DROPVIEW 1.2 A multi-Window Drag & Drop Bitmap utility from SJHDesign A) INSTALLATION This part is easy- just unzip the file. You don't have to put DROPVIEW.EXE in a directory on your path. If you have a previous version of Dropview(Dropview.exe) on your disk, delete it and the file Dropview.txt and replace them with DROPVW12.EXE AND DROPVIEW.TXT from this archive. B) RUNNING DROPVIEW DROPVIEW requires the File Manager or it's Norton Desktop counterpart to run. You can start it from the Program Manager, your favorite menu program or just by double-clicking on DROPVIEW.EXE in the File Manager. The DROPVIEW icon(a little target) will appear on your desktop. At this point, you are ready to start loading bitmaps one at a time or in groups by dragging them from the File Manager down to the DROPVIEW icon. If you want DROPVIEW to load automatically whenever you start Windows, open the File Manager and drag the file DROPVIEW.EXE to the STARTUP group in Program Manager. This way, the DROPVIEW is always on your desktop for loading bitmaps and changing wallpaper. DROPVIEW can load Win3x, OS/2, RLE4 or RLE8 bitmaps from monochrome to 24 bit color. C) WHAT IT DOES DROPVIEW allows you to drag any number of bitmaps from the File Manager and loads each one in it's own scrollable window. Once a bitmap is loaded, you can : -zoom it in or out -copy all or part of it to the clipboard -save it under a different name if you've made any changes to it. -make it your desktop wallpaper without messing around with Control Panel. -get it's vital statistics(size, # of colors, type, etc.) DROPVIEW windows will also accept any kind of image from the Clipboard and allow you to save it as a Win3x bitmap. When a clipboard image or a bitmap is saved, DROPVIEW automatically uses the existing palette. In other words, if you paste a 16 color(4 bit) PCX image, DROPVIEW will save it as a 16 color bitmap. D) MENU COMMANDS The menu commands available for each DROPVIEW window are explained in the Help dialog. To view it, click on the DROPVIEW icon and choose HELP. A few general notes on the menu commands: COPY BITMAP: when you choose the COPY BITMAP command, only the visible area of the bitmap is copied to the clipboard. If you want to copy the entire bitmap, resize the window so the whole bitmap is visible. If you only want a portion of the bitmap, then resize and\or scroll the window until the part you want is visible. REFRESH PALETTE : this command only works on 256 color bitmaps. When you a load lot of bitmaps at once, you will notice that the colors on some of them seem washed out. Choosing REFRESH PALETTE restores the original colors in the current window. Due to the way Windows works with colors, though, there are some limitations to this. If the REFRESH PALETTE command doesn't restore the correct colors, you will have to close some bitmap windows to make more memory available and try again. WALLPAPER : only files already written to disk can be used as wallpaper. In other words, if you paste an image from the clipboard and use one of the WALLPAPER commands, DROPVIEW will use whatever disk file was last loaded in that particular window as it's wallpaper file. If you paste a bitmap or alter it in any way, you must SAVE and reload it before it can be used as wallpaper. 4 and 8 bit RLE images can also be used for walllpaper. E) CLOSING DROPVIEW The DROPVIEW windows can be closed individually by opening the system menu(that little bar in the upper left hand corner) and choosing CLOSE. Or, all bitmap windows can be closed at once by double clicking the DROPVIEW icon and choosing CLOSE WINDOWS from the system menu. The program remains active and the icon will still be visible. To close the DROPVIEW icon, click on it and choose CLOSE. Doing this will also close any DROPVIEW windows that are still open. F) SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND LIMITATIONS Any system that will run Windows 3.1 will run DROPVIEW. The program does not run under Windows 3.0. On some systems, DROPVIEW will not work together with Norton Desktop for Windows. NDW seems to disable other Drag & Drop programs(like DROPVIEW) in certain cases, although the majority of our Beta Testers reported no problems running DROPVIEW under NDW. G) REGISTERING DROPVIEW If you register your copy of DROPVIEW, you will recieve DROPVIEW 1.1 at no charge. We are currently Beta testing this program and expect it to be ready by 2/1/92. It has the following enhancements: 1) Reads GIF, PCX, TGA, WPG and TIFF(including Compressed and Group III fax)files. 2) Converts files to any of the above formats. 3) Image Processing capabilities such as resizing, rotating, flipping, and dithering. 4) Can take a file in ANY of the above formats and load it as Desktop Wallpaper. Version 1.1 of DROPVIEW will carry a $29.95 price tag, but if you register this program, we will send it to you at ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE. SJHDesign is an established software development group that plans on being around for a while. Our first shareware offering, DTPBROWSER, has hundreds of registered users who recieved free upgrades. Registered users of our programs get free technical support, free or low cost upgrades, and substantial discounts on our other Windows programs. TO REGISTER DROPVIEW 1.0, PRINT THE FILE ORDERFRM.TXT WITH NOTEPAD OR ANY ASCII TEXT EDITOR, FILL IT OUT AND SEND A CHECK FOR $14.95 to: SJHDesign C/O Scott Hanrahan 326 E. 34th St. NY, NY 10016 (make checks payable to SCOTT HANRAHAN) H) Version History Dropview 1.1(1/6/93): 1) CloseWindows command added to Dropview Icon's System menu allowing the user to close all open Bitmap Windows without closing the program. 2) Bug Fix : Version 1.0 had a bug that prevented part of the visible area of a bitmap window from being updated(repainted)when it was brought out from behind another bitmap window. The user could update the window with the REFRESH command, but this is something the program should do automatically. It has been corrected. Dropview 1.2(1/14/93) 1)Window cascading routine added-opening window sizes adjusted so windows do not cascade off the screen or cover up minimized desktop icons. 2)Palette management improved for display of multiple 256 color bitmaps. 3)Zoom function modified to paint only the visible area of the zoomed bitmap, resulting in much greater speed. My sincere thanks to the users who have helped in the development of of this program with their many helpful suggestions. I) Other very useful Windows programs from SJHDesign: DTPBrowser - multi-window text and bitmap editor SJHEdit - FAST Text editor for extremely large files SJHConvert - loads and converts BMP, GIF, TGA, WPG, PCX , WMF and TIFF(Standard,Compressed and Group III fax)files. DBview - small, fast viewer for Paradox and DBase files. FOR INFORMATION, CALL SJHDesign AT (212)683-2264. IF YOU GET THE ANSWERING MACHINE, LEAVE YOUR NAME AND PHONE (OR FAX) # AND WE WILL RESPOND PROMPTLY. J) Disclaimer Please direct any comments, criticism, praise, bug reports, etc. to Scott Hanrahan, CIS I.D. 70144,3033. This software is offered for use as is, and no warranty is offered or implied. SJHDesign is not responsible for any loss of data, damage to hardware nor any resulting loss of time or revenue resulting from the use of this program. Like all commercial software, this program is utilized entirely at the user's risk.