush

This command shows the dialog box that helps you to set the brush that you need.

Font Orientation

This command shows the dialog box that helps you to set the font orientation that you need.

AutoSync

There are three colors associated with the various tools in FineDraw: ForeColor, FillColor and BackColor.  ForeColor is the pinciple color of the pen, while FillColor is the principle color for the paintbrush and flood fill.   .  Generally the ForeColor is selected with the left mouse button, and FillColor with a Shifted left mouse button (shift held down during the click).  AutoSync allows the Fill Color to automatically be set to ForeColor.  This may be a more intuitive operating mode.

Stretch Paste

See Select Tool

Transparent

If there is a check mark next to the command name the background will not be drawn in while painting text, squares and circles. Otherwise the background color and pattern are used.


Grabber Menu
  Grabber Menu Command

This command selects a rectangular region from anywhere on the screen and copies it to the clipboard.

Press the left mouse button to anchor one corner of the selection rectangle to an area of the screen you want to select. Drag the mouse until the flexible box that appears surrounds the area you want to select.  Release the mouse button. The selected area is automatically copied to the Clipboard.

To paste the selected picture into the FineDraw use the Paste Tool

So, you can use FineDraw as a picture grabber.


  Effects Menu

VBX Artist

This command draws strings "VBX Artist" and "FineDraw" along an arc.


   Help Menu

The commands in this menu open the help file you are now reading.


Mouse Position

Displays the current X and Y position of the mouse when in the editing area.


Color Palette

The Color Palette contains solid colors you can use when editing an picture.

To select a foreground color from the palette, click a color cell with the left mouse button. To select a background color from the palette, click a color cell with the right mouse button.  FineDraw assigns the selected color to the mouse button used to click the color cell.

To select a fill color from the palette, hold the SHIFT button and click the left mouse button at the color cell .


Status Line Style

Shows current foreground  and background colors and current line style and thickness.


Brush Pattern

Shows the colors, hatch style, and pattern used in the current brush.

To display Select Brush Dialog Box, click Brush pattern cell.