-Note- For easiest viewing, please run Notepad, maximize it, load this file, and set the /Edit /WordWrap option on. -Description of quickFX- quickFX is a VBX that paints 3-D borders on your windows or dialogs in keeping with Microsoft's universal standards. Its ease of use makes it the perfect complement to 3-D controls such as those in THREED.VBX, providing a consistant, intuitive interface for amateurs and professionals alike. -Purchasing quickFX- quickFX is not shareware, although you can distribute it freely. You must purchase a full license from Stonewall Software before you can use quickFX in your programs. Run the file RUNME.EXE for info on how to do this. When you buy the full license, you will also be given a passcode. You must enter this passcode in the RUNME program before you can use quickFX. To order quickFX, mail $15.00 (in a check or money order payable to Stonewall Software) to the following address. Please don't forget to include your full address so we can mail you your full license and passcode. -> Stonewall Software -> Rt. 1, Box 203 -> Bridgewater, VA 22812 See the file LICENSE.TXT for legal information. -Info on Using quickFX- (You can only use quickFX if you purchase a full license from Stonewall Software; see above.) Before you try to use the quickFX custom control, make sure that a copy of QFX.VBX is in your "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\" directory (where "C" is the drive containing your Windows directory) and that you have entered your passcode in the RUNME program and clicked on the "Accept" button. To use quickFX in Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows, click on Visual Basic's \File menu, then on \Add File. Type "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QFX.VBX". Click on "OK". If quickFX cannot find your license file created by entering the passcode in RUNME, you will see a message box indicating this. If you have loaded the VBX successfully, look at your toolbox. You should see the qFX button at the bottom. Click on this button, and draw a qFX control on any form that you want quickFX to enhance. Each form must have its BorderStyle property set to (3 - Fixed Double) and its BackColor property set to light gray. ***Important!!- Don't forget to draw the qFX control directly on the form! If you draw it on a secondary window, such as a picture box, it will not paint your form's borders. qFX always enhances its direct parent window's borders. Voila! When you run your program, the form(s) will be painted in 3-D perspective. An interesting style to try, perhaps as a "start-up" or "about" window, is the window without a top bar. You can make one of these in Visual Basic by setting the Caption property of the form at design time to "" (nothing - not even the space character), setting the BorderStyle, of course, to (3 - Fixed Double), the BackColor property to light gray, and the ControlBox property to False. Drop a qFX control on the form and run it, and the results are quite impressive. -Technical Details/Incompatibilities- You only need to distribute the file "QFX.VBX" with your programs. It requires no other files. Note - Do NOT distribute the license file that the RUNME demo program creates on your Windows directory. It is only for licensed owners of quickFX. -Important!!- Don't forget to draw the qFX control directly on the form! If you draw it on a secondary window, such as a picture box, it will not paint your form's borders. It always paints its direct parent's borders. Since some users of your programs may have monochrome (black and white) video adapters, quickFX automatically disables the 3-d effects and just does default painting whenever it detects that it's running under a monochrome adapter. (This is standard practice, since you can't get the gray shades needed for a 3-D look in monochrome.) You can use quickFX in Windows 3.0 or over, and in any version of Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows (or anything else that supports VBX controls). quickFX also will not paint if it detects that Windows version 4.0 or over is running. Windows version 4.0, alias "Windows '95" will manage the 3-D painting itself. You may wonder why quickFX only paints non-sizeable, double bordered windows. The answer is simply that Microsoft Corporation hasn't set a standard for painting 3-D borders on sizeable windows - Microsoft's own products leave the frames on sizeable windows as-is, and merely paint gray backgrounds, etc. inside the client area. We experimented with this, and couldn't quite find a style of painting sizeable borders three-dimensionally that was consistant with the rest of the interface. We're open to comments/suggestions on this one. quickFX may be incompatible with any other VBX/DLL that subclasses the same window with the purpose of painting a custom border or changing the border width, for instance, parts of the Designer Widgets(tm) from Sheridan Software Systems, inc. This incompatibility is unavoidable, and really doesn't matter, since you would not use the two simultaneously anyway. quickFX was designed to be as small and efficient as possible: its only purpose is to paint 3-D borders around dialog-style windows; we did not throw in any other features because we assumed that the programmer would primarily use quickFX to complement his/her standard 3-D controls, such as those included in the professional edition of Visual Basic. **Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. **Visual Basic and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. -If You Have Problems- (We'll say it again here) - quickFX is easy to use: just drop a qFX control on your "Fixed Double" bordered windows, and they will be enhanced. But keep one thing in mind - you MUST place the qFX control directly on the form! (i.e. not in a picture box, etc.) quickFX always paints the border of its direct parent window. If you have any problems related to the use of quickFX please let us know. Send [incompatibility reports/other problems/questions/comments] to: Compuserve I.D. 76432,2066 \or\ Stonewall Software Rt. 1, Box 203 Bridgewater, VA 22812