====================================================================== VCaLive Demonstration Program (C) Copyright 1995, Odyssey Technologies, Inc. ====================================================================== The VCaLive demo program (VCLDemo) is intended to show you screen features of VCaLive. The program demonstrates the effects produced by four of the components in the VCaLive package, i.e. JazLabel, JazShape, JazBanner and JazCredits. The other element of the VCaLive package, Layout, is a utility unit which greatly simplifies complex page layouts when you wish to control your printing from within code. This unit is an extension of Delphi's Printers unit. NOTE: IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU TURN OFF YOUR SCREEN SAVER BEFORE RUNNING THE VCaLive DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM. SCREEN SAVERS CAN INTERFERE WITH THE ANIMATED COMPONENTS OF VCaLive (i.e. JazBanner and JazCredits) ----------------------------- A Few Comments on Hardware ----------------------------- Certain VCaLive features are hardware intensive. Applications developed with VCaLive, as this demo is, will run to some degree on any machine, but if you are building multimedia applications using JazBanner or JazCredits, the more powerful the computer and its video card the better the results. A 486/66 with a local bus video card with 1M DRAM will produce good results. A Pentium with a fast PCI video card and 2M VRAM will do better. Better, in this context, means less jitter as the text scrolls across the screen. The effect of jitter is most pronounced for horizontal crawls (JazBanner). As with most multimedia applications, the biggest, badest, meanest machine produces the best results. To properly view the texturing effects of JazLabel or JazShape, you will need a system capable of producing 256 colors. If your system is capable of supporting more than 256 colors (i.e. 65K or 16.7M colors), the demo program gives you the option to set this. The demo program will use screens of richer texturing if you select a deeper color setting. Very impressive screens can be built using only a 256 color approach. If you are running at 65K or 16.7M, try re-running the demo with 256 colors selected. ---------------------------- Layout ---------------------------- Layout The Layout unit which comes with VCaLive is a Delphi DCU, but not a palette component. It is used in exactly the same manner as Delphi’s Printers unit. Like Printers, Layout predefines a Printer object for your use. Layout adds a wide range of properties and procedures above those found in Delphi’s Printers unit to greatly simplify the task of laying out a complex output page. Keep in mind the Layout is not a generalized Report Writer like ReportSmith and is not intended to replace the multitude of features offered by such a sophisticated system. However, if you had already determined that you were going to perform your printer I/O in code using Printers, you’ll find the Layout can greatly simply some of the more complex issues associated with page layout. Main Features of the Layout Unit The Layout unit allows you to: · Do standard Textout printing · Set scales for page layout (inches, fractional or pixels). · Do page printing using using the scale setting · Set margins on the page · Set columns for columnar printing (with or without word wrap). · Define and print to a grid (with headers, headers, grid lines, etc.) · Define and print word wrapped text in a text box with optional border and auto-textsizing · Do drawing with DrawLine, DrawRectangle, etc. which allow drawing in the current scale · Use the CvtH and CvtV functions to pass parameters to any of Delphi’s drawing tool in the current scale. · Support for Outline font printing of any TrueType font. · Support for 3D Extrusion printing of any TrueType font. ======================================================================= Other Products from Odyssey Technologies ======================================================================= Add to the utility and professionalism of your apps with Odyssey Technologies' Financial Calculator. This component enables users to quickly and simply compute Loan Information, Net Present Values, Internal Rates of Return and Annuities. The user can print the input values and the results for all functions. Additionally, the calculator will print out a complete amortization schedule. The component is available as a Delphi VCL, or as a DLL for use in other languages such as C/C++ and Visual Basic. A demonstration program showing the utility of the Financial Calculator is available on CIS (GO DELPHI - 3rd Party Products). Additional Delphi components and OCXs are under development at Odyssey, and these will be announced in the near future.