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====== MusicalGIF 1.00 ======================== Order Form ====== Please send cheque or money order made payable to 'White River Software', overseas order in money order, please. (Note that the current postage from US to Canada is $0.40.) White River Software P.O.Box 938, Unit 105 St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 6Z4 Canada ----------------------------------------------------------------- Qty. Item US/CAD Amount ___ MusicalGIF Registration $20/$23 $________ ___ GIFLITE Registration $20/$23 $________ (A GIF Compressor that reduces GIF size by 25%) ___ MusicalGIF & GIFLITE Registration $35/$40 $________ Add $1 each for 3.5 disk $________ Shipping $2 each ($4 each outside US and Canada) $________ Subtotal $________ Ontario resident please add Prov. Sales Tax (8%) $________ Canadian resident please add Goods & Services Tax (7%) $________ Total US$________/CAD$________ Name ________________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Country _____________________ Phone (______) _________________ Where did you first hear about MusicalGIF ?______________________ Comments ________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ ================================================================= MusicalGIF (tm) 1.00 ________________________________ User Manual (c) Copyright 1992 White River Software All Rights Reserved. 17 August 1992 P.O.Box 938 Unit 105 St. Catharines Ontario, L2R 6Z4 Canada TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 What is MusicalGIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 REGISTRATION 2 Evaluation Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 USING MUSICAL GIF 4 Installing MusicalGIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Starting MusicalGIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Exiting MusicalGIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Understanding the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Using the GIF & ROL Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 CUSTOMIZING MUSICAL GIF 10 Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 EXAMPLES 16 1. Using MusicalGIF as a GIF viewer . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2. Using MusicalGIF as a ROL player . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3. Playing ROL inside a ZIP or ARJ . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4. Showing GIF and playing ROL at the same time . . . . . 16 5. Having ROL songs as background music . . . . . . . . . 17 6. Doing it all automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 MUSICAL GIF INTRODUCTION 1 INTRODUCTION ___________________________________________________________________ Since the introduction of the Adlib sound card and compatible, playing music on the IBM PC is never the same again. The ROL music file format has become one of the standards in composing songs for the sound cards. But so far, only few programs are able to play ROL music files and even fewer do it well. On the contrary, there are many GIF viewers in the market. However, many of them are not quite easy to use. How about a program that do both of them really good? WHAT IS MUSICAL GIF MusicalGIF is an easy to use ROL player and GIF viewer. Now you can listen to ROL songs and view GIF pictures at the same time. Best of all, you can put your ROL files into a ZIP file or ARJ file to save a lot of disk space and MusicalGIF can still play them. MusicalGIF provides a Windows-like environment with menus, dialogs and mouse support. The standard environment guarantees easy access to all the functions. If you have any questions, you can write to us, or leave e-mail to "WINFRED HU" in the following BBSs' main board or in CompuServe to [72070,3515]. We appreciate suggestions and ideas. PC Connect: Toronto, Canada (416)733-9052 2400 User To User #1: Dallas, USA (214)492-6565 USR-HST/ds User To User #2: Dallas, USA (214)492-5695 HAYES V.32 MUSICAL GIF REGISTRATION 2 REGISTRATION ___________________________________________________________________ MusicalGIF is not free. You must register after the 15-day evaluation time period. MusicalGIF is a Shareware product. It is distributed through public access channels so that perspective buyers can have the opportunity to evaluate the product before making a decision to buy. If you decide to use this software, then you are under both legal and moral obligation to register it with the author. But if you decide not to use it after evaluating the software, you are under no obligation. It is fully protected by State, Federal and International copyright laws. If you continue to use MusicalGIF after the 15-day evaluation time period you must register it. Registration Fee : $ 20.0 US or $ 23.0 CAD To register your copy of MusicalGIF, fill in the order form and mail along with your cheque or money order payable to "White River Software" in US or CAD to the address indicated in the form. When you register, you will receive the program diskette of the current version with your registration number on it. The registration number will remove the annoying ending screen of the current and the FUTURE releases. Registration entitles you continue using the current version and all future versions. EVALUATION VERSION The evaluation version or the unregistered version distributed through the Shareware channel is fully functional and has an annoying ending screen reminding you it is a evaluation copy. The annoying ending screen is removed in the registered version. LICENSE You are free to copy and distribute MusicalGIF for NON- COMMERCIAL use IF: NO FEE IS CHARGED FOR USE, COPYING OR DISTRIBUTION, AND IT IS NOT MODIFIED IN ANY WAY. Computer user groups or clubs may make copies of MusicalGIF for distribution to members for a fee that covers copying and other administrative costs. Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) that MUSICAL GIF REGISTRATION 3 operate through subscription fees may post MusicalGIF for download by its subscribers. Shareware vendor may distribute MusicalGIF, which includes the program and the document, for a fee under US$8 which covers copying and other administrative costs. Otherwise, the distributors have to obtain a written permission from the author. DISCLAIMER This program is provided AS IS without any warranty, expressed or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular use. TRADEMARKS MusicalGIF is a trademark of White River Software. Graphics Interchange Format and GIF are trademarks of CompuServe Inc. and H&R Block Company. Adlib and Adlib Pro are trademarks of Adlib MultiMedia Inc. SoundBlaster and Sound Blaster Pro are trademarks of Creative Lab Inc. Sound Master II is a trademarks of Covox Inc. Many specific products found in this manual are trademarks of specific companies. MUSICAL GIF USING MUSICAL GIF 4 USING MUSICAL GIF ___________________________________________________________________ MusicalGIF requires an IBM PC/AT/fully compatible computer, DOS 3.0 or greater, 512K bytes of memory and a VGA card and/or an Adlib compatible sound card. Optional: MusicalGIF makes full use of EMS (EXPanded Memory), XMS (EXTended Memory) and hard disk space as virtual memory. MusicalGIF supports the following VGA chip sets: AHead A, AHead B, ATI Wonder, Chips & Tech, Everex, OAK Tech, Paradise, Trident, Trident 8900, Tseng, Tseng 4000, Video 7, VESA compatibles and supports the following sound cards: Adlib, Adlib Gold, SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster Pro Sound Master II and Adlib compatibles INSTALLING MUSICAL GIF The MusicalGIF package includes MUSICGIF.EXE MusicalGIF main program MUSICGIF.DOC this document VENDOR.DOC information for Shareware vendor FILE_ID.DIZ description of MusicalGIF SOUND.COM Adlib sound driver STANDARD.BNK Adlib instrument bank BALLAD.ROL sample ROL file To install MusicalGIF, simply run type MUSICGIF at the DOS command line and press [Enter]. MusicalGIF will then check the available VGA and SuperVGA mode. You should verify the screen modes available under the Options/Screen dialog by pressing [Alt O] [S], and you should turn off the screen modes that are not actually supported by your VGA card. Next, you should examine the Adlib instrument bank file STANDARD.BNK and the path of PKUNZIP.EXE and ARJ.EXE in the Options/Directory dialog by pressing [Alt O] [D]. *** IMPORTANT: You must specify the FULL path name of the instrument bank file. Otherwise, the music will not play. When you press [Alt X] to exit the program, the options will be saved automatically to the configuration file MUSICGIF.CFG. MUSICAL GIF USING MUSICAL GIF 5 STARTING MUSICAL GIF Before running MusicalGIF, the Adlib sound driver SOUND.COM or the SoundBlaster sound driver SB-SOUND.COM must be run first. The sound driver is a TSR program, so you only need to run it once. You can add the SOUND.COM to your AUTOEXEC.BAT so that it will be run automatically whenever you turn on your computer. Starting MusicalGIF is easy. Most of the time, you just type MUSICGIF in the command line to run it. However, you can specify the directories of the GIF or ROL files to override the startup directories. The command line structure is: MUSICGIF [GIF Files] [ROL Files] Parameters lists in [] are optional. If no parameter is specified, MusicalGIF will show the GIF files in the GIF Startup directory and ROL files in the ROL Startup directory defined in the Options/Directory dialog. For example, MUSICGIF shows all the GIF files in the GIF Startup directory and all the ROL files in the ROL Startup directory. MUSICGIF C:\GIF shows all the GIF files in the C:\GIF directory and all the ROL files in the ROL Startup directory. MUSICGIF C:\ROL\B*.ROL shows all the GIF files in the GIF Startup directory and the B*.ROL files in the C:\ROL directory. MUSICGIF C:\GIF\A*.GIF C:\ROL\*.ZIP shows the A*.GIF files in the C:\GIF directory and all the ROL files inside in the C:\ROL\*.ZIP file. EXITING MUSICAL GIF To exit MusicalGIF, press [Alt X]. The options will be saved automatically to the configuration file MUSICGIF.CFG. You can shell to DOS temporarily to perform a DOS command by choosing the File/Jump to DOS command. Then type EXIT at the command line and press [Enter] to return to MusicalGIF. MUSICAL GIF USING MUSICAL GIF 6 UNDERSTANDING THE DESKTOP The desktop consists of the menu bar at the top, the window area in the middle, and the status line at the bottom. The Menu Bar ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ File Options Window │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The menu bar allows you to access all the menu commands and dialogs. To choose menu commands using the keyboard, 1. Press [F10] to make the menu bar active. 2. Use the arrow keys to select the menu you want to display. Then press [Enter]. As a shortcut, you can just press the [Alt] key and the highlighted letter of the menu title. For example, [Alt F] displays the File menu. 3. Use the arrow keys again to select a command from the menu you have opened. Then press [Enter]. To choose menu commands using the mouse, you can click the desired menu title to display the menu and click the desired command. The Windows The window area contains two windows: the GIF window and the ROL window. The title bar, the topmost horizontal bar of a window, contains the name of the window. Double-clicking the title bar zooms the window. You can also drag the title bar to move the window around. To select a window, you can click anywhere in the window, or choose Window/Next to make the next window active. As a shortcut, you can press [Shirt Esc] to make the next window active. To zoom a window, you can click on the zoom box at the upper right corner with the mouse, or choose Window/Zoom command. To move a window, you can drag the title bar with the mouse, or choose the Window/Resize/Move command and use the arrow keys to move the window. To resize a window, you can drag the lower-right corner with the mouse, or choose the Window/Resize/Move command and press [Shift] while you use the arrow keys to resize the window. To arrange the windows in cascade form, you can choose the Window/Cascade command. MUSICAL GIF USING MUSICAL GIF 7 The Status Line ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Shift Esc Next window Alt-C Change dir Alt-X Exit 152880 │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The status line at the bottom reminds you of basic keystrokes and shortcuts and lets you click the shortcuts to carry out the action. The right most number shows the free memory in bytes. USING THE GIF & ROL WINDOW The two windows are very similar, except that GIF window has a button labeled [Show] and the ROL window has a button labeled [Play]. ╔══════════════════════════════ ROL Files ══════════════════════════[^]═╗ ║ ║ ║ » 9TO5 7K «│ BALLAD 2K │ BOJANGLE 6K >[ Play ]<║ ║ AINTMISB 7K │ BALLAD1 2K │ BOOGIE 4K ║ ║ ALLEYCAT 5K │ BAROK 3K │ BOSSA 3K [ Toggle ] ║ ║ AMERIC 2K │ BAROQUE 10K │ BRAHMS 3K ║ ║ AMERICA 13K │ BASERHAP 8K │ BRAHMS1 5K [Select All] ║ ║ ANITRA 8K │ BAYOU 6K │ BRASILIA 12K ║ ║ ANNIESNG 6K │ BEATLES1 6K │ BUGLER 10K [ Clear ] ║ ║ ARIA 5K │ BEATLES2 7K │ BUNGLE 16K ║ ║ ASHGROVE 3K │ BEATLES4 5K │ CALIOPE 5K ║ ║ AUTLEAVS 5K │ BEATLES5 5K │ CANON 5K ║ ║ AVEMARIA 7K │ BEWALK 4K │ CANONIND 12K ║ ║ AXEL_F 6K │ BLUES 2K │ CANTINA 13K ║ ║ BACH1 11K │ BLUESY_W 6K │ CARRIE 8K ║ ║ BADMAN 15K │ BLUGOOSE 15K │ CHEERS 9K ║ ║ <■▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒> ║ ║ ║ ║ MUSIC.ARJ::9TO5.ROL 6301 C:\MUSIC\*.ROL ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─┘ The window contains a file list, buttons labeled [Show] (in the GIF window) or [Play] (in the ROL window), [Toggle], [Select All] and [Clear], and an information panel that describes the file. You can press [Tab] or [Shift Tab] to change the focus among the file list and the buttons. The File List Box The file list box displays all the GIF picture files you can show or ROL music files you can play. You can use the array keys to locate the files you want to select. Then you can press [Spacebar] to toggle the selection of the file name, or press [Enter] to Show or Play the selected files. MUSICAL GIF USING MUSICAL GIF 8 Showing GIF picture files To show GIF picture files, you can press [Enter] or click the [Show] button in the GIF window. If no file is selected, the current file in the file list box is shown. The selected files will be shown according to the options specified in the Options/Picture dialog. The next section describes the many picture options you can choose from. Playing ROL music files To play ROL music files, you can press [Enter] or choose the [Play] button in the ROL window. If no file is selected, the current file in the file list box is played. The selected files will be played according to the options specified in the Options/Music dialog. The next section describes the many music options you can choose from. Toggling a Selection You can press [Spacebar] to toggle the selection of the file or click the [Toggle] button. Selecting All Files Clicking the [Select All] button or pressing [Alt A] selects all the files in the file list box. If you select all the files all the time, you can turn on the 'Select all at startup' option under the Options/Picture dialog for the GIF files or the Options/Music dialog for the ROL files. Clearing All Selection Clicking the [Clear] button or pressing [Esc] or [Alt L] clears all the selected files in the file list box. Changing Directory The File/Change Dir command lets you specify a drive and a directory for the current window. You can type in the path of the new directory in the input box and press [Enter], or choose the directory you want in the Directory tree then choose [OK] or press [Esc]. If you choose the [ChDir] button, the Directory Tree list box changes to the selected directory and displays the subdirectories of the currently highlighted directory. If you change your mind about the directory you've picked and you want to go back to the previous one, choose the [Revert] button. MUSICAL GIF USING MUSICAL GIF 9 ╔═[■]══════════ Change Directory ══════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ Directory name ║ ║ C:\GRAPH_________________ ▐v▌ ║ ║ ║ ║ »Directory tree ║ ║ Drives ^ [ OK ] ║ ║ └─┬C:\ ▒ ║ ║ » └──GRAPH «▒ ║ ║ ▒ >[Chdir ]< ║ ║ ▒ ║ ║ ▒ ║ ║ ▒ [Revert] ║ ║ ▒ ║ ║ ■ ║ ║ v ║ ║ ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════╝ If you choose the [OK] button, your changes will be made and the dialog box put away. If the GIF window is active, the file list displays all the GIF files in the selected directory. If the ROL window is active, the file list displays all the ROL files in the selected directory. MUSICAL GIF CUSTOMIZING MUSICAL GIF 10 CUSTOMIZING MUSICAL GIF ___________________________________________________________________ The Options menu contains commands that let you view and change various settings in MusicalGIF. All the commands in this menu lead to a dialog box. Your changes will be automatically saved when you exit from MusicalGIF. DIALOG BOX BASIC When you are making settings in dialog boxes, you work with four types of onscreen controls, namely action buttons, check boxes, radio buttons and input boxes. You can press the [Tab] and [Shift Tab] keys to move forward or back from one control to another. The active control is highlighted in a different color. Action Buttons All the dialogs have at least two buttons: [OK] and [Cancel]. If you choose [OK], the choices in the dialog box are made; the [Enter] key is the shortcut for the button. If you choose [Cancel], nothing is changed; and the [Esc] key is always a shortcut for the button. Check Boxes A check box is preceded by the symbols [ ]. When you select a check box, an 'X' appears in it to show you the option is on. An empty box indicates the option is off. To change the status of a check box, click it or its text, or press [Tab] until the check box is highlighted and then press [Spacebar]. Radio Buttons The radio button is very similar to the check box except that they present mutually exclusive choices and is preceded by the symbols ( ). To choose a radio button, click it or its text, or press [Tab] until the group is highlighted and then use the arrow keys to choose a particular radio button. Input Boxes Input boxes let you type in text. Basic text-editing keys work in the text box. For example, arrow keys move the cursor and the [Ins] key toggles the insert/overwrite status. SCREEN The Screen dialog allows you to change the screen settings. When you first run MusicalGIF, it will detect the graphic modes available on your VGA card and are supported by MusicalGIF's display engine. MUSICAL GIF CUSTOMIZING MUSICAL GIF 11 ╔═[■]════════ Screen ════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ »Resolution ║ ║ »[X] 320x200 « >[ OK ]< ║ ║ [ ] 360x480 ║ ║ [X] 640x400 ║ ║ [X] 640x480 [Detect] ║ ║ [X] 800x600 ║ ║ [ ] 1024x768 ║ ║ [ ] 1280x1024 [Cancel] ║ ║ ║ ╚════════════════════════════════╝ Resolution The Resolution check boxes let you specify the resolutions that your VGA card supports. If you find that a graphic mode is not available on your VGA card, you must turn it off; otherwise a picture that fit that particular resolution will not be shown correctly. When showing a picture, MusicalGIF finds a resolution that will fully encompass the picture, or a resolution that is closest to picture size. If you are not sure what graphic modes your VGA card support, you can choose the [Detect] button. Then MusicalGIF will perform a hardware detect and turn on the available resolutions. PICTURE The Picture dialog box lets you specify how the picture files are to be shown. ╔═[■]═════════════════ Picture ═════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ »Show Options ║ ║ ( ) Wait after each picture >[ OK ]< ║ ║ »(*) Slide show « ║ ║ ( ) Slide show, start randomly ║ ║ [Cancel] ║ ║ Delay between pictures _5____ ║ ║ ║ ║ Selection ║ ║ [ ] Show all pictures at start up ║ ║ [ ] Select all at start up ║ ║ [ ] Clear selection after show ║ ║ ║ ║ Display Options ║ ║ [X] Shrink picture to screen size ║ ║ [ ] Expand picture to screen size ║ ║ [ ] Anti-aliasing ║ ║ ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ MUSICAL GIF CUSTOMIZING MUSICAL GIF 12 Show Options In the Show Options radio buttons, when [Wait after each picture] is chosen, MusicalGIF will show the selected GIF files one by one and waits for an [Enter] key between each picture. When [Slide Show] is chosen, the selected GIF files will be shown continuously with a delay between each picture. When [Slide Show, start randomly] is chosen, the selected GIF files will be shown continuously with a delay between each picture. MusicalGIF will randomly pick one of the selected GIF as the starting point. This option is useful when you have a lot of GIF files and you do not want to always show the first selected GIF file first. Delay between pictures When [Slide Show] or [Slide Show, start randomly] is chosen, this option specifies how long, in seconds, MusicalGIF should wait until it shows another picture. Selection In the Selection check boxes, when [Show all pictures at start up] is selected, MusicalGIF will show all the pictures when it starts. How MusicalGIF show the pictures depends on the Show Options. When [Select all pictures at start up] is selected, MusicalGIF will select all the pictures when it starts. When [Clear selection after show] is selected, MusicalGIF will clear all the selection after it shows the pictures. It is useful when you want to make new selection after showing the pictures. Display Options In the Display Options check boxes, when [Shrink picture to screen size] is selected, MusicalGIF will shrink the picture if the picture is larger than the screen, so that you can view the whole picture. In the Display Options check boxes, when [Expand picture to screen size] is selected, MusicalGIF will expand the picture if the picture is smaller than the screen. When [Anti-aliasing] is selected, MusicalGIF will adjust the colors to preserve the overall appearance of the image when showing a reduced image. Otherwise, MusicalGIF will show a reduced image by skipping pixels. However, anti-aliasing may slow down the display process. MUSICAL GIF CUSTOMIZING MUSICAL GIF 13 MUSIC The Music dialog box lets you specify how the music files are to be played. ╔═[■]════════════════ Music ═════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ »Play Options ║ ║ ( ) Wait after each song >[ OK ]< ║ ║ »(*) Continue to next song « ║ ║ ( ) Continue, start randomly ║ ║ [Cancel] ║ ║ Delay between songs _1_____ ║ ║ ║ ║ Selection ║ ║ [ ] Play all songs at start up ║ ║ [ ] Select all at start up ║ ║ [ ] Clear selection after play ║ ║ ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Play Options In the Play Options radio buttons, when [Wait after each song] is chosen, the selected ROL files will be played one by one and wait for an [Enter] key between each song. When [Continue to next song] is chosen, the selected ROL files will be played continuously with a delay between each song. When [Continue, start randomly] is chosen, the selected ROL files will be played continuously with a delay between each song. MusicalGIF will randomly pick one of the selected ROL as the starting point. This option is useful when you have a lot of ROL files and you do not want to always play the first selected ROL file first. Delay between songs When [Continue to next song] or [Continue, start randomly] is chosen, this option specifies how long, in seconds, MusicalGIF should wait until it plays another song. Selection In the Selection check boxes, when [Play all songs at start up] is selected, MusicalGIF will play all the songs when it starts. How MusicalGIF play the songs depends on the Play Options. When [Select all songs at start up] is selected, MusicalGIF will select all the songs when it starts. When [Clear selection after play] is selected, MusicalGIF will clear all the selection after it plays the songs. It is useful when you want to make new selection after playing the songs. MUSICAL GIF CUSTOMIZING MUSICAL GIF 14 DIRECTORIES The Directories dialog box lets you tell MusicalGIF where to find the files it needs. ╔═[■]═══════════════ Directories ═══════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ »GIF Startup Directory ║ ║ \GIF\_______________________________________ ║ ║ ║ ║ ROL Startup Directory ║ ║ \MUSIC\_____________________________________ ║ ║ ║ ║ Instrument Bank File ║ ║ \MUSIC\STANDARD.BNK_________________________ ║ ║ ║ ║ PKUNZIP.EXE Path ║ ║ PKUNZIP.EXE_________________________________ ║ ║ ║ ║ ARJ.EXE Path ║ ║ ARJ.EXE_____________________________________ ║ ║ ║ ║ >[ OK ]< [Cancel] ║ ║ ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ GIF Startup Directory The GIF Startup Directory specifies the directory that Musical Gif should load the GIF files into the GIF window. This directory only takes effect if it is not overrided by a command line parameter. ROL Startup Directory The ROL Startup Directory specifies the directory that Musical Gif should load the ROL files into the ROL window. This directory only takes effect if it is not overrided by a command line parameter. Instrument Bank File The Instrument Bank File specifies the full path name of the Adlib instrument bank file, normally STANDARD.BNK. When playing a ROL music file, the music engine requires this file to be present. * It is very important that the full path name is specified. Otherwise, the ROL music file will not be played when you change the directory. PKUNZIP.EXE Path The PKUNZIP.EXE Path should specify the full path name of the PKUNZIP.EXE, unless it is already specified in a directory in the PATH environment variable. MUSICAL GIF CUSTOMIZING MUSICAL GIF 15 ARJ.EXE Path The ARJ.EXE Path should specify the full path name of the ARJ.EXE, unless it is already specified in a directory in the PATH environment variable. COLORS The Colors dialog box allows you to set your color preferences for each component of the MusicalGIF desktop. ╔═[■]═════════════════════ Colors ══════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ »Group Item Color ║ ║ »Desktop «^ >Background <^ ( ) Normal ║ ║ Menus ■ ▓ ( ) Highlight ║ ║ Dialogs ▒ ▓ ( ) Underline ║ ║ ▒ ▓ (*) Inverse ║ ║ ▒ ▓ ║ ║ ▒ ▓ ║ ║ ▒ ▓ ║ ║ ▒ ▓ ║ ║ ▒ ▓ ║ ║ ▒ ▓ Text Text Text ║ ║ v v Text Text Text ║ ║ ║ ║ >[ OK ]< [Cancel] ║ ║ ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Simply select any Group and any Item within that Group, and the available Foreground and Background colors will appear in the respective sections of the dialog box. A sample of the currently selected scheme will appear in the Item Color box. To change the default color for that item, select your preferences from the Foreground and Background palettes. MUSICAL GIF EXAMPLES 16 EXAMPLES ___________________________________________________________________ 1. USING MUSICAL GIF AS A GIF VIEWER MusicalGIF can be used as a GIF viewer if you do not have any ROL files. It is especially useful in slide show mode because it will decodes the next picture while waiting for the delay to expire. To display as a slide show, select the (*) Slide show option under the Options/Picture dialog. 2. USING MUSICAL GIF AS A ROL PLAYER MusicalGIF can be used as a ROL player as well because it provides an easy-to-use interface. In addition, MusicalGIF can randomly pick a ROL file as the starting point. This avoids playing the first selected file over and over again. You can select the (*) Continue, start randomly option under the Options/Music dialog. 3. PLAYING ROL INSIDE A ZIP OR ARJ To reduce the disk space consumption of the ROL files, you can compress them into a ZIP file using PKZIP.EXE or into a ARJ file using ARJ.EXE. MusicalGIF supports both format and it can play the ROL files inside the compressed file. All you have to do is to setup the PKUNZIP.EXE Path ARJ.EXE Path file paths under the Options/Directories dialog. 4. SHOWING GIF AND PLAYING ROL AT THE SAME TIME The most unique feature in MusicalGIF is the ability to show GIF pictures and play ROL songs at the same time. You should first select the ROL files you want to play in the ROL window, then push the [Play] button. It will begin playing the songs. To show GIF pictures, first switch to the GIF window by pressing the [Shift Esc] key, then select the GIF files and push the [Show] button. MUSICAL GIF EXAMPLES 17 5. HAVING ROL SONGS AS BACKGROUND MUSIC If you want to have the ROL songs as background music whenever you run MusicalGIF, you should select the (*) Continue, start randomly [X] Play all songs at start up options under the Options/Music dialog. It tells MusicalGIF to play all the songs automatically at start up. In addition, you should setup the ROL Startup Directory under the Options/Directories dialog so that MusicalGIF can find the ROL files. 6. DOING IT ALL AUTOMATICALLY When you are doing a presentation or just want to impress your friends, you may want to setup MusicalGIF so that it will show all the GIF pictures and play all the ROL songs when you run MusicalGIF. Here is the options you should select a) (*) Slide show, start randomly [X] Show all pictures at start up under the Options/Picture dialog and b) (*) Continue, start randomly [X] Play all songs at start up under the Options/Music dialog. c) In addition, you should setup the startup paths for the GIF and ROL files GIF Startup Directory ROL Startup Directory under the Options/Directories dialog. After that, all you have to do is to run MusicalGIF by typing MUSICGIF in the command line and MusicalGIF will do the rest.