WALL-ACE 1.1 README Wall-Ace 1.1 Copyright 1996 Sidney D. Peters. All Rights Reserved. CONTENTS -------- A WORD ABOUT SHAREWARE INTRODUCTION WHAT'S NEW SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FILES INCLUDED INSTALLATION REVISION HISTORY A WORD ABOUT SHAREWARE ---------------------- Wall-Ace is shareware, not free software. Shareware is not a type of software, but rather a method of distributing software. Shareware remains copyrighted, commercial software, which you are allowed to evaluate before paying for. You are allowed to evaluate Wall-Ace for a period of thirty days without cost. If after that time you continue to use Wall-Ace, you are required to register the program. Please see the license.txt file for details. INTRODUCTION ------------ Wall-Ace is a Windows wallpaper manager which allows you to change your wallpaper on command whenever you wish, or to have your wallpaper changed automatically at timed intervals or each time Windows starts. You can choose the wallpaper you wish to have displayed directly from a list of wallpapers conveniently accessible in the main window, or you can have Wall-Ace select new wallpapers from your wallpaper list either randomly or sequentially. Wall-Ace brings together abilities not found together in any other single utility, as well as capabilities not found anywhere else. Some of Wall-Ace's unique features are: - can be run either full screen, or quietly from the command line. In full screen mode, Wall-Ace can optionally change wallpaper when started, and can optionally exit after the first wallpaper change occurs. In command line mode, Wall-Ace starts, changes the wallpaper, and exits, all without appearing on the screen. - combines a user specified wallpaper directory, along with user selected wallpaper files from any directory on your system, into a single easy to use wallpaper list. - optionally, can automatically add to your wallpaper list any new wallpaper files which have appeared in your wallpaper directory since the last time Wall-Ace was run. - allows you to assign to each wallpaper in your list a weighting, which is the number of times it will appear in random selection before the cycle is complete, thus allowing wallpapers to appear more or less frequently, as compared to other wallpapers. Here are some additional features of Wall-Ace: - works with all standard Windows bitmap files (including run length encoded [RLE] files) which have a .bmp extension. - can select wallpapers from directories anywhere on your system, not just your WINDOWS directory. - any wallpaper in your list can be immediately displayed by selecting it directly from the wallpaper list conveniently available in the main window. - new wallpapers can be chosen either randomly or sequentially from your wallpaper list. - a new wallpaper can be automatically selected at timed intervals, as well as each time Wall-Ace runs. - accumulated time within the current interval can be saved when Wall-Ace exits, and the interval resumed when Wall-Ace next runs. - quick access to Wall-Ace's secondary windows via command buttons in the main window. - easy and flexible configuration via Preferences window. - easy addition and editing of wallpapers in your wallpaper list. - individual tile/center settings for each wallpaper in your list. - added wallpapers can be automatically given a tile or center setting, or can have the tile/center setting chosen automatically based on the wallpaper file's size. - Wall-Ace is well-behaved -- it doesn't modify your hard drive or system files, or litter your hard drive with miscellaneous files. WHAT'S NEW ---------- Wall-Ace 1.1 has quite a few new features: * A Hide Icon option has been added. If active, when Wall-Ace is minimized, its icon is invisible. To reactivate the program, simply run Wall-Ace again; instead of a second copy being run, the first instance will be reactivated. * All automatic selection methods now ignore wallpapers whose weight is zero, allowing wallpapers to be in the wallpaper list, yet never be chosen by automatic selection. They may still be chosen by direct selection. * The Random selection method has been renamed Random Cyclic, and a new selection method named Random has been added. The new Random selection generates weighted random selections from all enabled (weight > 0) wallpapers, without regard to their count. The newly named Random Cyclic selection, as before, generates random selections only from available (count > 0) wallpapers, and resets the counts when all have reached zero, in cyclic fashion. Hence the new name. * The way in which wallpapers are chosen with the Random Cyclic (formerly called Random) selection method has been improved. Previously, the wallpaper was chosen randomly from all available wallpapers with an even distribution (unweighted), i.e. all wallpapers with count > 0 had an equal probability of selection regardless of their count. Wallpapers with greater weights simply appeared a greater number of times within the cycle, but without greater probability of selection at any change. The selection is now chosen randomly from all available wallpapers with a weighted distribution, i.e. those with greater counts have a greater probability of selection at each change. * Wall-Ace now has the ability to play user selected .wav sound files. A different sound may be played when the wallpaper is changed manually, when it is changed automatically, or when the selection cycle repeats. * The Wallpaper Directory selection panel has been moved from the Preferences window to the Edit Wallpaper File List window. This physical arrangement coincides more closely with the logical structure, and makes setup more straight forward. In addition, it provides more space in the Preferences window for the added Sound Options panel. * The alt-hotkeys in the Preferences window have been slightly modified to accomodate the changes and additions. * An item titled '(None)' has been added to the top of the list in the Current Wallpaper list box in the Main window to allow setting the Windows wallpaper to none. * Previously, if the Windows wallpaper that was current when Wall-Ace was started, as reported by win.ini, was not in the wallpaper list, the current entry in the Current Wallpaper list box in the Main window was empty. Now, the current wallpaper, if it is not in the wallpaper list, is added to the end of the list in the Current Wallpaper list box and displayed in the Current Wallpaper list box. It remains a valid entry until Wall-Ace is exited, and may be manually selected even after other wallpapers have been selected. * Previously, if the Wallpaper Directory was changed and then the Preferneces (now Edit Wallpaper File List) Cancel button was pressed, the Wallpaper Directory change was not cancelled, but remained in effect. Fixed. * Previously, if Wall-Ace was minimized when exited, the main window position was incorrectly saved as the position of the minimized icon, and with Windows 95 caused and overflow error. Fixed. * Since the wallace.txt file contained the same information as the wallace.hlp file, the text file has been removed and replaced by a readme.txt file. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ------------------- Wall-Ace runs under either Windows 3.1x, Windows For Workgroups 3.1x, or Windows 95, and requires the Visual Basic run-time file, vbrun300.dll. FILES INCLUDED -------------- The following files are included in the archive for this release of Wall-Ace: wallace.exe - the Wall-Ace program file. wallace.hlp - the on-line help file. readme.txt - introduction and installation instructions. license.txt - Wall-Ace license and distribution guidelines. orderfrm.txt - Wall-Ace order form. beep.wav - a sound file drip.wav - a sound file boing.wav - a sound file spaceage.wav - a sound file gametime.wav - a sound file spin.vbx - provides additional program functionality. threed.vbx - provides additional program functionality. file_id.diz - a short program description for BBSs. INSTALLATION ------------ NEW INSTALLATION After extracting the included files from the archive, copy wallace.exe, wallace.hlp, the sound files (.wav), and the text files (.txt) to any directory in which you normally place executable Windows utilities. (The text files may be placed in a corresponding documentation directory, and the sound files may be placed in another location in which you normally keep sound files, but the files wallace.exe and wallace.hlp should be kept together.) The spin.vbx and threed.vbx files are Visual Basic files which should be placed in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. These files are used by certain other Visual Basic programs as well, so you may already have copies of them in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. If so, don't copy these files over top of the ones you already have; instead simply discard them. The file_id.diz file exists only to provide a short description of the program to BBSs, and may be discarded. In addition to the above files, the file vbrun300.dll must be in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory in order for Wall-Ace to run. This is the Visual Basic runtime file required by all Visual Basic 3.0 programs. Following Microsoft recommendations, this file is not included, as it is a large file which would substantially increase the size of the archive. Since it is required by all Visual Basic programs, chances are very good that you already have this file in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, but if not, it may be downloaded separately from most BBSs and internet archive sites. Once the files have been placed in their proper directories, simply create an icon for Wall-Ace in any group you choose, and installation is complete. You may wish to create an icon for Wall-Ace in your startup group in order to have Wall-Ace run each time Windows starts. See the topic Using Wall-Ace in the OPERATION section of the Wall-Ace help file for more information. When Wall-Ace is run for the first time, (or whenever its .ini file cannot be found), it will create its initialization file, wallace.ini, with default values. This is the ONLY additional file that Wall-Ace will add to your system! Normally, the .ini file is created in the same directory in which wallace.exe resides (see the topic The Wall-Ace Initialization File in the OPERATION section of the Wall-Ace help file for more information). UPGRADE INSTALLATION After extracting the included files from the archive, copy wallace.exe, wallace.hlp, and the text files (.txt) over top of the existing files from your previous version. The old wallace.txt file may be discarded, as it has been replaced by the readme.txt file. Copy the sound files (.wav) to the same directory as your wallace.exe file, or to another location in which you normally keep sound files. The spin.vbx and threed.vbx files from the archive may be discarded, since they should already be in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory from your previous version. The file_id.diz file exists only to provide a short description of the program to BBSs, and may be discarded. When Wall-Ace is run for the first time, it will update your wallace.ini file, preserving all your previous settings and wallpapers. If your wallace.ini file cannot be found, Wall-Ace will create a new initialization file with default values. REVISION HISTORY ---------------- 1.0 96/09/15 - first public release. 1.1 96/12/31. - Added Hide Icon option to make icon invisible when Wall-Ace is minimized. - All automatic selection methods now ignore wallpapers whose weight is zero. - Random selection method renamed Random Cyclic, and new selection method named Random added. - Random Cyclic selection method improved; now selectes new wallpaper with a weighted distribution. - Added ability to play user selected .wav sound files when the wallpaper is changed manually, when it is changed automatically, or when a new cycle begins. - Wallpaper Directory selection panel moved from Preferences window to Edit Wallpaper File List window. - Alt-hotkeys in Preferences window slightly modified to accomodate changes and additions. - Added item titled '(None)' to the top of the list in the Current Wallpaper list box to allow setting the Windows wallpaper to none. - If the current Windows wallpaper when Wall-Ace is started, as reported by win.ini, is not in the wallpaper list, it is now added to the end of the Current Wallpaper list box list and displayed in the Current Wallpaper list box. - Previously, if the Wallpaper Directory was changed and then the Preferneces (now Edit Wallpaper File List) Cancel button was pressed, the Wallpaper Directory change was not cancelled, but remained in effect. Fixed. - Previously, if Wall-Ace was minimized when exited, the main window position was incorrectly saved as the position of the minimized icon, and with Windows 95 caused an overflow error. Fixed. - Since the wallace.txt file contained the same information as the wallace.hlp file, the text file has been removed and replaced by a readme.txt file. END OF WALL-ACE 1.1 README