 FAXCOVER Help Contents

FAXCOVER allows you to convert FAX images into cover page templates.  FAXCOVER also acts as a standard FAX viewer to display, print or annotate your FAX images.

Use your Word Processor or DeskTop Publishing program to design your cover page template.  All images and standard text fields should be included on the template.  Print to file using the FAX printer, or send as a fax and capture the .TIF file format.

Use FAXCOVER to display the .TIF file and use the Cover Page Tool [image] to locate, size and select the template fields.  Use the Select Annotate Tool [image] to line up the fields and choose the font.

Menu Options

ToolBar

Annotation Panel

Page Panel

Status Bar

Image Formats

Copyright (c) 1995 - 1996 System Solutions Pty Ltd


Menu Options

File

    Open

    Close

    Save Merged

    Save Editable

    Save As

    Print

    Print Setup

    Send

    Initial Options

    Exit

Edit

    Cut Base Image

    Copy Base Image

    Cut Annotations

    Copy Annotations

    Paste

    Paste To File

    Select All

    Select In Region

    Bring To Front

    Send To Back

    White Out

    Black Out

View

    Toolbar

    Status Bar

    Annotation Panel

    Page Panel

    Rotate

    Zoom

    Zoom In

    Zoom Out

    Image Enhancement

    Invert

    Image Info

    Next Page

    Previous Page

    Goto Page

Window

    Cascade

    Tile

    Arrange Icons


Annotation Panel

The annotation panel can be turned on and off from the menu (View | Annotation panel) or from a button on the standard toolbar. When it is displayed, it can be placed anywhere on your screen, and it will stay in that location no matter what the viewer window does.

The annotation panel contains a number of tools which are useful for creating and editing annotations. These tools are described below.

Annotation Selection Tool

This tool is used to select an individual annotation. Once an annotation is selected, it appears on the screen with a rectangle and eight black handles around it; it may be re-sized or moved using these handles. Drag a handle to re-size the annotation; dragging a corner handle will allow you to change both width and height, while dragging a handle on an edge will allow changing either width or height, but not both. If the handles of an annotation are displayed, you can move the annotation by clicking and dragging any part of the annotation other than the handles.

When an annotation is selected, the annotation panel will also change to the appropriate style for the annotation that is selected; for instance, if you select a text annotation, the annotation panel will change to show fields for font name, size, and character effects. You may use the annotation panel to change the settings for this one annotation.

You may select multiple annotations using this tool. While holding down the Control key, click on each annotation you wish to select. You may then drag all the selected annotations at once by clicking on any of the selected annotations and dragging them to a new location. Note that you cannot re-size annotations if more than one is selected.

Note that you can delete an annotation by selecting it, and then pressing the Delete key. The viewer will not ask for confirmation, even if you have selected a large number of annotations.

Select Region Tool

The region selection tool is used to mark an area of the image for later action. Click and drag to create a rectangle to be acted on.

Once you have the rectangle defined, you may click the right mouse button to pop up a menu of things that can be done with this region. The available options in this menu are listed below:

Zoom In: change the screen scaling and position so that the portion of the image which is within the selected region is expanded to fill the entire screen window. Menu equivalent: View, Zoom in

Zoom Out: change the screen scaling and position so that the entire image currently visible in the screen window is compressed to fit into the defined region. Menu equivalent: View, Zoom out

Copy to clipboard: Copy the underlying base image in the selected region into the clipboard. Menu equivalent: Edit, Copy base image. Shortcut: Control-C

Select All: Select all annotations in the defined region. Once the annotations have been selected, they can be deleted; if they are all the same type of annotation, the annotation panel will change to the appropriate style for that type of annotation. If you change the options on this panel, all of the annotations will be changed to match the selected style. Menu equivalent: View, Select in region

White Out: Add an opaque white rectangle annotation to the image. This has the effect of whiting-out the region. Menu equivalent: Edit, White out.

Black Out: Add an opaque black rectangle annotation to the image. This has the effect of blacking-out the region. Menu equivalent: Edit, Black out.

Sticky-Note Tool

The sticky-note tool is used to put a text note on the base image. When you click on this tool, the annotation panel changes to include the appropriate fields for text annotations, specifically font name, font size, and special effects. You may select the font, font size, and effects (boldface, italic, underline, strikeout) that you wish at this time.

Click and drag on the image to define the size of the note you want to write; then type the text you want to have appear in that note. You may type any text that you wish into this note; you also have the option of editing it later. If you have selected a font, font size, or special effect, it is in force for the entire note. If you change any of these items while editing a note, or while the note is selected, it changes all the text in the note.

Sticky notes are always black text on a yellow background.

NOTE: If there is no text in the note, and you switch away from the note to do something else such as change the text size, or switch to a different tool, the note will be removed. This is to prevent the generation of accidental blank notes.

If you have selected the Annotation Selection tool, or have otherwise selected a sticky note, you can edit the text in that note. As you move your mouse pointer over the currently selected note, you will see that the cursor changes to the I-Beam cursor. If you click the left mouse button inside a sticky note, the viewer will attempt to place a cursor as close to that location in the note as it an. You may then insert text by simply typing; the backspace and delete keys, and home and end keys, work as expected, deleting characters and moving around in the text.

Cover Page

The cover page tool is used for placing fields on the image to be filled in later by the FAX Server.  If you select this tool, you will be able to select a region of your image, and click and drag to create a rectangle of the appropriate size for the cover page field you wish to place.  When you release the left mouse button, you will get a list of the available cover page template fields; select one of these and the template field will be placed on the base image.

If a list of available fields is not displayed, you need to copy imgannot.ini from the application directory into your Windows system directory.

Once a cover page template field has been sized using the cover page tool, you must use the Annotation Select Tool to accurately line up that field and select the fonts, font size and special effects.

You may wish to use the cover page tool to size and sequentially place all the required template fields and then use the Annotation Select Tool to line up all of the fields and change the font.

File menu item Add New Template field is not appropriate for MESSAGEmanager cover sheets.

Save the new image by selecting File - Export, File Type Embedded ANO file and save the file as a .ANO file.  Copy this .ANO file into the FAX Servers COVERS sub-directory.

Stamp Tool

The stamp tool is used to place bitmap or stamp images on the displayed image. These images are initially contained in files outside of the image you are working on. Stamp files are by default type *.STP, but the program can read many other file formats.

When you select this tool, you will be allowed to select a region of the image where you wish to place a bitmap or stamp annotation. Click and drag to define the region where you want the stamp to be placed. When you release the left mouse button, a menu containing the names of the ten stamps you used most recently will appear; to place one of these stamps on your image, simply select the name of the stamp from the menu.

You also have the option of defining a new stamp. If you select New Stamp from the menu, you will be asked to select a file for the new stamp. Select a file to insert using the menu displayed. Then, you will be asked for a name to use for the stamp. This is the name that will show up on the menu the next time you select a stamp. If you only wish to use this stamp once, you can select the option Use Only; this places the stamp on the screen and does not save the name in the most recently used stamps list. Alternately, you can select Use And Save for stamps which you use frequently; the names of these stamps will appear on the menu which pops up when you have selected the region for the stamp.

Hilite Tool

The annotation highlighter tool is used to add a color highlight to the image. You may select a color for the highlighter, and set a rectangle to highlight. When you select this tool, a second row of buttons will appear on the annotation menu, indicating the color to be used for further highlights; you may press any of these buttons to select a color. Then, click and drag to place the rectangle to highlight; click on one corner of the rectangle you wish to highlight, and drag to the opposite corner. When you release the left mouse button, the highlight will be drawn.

All highlight colors are transparent, and display as the color which you have selected. When you print the image, or save it as a merged file, the highlighted regions will be changed to gray shadings, unless you have selected a color printer.

Also see: Save Merged, Image Printing.

Arrow/Line Tool

The Arrow/Line tool is used to create straight lines, and single and double-headed arrow annotations. It allows you to select the width and color of the lines to draw, and whether the line has simple or filled arrow heads on one or both ends.

When you select this tool, the annotation panel will expand to include a set of color buttons and a line types selection area. Clicking on a color button will select a drawing color for the line. The width of the line which will be used to draw the line or the arrow may be selected from the selection box; click on the downward-pointing arrow to the right of the line width to display the available line widths, then click on the width of the line you wish to draw to select it.

The line type selection tools allow you to select either a simple line, or any of a number of arrow types.

To add an arrow or a line to the image, click at one end of the line where you wish the line or arrow to appear, and drag to the other end of the line or arrow. A dotted line will show you where the line or arrow will be placed. When you release the left mouse button, the arrow will be drawn. In all the single-headed arrow types, the first point you select will be the tail of the arrow, and the point at which you release the left mouse button will be the arrows head.

Rectangle Tool

This tool is used to draw a hollow rectangle annotation. You can select the line color and the width of the line to use to draw the rectangle.

When you select this tool, the annotation panel will expand to include a set of color buttons and a line width selection box. You may select the color that the line which forms the rectangle will be drawn with, and the width of the line. Clicking on a color button will select a drawing color for the rectangles outline. The width of the line which will be used to draw the rectangle may be selected from the selection box; click on the downward-pointing arrow to the right of the line width to display the available line widths, then click on the width of the line you wish to draw to select it.

To draw the rectangle, click on one corner of the rectangle to start drawing, and drag to the opposite corner. A dotted rectangle will indicate the position and size of the rectangle to be drawn as you drag it. When you release the left mouse button, the rectangle will be drawn.

Circle Tool

This tool is used to draw a hollow circle or ellipse annotation. You can select the line color and the width of the line to use to draw the circle or ellipse.

When you select this tool, the annotation panel will expand to include a set of color buttons and a line width selection box. You may select the color that the line which forms the circle will be drawn with, and the width of the line. Clicking on a color button will select a drawing color for the circles outline. The width of the line which will be used to draw the circle may be selected from the selection box; click on the downward-pointing arrow to the right of the line width to display the available line widths, then click on the width of the line you wish to draw to select it.

To draw the circle or ellipse, click on one corner of a rectangle which would just contain the ellipse to start drawing, and drag to the opposite corner. A dotted rectangle will indicate the position and size of the circle or ellipse to be drawn as you drag it. When you release the left mouse button, the circle or ellipse will be drawn.

Color Selection

By selecting one of these buttons, you select the color in which the annotation is to be drawn. This color selection applies to line, rectangle and circle annotations, and to highlights. You cannot change the color of other annotations. Note that each type of annotation has its own color default.

Line Thickness Selection

This box shows the current width of the line that will be used to draw straight lines and arrows, rectangles, and circles. If you want to change this line thickness, click on the down-arrow to the right of the box, and select the line size you wish from the line sizes that appear in the pull-down box. Note that each of these annotation types keeps its own line size separately.


File Commands

The File menu allows access to various file- and printing-related actions. Some of these are also available in the standard toolbar; the associated icons are displayed in the appropriate topics.

File | Open

 Selecting this menu entry, or pressing the button on the tool bar, will allow you to open a file to view. You will be shown a list of all the files which the program can identify as readable files from their name alone, and asked to select a file from that list. Once you have selected a file, click on the OK button, and the program will load that file into its image buffers.

If a file is available both as a raw image, and as an annotated file, and if you select the raw image file, you will be asked if you wish to open the annotated file instead.

Note that it is possible to have many different files open, and that it is possible to have the same file open for viewing in several different windows. This program follows the Microsoft Multiple Document Interface standard.

File | Close

Selecting this menu entry will close the file which is currently being viewed in the window. If the file has been changed (if you have added annotations to it), you will be asked if you wish to save the file.

File | Save Merged

Selecting this menu entry will allow you to merge all of the annotations, along with the image which they have been applied to, into a single image file which can then be sent to a printer or a FAX destination. You will be prompted to select from the varieties of output file formats that are supported; the most common are TIFF (tagged image file format), PCX, and DCX (multi-page PCX) files.

File | Save Editable

 Selecting this option will save the current image, with all its annotations, into a file either of the same name as the original file, or into a file having the same name but with the extension .ANO. If the file was originally an annotation file, the annotations will be either embedded in the new file, or left external to the annotation file, depending on how they were associated with the original annotation file. Selecting the Save button will leave new annotations linked to the annotation file, except for images added to the file using the Edit Paste command; graphics annotations that are Pasted into the annotation are always embedded when the file is saved.

For further information about Linked and Embedded annotation files, please see Annotation File Formats.

File | Save As

Selecting this option will allow you to enter a new file name to save the image and the annotations that are currently visible on the screen. You may elect from the file save dialog whether you want to save the file as a merged image, or as an editable annotation file; and you will also be allowed to select the type of annotation file, linked or embedded, which you wish to create.

For further information about Linked and Embedded annotation files, please see Annotation File Formats.

File | Print

Selecting this option will allow you to print all or part of the image in the currently active window to a printer. Selecting this option will bring up a dialog box which will allow you to select a page range and a printer, and will allow you also to change settings in the printer driver.

NOTE: This is not identical to the Print button [image] on the toolbar. The print button will print the entire file to the currently selected printer in the currently selected mode without putting up any dialog boxes.

File | Print Setup

Selecting this option will bring up a dialog box which will allow you to set up the printer. The specific options available in this dialog box will vary depending on which operating system you are using; however, from this dialog box, you will have the option to change default printers, page sizes, and page orientation. You will also be able to go deeper into the printer setup hierarchy to select paper trays and resolutions; specific capabilities here will depend on your selected printer driver.

File | Send (Not available in all versions)

Selecting this option will allow you to send an image via your existing E-Mail system. When you select this option, the program will bring up a dialog to determine the format of the file you wish to send: embedded or linked annotations, or merged into a TIFF, PCX, or DCX file. It will then attempt to send the file using your E-Mail server.

For information on supported file formats, select Supported File Formats. For information on embedded and linked annotation formats, select Annotation File Formats.

Recently-used files

Visible also in the Files menu are a list of the four files you have used most recently. Selecting one of the files from this list will re-open the file if it is still available; this function works exactly the same as if you had selected File | Open from the menu, and selected the file from the list visible in the window.

File | Initial Options

Selecting this option will allow you to set the default open image enhancement and zoom values for all files. Once this value is set, all files opened with the default values specified in this menu item. Selecting this menu item will open a submenu with the options Scale Factor and Image Enhancement.

Scale Factor: Selecting this option will bring up a list of available scale factors which can be used to open the files. The scale factor controls the displayed image size in the window, how much of the FAX image you can see, and the detail with which you can see it. Zoom values measured in percent are conceptually the size of the screen image in inches relative to the original graphic image in inches; however, since Windows does not have a mechanism for reporting the actual size of the monitor in use, we have arbitrarily decided that the full width of the monitor is the full width of the image that we are viewing. With a standard 14- to 15-inch monitor, which has a horizontal size of 9 or 9 inches, this works out reasonably well for images received from FAX machines, which are typically 8 inches wide.

When you select this menu item, you will get a sub-menu with a number of choices of available zoom ratios. These choices are as follows:

25% Scale: Image is 25% of original image size (in inches)

50% Scale: Image is 50% of original image size (in inches)

75% Scale: Image is 75% of original image size (in inches)

Full Scale: Image is displayed at approximately full size (in inches)

125% Scale: Image is 125% of original image size (in inches)

150% Scale: Image is 150% of original image size (in inches)

200% Scale: Image is 200% of original image size (in inches)

400% Scale: Image is 400% of original image size (in inches)

Scaled 1:1: Image is displayed at largest available scale: each image pixel is represented by a single screen pixel

Scaled 1:2: Image is displayed at half scale: each screen pixel is twice the size of an image pixel, and so represents four image pixels (two across by two down)

Scaled 1:3: Image is displayed at one-third scale: each screen pixel is three times the size of an image pixel, and so represents nine image pixels (three across by three down)

Scaled 1:4: Image is displayed at one-quarter scale: each screen pixel is four times the size of an image pixel, and so represents sixteen image pixels (four across by four down)

Fit to Height: The image is scaled so that it entirely fits within the height of the display window

Fit to Width: The image is scaled so that its width fits entirely within the width of the display window.

Image Enhancement: This menu entry is used to select the image enhancement to be used on a file when it is initially opened. Select the enhancement mode which will make the zoomed image appear best. When you select this menu entry, you will get a sub-menu with a number of choices of enhancement techniques. These choices are listed below:

Light: A screen pixel is darkened only if a large number (about 75%) of the pixels which it represents in the original image are darkened.

Normal: A screen pixel is darkened if about half (50%) of the pixels which it represents in the original image are dark.

Dark: A screen pixel is darkened if about one-third (30%)  of the pixels which it represents in the original image are dark.

Darker: A screen pixel is darkened if about one-sixth (15%) of the pixels which it represents in the original image are dark.

Darkest: A screen pixel is darkened if any of the pixels which it represents in the original image are dark.

Gray Scale: Each pixel on the screen is assigned a gray level based on the number of pixels which are dark in the image represented by the screen pixel.

Note that the Gray Scale setting is more pleasing to the eye than any of the other settings, but is much slower to generate an image. For speed and reasonable image display, we recommend the setting Darkest.

File | Exit

Selecting this option will cause the program to close all open files and shut down. You will be prompted to save any files which you have modified. Note that the default file type for saving is annotation linked; if you open a TIFF image file, and add an annotation to it, the resulting file will be saved as a linked annotation file if you select Save Editable at program shutdown.


Edit Commands

The Edit menu allows access to various editing-related actions. Some of these are also available in the standard toolbar; the associated icons are displayed in the appropriate topics.

Edit | Cut

 Selecting this option will allow you to copy a section of the base image, and put the resulting bitmap image into the clipboard for use by other programs. Since the viewer does not support directly modifying the base image, this will also create a white-out annotation and place it over the area which has been copied into the clipboard.

For details about white-out annotations, also see the Annotation panel topic White-out Tool.

Edit | Copy Base Image

 Selecting this option will allow you to copy a section of the base image, and put the resulting bitmap image into the clipboard for use by other programs.

Edit | Cut Annotations

Selecting this option will remove all of the annotations which are currently selected, and transfer them to the clipboard. From there, they may be transferred to any other window in the viewer that is currently running, or into another copy of the viewer.

For annotations, we use a custom clipboard format which is not supported by other applications. Because of this, other applications will not report Paste as a useable option when you have cut annotations to the clipboard.

To select annotations to be cut to the clipboard, see the Annotation Panel topics Select tool and Region tool.

Edit | Copy Annotations

Selecting this option will copy all of the annotations which are currently selected to the clipboard. From there, they may be transferred to any other window in the viewer that is currently running, or into another copy of the viewer.

For annotations, we use a custom clipboard format which is not supported by other applications. Because of this, other applications will not report Paste as a useable option when you have copied annotations to the clipboard.

To select annotations to be copied to the clipboard, see the Annotation Panel topics Select tool and Region tool.

Edit | Paste

 Selecting this option will paste the current contents of the clipboard into the file. This will behave differently depending on what has been cut or copied into the clipboard.

If the clipboard contents are a graphic image: The viewer will save the clipboard contents into a temporary file and then insert the temporary file as a stamp annotation into the upper left corner of the currently active image. It will then select this annotation, so that you can size and position it using the mouse. To change its size, click and drag any of the eight handles (small square boxes); to change its position, click anywhere in the annotation itself and drag it to the new position.

When you close the annotation, the temporary file will be deleted. The annotation will be saved embedded in the annotation file, if you elect to save your changes.

For more information about sizing and moving annotations, see the Annotation Panel topic Select tool.

If the clipboard contents are text: The viewer will create a Sticky-Note annotation in the upper left corner of the current image, and will then paste the text into the annotation. It will then select the annotation, to allow you to edit the text, or to re-size and move the annotation. To change its size, click and drag any of the eight handles (small square boxes); to change its position, click anywhere in the annotation itself and drag it to the new position.

For more information about sizing and moving annotations, see the Annotation Panel topic Select tool. For more information about editing text in a sticky note, see the Annotation Panel topic Sticky notes.

If the clipboard contents are one or a set of annotations: The viewer will insert the annotations onto the current screen image, in the location that they were placed on the screen image which they were cut or copied from (e.g. if they were in the center of the original image, they will be placed in the center of the image which you paste them into). The annotations are then selected, to allow you to move the annotations. To change its position, click anywhere in the annotations and drag them to the new position.

For more information about sizing annotations, see the Annotation Panel topics Select tool and Region tool.

Edit | Paste to File

This menu entry is available only if the contents of the clipboard can be displayed as a bitmap. Selecting this option will prompt you for a file name to use to store the current contents of the clipboard; the contents will be stored as a Windows-compatible bitmap file (.BMP) but will have extension .STP (Viewer stamp file) by default. You may select the destination directory and file name, and you will have the option of selecting any supported type of graphics image file.

For information on supported file formats, select Supported File Formats.

Edit | Select All

Selecting this menu entry will select all the annotations in the file visible in the currently active window, including those that are outside the current window, and those that are on other pages of the same file. This can be useful if you need to delete all annotations in a file, or if you need to be able to flip from one page to another in the file to see where all the annotations are.

Edit | Select in Region

This menu entry is available only if you have used the Region Select tool to define a region. Once you have selected a region, selecting this tool will select all the annotations which intersect the region; to indicate that they are selected, they will all display their sizing handles. Note that you cannot size annotations if there are more than one selected; but you can move them, by clicking on any of the annotations and dragging to the new position.

This action is also available directly through the Region Select tool; once the region is defined, if you click with the right mouse button, it will bring up a menu of actions which will include Select in Region.

Edit | Bring to Front

Selecting this menu item will move the selected annotations to the front of the display list, placing them effectively on top of any other annotations that occupy the same space. Normally, annotations are added to the image in the order in which they are created, so the most recently created one is entirely visible; this menu item will allow you to move annotations created earlier to the top of the list, so that they are fully visible instead.

This option is available only if there is at least one annotation selected. For more information about selecting annotations, see the Annotation Panel topics Select tool and Region tool.

Edit | Send to Back

Selecting this menu item will move the selected annotations to the back of the display list, placing them effectively underneath any other annotations that occupy the same space. Normally, annotations are added to the image in the order in which they are created, so the most recently created one is entirely visible; this menu item will allow you to move annotations created later to the bottom of the list, so that earlier annotations are fully visible instead.

This option is available only if there is at least one annotation selected. For more information about selecting annotations, see the Annotation Panel topics Select tool and Region tool.

Edit | White out

This menu entry is available only if you have used the Region Select tool to define a region. Once you have selected a region, selecting this tool will add an opaque white annotation to the image, effectively eliminating it. Note that the viewer does not support directly modifying the graphic image; unless you merge the annotations (see File | Save Merged), you will always have the option of moving, re-sizing, or removing the white annotation to reveal the underlying image.

This action is also available directly through the Region Select tool; once the region is defined, if you click with the right mouse button, it will bring up a menu of actions which will include White Out. In some versions of the viewer, this functionality is also available in the Annotation panel White-out Tool.

Edit | Black out

This menu entry is available only if you have used the Region Select tool to define a region. Once you have selected a region, selecting this tool will add an opaque black annotation to the image, effectively eliminating it. Note that the viewer does not support directly modifying the graphic image; unless you merge the annotations (see File | Save Merged), you will always have the option of moving, re-sizing, or removing the black annotation to reveal the underlying image.

This action is also available directly through the Region Select tool; once the region is defined, if you click with the right mouse button, it will bring up a menu of actions which will include Black Out.


View Commands

The View menu allows access to various view-related actions. Some of these are also available in the standard toolbar; the associated icons are displayed in the appropriate topics.

Toolbar

This menu item enables and disables the standard toolbar. This toolbar normally displays along the top edge of the application window, right under the menu; however, you can drag the toolbar to a new location.

Status bar

This menu item enables and disables the status bar. The status bar displays along the bottom edge of the main viewer window, and contains some information about the file currently being viewed. It also contains the current time and date.

Annotation panel

This menu item enables and disables the annotation panel, which contains a number of controls for creating and editing annotations. This toolbar floats in the application, and cannot be docked to any part of the window; as the window is moved and re-sized, the annotation panel stays in the same place on your screen.

Page panel

This menu item enables and disables the page panel, which gives a quick visual indication of the number of pages in the correct image and allows rapid change of the page displayed. This toolbar normally displays along the bottom edge of the main application window, right over the status bar, but can be dragged to any side of the viewers main window or allowed to float freely.

Rotate

This menu item allows you to rotate the image by 90 or 180 degrees to make the image easier to read, if it was originally landscape mode or was fed into a FAX machine inverted. Note that if you rotate an image 180 degrees and then save it, it will be saved inverted.

If you select this menu item, you will be shown a sub-menu; you can make the following selections from the sub-menu:

Right	rotates the image 90 degrees to the right.

Left	rotates the image 90 degrees to the left.

180	rotates the image 180 degrees, inverting it.

Zoom

This menu item allows you to change the displayed image size in the window, allowing you to change how much of the FAX image you can see, and the detail with which you can see it. Zoom values measured in percent are conceptually the size of the screen image in inches relative to the original graphic image in inches; however, since Windows does not have a mechanism for reporting the actual size of the monitor in use, we have arbitrarily decided that the full width of the monitor is the full width of the image that we are viewing. With a standard 14- to 15-inch monitor, which has a horizontal size of 9 or 9 inches, this works out reasonably well for images received from FAX machines, which are typically 8 inches wide.

When you select this menu item, you will get a sub-menu with a number of choices of available zoom ratios. These choices are as follows:

25% Scale: Image is 25% of original image size (in inches)

50% Scale: Image is 50% of original image size (in inches)

75% Scale: Image is 75% of original image size (in inches)

Full Scale: Image is displayed at approximately full size (in inches)

125% Scale: Image is 125% of original image size (in inches)

150% Scale: Image is 150% of original image size (in inches)

200% Scale: Image is 200% of original image size (in inches)

400% Scale: Image is 400% of original image size (in inches)

Scaled 1:1: Image is displayed at largest available scale: each image pixel is represented by a single screen pixel

Scaled 1:2: Image is displayed at half scale: each screen pixel is twice the size of an image pixel, and so represents four image pixels (two across by two down)

Scaled 1:3: Image is displayed at one-third scale: each screen pixel is three times the size of an image pixel, and so represents nine image pixels (three across by three down)

Scaled 1:4: Image is displayed at one-quarter scale: each screen pixel is four times the size of an image pixel, and so represents sixteen image pixels (four across by four down)

Fit to Height: The image is scaled so that it entirely fits within the height of the display window

Fit to Width: The image is scaled so that its width fits entirely within the width of the display window.

Zoom In

This menu entry is available only if you have used the Region Select tool to define a region. Once you have selected a region, selecting this tool will expand the area in the region until it fills the entire display window.

This action is also available directly through the Region Select tool; once the region is defined, if you click with the right mouse button, it will bring up a menu of actions which will include Zoom In.

Zoom Out

This menu entry is available only if you have used the Region Select tool to define a region. Once you have selected a region, selecting this tool will compress the image shown in the display window until it entirely fits within the selected region.

This action is also available directly through the Region Select tool; once the region is defined, if you click with the right mouse button, it will bring up a menu of actions which will include Zoom Out.

Image Enhancement

This menu entry is used to select the image enhancement which will make the zoomed image appear best. When you select this menu entry, you will get a sub-menu with a number of choices of enhancement techniques. These choices are listed below:

Light: A screen pixel is darkened only if a large number (about 75%) of the pixels which it represents in the original image are darkened.

Normal: A screen pixel is darkened if about half (50%) of the pixels which it represents in the original image are dark.

Dark: A screen pixel is darkened if about one-third (30%)  of the pixels which it represents in the original image are dark.

Darker: A screen pixel is darkened if about one-sixth (15%) of the pixels which it represents in the original image are dark.

Darkest: A screen pixel is darkened if any of the pixels which it represents in the original image are dark.

Gray Scale: Each pixel on the screen is assigned a gray level based on the number of pixels which are dark in the image represented by the screen pixel.

Note that the Gray Scale setting is more pleasing to the eye than any of the other settings, but is much slower to generate an image. For speed and reasonable image display, we recommend the setting Darkest.

Invert

Selecting this menu option inverts the display colors of the underlying graphics image, changing black areas to white and vice versa. Colors of annotations are not changed, although highlight annotations will be difficult to see against a black background (previously black information in the graphics image will show up in the color of the highlight annotation).

Image Info

Selecting this menu item brings up a dialog box which contains information about the image currently displayed in the active window. For more detail, please see Image Information.

Next Page

 Selecting this menu item, or clicking on this button, will display the next page of a multi-page image file. This menu item and toolbar button will not be available if you are viewing a single-page file, or the last page of a multi-page file.

Previous Page

 Selecting this menu item, or clicking on this button, will display the previous page of a multi-page image file. This menu item and toolbar button will not be available if you are viewing a single-page file, or the first page of a multi-page file.

Goto Page

Selecting this menu item will result in the program presenting you with the beginning and end page numbers of the file you are viewing, and asking you to enter a page number to go to. Once you have entered the page number, the viewer will go to that page in the file.


Window Commands

The Window menu allows access to various window-related actions. These actions are listed below.

Cascade

When you have multiple views active, it is sometimes difficult to tell what files are already open. Selecting Cascade from the Windows menu tries to make all of the window titles visible by arranging windows into a cascade from the upper left to the lower right of the viewers main screen. The currently active window will end up at the bottom of this cascade, and will be completely visible.

Tile

When you have two or three files open, this option will attempt to arrange the windows so that they are side by side, each one occupying as much space as is possible without overflowing the viewer applications main window. As the number of files and windows increases, the amount of space available for each subwindow will decrease; eventually, each subwindow will be too small to contain any useful information.

Arrange Icons

It is possible to iconize images within the viewer, and it is possible that these icons will become placed in awkward positions over time. If the icons are created when the viewer is maximized, and the viewer is then Restored, it is quite possible that these icons will end up outside the viewers main screen and therefore invisible. Selecting this option will take all of the iconized views, and arrange them neatly starting at the lower left corner of the viewers main window.


Toolbar Options
Toolbar Information

The standard toolbar is a control panel with a number of buttons. All of the functions of the toolbar are available in the menu; the toolbar acts to provide short cuts for frequently used functions.

The toolbar can be enabled or disabled from the View menu (View | Toolbar). It can also be dragged to a new location if you wish. Click on the toolbar on any location that does not contain a button, and drag the toolbar to its new location. If it is not close to one of the four sides of the main window, the toolbar will float (that is, it will sit where it is placed, no matter where the applications main window is moved); if it is dragged to one of the sides of the applications main window, it will dock there, reducing the size of the view window. Note that the zoom box does not show up if the toolbar is docked to a vertical side of the parent window.

If the toolbar is floating, it can also be disabled by clicking the Close box in the upper left corner of the bar.

The toolbar contains a number of buttons, described below, and a zoom box.

Open	Fit To Height

Save Editable	Fit To Width

Cut	Rotate Right

Copy	Rotate Left

Paste	Rotate 180

Print	Zoom Out

Previous Page	Zoom In

Toggle Page Panel	Toggle Annotation Panel

Next Page


Toolbar Zoom Controls

Zoom In

Selecting this button will cause the viewer to enlarge the image by approximately 5%. The zoom box and the status bar will update to show the new scaling value.

Zoom Out

Selecting this button will cause the viewer to decrease the image size by approximately 5%. The zoom box and the status bar will update to show the new scaling value.

Zoom Box

The zoom box will normally display the most recently selected zoom value; this value will also be echoed to the status bar. If you click on the box itself, you can type in a new zoom value; the number is interpreted as a percentage. You can also click on the arrow to the right of the box; this will show a list of the standard available zoom values. Clicking on one of these values will set the zoom value appropriately.


Other toolbar commands
Toolbar Print button

 Selecting this button will print the entire contents of the file immediately. The viewer will not ask you for any details; it will simply print all pages of the file visible in the currently active window to the printer which you last selected using the File | Print Setup menu command. If you have not done a print setup, selecting this option will print the entire file to the current default printer.


Image Formats

Supported File Formats include:

PCX (ZSoft)	1, 4 and 8 bit support

TIF (Aldus)	Uncompressed, PackBits, Class F (Group 3/Group 4)  1,4 and 8 bits

GIF (Compuserve)	Summer 87 and Summer 89 (interlaced). 1, 4, and 8 bit support.

BMP (Windows)	Windows native bitmap file format.

DCX (Intel)	Intel CAS Fax Format.  1 bit support. Multiple pages.

ASCII	Unformatted Text, Multiple pages

ANO	Annotation file format (proprietary)

There are two basic formats for annotation files, Linked and Embedded. The difference between the two formats lies in where the associated graphics files are stored. In an Embedded annotation file, the images are stored in the annotation file itself; this can make the annotation file quite large, but the images are always available to the annotation. In a Linked annotation file, the annotations are stored in files outside the main annotation file, and the annotation file contains instead the full path name of the image which is to be displayed. The obvious disadvantage to this scheme is that you must remember to move all the associated image files when you move the annotation. On the other hand, the actual annotation file is then quite a bit smaller.

When you paste a graphic image into a file using the Edit Paste command, this application will create a temporary file for that graphic image, and write the clipboard contents to the temporary file. It will then display the contents of that graphic file as an annotation on the screen.

When you save an annotation file that contains a pasted image of this type, it will save this one specific image as Embedded, because the file that contains the image is a temporary file and will be deleted when the application is closed. Because the file will be removed, we cannot make a link to that file.


Page Panel

The page panel is a control panel with a number of buttons. All of the functions of the page panel are available in the menu; the page panel acts to provide short cuts for frequently used functions.

The page panel can be enabled or disabled from the View menu (View | Page Panel). It can also be dragged to a new location if you wish. Click on the page panel on any location that does not contain a button, and drag the page panel to its new location. If it is not close to one of the four sides of the main window, the page panel will float (that is, it will sit where it is placed, no matter where the applications main window is moved); it will then have the following appearance:

If it is dragged to one of the sides of the applications main window, it will dock there, reducing the size of the view window.

If the page panel is floating, it can also be disabled by clicking the Close box in the upper left corner of the panel.

The page panel contains a number of buttons, one for each page in the file that is currently being viewed. Clicking on a button with a page number selects that page for viewing. If the file contains more pages than the page panel can display, the panel has the following appearance:

In this case, the page panel is displaying buttons which would allow selecting from the first ten pages of a file. Clicking on the rightward-pointing arrow will cause the panel to display buttons allowing selection from the next ten pages of the file; clicking on the leftward-pointing arrow would cause the panel to display buttons allowing selection from the previous ten pages of the file.

Changing pages using the page panel is pre-emptive; you do not have to wait for the current page to complete drawing before you change pages.


Status Bar

The Status bar appears at the bottom of the screen, and contains useful information about the file which you are currently viewing. On the left of the bar appears a brief help message, based on the current location of the mouse. Following that is the page number currently being viewed, the zoom factor selected most recently, and the current date and time.

The status bar can be enabled or disabled from the menu (View | Status bar).


Image Information

The Image Information dialog (pictured above) appears when you select Image Information from the View menu. This dialog box contains useful information about the file which has been read in. The information available is as follows:

File Name: The name of the file that contains the image

File Size: The size of the file, in bytes and kilobytes

File date and time: The date and time that the file was created

Page number: The page number currently displayed, and the total number of pages in the file

Image Width, Image Height: The size of the original image, measured in pixels, inches, and centimeters

Resolution: The number of pixels per inch and pixels per centimeter across and down. If these values are correct for one of the standard FAX resolutions, the notation Normal FAX or Fine FAX will show up in this area as well.

Bits/Pixel: The number of bits used to represent each pixel; thus, the number of colors that can be displayed. A 1-bit-per-pixel display allows only black and white; 4 bits per pixel allows 16 colors; and 8 bits per pixel allows 256 colors.

Scaling: The current scale of the image. This display is included to allow you to get percentage scale values when the scaling is set to one of the special values (Fit to Width, Fit to Height, Scaled 1:1, Scaled 1:2, Scaled 1:3, or Scaled 1:4). For more information on scaling, see Zoom.


About FAXVIEW

Version number and copyright information for FAXVIEW.


File Save dialog
Save File Type dialog

This dialog box is used to determine how you want to save the file that you have been working on. You have two options and a Cancel button. The options you have are:

Save Merged: Selecting this option will fold all the annotations into the file, making it impossible to remove them. All colored annotations will become dithered shades of gray; the resulting file can be printed by any monochrome printer.

Save Editable: Selecting this option will save the annotations and the base image as an annotation file, so that annotations can be removed or edited. For details on the types of annotation file available, see Annotation File Formats.


Image Changed File Save dialog
File has been modified. Save changes?

This dialog box will appear when the file you have loaded has been changed, and you have not yet saved these changes. Changing the file is done by adding, moving, or removing annotations; or changing the text in an annotation. This dialog box has two options, a Cancel button, and a No button.

Save Merged: Selecting this option will fold all the annotations into the file, making it impossible to remove them. All colored annotations will become dithered shades of gray; the resulting file can be printed by any monochrome printer.

Save Editable: Selecting this option will save the annotations and the base image as an annotation file, so that annotations can be removed or edited. For details on the types of annotation file available, see Annotation File Formats.

No: Selecting this option will indicate that you want to exit without changing the file. The program will ask the question again for each file which you have changed; this response applies only to the file currently shown in the dialog box.

Cancel: Selecting this option cancels the program exit operation. Typically, this would be done if you were to realize that you had intended to save a particular file under a name other than which it had been opened; if you select Cancel, the program will not exit, and you will have a chance to select Save As... from the File menu before exiting.


Saving a File
Save Image

From this dialog, you can select the file name to use for saving the file. You can also select the type of file that you will be creating, and the directory to save the file to. The specific things that you can change are described below.

File Name: The name of the file to save to. The highlighted name is the file pattern that is currently selected. Under this name is a greyed out list of all the names that match this pattern; this is for reference, so that you can see the names of all the files that already exist with the same pattern. You may type a new file name, or select one from the list below; if you select a name from this list, that file will be over-written.

Save File As Type: This controls the format of the data saved to the file. You may select among five choices: Fax Linked, Fax Embedded, TIFF, PCX, and DCX. Fax Linked and Fax Embedded will save the file and annotations, allowing later revision of the annotations; for details on this file format, see Annotation File Formats. Selecting one of the other three formats will merge the annotations into the image, making them a permanent part of the file. As the viewer is intended for use with FAX files, it will also attempt to merge the files down to monochrome; if the base image is not monochrome, it will fail to merge the image. The three formats are Tagged Image File Format (*.tif), which can be read by many other graphics programs; Zsoft PCX, also readable by many graphics programs; and Intel DCX, a multi-page variant of PCX files.

Directories: This shows you the current default directory, and underneath, the directory tree. You may change from one directory to another by selecting the directory you want to change to with the mouse.

Drives: This drop-down list contains the names of all the drives on your system. Selecting this box will allow you to change the disk drive where the file is to be saved.

OK: Clicking on this button will save the image on the screen to the file currently shown in the File Name window. If you have not entered or selected a file name, this button will have no effect.

Cancel: Clicking on this button will cancel the file save and allow you to make other changes to the image before you save it.

Help: Selecting this button is most likely how you came to this screen. This will start up the Help system and show you the appropriate help for the dialog box. Pressing F1 at any point in the program will also bring up a help screen.

Network: Not available on all computer systems. If present, this button will allow you to attach and detach network drives, to allow you to save your work on a different computer than the one where you are currently working.


Opening a file to read
Opening a File to View and Annotate

From this dialog, you can select the file to load and view. You can also select the type of file that you will be creating, and the directory to read the file from. The specific things that you can change are described below.

File Name: The name of the file to load. The initial text in the box is the file pattern that is currently selected. Under this name is a list of all the names that match this pattern. You may type a new file name, or select one from the list.

List Files of Type: This controls the file patterns which will be listed in the list under the File Name heading. Changing the selection here will change the files displayed in the list. This controls only the pattern of the file names displayed in the list. A file does not need to be displayed in the list in order to be opened; and it does not need to be one of the recognized patterns in order to be read; the file will be checked to see what format it is written in when it is selected. For a list of the image types that can be read, see Image Formats. The file patterns that can be listed are "FAX Images (*.ano; *.dcx; *.pcx; *.tif; *.pcl; *.txt), Fax Annotation (*.ano), and All Files (*.*).

Directories: This shows you the current default directory, and underneath, the directory tree. You may change from one directory to another by selecting the directory you want to change to with the mouse.

Drives: This drop-down list contains the names of all the drives on your system. Selecting this box will allow you to change the disk drive which you are going to read the file.

OK: Clicking on this button will read the file currently shown in the File Name window. If you have not entered or selected a file name, this button will have no effect.

Cancel: Clicking on this button will cancel the file read.

Help: Selecting this button is most likely how you came to this screen. This will start up the Help system and show you the appropriate help for the dialog box. Pressing F1 at any point in the program will also bring up a help screen.

Network: Not available on all computer systems. If present, this button will allow you to attach and detach network drives, to allow you to load a file from a different computer than the one where you are currently working.