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1995-12-28
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SEARCH.EXE VERSION 1.30A06
Written By Robert Thivierge
SEARCH.EXE is a freeware Windows 3.1 program that produces HTML Web
pages consisting of small in-line GIF images. These images can be
clicked on in a Web browser (like Netscape or Mosaic) to see the full
sized JPEG picture. The output can be customized to suit your tastes.
_________________________________________________________________
Note: After you have read the legal stuff, downloaded the ZIP File,
installed the program, and run it, please take the time to tell me
how it worked out. Contact me at
thivier1@canuck.com or thivier1@freenet.calgary.ab.ca
Table of Contents
* SEARCH.EXE News
* Current Features
* Planned Features
* Program Stability
* Obtaining the Program
* Legal Issues and Credits
+ Ownership
+ Freeware Status
+ Credits
+ Disclaimer
* System Requirements
* Installation Procedures
* A Picture of SEARCH.EXE
* Known Bugs
* Contacting the Author
SEARCH.EXE News
Version 1.3 of Search means that all the features of Search can now be
accessed with user friendly dialog boxes. Within a dialog box you can
now change any of the descriptive text that is to appear on outputted
web pages. You can attach meaningful descriptive text to individual
pictures. You can use pre-defined or user-defined fields to describe
pictures. For instance if your site consists of pictures of people,
you can have the name of the subject and/or photographer appear next
to the picture.
The information on pictures can easily be layed out in an infinate
number of ways, such as in tables (which is the default layout). And
you can group pictures however you wish, to make them easy for people
to find the one(s) their interested in, and not feel the need to
download everything, wasting bandwidth.
Also, the informative text you attach to pictures is not only shown
next to the picture on the web page, but is contained inside the JPEG
file. So someone downloading pictures from your site can view the
descriptive text before and after they download the pictures that
interest them.
Current Features
WEB FEATURES
* For every JPEG file in your site, it creates a smaller GIF
version.
* It generates one or more HTML files which contain links to these
pictures. If you choose to have a sophisticated multi-page site
(which you don't have to) a browser of your site will be able to
traverse through all the pages by following links.
* Your site can have one more pages in any directory and any number
(zero, one, or many) sub-directories and any level of
sub-directories.
* You can have SEARCH.EXE organize pictures in different pages based
on their file names. You can use this feature in combination with
sub-directories or without sub-directories.
* You can have SEARCH.EXE automatically generate a layout for your
pictures with the "AutoOrg" button. It recognizes repeated file
name patterns (ie. cc01.jpg, cc02.jpg, etc...), and groups them
for you. Optionally you can edit this default layout.
* All text outputted in pages can be changed. You can make changes
globally that effect all pages, make changes that effect a certain
type of page, make changes that effect only a particular
directory, or effect only a particular page. You can also specify
certain text to go next to individual pictures. For instance, next
to the photo you can have the name of the subject and a
description. People using text-only browsers will especially
appreciate this. The text you specify may contain any HTML tags
you wish. Pretty much, anything that can be done in HTML can be
done with SEARCH.EXE.
* You can have any number of pictures appear on a row in a table.
* You can control the display width and height of images. SEARCH.EXE
(by default) uses the WIDTH and HEIGHT tag to tell the browser the
dimensions of a picture. This speeds up the display of your page
for browser users.
* As an optional alternative to having the Directory Index Pages
link directly to the anchor image, you can have them link to a
picture Detail Page. This detail page can optionally show the full
sized image or the reduced size image. Typically this page will
show additional information about the picture.
* You can choose from a pre-defined list of sample layouts.
* Support for the new progressive-JPEG file format. Progressive-JPEG
files take less disk space and have a fade in effect when viewed
by Netscape. You can also convert old JPEG files to the new
format.
* Customizable file extensions for HTML Web Page files produced.
* New! - You can use the Configure Layout dialog box to specify
descriptive text to appear on pages and next to pictures.
Information describing a picture (such as subject name, etc...) is
stored in the JPEG file, and can be accessed by a browser user
before and after downloading the file.
If there's anything you can't get SEARCH.EXE to do when making Web
Pages, please let me know.
OTHER FEATURES
* Inside SEARCH.EXE, if you click on a particular JPEG file you will
see the image dimensions of the file shown.
* SEARCH.EXE can be used to produce a listing of all files matching
a pattern in a directory and its sub-directories. You can limit
the listing to files that contain a string inside them. Of course
this includes comments inside of JPEG files.
* SEARCH.EXE will decode JPEG files from saved uuencoded articles
off the UseNet. Unlike most decoders SEARCH.EXE will read
information such as the "Subject" line and will store this
information in the JPEG file. This information can be used to have
SEARCH.EXE organize your pictures into logical groups.
* Without running another program, you can preview GIF images inside
of SEARCH.EXE. As well, you can double click on any file and
launch the associated program to view/edit that file.
Planned Features
These are features I would like to implement if I get feedback on
their usefullness.
* Provide an easy built-in way to package files to be uploaded to a
UNIX box.
* Allow finer control over the size of GIF files created.
* Let the user choose between GIF and JPEG format for in-line
images.
* Allow the user to use GIF files as anchor files.
* Allow the user to group picture files onto different pages based
on the values in user defined fields. Pictures with the same value
in a given field would go on the same page.
Program Stability
This program still has bugs that I am working out. However, it seems
to work OK for me and other users. Remeber you are using my program at
your own risk. There is no warranty.
Obtaining the Program
If you are viewing this document on the Web, just load this anchor to
disk and follow the installation procedures later in this file.
Otherwise you should go to http://www.canuck.com/~thivier1/search.html
to view the on-line version of this document or mail me at
thivier1@freenet.calgary.ab.ca or thivier1@canuck.com.
Legal Issues and Credits
OWNERSHIP
SEARCH(c) 1995
The Picture Page Generator
Written by Robert Thivierge
All rights reserved by Robert Thivierge
Any attempt by a person other than myself to reverse compile, sell, or
to represent the program as their own is prohibited. You may give a
copy of the the program to someone else free of charge, provided you
include all the files you received yourself. They then should notify
me of receipt of it.
However, any person or organization may distribute my program as
freeware. They may charge a fee for the service of distribution (such
as on-line charges, charge for distribution media, etc...). An
acceptable form of distribution is including my program on CD-ROMs
containing freeware/shareware, where there is a charge for the CD-ROM.
However, it must be understood that they are not selling my program.
And absolutely nobody, but me, may imply or suggest that they authored
this program or that it is their property. I must always be given full
credit.
FREEWARE STATUS
This program is freeware. I do not require financial payment for use
of this product. Since users benefit from my time I think its fair to
ask for some feedback. I like to know everytime someone gets my
software and every time someone uses it for the first time. I also
like suggested improvements, and friendly constructive criticism. I
also appreciate being sent the URLs of sites made with the program.
There is a special form to collect user responses, located at
http://www.canuck.com/~thivier1/survey.html. You are always encouraged
to let me know by e-mail what you're doing with and how its going with
my program at thivier1@freenet.calgary.ab.ca or thivier1@canuck.com.
Remember, one of my main rewards for making this program is seeing
sites made with it.
CREDITS
I appologize to all the people who have helped with suggestions, for
not taking the time to give individual credit where due. I hope to
attempt to do so when I have some more time. Your help is very much
appreciated.
* This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG
Group. They are kind enough to allow programmers to use their code
library without financial charge.
* The Graphics Interchange Format(C) is the Copyright property of
CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(SM) is a Service Mark property of
CompuServe Incorporated.
* The actual compression method used in GIF is copywrited by Unisys
Corporation. I thank them for allowing freeware authors to use
their compression method without obtaining a license or paying
royalties. See the Unisys FAQ on GIF for further details.
* The tabbed dialogs in SEARCH.EXE were made with the source code
for TabDlg.DLL. TabDlg.DLL is Copyright (c) 1994 Edward McCreary
DISCLAIMER
Use my program at your own risk. There are bugs I know of, there are
bugs I don't know of. I assume no liability for any losses incurred by
use of my program. I myself half accidently overwritten files and
deleted files with SEARCH.EXE. So, if I can loose stuff, you can too.
System Requirements
* Operating System: It was designed for Windows 3.1. Users have also
run it on Windows 95 and Windows NT OK.
* Memory: The amount required is semi-proportional to the size of
the largest JPEG picture you wish to compress.
Installation Procedures
To install, do the following:
1. Make a directory for the program (such as C:\SEARCH). It is very
important that you have a directory set aside exclusively for
SEARCH.EXE. Never use the same directory for the program that you
use for your Web Site.
2. Copy the ZIP File into it.
3. Unzip it with PKUNZIP or a compatible program.
4. If you're upgrading, you may wish to keep your old *.txt files and
SEARCH.INI file, in order to preserve your layout and settings.
The only files that should always be updated is SEARCH.EXE and
SEARCH.HLP.
5. Make sure all the files are in the same directory, with no other
files present. Never use this directory to put your pictures or
HTML files in.
6. Double click on SEARCH.EXE in the File Manager or create an icon
for it in the Program Manager. To create an icon in the Program
Manager, simply drag the file from the File Manager to the Program
Manager.
7. Click on the "Settings" button and make sure they are all as you
wish.
A Picture of SEARCH.EXE
If you are viewing this document on the web you can view a picture
of SEARCH.EXE running.
Known Bugs
Please tell me of any bugs not on this list.
1. Periodically Search will cause a General Protection Fault. If
this happens let me know all the details of how it happened.
2. Although Search will now let you use the "html" file
extension for output, it still can only read the old 8.3 file
name format. So, it's best to have the "Always Purge HTML
First" setting selected, in order to remove any long file
names that may cause a problem.
Contacting the Author
You are welcome to contact me with your comments, suggestions, and
bug reports at either thivier1@freenet.calgary.ab.ca or
thivier1@canuck.com.
Visit my Home Page at http://www.canuck.com/~thivier1