Copyright: WWSaver32 3.21© 1992-1997 Don Bradner


Getting Started

WWSaver32 is a screen saver.  Access to the program’s configuration must be done through the Control Panel’s Display Properties dialog.  You normally access it through the Control Panel in My Computer, or you  may right-click the desktop and choose Properties.  In the Display Properties Dialog, select WWSaver32 from the list of available screen savers, then click the Settings button to see the program’s configuration dialog.

If you find that you are frequently changing the configuration you may want to place a shortcut to the screen saver on your desktop.  Open your Windows\System directory and find the file WWSAVER32.SCR.  Right-Drag it to the desktop and choose “Create Shortcut(s) here.”  Place the icon to your liking.  Now, to configure or test the screen saver, simply right click and choose the appropriate action from the popup menu.

Nothing will happen with the screen saver until you add one or more files to the image queue.  To do this, select the Images tab on the configuration dialog, then click the "folder" icon at the left top of the dialog.  Browse for image files to add to the image queue.  There will normally be images in your Windows directory, and you may have others which you have obtained.  If the images are small ones which you would like to have "tiled," check that option in the dialog (you can also change the tiling later).  After you have selected OK in the dialog, you will see the files listed in the queue.

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the configuration elements on screen.  If you press the F1 key, this help file will be displayed, with information about the part of the program you are using.

The Screen Saver Configuration Dialog topic will explain the other tabs that are on this dialog.

There are a number of options for how an image may be displayed.  Look for these topics in the help file:

Tiling.

Resizing images.

Adjusting Image Placement.

Gamma Adjustments.

There are a number of items in the Image Display and File menus that affect the way the program operates.


Program Description

WWSaver32 is a screen saver which uses picture files.  Picrture files are maintained in convenient “Queues” that allow grouping by topic. Fifteen transitional effects are available for screen saver changes.  Images may be in a number of standard formats, including GIF, JPG,  and BMP.

WWSaver32 has a provision for reducing the colors in a 256-color image to 16 for VGA display, and for reducing True-Color (16 million colors) images to 256 (or 16) colors.

There is a Thumbnail function, which will display a small copy of all the images in a queue for easy management.

Multiple "queues" (configuration files) may be maintained, each saved under a distinctive name.  Queues may contain up to 6000 files each.


Thumbnail Display

Small images of each of the bitmaps in your Image Queue are shown when you select the "View image thumbnails" option on the File menu.  Depending on your computer speed and the number of images, it may take quite a while to load all of the images until they have been built once.  See Dynamic Thumbnailing for more information about how thumbnails are built.  Subsequent displays will be much faster.  You may stop the load at any time by pressing the "Cancel Load" menu option (only visible while the images are loading), or pressing the Escape key, which will erase the Thumbnail screen.

The display of images is coordinated with the Image Queue list.  The image listed at the top of the queue will be found in the top row of the resulting display.  It may not be the first image, since the thumbnail screen works in sets of 5.


ASP Ombudsman Statement

This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536


Dynamic Thumbnailing

WWSaver32 creates a small thumbnail image for each of the files in a queue.  Because it takes time to read a file and make the small thumbnail, the program waits until the file is being read for another purpose and then makes the thumbnail and stores it in the ..QU2 database file.

There are three circumstances when a thumbnail will be created: When the image is used by the screen saver; when the thumbnail screen is invoked (see ThumbNail Display); and when the image Properties frame is shown by clicking a single filename in the queue list.

If an image is changed by editing, the program will detect that a change has occurred and rebuild the thumbnail when one of the three circumstances next occurs


Speed vs. File Size

There is a tradeoff between program speed and the amount of compression used on images.  Uncompressed .BMP files will display far more rapidly than the most compressed .GIF or PNG files, with .PCX between for both speed and compression.  .TIF and .TGA are normally used for pictures containing 32,000 or more colors; neither offers significant compression over .BMP, and both are slower.  For 24-bit (16-million color) images, WWSaver32 can use .JPG format, which offers great compression, but is very slow and will cause some loss of image quality.

Note for users of compressed disk programs (Stacker, DOS 6 DoubleSpace, etc):  There is no space advantage to using compressed file formats with compressed drives (other than JPEG - see File Formats). You will lose the speed without gaining space, since your compression program cannot further compress a .GIF file.

If you have chosen an image file with more colors than your display can show there will be additional delay while the program changes the color depth.

For more information about the pros and cons of the file types, see File Formats.


Display Order

The Display Order option in the Image Display menu or on the toolbar allows you to choose Random or Sequential display.  Random display will cycle through the list of images in no apparent order.  Sequential will display them in the order in which they are added to the Image Queue.  When changing from random to sequential, the display will continue from the currently displayed image.  Sequential order is good for slide show effects.  When Sequential is chosen there will be a “Start with first image” item in the Image Display menu.  If this is checked, the screen saver will always start with the first image in the queue, otherwise it continues from where the last screen saver session ended.


Up and Down Buttons

Use these buttons to organize the files in a queue in a desired order (for sequential display, or simply to manage the files better).  The buttons will only be visible when one or more files are selected in the queue.  If several non-contiguous files are selected and an up or down arrow is repeatedly clicked or held down, the files will maintain their separation until reaching the top or bottom of the list, at which point they will bunch together until all are contiguous at the beginning or end.


List Details

This option in the File menu has two options, File Name Only and Full Path and File Name.  File Name Only will remove drive and path information, while Full Path will include all directory/subdirectory information for each file.  In the latter case, the file name may be scrolled off to the right of the queue, making the entries difficult to read.


Add Button

The "Add" Button is used to add a new image to the Image Queue.  Pressing this button is the same as choosing "Add Image File" from the File menu; the keyboard shortcut is CTRL-A.  Pressing this button will cause a dialog box to appear for browsing through drives and directories looking for bitmap files which can be selected for addition to the queue.  Files can have ,BMP, .RLE, .GIF, .PNG, .PCX, .TIF, .ICO, .TGA, or .JPG extensions.  You may use the tiling option buttons to turn tiling on or off for the added files - the default will be the queue default for tiling.  You may change the tiling for a file or files later by selecting in the queue list and changing the Properties. The image will be positioned according to the setting of the default origin point.

You may add an image to the queue more than once to increase its display frequency.


Queue Menu Options
Queue File Menu Options

WWSaver32 allows multiple configuration file called "queues," which are maintained in files with a QU2 extension.  Image files may appear in many different queues.  When a queue is loaded, its name will appear in the status line above the WWSaver32 queue file list.  Clicking on this name will pop up a list of all .QU2 files that are in the same directory, for immediate change.

There are five menu options in the File menu for use with queues: "Start New Queue File," "Change Queue File," “Clear Queue File,” "Save Queue File As” and “Delete Queue File.”  The Change Queue File option may be used to change to queues that are not located in the same directory as the current queue.

Each image file will use about 5K of disk space in the .QU2 file.  If you delete an image this space is not recovered, although it does get used when a new file is added (before any more space is used at the end of the file).  Using the Clear Queue File option will remove all of the file information and reduce the .QU2 file size to a minimum.  Use this option when you want to start over adding a new list of files.  Delete Queue File means to remove the .QU2 file from your hard drive.  Both commands will prompt for confirmation, and the latter command will follow with a dialog to select a new queue.  If that operation is canceled, the queue will become “Untitled.”  If an “Untitled” queue actually exists in your WWSaver32 directory it will become the active queue.

Save Queue File As will make a new copy of the existing .QU2 file under a new name which you select.  It will not delete the previous named queue file.  If you are using the function to rename a queue you should change back to the previous queue and delete it, or delete it using Explorer functions.


Delete Button
Deleting Images

The "Delete Image File" option in the File Menu will be disabled (grayed) unless an entry has been selected in the Image Queue.  The keyboard shortcut is CTRL-D, or the Delete key..  If a selection has been made, that image will be deleted.

The program will offer two choices: delete from queue only or from the queue and your hard drive.  The latter will delete the file, while the default action to remove from queue only will still leave the file in its folder.

Multiple file selections are allowed in the queue list.  The chosen action (Delete from queue only, or Delete from hard drive) will be performed on all selected files.


Image Queue
The Image Queue

The "Image Queue" is a list of bitmaps that you wish to use as screen saver images.  You can show all of the images in the queue in "Thumbnail" form by choosing View Image Thumbnails from the Images menu.  You can add any appropriate bitmap image to the list via the Add Button.  You can make a specific image occur more often by adding it to the queue more than once.  You may also add images to the queue by means of “ Drag and Drop” from Explorer.

The maximum number of files which may be in a queue is 6000.  Queue performance deteriorates, particularly load time, with the size of the queue.  Most queues will perform best if they have 1000 or fewer images in them.

A small icon appears to the left of each queue entry.  This icon is a visual indicator of the files resize status.  When a file is first placed in the queue, the icon will be a question mark, meaning that until the image has been accessed its resizing is unknown.  Once the image has been accessed, the icon will be one of three:  A blank square, which means the image does not resize, a four-headed green arrow, meaning it does resize, or a dark blue cross-hatch, meaning the image is tiled (doesn’t resize when tiled), or a dark green cross-hatch, which means resized AND tiled.  The image’s Properties dialog provides detail on how an image will be resized.

For the following actions you must first select an image in the queue.  This means that you must click once on a file name, then perform the action:

Delete

Resize Image

Position Image

Use Sound with Image

Tiling on/off

All of these options except position will work on multiple files at once, if they are selected.  The queue list is an “Extended Selection” list box; holding the shift key down while clicking another will select all that are in-between; holding the control key down will allow selecting multiple individual files.

Selections may also be made using the keyboard up and down arrows, holding the shift key down to make continuous selection or holding the control key down and using the space bar for selection.


Centered/Tiled Option
Tiling on/off Option

Images may be displayed either Tiled, or not.  The Tiling Off option means that the image will be shown once at the origin point (see Adjusting image placement on screen).  With Tiling on, an image that is smaller than the screen size will be shown in multiple images to fill the entire screen.  The condition of this setting when a new image is added to the queue will determine the initial setting for that image.

To change an image’s setting, select it in the queue and then change the switch, either in the Properties frame or via the Image Display menu.  You may choose multiple images in the queue and apply a setting to all of them at once.

If you have Resizing enabled, tiling will not override it.  If the image is resized to full screen or larger, the tiling will not be apparent.


Registration

Don Bradner

Arcata Pet

600 F Street

Arcata,CA 95521-6301

WWSaver32 copyright ©1992-1997 by Don Bradner.  WWSaver32 is Shareware.  Click here to print a Registration Form and send it with $29.95 to the author at the above address.  California residents please add $2.17 for state sales tax, and Non-US users please add $3.00 for Air Mail service. See Author Support for information on contacting the author

CompuServe members may register on-line.  Go SWREG, the program registration number is 13356.

Internet users may order online at www.arcatapet.com.  This order goes directly to the author and is processed quickly.  Fully secure ordering is offered, as well as plain text if your browser does not support security.  All major credit cards accepted.

Regardless of the method of registration, you will receive a copy of the most recent version of WWSaver32 and a registration key that will eliminate the startup screen. This registration key will work for all future versions of WWSaver32 as well.  See Upgrading to new versions.  If you have the latest version you may choose to have a registration key sent by e-mail.

Other goodies: you may include 2 photos or slides of your own for free scanning.  The photos will be returned along with JPG scans for your use.  WWSaver32 is “cross-registered” with WWPlus32, a complete wallpaper utility that shares QU2 files with WWSaver32.  This means that registered users of either program are automatically registered for the other, and may use their key files with both programs.

Commercial use:  WWSaver32 may be used commercially, as long as there is a registered copy for each computer/terminal that is using it.  Site licensing programs are also available.


Author Support

The author is very interested in supporting registered users of this program, and reasonable support is also available to unregistered users with problems.  Feel free to contact him in any of the following ways:

Mail:

Don Bradner

Arcata Pet

600 F Street

Arcata, CA 95521-6301

Phone: (707) 822-6417.  This phone is normally answered by the author, or by a machine if the author is not available.  Calls will be returned in the US - leave your name/number and best times to call..

Compuserve: 76130,1007

Internet mail: dbirdman@arcatapet.com

Home Page: http://www.arcatapet.com


Load File dialog box

The Load file dialog is shown when the Add button is clicked.  You may browse through your directories to find any image file which WWSaver32 recognizes.  A handy preview function is included.  Select a file and click the Preview button.  A small "thumbnail" version of the file will appear in the box above the button.  When you have found an image that you wish to load, click OK.  To exit the dialog without making a selection, click Cancel.

Multiple file selection is allowed.  If the files are not contiguous in the directory, hold down the CTRL key while clicking each file.  To select a large number at once, click the first one and then scroll to the last one; hold down the Shift key and click the last one.  The maximum number of files which may be in a queue is 6000.  Queue performance deteriorates, particularly load time, with the size of the queue.  Most queues will perform best if they have 500 or fewer images in them.


File Menu

The File menu contains items for adding and deleting files from the queue.  It also contains items for creating and deleting queue files themselves, as well as items which control the display of the files in the queue.

Menu items include:

Add Image File

Edit Image File

ReLink Image File

View Image Thumbnails

Delete Image File

List Details

Start New Queue File

ChangeQueueFile

Clear Queue File

Save Queue File As

Delete Queue File

Temporary Wallpaper Folder


Preferences
Image Display Menu

This menu contains items that affect the way WWSaver32 works.  It allows you to change a number of defaults to customize the program to your own liking.  Click any of the topics below to get information on that topic.

Default Resize Options

Resize Selected Images

Default Sound

Sounds for Selected Images

Display Order

Start With First Image

Set Default Position

Position Selected Image

Tiling

Correct Screen Gamma


Set Default Origins
Set Default Position

This item in the Image Display menu sets the default location for each newly added image.  You may change the individual setting later - see Adjusting image placement on screen


Start With First Image

This item in the Image Display menu determines whether a sequential display is always started with the first image in the queue.  When it is not checked, the first image displayed at screen saver activation will be the next in order following the last one displayed in a previous session.  This option has no effect when Random Display is selected.


Help Menu

The Help Menu provides two options: Help topics, which displays the helpfile dialog; and About, which provides current version information for WWSaver32.  The help icon (question mark) is the same thing as Help Topics.


File Formats

Information on the file formats supported by WWSaver32:

.BMP and .RLE

Files with .BMP extensions are bitmapped images created by tools like Windows Paintbrush.  .BMP is the native format for Windows wallpaper.  There are a few .BMP files distributed with Windows specifically for use as wallpaper.

This is the fastest format available, but requires the most disk space.  It does not require any conversion or decompression by WWSaver32, so the only time required to display a new image is the time it takes to read the image from the disk.  Excellent for small images that are "tiled" (displayed as multiple images to cover the desktop space).  This format is usable for all color levels from 16 to 16-million.  .RLE is a compressed form of .BMP.

.GIF

The Compuserve Graphics Interchange Format, pronounced "Jiff," offers great compression of images up to 256 colors without loss of quality.  It is not usable for images with more colors.  This format is generally the best choice when disk space is limited and the image has no more than 256 colors.  There is a noticeable delay while WWSaver32 decompresses the image for display, although the faster the computer the shorter the delay.  The .GIF format contains compression technology that is patented by the Unisys corporation, and as of 1/1/95 became liable for royalty  payments by software developers.  See the full statement in the README.TXT file.

.ICO

These are Windows icon files, 32x32 pixels and 16 colors.  You may use these as tiled images with WWSaver32.

.JPG

Files with .JPG extensions are "JPEG" compressed.  JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Committee.  This format is most suitable for 24-bit (16-million color) images.  It is "lossy," which means that the compression involves some loss of quality.  The resulting file size is quite small, but takes a long time to decompress and display. JPEG is particularly unsuited for images with large areas of solid colors and sharp edges.

JPEG does a very good job of compression, and with most pictures the resulting image is comparable to the original.

There are many non-standard forms of JPEG.  WWSaver32 should read any JPEG image conforming to the JFIF standard, but may not be able to read images produced by non-standard programs.  An example would be GIF2JPG, which can produce a proprietary JPEG file called HSI.  Older versions of the program did this by default; newer versions produce JFIF compatible files by default.

.PCX

.PCX is a format developed by the Z-Soft corporation for their line of PC Paintbrush programs.  Windows Paintbrush is also able to read and save this format.  It provides some compression for images with color levels up to 256 when compared to ,BMP files, but not as much as a ,GIF.  There is less noticeable delay when using .PCX than with .GIF. The .PCX format can use color levels up to 16 million, but file size actually increases when 24-bit files are used.

.TIF and .TGA

.TIF is the extension used with Tagged Information File Format (TIFF) files  .TGA is called "Targa."  Both are primarily formats for storing 24-bit (true-color) 16-million color images and gray-scale images in desktop publishing.  WWSaver32 can read the formats, but there is no space advantage and they will load slower than .BMP.  Tiff files may contain more than one picture.  If that is the case, WWSaver32 will only read the first image. .TIF is usable for all color levels, 16 to 16-million, while .TGA is usable from 256 to 16-million.

.PNG

.PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a new format designed as a successor to .GIF.  Unlike .GIF, it is not burdened by LZW-compression licensing requirements.  It also takes advantage of newer compression techniques to make a file size generally smaller than .GIF at 256-colors.  Unlike .GIF, the format may also be used to produce loss-less 16-million color images.  These images will be far larger than .JPG images, but will be somewhat smaller than .BMP, .PCX, .TGA and .TIF uncompressed images and are lossless.


Editing Images

The author of WWSaver32 also produces a 32-bit graphics viewer/editor/printer called ImgViewer/32.  When ImgViewer/32 is installed, WWSaver32 will recognize it and add a File Menu item for easy access to the editor.  When a file is highlighted, that file will automatically be loaded into the editor as it is opened.  You can use the editor to convert file formats, or to alter the brightness/contrast/gamma; cropping is also available.

ImgViewer/32 can be found in most on-line sites where WWSaver32 is found.  Like WWSaver32, it is uncrippled shareware.


The Author


Bitmaps

A bitmap is an image stored as a pattern of dots.  These images can be stored in a number of graphics formats..  With WWSaver32, you may use .GIF, .PCX, .BMP, RLE, ICO, TIF, .TGA, .PNG, and .JPG.

Where to get bitmaps

Several .BMP files are included with Windows for use as wallpaper.  Additionally, you can draw your own bitmaps with Windows Paintbrush.  If you have a scanner, you can scan images and store them as bitmaps.  Many computer stores and printing businesses offer custom scanning to order.  On-line services have thousands of files which can be used as screen savers.  Most of these files will be in .GIF or JPG format.

If desired, the author of WWSaver32 will provide two free scans when registering the program.   See the Registration Form for more details.

A number photos are available from the author's internet home page: http://www.arcatapet.com


Files
Files and Uninstalling

When WWSaver32 is installed, a program (UNINSTAL.EXE) and a data file (INSTALL.LOG) are placed in the WWSaver32 directory.  The following information is provided to aid in removing the program in case those files are lost or damaged.

Files distributed with WWSaver32

WWSETUP.EXE This file contains all of the program files.  Running it will install all of the files where they belong, and will also produce a record and program that can be used to uninstall this package.

README.TXT a text file that explains the program.  It is placed outside the main install program so that it is readable before the program is installed.

VENDINFO.DIZ, FILEID.DIZ Information files for shareware distributors and online services.  These explain distribution rights and allowable methods.

Files installed by WWSaver32

Main Program directory files

WWSAVER32.HLP, WWSAVER32.CNT, README.TXT, UNINSTAL.EXE, INSTALL.LOG, GAMMA.PCX.

Windows\System directory files

COMCTL32.OCX, COMCAT.DLL, IK32.OCX, MFC40.DLL, MSVCRT40.DLL, MSVCRT.DLL, MSVCIRT.DLL, WININET.DLL, OLEPRO32.DLL, OLEAUT32.DLL, MSVBVM50.DLL, WWPLIB32.DLL, WWSAVER32.SCR.

Registered users will have one additional file: WWP_REG.KEY.  This file must be in your WWSaver32 directory, and will keep all shareware screens from appearing.  If you upgrade to a new version of WWSaver32, do not delete this file - it will work with all future versions.

Files created by WWSaver32

WWSaver32.BMP  This is a "temporary" file that WWSaver32 uses to translate non-standard images so that they can be used by Windows as wallpaper.  It is created whenever the option to use the last screen saver image as wallpaper is selected.  By default it is located in the directory identified in your TEMP variable, but you may change this default using the Temporary Files Folder item in the File menu.  NT Note the Temp variable is not available to a screen saver, so the WWSaver32 directory will be the default instead.

*.QU2 These are queue files used to store information about images in a queue.  They do not have to be in any particular directory, but the default is your WWSaver32 directory.

Uninstalling WWSaver32

If the UNINSTAL.EXE program and INSTALL.LOG file have been left intact in the WWSaver32 directory, running that program will remove all files that were installed with WWSaver32.  If the UNINSTAL program has been removed, use the file list above to determine which files to remove.


Distribution

WWSaver32 is shareware and may be freely distributed as long as all of the files are included and no fee is charged beyond a reasonable fee for distribution.  Registered users note:  Do not distribute your WWP_REG.KEY file.

All rights are reserved by the author (see Registration).


Troubleshooting

If your difficulties are related to slow operations with specific images, see Speed vs. File Size

The time it takes to load and display the configuration dialog is related to the number of files in the queue.  On very fast computers large queues may be acceptable, while users of slower computers may choose to have multiple smaller queues.  The program’s maximum number of images per queue is 6000.  See also Tip: Speeding configuration dialog loading and Tip: Quick access to the configuration dialog.

Other difficulties running the program may be associated with a missing file, or a file that needs to be in the Windows or Windows\System directory but isn't.  See Files for details.

If you have an image that WWSaver32 will not display, it may be in a format that cannot be used.  There are some variations of .GIF and .PCX that are known to make problems for WWSaver32.  There are many non-standard versions of JPEG that will cause problems.  If you can load them into another image editing program you may be able to save it in a usable format.

WWSaver32 expects image file names to match their formats.  If you have a .BMP image but give it a .GIF name, the program will not be able to read it.

If you move the program files to a different directory you should re-run the setup.


Saving Disk Space
Adjusting image placement on screen

Changing the image's location

WWSaver32 contains options which allow you to change the position of non-tiled images by setting the image origin (upper left corner position).  Combining this option with the option to confine an image to a specific size (see Resizing Images) allows many different looks to be achieved.

Setting the image origin

For all of the following, remember that a setting of 0 (zero) for X or Y coordinates will center an image on that axis.  You cannot set the upper left corner of an image to 0,0; use 1,0 or 0,1 instead.

First, select a default origin.  Click the Image Display menu on the configuration screen,  and then click Set Default Position, or click either the X or Y position in the frame when it is showing the Queue Defaults.  A dialog box will prompt you for settings and take care of the details.

To select a specific origin for an image there are two options: dragging the image into position, or changing the settings. In either case, first select the file in the Image Queue. To drag the image into position, choose Position Image in the Image Display menu or click the “…” button next to the word “Position” in the Properties frame.  The program screen will be replaced by the image, which you may move by pressing and holding down your left mouse button.  When you have the image positioned where you want it, release the mouse button.  Double-click on the image or press the Enter key to "fix" the placement.  Press the escape key to exit without setting a new position.  Alternatively, you may position the image in the properties frame.. You may click either the X or Y coordinate boxes and use the resulting dialog to enter the numbers directly.  If either of the coordinates end up being zero, the dialog will read "centered" to remind you that it is not a true zero.


Registration Form
WWSaver32 Version 3.21

Order Form

To Print this form, use the Print button, above.

To edit in WordPad or a word processor, use the Options button and copy this form to the clipboard, then paste it into the word processor of your choice.  Edit and then print.

Price is US$29.95, including postage within the US.

With a credit card you may order toll-free in North America: (800) 822-9085

Outside of North America, or for technical support, please call: (707) 822-6417

FAX orders accepted at (707) 822-6570

You may order OnLine at www.arcatapet.com if you wish (Secure).

By mail, with check, credit card, or money order in US Dollars to:

Don Bradner/Arcata Pet

600 F Street

Arcata, CA 95521-6301

Compuserve members may order on-line:  GO SWREG, program number is 13356.

Number of copies desired ____x 29.95 =            	$___________

California residents add $2.17/copy sales tax       	____________

Non-US add $3.00/copy for air mail                           ____________

       Total	____________

Check here to have registration key e-mailed.  With this option, no disks will be sent,  and no non-US air mail fees need be paid.  You must include a valid, readable e-mail address, below, and your e-mail software must be able to decode a binary attachment.  Otherwise, software will be sent on 1.44 meg 3-1/2 inch disks.

Your Name:                 	___________________________________________________

Mailing Address:      	___________________________________________________

City/State/ZIP/Country: __________________________________________________

Daytime phone number (______)_________________ E-Mail address, if any ___________

If paying with a credit card: Card type  VISA    MasterCard   AMEX    Discover

       Card Number:  ________________________________ Expiration Date: ________

       Signature to authorize charge: ________________________________________

(optional) Where did you get WWSaver32?

 BBS or other on-line service. .  Which one? ______________________

 Software/Shareware Service/CD_ROM.  Which one? ______________________

 Internet.  What site? __________________________________________

 Friend     Other _________________________________________

You are welcome to include 2 prints or slides for free scanning if you would like.  Originals will be returned with your disk.  Please Specify the resolution desired (Maximum Horizontal/Vertical):

 __640x480  __800x600  __1024x768  __Other:_________

If none marked, image will fit 640x480.  image will be a 24-bit JPEG

Comments to the author are welcome.  Tell me what you like, or would like changed or added.

Thank you for ordering!


What Is Shareware?

Shareware distribution means “try before you buy.”  If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, the author expects to be compensated for his efforts to produce the program.  Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period.  With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed material.  With WWSaver32, you get the latest version plus a registration key that disables the startup shareware message.

Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality.  (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!)  Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, with the copyright holder retaining all rights, with the exception that the shareware author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group, while copying of commercial software is generally prohibited.

Because the overhead is low, prices are low also.  Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it.


Queue Title

The Queue Title is the file name for the queue currently in use.  See Changing Queues for general information on this topic.


Screen Saver Configuration Dialog

The Screen Saver Configuration dialog is accessed from the Display Properties dialog, either from Control Panel in My Computer, or by right-clicking an open area of the desktop and choosing Properties.

There are four pages in the lower half of the dialog.  WWSaver32 remembers the page most recently used, and will open to that page.

Page 1, Images:

On this page you will find the images which are going to be used by WWSaver32.  For specific information, look at these topics:

Image Display Menu

File Menu

The Image Queue

Page 2, Entry Options:

Timer  - Turn the image-change timer on/off and set the time between image changes.  Range of values is 1-6000 seconds, default is 20 seconds.

Background color - Choose your regular desktop color (default) or black.  This area will surround any image that is less than full screen size.

Startup Image - Choose none, next image (default), or current wallpaper (default).  When none is selected, the screen will blank to a solid color, as selected under Background Color above.  With the other two the image will transition from a view of the current screen into either the next or current wallpaper.  When current wallpaper is chosen and there is no current wallpaper, a static image of the current desktop will be displayed until the Timer interval has passed.

Stop Changing After  This option will be primarily of interest to users with Energy Saver Monitors who have Shut Off Monitor enabled in the Control Panel.  When the monitor is shut off there is no reason for WWSaver32 to keep accessing the disk, and it can also be annoying if sound options are enabled to have the sounds continue.  Choose a setting slightly longer than the Shut Off Monitor period, so the screen saver will stop changing images soon after the monitor goes dark.

Page 3, Exit Options:

Mouse movement required to exit - Determines the amount of travel required to terminate the screen saver.  Movement is stored up, so a series of small moves will result in termination.  This storage is reset whenever the image changes.  The default is moderately sensitive.

Make wallpaper from last screen saver image - checking this box will cause the last-used screen saver image to become your wallpaper.

Page 4, Effects

Note: Transition effects are video intensive.  They may not work properly with slow video cards or with bad video drivers.  It is a good idea to check with your video card vendor routinely to keep up with changes in video drivers.

Effects - There are 15 available screen saver change effects.  When none are selected, the next image is displayed immediately when the change interval has been reached.  The effects cause the image change to be gradual, producing a more dynamic appearance.  More than one effect may be chosen, in which case WWSaver32 will randomly select an effect from among those choices at each change interval.  All effects are enabled by default.

Use Common Palette - This option is only available when the system uses a 256-color display.  Use of a common palette will avoid annoying palette shifts between images, but many images will not look as good as they do when they have their own palettes.  Experiment to determine your preference.  This option has no meaning when there are no effects chosen.

Animate Preview Windows controls whether an instance of WWSaver32 is running in the preview window of this dialog and the Display Properties dialog.  If the box is unchecked, the small image will change once, and then stop.  If it is checked, the small image will continue to process files, with changes in the configuration being reflected at the next image change.  The default is on (checked), and the primary reason for unchecking it would be on slower computers where the animation may impair responsiveness while making configuration changes.  In either case, the miniature screen saver display is replaced by a specific image when one is selected in the queue list.


Drag and Drop

WWSaver32 supports Drag and Drop of files to the queue.  The configuration dialog must be running when this is done.  Select image files in Explorer and drag them by holding the left mouse button down until you are over the WWSaver32 window.  Release the mouse button, and the files will be added to the queue.  If you drop files that do not have extensions recognized by WWSaver32, those will be ignored without harm.


Resize Image to fit screen
Resize Images

There are two Image Display menu items which allow great flexibility in the resizing of images.  The first menu item establishes queue defaults, while the second menu item is only available when an image or images are selected in the queue; they provide an override for the defaults.  They are also the same as using the Resizing Change button in the Properties frame.

The queue resize menu item allows separate options for images larger or smaller than a threshold level.  If either vertical or horizontal dimension is less than the threshold, the smaller option will be in effect.  You can specify that images will be resized to full screen or to an alternative size.  Alternative sizes allowed range from a minimum of 32x32 (icon sized) to a maximum of twice the current screen size.

You may also choose to have the image's aspect ratio maintained (Proportional) or have the image stretched to occupy the full area chosen (Stretch).

After selecting an image or images in the queue you may use the Resize Selected Images menu item, or the Resize button in the Properties frame, to choose something other than the default for those images.

To keep images confined to a specific area of the screen, first use this option to specify the maximum image size.  Then use the position options to set the position of the image.  See the information on setting origin points.

Using the Resize option will slightly increase the time it takes to display screen saver images, with faster computers being least affected.


Correct Screen Gamma

This option, available from the Image Display menu, allows all displayed images to be automatically adjusted for gamma, or midtone.  When this option is selected, a dialog will be displayed which contains an adjustment “target,” along with a slider bar to adjust the gamma level.  For the target to show up, there must be a file called gamma.pcx (included with WWSaver32) in your WWSAVER32 directory.  This target contains an area of neutral gray surrounded by an area of alternating black and white pixels.  Slide the bar until the center area appears to be the same shade as the surrounding area, then click OK.  Displayed images will now be gamma corrected before display as screen savers.  If, after observing the results you feel that the images are under or over-corrected, reopen the dialog (unselect the menu item, and then re-select it) and make a small adjustment.  Smaller numbers will result in darker images.


NT and WWSaver32

WWSaver32 is generally compatible with Windows NT.  The exit option to have the last screen saver image become the wallpaper may not work every time, particularly if the screen saver is interrupted by pressing CTL-ALT-DEL.  This can result in the screen saver abruptly terminating and not having a chance to set the wallpaper.  Due to a bug in NT version 3.51 it will probably not ever become the wallpaper, but that is fixed in NT 4.  The .BMP file used for this will not be in the Temp directory, because that variable is not available to NT screen savers.  The file will be located in the WWSaver32 program directory (Overridable by the Temporary Files Folder item in the Files menu).

The program directory is stored in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and is available to all users.  Queue and other configuration information is stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USER and is user-specific.

If password protection is enabled, you will get NT's “Locked Desktop” message, requiring CTL-ALT-DEL and your normal logon password to regain the desktop.


Using Sounds

Sound files, in .WAV format, may be used at the time of image changes.  Two configuration items control this option.  Default Sound, in the Image Display menu, or the Sound Change button in the queue default Properties frame, controls a global choice for sound usage, while the global default may be overridden by choosing Sounds for Selected Images in the Image Display or the Sound Change button in the Properties frame for an image or selected group of images.


The Image Properties Frame

One of the simplest ways to change the way an image is displayed is through the image’s properties frame.  To see the frame, click an image name in the queue..  The Properties frame will change from the Queue Default to the specific image properties, with a thumbnail of the image taking the place of the normal mini-screensaver display.  From this frame it is easy to set options for resizing, tiling, position, and sound.


Tip: Speeding configuration dialog loading

The biggest slowdown when loading the configuration screen is the loading of the files into the queue.  This is particularly slow with large queues.  If you are not working with specific images in the queue you do not need to load the queue, and the configuration dialog will display faster.  The dialog “remembers” which tab was selected and returns to that tab at next load.  If the tab is not the Images tab, the queue will not be loaded.  The queue will still load when the Images tab is selected.  So, before closing the dialog, select one of the other three tabs.


Tip: Quick access to the configuration dialog

When you are building and setting the properties of a queue you may want to frequently access the configuration dialog.  Opening the Display Properties, selecting the screen saver dialog, then Settings, is a time-consuming process.  To get quick, one-step access to the dialog, make a shortcut to WWSaver32 on the desktop.  Open your Windows\System directory in Explorer and locate the file WWSAVER32.SCR.  Press the right mouse button and drag the file to the desktop.  Release the mouse, and choose “Create Shortcut(s) Here” from the popup menu.  Now you can get to the configuration dialog by right-clicking the shortcut and choosing “Configure.”  Other options from this menu include Test and Install.  The latter brings up the Display Properties Dialog with WWSaver32 selected as the screen saver.


Tip: Changing image brightness

Computer monitors do not show images with consistent brightness.  If you find that images are always too dark, or always too bright, you can adjust the midtones up or down by using the Correct Screen Gamma option.


ReLinking Files

When files are moved to new directories, their “link” to WWSaver32 will be broken.  Any attempt to use the file from the queue will result in an error, as the program will not be able to find the file.  In this case, select all affected files in the queue, and then choose “ReLink Image File” from the File Menu.  You will see a dialog that prompts you to browse for the proper directory.  After you have chosen a directory, the queue will be updated to reflect this new location for the files.  If you accidentally choose an incorrect directory it will not hurt anything, but the files will continue to produce a “File not found” error.


Upgrading to new versions

New versions of WWSaver32 appear regularly.  Users provide good ideas for new features, and old features are always being improved.  When a new version is released, it is uploaded to at least the following locations:

CompuServe: Numerous forums, including WINSHARE, WINAV, GRAPHSUP, PHOTOFORUM and EFORUM.  File name is WWSV32.ZIP

internet:

Jumps to the WWSaver32 files are available from the WWSaver32 home page:

http://www.arcatapet.com /WWSaver32.html

Registered users are not required to re-register the program or pay any additional fees to upgrade.  Future versions will use the same registration key as the current version.  Registered users without access to one of the above sites may request disk copies from the author for a fee of $5 ($8 for non-US).

Registrants will always receive the most current version.

If you are pleased with WWSaver32, you may also be interested in other programs by the same author:

WWPlus32 is a wallpaper manager/changer that uses the same queues as WWSaver32.  WWPlus32 and WWSaver32 are “cross-registered” programs; registrants for either program are also registered for the other.  It can be downloaded from http://www.arcatapet.com/wwplus32.html.  After installing, registered users should copy the registration key file from the WWSaver32 folder to the WWPlus32 folder to make the registration effective.

ImgViewer/32 is a graphics viewing/editing/printing program that is a great companion for WWSaver32.  When WWSaver32 finds ImgViewer/32 present it will enable editing functions for images selected in a queue.  It works great when associated with file types, which you can do from within the program.  You can find ImgViewer/32 in the same places where WWSaver32 is found, usually with a file name beginning with IV32 or IMGV32.  On the author's site it will be found at http://www.arcatapet.com/imgv32.html.