Copyright: Copyright 1996 SRO Systems


Contents
B-Play 2.1
Slideshow
Screensaver

Introduction

 Some basic B-Play information

Requirements

 Hardware and software requirements/recommendations

Installation

 How to install and run B-Play

Overview

 Using B-Play

Registration

 How to register B-Play

Vendor Info

Information for shareware distributores

* Press F1 to get help on using Help.

Copyright 1996 SRO Systems


Introduction

SRO System's B-PLAY 2.1 screensaver is THE most simple, convenient (and inexpensive!) way to play slideshows from Windows screensaver control.

Instead of buying "modules" like some other screensavers, you use your favorite bitmap images of any size and resolution, then add captions, transition effects, wave and midi files . . .   until you have a perfect, custom slideshow presentation.

B-PLAY 2.1 features:

* Seqential, Random and Playlist modes
* Playback list with no size limit
* 40 GREAT transition effects
* Multiple custom text overlays
* Encrypted password protection
* Wave audio file playback
* MIDI file playback
* Easy, improved interface


Requirements

SSBPLAY.SCR is a Windows (3.1x, '95, NT) screensaver written in Visual Basic Professional vs 3.0.  It is designed to run using the following minimum hardware and software.

Hardware

To run B-Play, you should have at least a 33mhz 386 processor, 4 megabytes of ram, and a 256 color video card.

For best results (especially using transition effects) we recommend a 486DX or better processor, 8 megabytes of ram and FAST (32 bit, 2 meg vram) true color video.  To use the Midi / Wave file playback options, you will need any Windows compatible sound card.

Software

* Windows 3.1 or better ('95, NT . . .)
* VBRUN300.DLL

* If you wish to use the sound (wave/midi) playback options, you will also need to have Windows Wave Audio and Midi sound drivers installed.


Installation
Installing / Running B-Play

Installing B-Play

To install B-Play, simply run the "INSTALL.EXE" program from within Windows.  This installer will install the B-Play screensaver, as well as any of the required DLL or VBX files that are not already on your system.  Depending on the number of required files, the install could use up to 750K of space on your hard disk.  It will take about 2 minutes (from floppy) or several seconds (from HD).

Running B-Play

1) In Windows 3.x  : Run "Control Panel" (usually in the "Main" Group), double click on "Desktop", then select B-Play 2.1 from the screensaver list.

2) In Windows '95 : Right click on the desktop and choose "Properties" from the menu.  Click the "screensaver" tab, then choose B-Play 2.1 from the screensaver list.


Overview

Playback Mode

Using B-Play's Sequential, Random and Playlist modes.

Wave Audio

Adding sound with wave files.

Midi Files

Using a midi file soundtrack.

Text Overlay

Adding titles/captions to your pictures.

Transition Effects

Using transition effects between your images.

Password Protection

B-Play's password protection feature.

Palettes

Some information about color palettes and how they affect your slideshow.


Registration
Registering B-Play

When you register, you not only help us continue writing quality shareware, but you also receive the latest version with no annoying "guilt" screen.

Prices

  *  Single user licence   - $10.00
  *  2 - 10 users licence   - $60.00
  *  11 - 50 users licence - $150.00
  *  Unlimited (1 location) licence - $500.00

 (California residents only add 8.25% Tax)
Shipping     $2.00  (outside continental U.S. add $2 - $4)

Registering by mail

Print and complete the registration form "Bplayreg.txt", and enclose check or money order payable to:

SRO Systems
P.O. Box 5028
Blue Jay, CA  92317-5028

Include your email address, and we'll send the program SAME day we get your check!

Online Registration

You can have the program nearly instantly (always same day, sometimes same hour) if you register on Compuserve's shareware registration forum.  Just log on to Compuserve and "GO SWREG".  B-Play is ID # 5293.


Wave Audio
Wave Audio Files

B-PLAY features WAVE audio playback.  To play wave files, an audio device driver must be enabled in Window's "control panel \ drivers" setup screen.  Any soundcard will work, as will Microsoft's PC Speaker driver.

Playing Wave Files

To play wave files, check the "Play Wav File" box in the setup screen, then select a wave file to play by clicking the "FILE" button to the right.

Wave File Options

The "Select Sound" dialog allows you to select your wave file(s) and set wave playback options.  If you are using "Sequential", or "Random" playback modes, you can have just one sound play at the beginning of your slideshow, or select "Repeat" to make B-Play cycle through the selected directory, playing a different wave file for each slide in the slideshow.  If you use "Playlist" mode, you can choose a different wave for each slide in the show.  You can also preview any selected wave file by clicking the "Test" button.


SRO Systems
Superior Realities Organization
P.O. Box 5028
Blue Jay, CA  92317

NET - srosystems@local.net
AOL - srosystems
CIS - 75604.3535


Midi
Midi Files

B-PLAY features MIDI file playback.  To play midi files, a midi device driver must be enabled in Window's "control panel \ drivers" setup screen.  Any soundcard with a built in synthesizer/wave table should support midi file playback.

Playing Midi Files

To play midi files, check the "Play Midi File" box on the setup screen, then select a file to play by clicking the "FILE" button to the right.

Midi File Options

The "Select Midi File" dialog allows you to select your midi file and set the midi playback mode.  You can have a single midi file play at the beginning of your slideshow, then loop when the song is finished (regardless of where in the show it stops).  Or, you can Select "Repeat" to make the midi file start over for each slide in the slideshow.  This is useful if you have a very short midi file that is just a background (or sound effect).  You can preview any selected midi file by clicking the "Test" button.


Playback Mode

B-Play gives you three ways to organize the images, sounds and transitions in your slideshow;  Sequential, Random and Playlist.

Sequential

In "Sequential" playback mode, B-Play cycles alphabetically through all the BMP files in the selected directory.

Random

In "Random" mode, B-Play picks a random number (1 to # images) for each slide in the show.  Being truly random means sometimes producing the same number twice in a row, so B-Play will try again if it picks the same number twice.  However, B-Play will only try a few times before it gives up, so it is possible to get repeats.  The more images in the directory, the less likely that will be.

Playlist

In "Playlist" mode, you can select any image on your computer, and insert it into any location in the playlist.  In addition to the Add, Copy, Paste and Delete buttons to the right of the list, you can double-click to quickly add items to the playback list.

When wave files are selected, they will be organized/played using this same playback mode.   Midi files are either played once at the start of the slideshow, or picked sequentially from the selected directory.  Transition effects and text overlays are always stored in list form, and will be matched to the images seqentially regardless of the playback mode.


VBRUN300.DLL

VBRUN300.DLL is the run time library required to run any progam written in  Visual Basic version 3.0.  You can find this file on the Internet, or just about any BBS or Online Service.

Note : VBRUN100, 200, 400, etc. are for different versions of the Visual Basic Language and will NOT work with this program.


Registration Form
B-Play 2.1 Registration Form

  Name        : ______________________________________

  Company : ____________________________________

  Address   : ____________________________________

         ____________________________________

         ____________________________________

  Email      : ____________________________________

 ************************************************************************
  (    ) Single user licence BPLAY - $10.00
  (    ) 2 - 10 users licence BPLAY - $60.00
  (    ) 11 > 50 users licence BPLAY - $150.00
  (    ) Unlimited (1 location) licence - $500.00

 ************************************************************************
  8.25% Tax ________  (California residents only)
  Subtotal _________
  Shipping     $2.00  (OUTSIDE CONTINTENTAL U.S. add $2 - $4 total)
  Total    _________

  Enclose check or money order payable to:
SRO Systems
P.O. Box 5028
Blue Jay, CA  92317-5028

Legal Stuff

SRO Systems will not be held responsible for any damages which may occur due to the use or mis-use of this product.  No guarantee or warrantee is either expressed or implied.  By purchasing this product the consumer is accepting agreement with these terms.


Text Overlay

The text overlay feature lets you put a caption on any image in your slideshow without affecting the image itself.  You have control over the message, position, font, size and color of the text.

Using Text Overlay

To enable text overlay, check the "Text Overlay" box on the setup screen, then click the "Set Text" button to create/modify the messages.

Text Overlay Options

When you first enter the Text Overlay screen, you will see a preview of the last image selected in either the playlist, or directory list (depending on playback mode).  Double-click anywhere to open the "Options" dialog.  You can now choose the message, position, font style and color of your overlay text.  The arrow buttons will scroll through each available image, displaying the stored overlay message.

The "custom" position option allows you to put your overlay message anywhere on the image.  First, enter a message and choose a font color and style that you'll be able to see on the image.  Then click "OK".  You will then be able to drag your message until you're satisfied with the position.  B-Play will immediately store the new position.

Hit the ESC key, or right-click to exit the overlay screen.

(Note 1)  If you use "random" playback mode, B-Play will still match the overlay text (if enabled) to the correct image.

(Note 2)  If you do not specifically select Font, Size and Color for your message, it will be displayed using default settings (Arial 12pt, Black).


Transition Effects

B-Play has 40 different effects to create transitions between your images.

Using Transition Effects

To enable transition effects, check the "Transition Effects" box in slideshow options.  To choose your transitions, click on "select".

Transition Effect Options

The "Select Transition" dialog gives you control over the style, speed, and grain of transitions between images.  You can scroll between the images using the arrow buttons below the image names.  The preview button lets you see what the selected effect will look like on a small portion of the image.  The speed control sets the delay time between each update (band) of the transition, while the grain control specifies how many pixels wide each band is.  The highest quality (and slowest) setting (except for "blinds") is all the way to the left.  In the case of "blinds", grain sets how wide the blinds are, not the number of pixels being moved.

Transition effects should only be used between images of the same size unless the "Clear 1st Image" option is set.  Otherwise you will see the first image move/crop to the size of the second before the effect begins.

You should also use the "Clear 1st Image" option if you are in 256 color mode and the pictures do NOT use the same color palette.


Color Palettes

B-Play was designed to work in any color mode, with any color depth (2 color to "True" color) bitmaps, and it does so quite well.  There is, however, one  common problem . . . . Trying to display more colors at once than your video card is capable of generating.

Most computers shipped today have True Color (24 bit) capable graphics cards.  This means they are capable of displaying over 16 million colors at once.  However, many of these cards operate too slow in this mode for daily use.  Also, many manufactures and dealers pre-set computers to use 256 color graphics even if the graphics card is extremely fast!  To complicate things even further, Windows reserves 20 "static" colors for the Windows interface, so unless your images use all these static colors, you actually only have 236 colors to choose from.

What this all means (in 256 color mode) is that unless your pictures share a common "palette", or use 118 or less colors, your transition effects aren't going to look very good!  As a new image is transitioning into the old, Windows will try to match the colors, sometimes acceptably, and sometimes treacherously.  If you are using 16 or 24 bit images on an 8-bit display, the problem only gets worse as Windows has to dither the colors as well.

If you run into palette problems, there are a few solutions:

* Use the "Clear 1st Image" option with your transitions.

* Use an image editor to create a common palette for all your images.

* Use an image editor to reduce the number of colors in your images.

* Buy a new (24-bit) video card.


Password Protection

B-Play features encrypted password protection.  You can enable password protection by checking the "Pwd Protect" box in the setup screen.  Click the "Set" button to set your password.  The password is initially set NULL ("").

Be aware that B-Play's password protection is NOT a sophisticated multiple key encryption algorithm intended stop a seasoned computer professional from using your computer!  It is meant simply to prevent a casual passer-by from getting too nosey while you're away.  If you REALLY need to protect your data, PLEASE don't depend on a $10 screensaver to do it!


Vendor Information

B-PLAY is shareware.  You are encouraged to give copies of the COMPLETE and UNALTERED SHAREWARE version to anyone.  If you are a distributor of shareware products we ask that you read the following BEFORE distribution.

Program Description

B-Play is a Windows (3.1, '95, NT) multimedia slideshow screensaver which displays a series of user selected bitmaps to create a slideshow.  Features include Sequential, Random, or Playlist modes,  simultaneous MIDI / WAVE file playback, 40 great transition effects, and text overlays with user message, color, size and font selection for each slide.  Like all SRO programs, B-Play has an instant help status bar which explains all its controls.

Distribution

Vendors are encouraged to distribute B-Play, but you must follow these guidelines:

1. You must have written/emailed confirmation of our permission to distribute this program and/or collect any registration fees.  BBS and online services may distribute WITHOUT permission, however no distributor or BBS may accept registration fees without having made arrangements with us.

2. Following is a list of the files necessary to setup and run B-Play.  You must include ALL of the following files for distribution:

SSBPLAY.SCR   BPLAYTXT.OVR   BPLAYLST.DAT   BPLAYSND.DAT   BPLAYTRN.DAT   BPLAY.INI   README.TXT   BPLAY.TXT   BPLAYREG.TXT   FILE_ID.DIZ   THREED.VBX     MCIWNDX.VBX   CMDIALOG.VBX   VBBMPFX.DLL   INSTALL.EXE   WINSTALL.INF   WINSTALL.TXT   BPLAY21.HLP

VBRUN300.DLL is required to run, but not required for distribution.   Any distributor promotion is required to state the necessity of this file, as well as the means of obtaining it.

3. You may NOT sell B-PLAY as (or included with) a COMMERCIAL or RETAIL product - PERIOD!

4. Do not include B-PLAY as part of any shareware package . . UNLESS at least a few other items in the package are applications or utilities relating to graphics\screensavers for Windows.

B-PLAY is Copyright 1994 - 1996 SRO SYSTEMS  All rights are reserved.