Copyright: 1995-1996, Lucie Dorais


Contents

Conversion

How to Convert

BMP to ICO

Transparent Color for the Icon

Crop a BMP to Icon size

Shrink the Crop...

ICO to BMP

Background Color for the Bitmap

Screen Elements

Image Menu

Options Menu

File Lists

File Buttons

View All

File

Browse Directories

Icon Touch Up Editor

How it works...

Tools

Edit menu

Shareware

Information


How to Convert

To Load (Open) an image:

Double-Click on its filename.  The image viewing area is at the upper left, with the name of the image, and the Conversion area at the upper right.

Buttons:

•  Zoom, always present, to see a blowup of the current image.

•  Edit, each time you Load an ICO image (see ICO to BMP)

•  16 col, each time you Load a 256-color BMP image (see BMP to ICO)

•  Sav, if the current image can be Saved back (see Image Menu).

Before you Convert:

•  BMP to ICO:  You may select a Transparent Color for the icon.

•   ICO to BMP:  If the Icon has a Transparent Color, which will become the Background Color for the bitmap, you may change it.

To Convert:

To Convert the current Image to the other format, Click on the Convert > button or press Alt-C. The new file will be saved in the current SAVE directory, usually the same one as the OPEN (see Browse Directories).

Suggested Target File Name:

This name, at the right of the image name, will be the same as that of the image, the target .ICO or .BMP extension being added automatically.  For example, the BMP version of ICOTEST.ICO will be saved as ICOTEST.BMP.

Some Target and Image names will be slightly different from the original file name, to indicate their status and to avoid overwriting valid pictures:

Original filename (truncated if longer than six characters), plus:

_C:  bitmap image Cropped from a BMP (Image name: [Crop'd])

_E:  icon image that has been Touched Up (Image name: [Edited])

_X:  icon image extracted from a mutl-format Icon or from an EXE or DLL file which contains only one icon (Image name: same)

Original filename (truncated if longer than four characters), plus:

_nnn:  icon image from a multi-icons EXE or DLL file (Image name: same; nnn: position of the icon in the file).

[Grab'd]: this image, taken from a Screen Grab, has no name yet...

To Change the Target File Name, Click on the text box which contains it, or press Alt-N. Make any change, then press <Enter> (or click anything outside the text box) to accept the change, or <Esc> to cancel it.

When the Conversion is done:

Both the ICO and BMP file names are highlighted in the file lists. If you have selected the AutoLoad Conversion Result Option , the new image is loaded into BMPTOICO. Otherwise, the Current image is unloaded, and the top portion of the form is reset to its starting state.


BMP to ICO

BMP Formats:

Only valid Windows BMPs can be loaded directly into BMPTOICO. If the BMP is larger than icon size, a new form will appear, with the BMP loaded full size. You can then Crop an Icon size picture out or it, or Shrink it, or part of it, to Icon size.

Some BMP bitmaps cannot be loaded into BMPTOICO because they are not accepted by Visual Basic 3.0, sorry.  That is the case if a bitmap...

... has more than 256 colors

... is bigger than 1MB

... is 16- or 32-bit

... is in the OS/2 format.

256-color bitmaps:  A red "256" will show at the right of the Image Name if a BMP has 256 colors. Saving a Crop from such a bitmap will preserve all its colors.  If your video mode is set to 16 colors, you will not see the colors properly, and Saving a Crop will use 16 colors only.

Converting to ICO:

Saving Format:  Windows 3.x   (32 x 32 x 16 colors)

Before Converting, you may select a Transparent Color for the Icon: BMPTOICO will suggest one, but you may change it.

The 16 col button:

Most of the colors in these bitmaps will not Convert well to the standard palette of 16 colors that Windows 3.x uses to Save ICO files.  The 16 col button, which appears each time you Load a 256-color BMP, will help you by decreasing the colors to the 16 standard ones, and only those, before you perform the conversion to ICO.  Depending on how far off your colors are from Windows' standard 16 color palette, the result can be very deceiving. On the other hand, if the colors in the BMP are all part of the Standard 16 palette, you will see no change when you click this button.


Transparent Color for the Icon

What it is...

With Windows icons, you may select a color to be transparent so that the Wallpaper will show through the icon's surroundings when the program is minimized in Windows 3.1 (see image below, Result); in Windows 95, the Transparency will work when you use the Icon to create a ShortCut to its application.

When you load a bitmap into BMPTOICO, it will try to set a  Default Tranparent Color, usually the color found most often in the four corners of the image, or grey if this color is not part of Windows' standard palette of 16 solids (or if it is Black, which can never be used as a Transparent color).

To Change it:

Click on a color in the palette at the upper right.  If you don't want any color in your Icon to become Transparent, select a color which is not present in your bitmap.

All the pixels that are of the selected color will be made transparent, so be careful if you click on a color which is already present in the image (BMPTOICO can check for you, if you select that Option).  You can Touch Up the resulting Icon later to make those pixels as Foreground color again.  Another solution to this problem is to edit the BMP file before loading it into BMPTOICO, coloring the area you wish to be transparent with a color that you don't use anywhere else:


Crop a BMP to Icon Size

If the BMP you wish to Load, or your Grab from Screen, is larger than Icon size, the  Crop form will automatically open, with the full BMP or Screen Grab in a View window at left, an Icon, a Zoom button,  four arrow buttons and a SHRINK button.  If the image is larger than the View window, there will be a vertical and/or an horizontal scroll.

NOTE:  if the image does not load properly into the Crop form the first time (palette problem: this may happen with fancy 256 color images), Click the Cancel button and try again.

Crop to Icon Size:

The Icon Cursor, a transparent rectangle with a black border, is positioned at the top left.  Its content shows in the small Icon at the right.

To move the Cursor pixel by pixel, Click on the Arrow buttons or Press the Arrow keys (a bit faster due to key Autorepeat). To move even faster, for distances further than the cursor's dimensions, Click the Cursor near its center, then Drag and Drop it where you want it. The Cursor always stays inside the view window:  use the Vertical and/or Horizontal scrolls to reach other areas of the BMP.

The Icon image is updated automatically as you move the Cursor:

The SHRINK function:

You can, at any time, Shrink an area or the whole image to Icon Size.  Click the SHRINK button to open that function.

Other available functions:

Buttons:

Zoom:  see a blowup of the Icon (you can also press Alt-Z).  If the image you are Cropping from is a fancy 256-color image, its palette might be disturbed when you return from the Zoom function.

Cancel: Cancel the Crop operation ( you can also press the <Esc> key).

File Menu:

Info:  Information about the big image.

Full View of the big image (disabled if the whole image fits into the View Window).

When you are happy with the Icon...

Click on the Load button. The small image will show in BMPtoICO's main form upon exit, ready to be Converted into an Icon.

Back in BMPTOICO's main form:

To remind you that the image is Cropped, the suggested ICO name will end with "_C", and the image name will change to [Crop'd].BMP.  If you Cropped from a Screen Grab, it will be named [Grab'd].BMP and the suggested ICO name will be empty. You may, at this point, Save the resulting image as a small BMP (see Image Menu).

If the original BMP has 256 colors, you can leave it as it is, or use the 16 col button to reduce its colors to 16 before Saving or Converting it to ICO.  Try both ways, as many colors don't convert well to 16 colors icons; it is a good idea to Save the Cropped or Shrunk image as BMP first, so you don't have to redo all the work!


Shrink the Crop...

If your image is small enough, you might want to Reduce it all to make your Icon. Or, you might want to use only an area of the image, but it is still bigger than Icon Size:  Click the SHRINK button in the Crop form, which will widen to show the Shrink controls.  Play with them, and watch the results in the Cropped Icon... The Resize Step scroll changes the resizing step of the cursor: start with  a high value, then switch to a lower one (miimum is 4 pixels) to refine your Shrink.  If your image is 256 colors and those colors are too far off the Windows standard palette, you will get mostly black pixels when you Shrink.

Shrink an area:

Click the << or the >> buttons to reduce or enlarge the Cursor. The area under it will be Shrunk to 32 x 32 pixels (or enlarged, if its dimensions are smaller than Icon Size: the Cursor dimensions are always displayed).

The Resize Step, in multiple of four increments, can be changed with the Scroll.  The smaller size the Cursor can be is Step x Step pixels (as small as 4 x 4), and it can never be larger than the View Window.

The Arrow buttons, Drag and Drop of the Cursor and the Scrolls remain active, as well as the Cancel and Load buttons.

Shrink All:

Click the Shrink All button to automatically reduce the whole image to 32 x 32 pixels.  If the original image is not a perfect square, there might be grey borders on two of the sides, which will be part of the Shrunk bitmap. If this is the case, the Color Palette will appear above the Shrink function: if you wish, Select  a more suitable Color for the borders.

If the image you are Cropping from is a fancy 256-color image, its palette might be disturbed when you Shrink All, but should be reset properly when you Exit the Shrink function.  If you don't like the result, Click the same button, now renamed Reset Shrink, to come back to the previous Shrink Area state.

If you like the Shrink result...

Click the Load button to send it back to BMPTOICO. If you don't, Click the No Shrink button to reset the Cropped Icon to Actual Icon Size.


ICO to BMP

ICO Formats:

Only valid Windows 3.x Icons, and some Windows 95 Icons,  can be Loaded into BMPTOICO.  You can also Extract Icons from EXE or DLL (and ICL) files (see File Lists), and Save the extracted Icon as a real Win 3.x ICO file (see Image Menu for Help on Save).

Windows 3.x Icons:

They always measure exactly 32 x 32 pixels and can have only the Windows Standard 16 colors; they show as a rectangle because pixels are not square.

Windows 95 Icons:

They can have up to six formats, and 256 colors, or can be 16-color bitmaps. BMPTOICO can work with a Win 95 ICO file if...

•  it has more than one format:  BMPTOICO will only Load the 32 x 32 format, if it is not empty.  You can, if you wish, Save the 3.x format icon to a separate ICO file;

•  it has 256 colors:  it really has only 20, and BMPTOICO will Load it correctly if your video mode can show 256 colors. You can Touch it up, using all colors,  but BMPTOICO can only re-Save it to a16-color ICO file, so be careful; Converting it to BMP, however, will preserve all its colors.  A red "256" will show at the right of the Image Name if the Icon has 256 colors;

•  it is really a 16-color bitmap:  BMPTOICO will Load it, but only allow you to Save it with a BMP extension (you be Convert it back later to a real Windows 3.x Icon).

OS/2 Icons:

They cannot be Loaded into BMPTOICO.

Converting to BMP:

Saving Format:  Windows, RGB, uncompressed, 16 or 256 colors.

Bitmaps are saved with a color definition for each pixel: all colors become foreground. If the Icon you are converting has a Transparent Background, you may change it before converting. If your Icon has more than 16 colors, the BMP will be saved with 256 colors.

The Edit button:

Clicking this button will open BMPTOICO'S Icon Touch Up Editor.


Background Color for the Bitmap

What it is...

If the loaded Icon has a Transparent Background, you will be able to see BMPTOICO's grey background through it.  When you save it as a BMP, this grey background will be saved as the grey color, not as Transparent, a concept that bitmaps ignore.

To Change it:

If you want a Background of a different color for your BMP, click a color in the palette at upper right to select it. If the icon does have a Transparent Color, you will see the change in the image.

No Transparent Background?

If you don't see a change when you click on a few of the colors, it is because your Icon does not have any Transparent pixel: if you want a different color for the Background, you may Touch Up the Icon before Converting it to BMP.


Image Menu

Except for Grab from Screen (256 color mode or less) and Exit, all items in this menu are enabled only if an image is Loaded.  The whole menu is disabled when you are Changing the Directory.

Info

Dimensions, number of colors, format, etc., of the loaded image or of the file it was Extracted, Cropped or Shrunk from. Date, Size, etc. of the file.

Unload

Unloads the current image and resets the top portion in its starting state. If the current image can be Saved, you will be asked if you want to do it before Unloading.

Edit Icon | Win 16 Colors

The menu item name changes if the loaded image is...

•	... an Icon: labeled Edit Icon, opens the Icon Touch Up Editor (same as the Edit button)

•	... a 256-color Bitmap: labeled Win 16 Colors, decreases the image's colors to Windows' standard palette; renamed Reset Colors to reverse the operation (same as the 16 col button; this item is disabled if the BMP has only 16 colors).

Save [ ] as...

This item is enabled only if the current image can be Saved; if it is, the Sav button will also appear at the right of the image. After the Save, the Image will be automatically re-loaded into BMPTOICO.

Images that may be Saved are:

•  [Crop'd] from a BMP, as a new bitmap; the suggested filename will end with "_C".

•  [Edited] Icon, as a new Icon; the suggested filename will end with "_E"; you can of course Save it back under the original name.

•  [Extr'd] Icon from an EXE or DLL file, as a Windows 3.x icon; the suggested filename will end with "_X".

•  [Win3.x] Icon from an Icon with that contains more than one format, as a Windows 3.x icon; the suggested filename will end with "_X".

•  [BMPicn] Icons that are 32 x 32 x 16 colors bitmaps with an ICO extension (Windows 95 can use them as Icons), as a 16-color bitmap; the suggested filename will be the same as the ICO file.

•  [Grab'd] from the Screen, as a new bitmap; the suggested filename will be empty.

Copy to ClipBoard

Send the current image to the ClipBoard.

Grab from Screen  (256 color mode or less only)

Opens the Screen Grabber with a snapshot bitmap of the current state of the screen (minus BMPTOICO, which will be automatically Minimized during the capture). If the current image can be Saved, you will be asked if you want to do it before Grabbing.  This item is available at any time.

When the Grabber is ready (wait for the upper left red label to show and the two quick beeps), use the Mouse to select a rough area around the image you wish to grab. You may change the Color palette from the 16 colors default, which is best to Grab Program Manager Icons, to 256.  If the red label in in your way, Click the Down Arrow button at its upper right to send it to the bottom of the screen.

When you Click the OK button, or press Alt+O, your Selected Area is sent back to BMPTOICO; if it is larger than 32x32 pixels, which is very likely,  the Crop to Icon Size form will open automatically.

You can also Cancel the Grab by clicking the Cancel button or pressing Alt+C.

Because BMPTOICO cannot deal with bitmaps that have more than 256 colors, this menu item is not available if your video mode is set to True or High Colors.

Exit

Ends BMPtoICO.  You can also Click the Exit button.

If the current image can be Saved, you will be asked if you want to do it before. Cancelling the Save will also Cancel the Exit.


Options Menu

These are Toggle Options:  a check mark appears at their left if they are set. Your options are saved in the BMPTOICO.INI file when you Exit the program, and reset the next time you use it (the INI file is created in your Windows directory the first time you use BMPTOICO) .

AutoLoad Conversion Result

If you select this option, the resulting ICO (converted from BMP) or the resulting BMP (converted from ICO) will be loaded back automatically into BMPTOICO, and you can get Info on it from the Image Menu.  If the result is an Icon, follow the instructions on screen to Test it on your desktop (Testing is not available if you are running Windows 95, since it does not recognize changing a program's Icon after the program has started).  The default is AutoLoad On.

Background Warning for BMP>ICO

You will be warned if the Background Transparent Color your are selecting in the Color palette is used in your image. The default is to warn the user.

 Win95 Small Icon in Zoom

Windows 95 uses at least two icon sizes: Normal (32x32 pixels) or Small (16x16 pixels).  If the ICO file does not contain a separate 16x16 icon, Windows 95 will use the Normal icon, reduced to half size.  You can get an idea of what your Windows 3.x Icon will look like in such a situation by selecting this option: the small icon will be shown each time you Click a Zoom button in BMPTOICO. The default is not to show the Small Icon.

Unfortunately, if the ICO you have loaded into BMPTOICO does contains a 16x16 icon (check the Info for the file in the Image menu), you cannot see it, as BMPTOICO does not know how to load it yet... (it is still a Windows 3.1 program after all).


File Lists

There are two file lists in BMPTOICO; they are always on screen so you can monitor your session at all times; they show all files in your OPEN directory that have the extensions specified by the File type Option at the right.

File Type Options:

•  Show all ICO and BMP files: they can be loaded directly if valid.

•  Show all EXE and DLL, ICL or NIL files: Icons can be extracted.

If the OPEN directory has only files of one type (ICO/BMP or EXE/DLL...), both Options will be disabled.

How to use the File Lists:

•   Click on a picture name to Highlight it (for the File button popup menu),

or

•   Double-Click on the name to Load the image into BMPTOICO. If the Image cannot be Loaded, the Icon will be a big X, and an explanation message will be displayed.  If an EXE or DLL file you try to Load from has no Icon, BMPTOICO will simply beep.

To Refresh a file list, click on it with the Right mouse button (useful if you have done some file management outside of BMPTOICO).


File Buttons

These buttons, which are at the lower right of BMPTOICO, work with the File Lists:

View All

View all ICOs and BMPs in the current working directory, then select an image to Load into BMPTOICO.  This button is disabled if your are working with EXE/DLL files, since its action is automatic for files that contain more than one Icon.

File

A PopUp menu that allows you to act on a file highlighted in a File List.  If you are working with EXE or DLL... files, this button is renamed "File Info", and it does not display a menu.

Browse Dir.

Change the current OPEN directory and, if it is on a read-only disk, the SAVE directory.


View All

When it opens...

When you Click on the View All button, or press Alt-V, you get another form which shows up to twelve ICO images on the left. If there are no ICO files in the current directory, the form will show up to twelve BMP images.  The total number of ICO or BMP images in the directory is indicated in the form's title bar.  Each image has its file name, dimensions and color number under it.

This form opens automatically if you double-click an EXE or DLL [ICL, NIL] file that contains more than one icon; the total number of icons in the file is indicated in the form's title bar, and BMPTOICO will create a name for each icon based on its position in the file (sorry, it cannot extract the icon names stored in ICL or NIL files).

Valid images:

Only Icons or Bitmaps that can be loaded into BMPTOICO can be Viewed (see valid formats in BMP to ICO and  ICO to BMP). If a Bitmap is larger than icon size, it will be shown reduced to icon size, in its true proportions.

Non-valid images are identified by a big X image, and some pertinent information will replace the dimensions on the second line.

Global functions:

•	Display another group of twelve pictures:  Click on the << or >> button.

•	Change the type of the pictures:  Click on the ICO or BMP Option at upper right; if there are none of one type in the directory, the corresponding Option will be disabled (the Options don't show if you are viewing Icons from an EXE or DLL file).

•	Cancel:  Click on the Cancel button or press Alt-C or the <Esc> key.

To Select an image...

Click on it or on its name: its text information will be colored white on blue.

Image functions:

•	Load the selected image into BMPTOICO's main form: Click on the Load button or press Alt-L; the button is disabled if the Selected image is not valid.

•	Zoom /  Full View:  Click on the button marked Zoom or Full; its caption changes according to the actual size of the Selected Image, and it is disabled if the Image is not valid.

•	File menu:  Its items are: Info, Delete and Rename (the last two are disabled if the OPEN directory is on a Write-Protected floppy or on a CD-ROM).


File

When you click this button, a PopUp menu appears. All Action items apply to the currently highlighted filename in one of the two File Lists.  If you don't select any item in the menu, Click anywhere outside the menu to make it disappear.

Note: Delete, Rename and Copy are disabled if the OPEN directory is on a Write-Protected floppy or on a CD-ROM.

Delete

Delete the highlithed file; you will be asked to confirm.

Rename

Rename the highlighted file.  You only need to enter the filename, the extension and path are automatically added by BMPtoICO.

Copy

Copy the highlighted file, with another name, to the Same directory.  Enter only the filename (see Rename above).

Info

Get complete information about the file on the disk: Width, Height and number of Colors of graphic files; if it is a multi-format ICO file, get the total number of formats. If the file is OS/2, it will say so. If the file is EXE or DLL (ICL/NIL), get the total number of icons in the file. You also get the size in bytes of the file, and the last date and time it was last saved; if the file is Read-Only, the message will say so.

Move > New dir

Copy > New dir

Move or Copy the highlighted file to another directory, with the same file name; after the action is performed, you will be asked if you want to move to the new directory.


Browse Directories

When you Click the Browse Dir. button, a Directory list appears over the File Buttons, a Close Dir. button and a Drive list below it.

BMPTOICO can work in only one OPEN directory at a time, and you can only SAVE to the same directory (unless your Open directory is read-only: see below). Your OPEN and SAVE directories are kept in the BMPTOICO.INI file, and will be used as defaults the next time you run the program.

How it works:

•	Select a valid Drive:  if it is read-only (Write-Protected floppy or CD-ROM), you will be asked to select a valid SAVE directory. In the case of a Write-Protected floppy, you can remove the Write Protection at this point and select your OPEN directory when you are asked for a valid directory.

•	Select a valid Directory: the ICO/BMP and EXE/DLL Options are still visible and can be changed at this time.  If the directory can be written to, your SAVE directory will be identified as "[same]".

•	Close: Click the Close Dir. button, or Load a file by Double-Clicking on its filename.  You cannot Close the Directory function if there are no files of the selected types (ICO/BMP or EXE/DLL...) in the selected directory.

Closing will Unload the currently loaded image if there is one.  If it can be Saved, you will be asked if you want to do it first (if you Cancel the Save, BMPTOICO will reset itself to your previous OPEN and SAVE directories).


Icon Touch Up Editor

What it does...

You can quickly Touch Up an existing Icon with a few Tools: Move, Draw, Fill, Line and Rectangles; you can also add Text to it.  If you prefer a full Icon Editor with all facilities, you are invited to try the full version, ICOEDIT.

To Open it...

Click the Edit button or press Alt-E , or select Edit Icon in the Image Menu (the button and menu item are not available if the loaded image is a BMP).

When the Editor opens, the enlarged Icon is magnified in the Editing area at the left, and displayed in actual size at the top right.

Default Background (Transparent, or Screen, or Eraser) Color:

If your current video mode is...

•  256 colors or more: a solid medium Grey

•  16 colors or less: same color as the Background Color currently selected in BMPTOICO's main form.

In both video modes:  If you Edit an Icon that already contains the Editor's default Background Color (medium grey can be used in 256 colors Icons),  you will be given the choice of another Background Color for the Editor when it opens.  Try to select one that is not present in the Icon (BMPTOICO checks for you), otherwise all Foreground pixels will be converted to Background ones as soon as you start using the Undo features.

Cursor Position:

You can always know where the cursor is and if a pixel is part of the Foreground or the Background as you move the mouse over the Editing Area.

To Select a Tool:

The Tool palette consists of six Tool buttons. Click on a button or select the item in the Tools menu.

To Select an Option:

•  Foreground: Select the Foregr. option, or Click one of the Foreground Colors; you can then use the Color palette.

•  Background: Select the Bckgr. option, Click the Background colors, or Click on the Eraser; there is only one Color available for the Background, see above.

These options are disabled when you are using the Move Tool.

To Select a Color:

Click on a color in the Color palette with the Left or the Right mouse button; you can thus use two colors at at time.  The Editor's palette is the same as in BMPTOICO's main form, and contains Windows's standard palette of 16 solids.

256-color Icons:  If you Touch Up such an Icon and your system can show at least 256 colors, the palette will have three more colors: very pale Cream, pale Blue and pale Green plus, if it is not used as the default Background Color (see above), medium Grey.

To Paint:

Painting is done in the Editing area at left; follow the simple instructions displayed at right.

To Erase:

There is no Eraser Tool in the Touch Up Editor, because Painting the Background will automatically erase any Foreground pixel: a small pencil eraser at the upper right of the BG option acts as a reminder.

To Undo:

There are three levels, all accessed via the Edit menu:

•  Undo / Redo Last:  reverses only the last operation.

•  Undo to Undo Icon:  undoes to the Icon at upper right; you can also Double-Click the Undo Icon itself.

•  Reload Original Icon: reloads the original Icon from BMPTOICO's main form.

When you are happy... or Not !

•	Click the Load button to send the edited Icon back to BMPTOICO's main form (to be Saved as an ICO and/or Converted to BMP). To reflect the change, the Image Name will become [Edited].ICO, and the Target Name will end with _E.

•	Or, Click the Cancel button to Cancel any editing and return to the original image in BMPTOICO.


ICOEDIT

Available in the Summer of 1996, also by MyCat Software, ICOEDIT is the full version of BMPTOICO's Touch Up Editor.  It has more Tools and functions:

•	Edit New Icons from scratch

•	Circle Tools

•	Cut/Copy, then Paste back a Selected area

•	Flip a Selected area

•	Flip, Rotate, Shift the whole Icon

•	Use any Font when you Add Text

•	Create your own colors for the Fill, Rectangle and Circle Tools

•	...and probably more! (it is not finished at time of this writing)


Editor: Tools

You can also select each Tool with the Tools menu.

Except for the Move Tool, which uses no Color and can be Undone only once (with no Redo possible), all Tools work with either the Foreground option (Color palette available) or the Background/Eraser one (default Color only); the last operation is reversible indefinitely (until you perform another operation) by Selecting Undo Last / Redo Last in the  Edit menu. or pressing Ctrl+Z.

  Move

Selects a rectangular region in the editing area, allowing you to Move it with its Transparent pixels (if any in the Selection) or Delete it.

Click in the editing area with a Mouse button to anchor one corner of the area you want to select, Drag the mouse until the flexible box that appears surrounds the area you want to select; Release the button.  If you make a mistake while selecting, click outside of the current selection and start over.

The area will remain selected after each move, ready to be moved again, until you Click outside it in the editing area or until you Click a button on the form: this will commit the Selection to the Icon.

To Delete the Selection:  Select Delete Selection in the Edit menu, or press the Del key.

To Move the Selection: Click inside its borders (where the Cursor changes to four white arrows), Drag the Selection where you want it, Release the button.

To Copy the Selection:  Hold down the CTRL key while you Click the Editing area to prepare for the Move.

  Draw

Paints individual pixels.

Click in the editing area, Release the button. To paint more than one pixel, Drag the mouse slowly before releasing the button. Undo  Last is updated each time you click the Editing area.

  Fill

Fills a closed area..

Click in the area to be Filled: all adjacent pixels which are the same color as the starting pixel will be colored automatically.

Problems:  with some video drivers, including Windows's 16 color ones, you cannot Fill over a dark solid (all colors at the top part of the palette, except White) or over pale grey; BMPTOICO will notify you if the Fill has failed, and suggest that you use other Painting Tools.  If your Fill area includes the rightmost column, the Fill routine might exceed the color boundaries: this is a Windows 3.1 bug, sorry.

  Line

Paints a one-pixel wide line.

Click in the Editing area to anchor one end of the line, Drag the mouse until it reaches the other end of the line you want to draw, Release the button.

  Rectangles

Paints a Hollow or Filled Rectangle.

Click in the Editing area to anchor one corner of the rectangle, Drag the mouse until it is the size and shape you want, Release the button.


Editor: Edit menu

Undo Last / Redo Last   (Ctrl+Z)

Reverses the Last operation, from the time you Clicked the Editing area.  It is a toggle function, that works both ways until you perform another operation.  This item is disabled if no reversing can be done.  If you are using the Move Tool, only one Undo Last is permitted, and no Redo Last.

Delete Selection   (Del)

Deletes the currently selected area.  Enabled only if you are using the Move Tool and have selected an area.

Undo to Undo Icon   (Double-Click the Undo Icon)

Resets the Icon to the state of the Undo Icon at the upper right.  This item is disabled if the Edited Icon is identical to the Undo one.

The Undo Icon is updated each time you Change Tool; if you wish to update it while continuing to use a Tool, select another one, then reselect the one you need. You can see a blowup of this image at any time by clicking the Zm button or pressing Alt+Z.

Reload Original Icon

Reloads the original Icon from BMPTOICO's main form.  You will be asked to Proceed or not.  When the Image is reloaded, the Editor will be reset to its opening state.

Add Text

Allows you to add one line of text at a time, in the Arial font.  When you select this item, the Text function appears at the right: Enter Text in the white box, then play... Change the Size or Properties of the text, Move it inside the Icon with the four Arrow keys, Change its color by picking a color from the color Palette.  If you want to start over, Click the Clr button.  When you are finished, Click the OK button: you will still be able to reverse the operation by Selecting Undo Last / Redo Last in this menu.


Shareware Information

      version 2.0

  MyCat Software

 © 1995-1996, MyCat Software

BMPTOICO's Shareware version is not crippled in any way, except for the nagging screen upon opening and closing it.  I prefer you to have the full package, and decide if you wish to register or not. Also, being mostly house bound due to illness, I try to avoid trips to the Post Office to mail a complete version...  BUT:  After the 30 days trial period is over, you will have two more weeks to evaluate it, during which you might see reminder messages while the program is running. Then BMPTOICO will stop running, but will still show the nagging screen so you can enter the registration number if you got one.

Registration price is only $20 US ($20 Cdn if you live in Canada and pay by cheque or money order).  To register online on CompuServe, Go SWREG and select item #11559.

Please make all cheques, money orders or bank drafts payable to Lucie Dorais, not to MyCat Software.

Please send any correspondance to:

Lucie Dorais

603 - 222 Guigues

Ottawa, Ont.

K1N 5J2

Canada

Compuserve:  76440,623

E-mail:   l.dorais@genie.com

76440.623@compuserve.com

Upon Registration:

You will receive a unique Registration number, which can be entered in the nagging screen (Click the Register NOW button), or at any time later by selecting Register in the Help menu.

Special Thanks to...

•	Michael Coker, of Oxford, UK, and Joe Dacy II, of Burleson,Texas,  for their generous help with Windows 95, High Colors video mode, for beta testing version 2.0, and for making excellent suggestions.

•	The pictures used in the Shrink examples were contributed by Paul Cohen, of England (tasty beer mug), and my sister Jacinthe.