QWINPRT - version 2.0 (c) copyright 1994,1995 Christopher Riley Registration: as little as $5, What-A-Deal! See [Registration] for more details. _______________________ [Requirements] QWinPrt is very small and requires very little to run. If you are currently running Windows 3.1, you should be able to run QWinPrt with no problems. One of the requirements when I wrote QWinPrt was that it be unobtrusive and small. As a result, QWinPrt uses less than 30K of Windows memory when running, so it should not conflict with any of your larger applications. [Description] QWinPrt was written as a utility to work around one very annoying aspect of Windows 3.1, which is that you have to go around your head to pick your nose if you wish to do a screen print. Trying to do a screen print without QWinPrt requires that you do the following: 1. Press the Print Screen button on your keyboard. 2. Go into a windows program that lets you paste from the Windows clipboard, for example, Paintbrush. 3. Copy from the clipboard. 4. Choose to Print the picture. With QWinPrt, you need only press the CTRL and the P keys simultaneously, and QWinPrt does the rest, copying your Windows screen and sending it to your default printer. Very smooth, very easy. Two new features appear in this 2.0 release. The first is that QWinPrint now creates a BMP whenever it does a screen print. The file is created in the QWinPrint working directory and is called QWINPRT.BMP, and it can be viewed and altered with the Windows Paintbrush application included in your version of Windows. What is more, you can copy this bitmap (or just pieces of it) into other Windows applications, such a Word for Windows, to provide a cost effective way of including Windows screen examples in reports and the like. The second new feature is the ability to print just the currently active window instead of the whole screen. This feature will also create a bitmap of the Window. However THIS particular feature is only available in the REGISTERED version of QWinPrint. Aside from that, you will find that QWinPrt is fully functional and not otherwise crippled in anyway. It will not stop working after your 30 day trial period is up and it will not occasionally pop up one of those annoying "Please Register" messages. All you will see is the "UnRegistered" line in the program window. If you are reading this AFTER September 1, 1996, please note that you do NOT have to register this product. That is right, scan around to see if you can find the Public Domain version, but if you can't - no sweat! Since I imagine Windows 4.0 will remove the annoying way screen prints currently work in Windows, there will not be all that much use for this utility anyway, so I intend on releasing this product into public domain at that time. Until then, I retain the copyright and all rights guaranteed therein. You are free to distribute the unregistered version of QWinPrt freely, provided that you do not charge more than a nominal fee for the utility's distribution. This fee may not exceed $5.00 unless written approval has been granted by the author (that's me). QWinPrt may be distributed freely on BBS's and the like that charge a fee for membership or use without any restrictions. As for the average Joe, you are free to give this unregistered copy of QWinPrt to anyone and everyone - your boss, your friends, a bum on the street. Just so long as you adhere to that stuff about how much you charge for it. The files required in distribution are the following: QWINPRT.EXE HOOK.DLL README.TXT ORDER.FRM FILE_ID.DIZ All other files are not needed by QWinPrt, especially any BMP's you may have lying around in the QWINPRT subdirectory. [Installation] Okay, QWinPrt 2.0 still does not have a flashy install program, and for that I apologize. Perhaps a later version may, who knows. Still, the `manual' installation of QWinPrt is not all that bad. If you are comfortable in DOS making directories and copying files, great. If not, we suggest you use the Window's File Manager to accomplish these steps. 1) First, you must either go to a DOS prompt or launch the Window's File Manager buy double clicking the icon. 2) Choose the drive you wish to install QWinPrt on. In most cases this will be the C: drive. You choose the drive in File Manager by clicking the mouse over the corresponding drive picture and letter (which appear underneath the File Manager menu). 3) Make a directory for QWinPrt. I suggest you name it QWINPRT, but to tell you the truth you can call it whatever you want - QWinPrt does not care. Make sure before you create a directory that you are on the root (\) directory. This is the topmost folder in File Manager. To create a directory using File Manager, choose the File menu option. Then choose the Create Directory option. File Manager will prompt you for the name of the new directory. Type in QWinPrt (or whatever) and press enter or the OK pushbutton. 4) Copy all the QWinPrt files from wherever you have them into your new directory. If you are using File Manager and the files are on the same drive but in another directory, simply find the files and select them by clicking the topmost file and then clicking the bottom most while holding down the SHIFT button at the same time. Keep holding down the left mouse button, and drag the files over to your newly created directory. If the files are on another drive, say your floppy, you must first double click the drive letter at the top of File Manager. This will bring up a new window with the files on that drive. Again, locate the files and this time drag them, as described above, over to the other window where the directory you created is located. 5) Now create a Window's Program Item. Since QWinPrt is an Accessory Utility, your Accessories window group would be a good place to put QWinPrt. This is only a suggestion, and you may wish to put the program elsewhere. Creating a Program Item is done by choosing the File option in the Window's Program Manager window. Choose the New option. You will be asked if you wish to create a Program Group or Program Item. Choose a Group only if you want to have a different group all together for QWinPrt, otherwise choose Program Item. Enter the following for each of the prompts: DESCRIPTION QWinPrt COMMAND LINE QWINPRT.EXE WORKING DIRECTORY [drive letter]:\[name of directory - e.g. QWINPRT] Press the OK pushbutton when done. 6) Great! Now you should have a neat paint roller icon that says QWinPrt. To make QWinPrt come up whenever you start Windows, open your Window's StartUp program group. Click your cool new QWinPrt icon (just once, double clicking launches it) and hold down the left mouse button. As you hold down the mouse button, press the CTRL button as well and move the copy of the QWinPrt icon over to the StartUp group. 7) All done, I apologize again for the hassle. [Registration] The are two types of usage for QWinPrt - Business and Personal. These two types of usage fall under two distinct usage agreements. These are outlined in the (ta -da) legal mumbo jumbo that CYA's my A. Read it when your are unable to sleep. ---------------------------- LEGAL DISCLAIMER: THE AUTHOR AND/OR DISTRIBUTOR OF THE QWINPRT UTILITY SHALL IN NO WAY BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES BELIEVED TO BE INCURRED BY THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT. OUR ONLY ASSURANCE IS THAT ALL REASONABLE MEANS HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED TO INSURE THAT QWINPRT IS FREE FROM MAJOR DEFECTS. IF THIS PROGRAM IS USED AT ANYTIME PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER 1, 1996, THE TEMPORARY LICENSE OUTLINED IN THE FOLLOWING TWO PARAGRAPHS MUST BE ADHERED TO. IF QWINPRT IS USED ONLY FOR PERSONAL USE, YOU ARE GRANTED A NON- RENEWABLE 30 DAY EVALUATION PERIOD IN WHICH TO USE QWINPRT ON A SINGLE COMPUTER WITHOUT OBLIGATION. AFTER SUCH PERIOD, YOU ARE EXPECTED TO EITHER SUBMIT THE REGISTRATION FEE AS DICTATED IN THIS DOCUMENT, OR TERMINATE YOUR USE OF QWINPRT AND REMOVE THE QWINPRT UTILITY FROM YOUR SYSTEM. IF QWINPRT IS USED AT OR BY A BUSINESS (INCLUDING HOME BUSINESSES), YOU ARE GRANTED THE LIMITED LICENSE AS STATED IN THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH, WITH THE EXCEPTION THAT THE TEMPORARY LICENSE IS RENEWABLE. THERE IS AN ADDITIONAL STIPULATION THAT AFTER THE EVALUATION PERIOD HAS ENDED, NO UNREGISTERED COPIES OF QWINPRT SHALL BE KEPT OR USED ON ANY COMPUTER OWNED OR OPERATED BY THE BUSINESS FOR A PERIOD OF 30 ADDITIONAL DAYS. AFTERWARDS, THE EVALUATION PERIOD IS RENEWED, AS ARE THE CONDITIONS IN THIS PARAGRAPH. THIS IS TO ALLOW FOR MULTIPLE EVALUATIONS BY DIFFERING INDIVIDUALS OR ENTITIES, AND STILL PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF THE AUTHOR. THE PURCHASE OF A SITE LICENSE GRANTS THE PURCHASER OF THE LICENSE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO USE QWINPRT ON MORE THAN TEN (10) MACHINES AT ANY TIME, NOT TO EXCEED FIFTY (50) TOTAL MACHINES. AN ADDITIONAL SITE LICENSE MUST BE PURCHASED FOR EVERY ADDITIONAL FIFTY (50) MACHINES THEREAFTER. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CHARGE A FEE OF NO GREATER THAN $5.00 TO COVER COSTS OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF QWINPRT. SHOULD A GREATER AMOUNT BE NECESSARY TO COVER TOTAL DISTRIBUTION COSTS, YOU MUST OBTAIN WRITTEN PERMISSION TO DO SO FROM THE AUTHOR. USE OF THIS PRODUCT CONSTITUTES AGREEMENT TO COMPLY WILL ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS STATED IN THIS DISCLAIMER. NO OTHER WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED WILL BE PROVIDED OR GUARANTEED. ----------------------------- Ugh, I hate that stuff! Okay, now here's the spiel - for the greater good of mankind, you should register QWinPrt if you find it useful. Simple, you will increase your karma, impress your friends with your honesty, and just plain make the world a better place. I know this isn't gonna' make me rich, I'm just hoping for enough to buy a nice anniversary gift this year for my wife. $5.00 per computer, that is all I'm asking. I figured that is about the initial time savings if you use it just few times. You see, despite the fact that QWinPrt is small and simple, it was no easy task to make. Digging up any information on Window's hooks was the hardest part. Still, it is not a full-featured "run your house at the touch of a button" utility, so I figure $5 is fair. Businesses with more than 10 computers can purchase a site license, and need only pay $50 for every 50 computers they wish to license. This utility is a great thing for your tech support department. Since users tend not to remember error messages all that well, a screen print is nice. Of course, they can screen print the old Window's way - well we know just how well the users would do at that. Also, for $5 more, I can alter the key press combination to print from CTRL+P to something else if for some reason you don't like it, or it conflicts with an application. Virtually any key combination can be done, with the exception of actually using the 'Print Button' itself. This is because windows gets that keypress before I can without writing a REALLY fancy program. If you need a print screen utility for windows that actually uses the 'Print Screen' button in any way, you will have to find another utility. I can tell you it will cost you a bit more, but believe me - the author REALLY deserves it for the extra effort. If for some reason the key combination you select doesn't work, you will be contacted as asked whether you wish a refund or a different combination. Print out the ORDER.FRM to order YOUR very own copy today! [Bugs] This version of QWinPrint 2.0 is the latest to date - January 4, 1995. It fixes a number of problems that various users have had and is the most stable and useful yet. A list of fixes appear below: 1. SCREEN PRINT PROBLEMS Some systems with certain display drivers printed the screen off center. This problem was fixed by changing the way output was sent to the printer, and by banding the screen prints. 2. GENERAL PROTECTION FAULTS (GPFs) Norton Desktop for Windows would create a GPF when using QWinPrint. This was fixed by including the keyboard hook in a DLL, the way Windows 3.1 requires it. Ironically, this fix, while being more stable, has caused problems and GPFs on early versions of HP's Dashboard for Windows 3.0. Since Windows 3.0 did not require hooks to be in a DLL, other Windows 3.0 programs running when QWinPrint is running may result in similar Windows crashes. 3. ALT+TAB LOCKING WINDOWS Pressing ALT+TAB to cycle through open windows would cause the system to hang when it got to the QWinPrint window. This was fixed by preventing the ALT key from being trapped by the hook, since it caused a conflict with the normal message being sent to the QWinPrint window. 4. BLANK SPOTS APPEARING IN SCREEN PRINTS The original versions of QWinPrint displayed a "Preparing To Print" Message Box before actually capturing the screen. The original reason for this was to allow someone to ALT+TAB to bring a window into view before doing a screen print. The problem was that some slower machines and display cards could not refresh the screen quickly enough before the screen image was captured and sent to the printer. The fix was at first to set a timer event to wait 700 milliseconds before capturing the screen. While this appeared to solve the problem, a consultation with a number of testers showed that most felt the Message Box was an annoyance and thus the message was taken out of the 2.0 Version of QWinPrint. 5. SCREEN DATA NOT APPEARING IN SCREEN PRINTS This problem is due to the fact the even fast display cards and machines would at times be unable to update a window with data before it was captured and sent to the printer. The timer delay in fix #4 also helps in the solution to this problem, but is only a workaround and not a complete solution. Be aware that it is possible that your system may still not be able to completely update its window if it has to before the screen print captures the image on the screen. However, this should happen rarely if ever, but a true fix is stiil trying to be devised. [Reporting Problems And Bugs] Please report bugs by either sending me Email on Compuserve or through the regular 'Snail-Mail' of the US Post Office. If possible, send a copy of the screen print to show your problem. If a fix becomes available, you will be notified right away.