home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
OS/2 Shareware BBS: 10 Tools
/
10-Tools.zip
/
palvue.zip
/
PalView.HLP
(
.txt
)
< prev
next >
Wrap
OS/2 Help File
|
1994-10-26
|
61KB
|
763 lines
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. General Help for Palview ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
PalView is a utility which allows the hardware color palette of the video
display device to be monitored in real-time. It displays the colors that the
hardware palette is currently set to, and will show any color changes as they
happen. PalView can also display information about the individual color entries
of the hardware color palette.
PalView was designed to be used exclusively with the Presentation Manager's
(PM) Palette Manager subsystem. The Palette Manager subsystem allows the
"limited resource" of the hardware color palette to be fairly shared among PM
applications which may want to set the hardware color palette to their own
liking. PalView displays the results of the Palette Manager subsystem's
arbitration of palette requests as they happen.
The capabilities of PalView make it both a fun utility for the casual
computer user and a handy debugging aid for the serious graphics application
developer. PalView was designed so that it can be run continuously, constantly
monitoring the color palette, with negligible impact on the total system
performance. The serious graphics developer or aficionado may want to have
PalView be a permanent fixture of their PM/WPS desktop.
This help system contains information on all features and operations of
PalView. It also contains information on color palettes, color palette
manipulating PM applications, and PalView's relationship and interaction with
both.
Help is available for any of the following items:
o How Color Palettes Work.
o Menu Choices
o Mouse Actions
o Limitations
o Technical Support
o Legalities
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Menu Choices ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The main menu for PalView is a "pop-up" style context menu (i.e. it is not a
menu invoked from a menu bar). It can be invoke by clicking the mouse with the
right mouse button anywhere in the palette entry display field (i.e. on any of
the colored squares ) or by pressing Shift-F10 while the PalView window is the
active window.
This menu offers the following choices of action:
o Settings...
o Device Color Info...
o Reset Palette
o Help
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. 'Settings...' Menu Choice ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Select Settings... to bring up the Settings Dialog. The Settings Dialog
allows the user to configure PalView.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. 'Device Color Info..." Menu Choice ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Select Device Color Info... to bring up the Device Color Info Dialog The
Device Color Info Dialog lists color capabilities of the Screen.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. 'Reset Palette' Menu Choice ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Select Reset Palette to cause the system color palette to be reset to it's
default (i.e. start-up) values. The results of the reset depend upon whether
any running applications are manipulating the palette or not. When this menu
choice is selected, the system color palette is immediately reset to it's
default values. The PM system then broadcasts a message to all running
applications, asking the applications to "realize" their custom palettes. At
that point, the applications can claim and set any unclaimed palette entries.
Note that all entries in the default palette are considered unclaimed. In
other words, if palette manipulating applications are running, resetting the
default palette may only trigger a quick round of palette arbitration, with the
resulting palette being identical to the palette before the arbitration (i.e.
resetting the palette has no lasting effect).
However, if there are no palette manipulation applications running and the
system palette is set to a custom color palette, resetting the palette can have
long term effects. This situation is often the case when an app that changes
the system palette doesn't "cleanup" after itself when it is closed. Currently
PM doesn't immediately reset the system palette to the default palette when all
palette manipulating apps are closed. This can leave the desktop and any
running applications "discolored". It is in these cases where this menu item is
most handy.
For more information on how the system color palette works and arbitrates the
system colors among palette manipulating applications, please see the section
How Color Palettes Work.
Note: PalView provides a quick "short-cut for selecting the reset feature: the
system palette may also be reset by double-clicking the left mouse button
anywhere in the palette entry display field (i.e. on any of the colored
squares).
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. 'Help' Menu Choice ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Select Help to display the PalView help submenu allowing selection from the
following help categories:
o Help Index
o General Help
o Using Help
o About PalView
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. 'Help Index' Menu Choice ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Select Help Index to display an alphabetic list of references to the help
topics in PalView. Select an index entry to display the help topic that is
related to that index entry.
Note: To see all text of the index entries, maximize the Index window.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. 'General Help' Menu Choice ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Select General Help as the starting point for help on PalView. General Help
brings up a top level contents page and provides access to most all help
entries.
Note: Help for specific windows, features, and controls can be displayed by
setting the cursor focus on the control or window in question and pressing the
F1 key.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. 'Using Help' Menu Choice ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Select Using Help to find out how to use this help facility.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. 'About PalView' Menu Choice ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Select About PalView to get a window displaying version, copyright, and
acknowledgement information about the application.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. Keys Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
There is no key specific help for PalView, as there is no special key input
for the application. However PalView does, in general, handle key input as
defined for WPS/PM (e.g. Shift-F10 for context menu, spacebar for select,
accelerator keys, etc). For information on default WPS/PM key input see the
section Key Assignments section in the OS/2 Master Help Index. For information
on mouse specific assignments or actions, see the section Mouse Actions
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. Settings Dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The Settings Dialog allows the operation and features of PalView to be
configured. Changes to the Settings information are automatically saved each
time PalView is run.
The following features can be configured from the Settings Dialog:
o 'Size' Setting
o 'Floating Window' Settings
o 'RGB Component Display' Setting
There is also help available for the buttons on the Setting Dialog:
o The 'Set' Button
o The 'Cancel' Button
o The 'Defaults' Button
o The 'Help' Button
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13. 'Size' Setting ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Currently, PalView can be sized to any of three fixed-dimension sizes: Small,
Medium, and Large. The size can be changed by looping through the choices,
either by using the keyboard "Up" and "Down" arrow keys, or by clicking on the
arrow buttons with the mouse.
These fixed sizes are based on the unit size of a single palette entry color
square:
Size Unit Size of Color Square
Small @ 8x8 pels or pixels
Medium @ 16x16 pels or pixels
Large @ 32x32 pels or pixels
The PalView window dimensions are based upon a square lay-out of entry color
squares. For example, for a 256 color palette, the palette entry display field
is an area of 16 rows and 16 columns of entry color squares. This leads to the
rough window dimensions as follows:
Size Rough Dimensions of Window
Small @ 146x198 pels or pixels
Medium @ 274x326 pels or pixels
Large @ 530x582 pels or pixels
Note that the above listed window sizes assume that the RGB Component Display
feature is enable and is being drawn.
Default: The default size is Medium
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14. 'Floating Window' Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
PalView has an optional feature that allows it to maintain it's window on top
of the PM Window Z-order stack; that is, there is a feature which allows
PalView to remain on top of and completely unobscured by all other PM Windows.
This allows the user to monitor the palette entry color field, even with a
maximized active window which would otherwise hide the PalView window. The
PalView window will always "float to the top".
Since there is no functionality built in to OS/2 or PM to allow a window to
automatically "float" above all other windows, PalView uses a technique of
periodically checking it's position and moving itself to the top if necessary.
The interval, or frequency with which PalView checks it's position is
configurable.
Note: This feature in no way affects which window is the active or focus
window. Normally, the top level window is the active or focus window (i.e. it
is the window that currently receives all user input). If this feature "floats"
the PalView window on top of the current active window, the active window
retains it's active status and will continue to receive all user input.
Enabling the "Floating Window" Feature
The floating window feature is completely optional, and can be enabled or
disable by the user. To enable the floating window feature, put a check (by
clicking with the mouse, or by pressing the space bar) in the check-box control
labeled "Enable Float Feature".
Default: The default setting is enabled
Setting the "Floating Window" Interval
The "Floating Window Interval" is the number of seconds PalView waits in
between checking whether it is covered by a window or not. If PalView finds it
is covered, it will move itself on top of all other windows. The fewer number
of seconds the interval is set to, the quicker PalView will move itself to the
top; however, the quicker PalView checks on it's position the more demand it
will place on the System. While a one second interval will not, in general,
slow the overall system performance, it is, in most cases, over-kill and
unnecessary short. At the other end of the spectrum, the maximum interval of 60
second is probably too long to be of any practical use. Experimentation and
usage should dictate the "best" setting.
The interval can be changed by looping thru the number of seconds ( from 1 to
60 ) by using the keyboard "Up" and "Down" arrow keys, or by clicking on the
arrow buttons with the mouse.
Note: If the Float Feature is disabled, then the interval input control (i.e.
the spin button) is "grayed-out", and the interval timeout value cannot be
changed.
Default: The default interval timeout is three seconds.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 15. 'RGB Component Display' Setting ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The RGB Component Display is an optional feature and is one of the most
powerful aspects of PalView. This feature allows each individual color palette
entry to be queried and will report the entry color by the intensity value of
each of it's RGB (i.e. Red, Green, Blue ) components. The possible intensity
value range for a component is 0 to 255. As an example, a pure, bright red
would be reported as RED=255, GREEN=0, BLUE=0; as another example, a pure,
bright cyan would be reported as RED=0, GREEN=255, BLUE=255.
When this feature is enabled, PalView's window is expanded to display an area
above the palette entry display field where the RGB components and the palette
index of a selected entry is displayed.
The RGB component display area can look like:
Starting from the left, the first number is the entry index in the hardware
palette slot. Note that hardware palette indices do not, in general, match the
"logical" palette indices set by the application creating the palette. The next
three numbers are the values of the Red, Blue, and Green
components,respectively, for this color entry.
The entry to be displayed is selected with the mouse pointer. When the
feature is enable, the mouse pointer is changed from it's default (normally an
arrow) to a magnifying glass whenever it is over the PalView window.
The magnifying glass pointer looks like:
An entry is selected by placing the magnifying glass pointer so that the
center of the glass is over the color square of the entry of interest. The RGB
Component Display updates as pointer moves over the color squares.
Note: Normally, the RGB Component values for a given entry are sampled once
(when the magnifying glass pointer first moves over the entry color square) and
is not updated until the pointer moves off the entry color square and then back
on. This greatly improves performance and is fine for most cases of querying a
static palette. However, this sampling rate may not prove sufficient if the
palette is being "animated", or the palette entry is being changed rapidly due
to palette switches. For these cases, PalView has a feature that allows it to
monitor a dynamic palette entry. If the left mouse button is press and held
down while the magnifying glass pointer is over a color entry square, the RGB
Component value will be sampled and the RGB Component Display updated
approximately every 1/10th of a second. For more information about this feature
see the section Mouse Actions
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 16. The 'Set' Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The Set button configures PalView according to the settings entered via the
PalView Settings Dialog. The settings take effect immediately. The Set button
also closes the Settings Dialog.
Note: These settings will be automatically stored when PalView is closed, and
will be used the next time it is run.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 17. The 'Cancel' Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The Cancel button closes the Settings Dialog without changing the
configuration of PalView. Any changes entered via the Settings Dialog are
discarded.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 18. The 'Defaults' Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The Defaults button sets all the settings on the Settings Dialog to their
default state and value. The default state and value for each Setting item is:
ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓö¼ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÉ
ΓöéSETTING ΓöéDEFAULT STATE/VALUE Γöé
Γö£ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓö╝ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöñ
ΓöéSize ΓöéMedium Γöé
Γö£ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓö╝ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöñ
ΓöéFloating Window ΓöéEnabled Γöé
Γö£ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓö╝ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöñ
ΓöéFloating Window Interval ΓöéThree seconds Γöé
Γö£ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓö╝ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöñ
ΓöéRGB Component Display ΓöéEnabled Γöé
ΓööΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓö┤ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÿ
Note: The Default button only sets the values/states but does not re-configure
PalView or activate the new settings.The Set button must be pressed to activate
the new settings, or the Cancel button must be pressed to discard the changes
and retain the old settings.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 19. The 'Help' Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The Help button brings up help for the Settings Dialog. Information about
each Settings option and feature is explained.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 20. The Screen Device Color Info Dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The Screen Device Color Info Dialog is an informational dialog which lists
the graphic and color capabilities of the current PM screen device as reported
by the screen presentation driver. For an description of all the capabilities
and characteristics reported on, see the section The Device Color Info List
Note: None of the capabilities listed may be changed with this dialog; this
dialog is informational only.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 21. The Device Color Info List ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The capabilities and characteristics reported on are:
Driver version
The release version of the Screen Presentation Driver.
Width in pels
The maximum horizontal width of the Screen in pels or pixels.
Height in pels
The maximum vertical height of the Screen in pels or pixels.
Horizontal resolution
The maximum horizontal resolution of the Screen in pels or pixels per
meter.
Vertical resolution
The maximum vertical resolution of the Screen in pels or pixels per
meter.
Number of color planes
The number of color planes supported by the Screen. Most commonly,
this is one.
Number of color bits
The number of color bits per pel (per plane) supported by the Screen.
Color bits are used to represent color indices (or RGB values for
24-bits). Normally, one bit allows for monochrome support, four bits
for 16 colors, 8 bits for 256 color, and 16 bits for 64K colors.
Max colors supported
The maximum number of distinct colors simultaneously support by the
Screen.
Max 'physical' colors supported
The maximum number of distinct physical colors support by the Screen.
These may or may not be supported simultaneously. Commonly, this
number is equal to that reported by Max colors supported.
Max color index available
The maximum index value supported by the Screen for color palettes
and logical color tables. Note that the range of color indices start
at zero, rather than one.
Color table support
A category of features relating to Color Table support. The possible
reported features in this category are:
Min. 8 bits per RGB component support
A color table with a minimum of 8 bits per RGB component can be
loaded.
Other than 8 bits per RGB component support
A color table with some number other than 8 bits per RGB component
can be loaded.
True color mixing support
True color mixing of the realized color table can occur (assuming
that the number of color entries in the table is less than or
equal to number of supported colors as reported by Max colors
supported).
Realizable color table support
Logical color tables can be realized into the hardware color
table/palette by an application.
None
There is no special color table support.
Extended color graphics capabilities
A category of miscellaneous features reported by the presentation
driver. The possible reported features in this category are:
Palette Manager support
Color palettes, as opposed to color tables, are supported by the
Screen. For more information on color palettes, see the section
How Color Palettes Work.
Color cursor support
Color cursors are supported by the Screen.
Note: None of the capabilities listed may be changed with this dialog; this
dialog is informational only.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 22. The 'OK' Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The OK button dismisses the Screen Device Color Info Dialog.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 23. The 'Help' Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
The Help button brings up help for the Screen Device Color Info Dialog.
Information about each of the reported characteristics and features is
explained.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 24. How Color Palettes Work ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
How Color Palettes Work
All output devices, such as printers and monitors, have an associated
hardware color palette. This hardware color palette contains the colors which
are simultaneously supported in hardware by the device at a given instant. For
simple printers, this might be just two colors: black and white. For VGA
displays, the hardware color palette will contain 16 colors. For many SVGA and
XGA displays, the number is more commonly 256 supported colors. A device is
said to support "true-color" when it can support 24-bit color definitions, or
16.7 million colors; that is, true-color devices can simultaneously support and
display the full color spectrum of human perception. For devices which don't
support true-color, only a subset of those colors can be displayed at any given
time. The art of color management on these devices is to manipulate the subset
of colors to simulate true-color display. The OS/2 Palette Manager system was
designed to facilitate and simplify color subset manipulation.
The OS/2 Palette Manager system is an Presentation Manager subsystem which
allows the equitable sharing among OS/2 applications of the "limited resource"
of the hardware color palette. Additionally, Palette Manager allows the
applications extensive control over the hardware color palette. The system is
typically available only on devices with hardware color palettes of 256 colors.
It should be noted that the Palette Manager system is implemented by the device
driver, not by OS/2 itself, and therefore may not be supported on all devices.
For the rest of this discussion, only screen devices with hardware color
palettes of 256 colors will be covered. These are the devices on which Palette
Manager is most commonly used, and the only devices that PalView monitors.
By default, OS/2 sets the hardware color palette of the screen to a color
palette that has been psychometrically tuned to provide a robust, generic
spectrum, suitable for most general applications. However, there are
specialized applications for which the default color palette is not sufficient;
these applications have a need to display custom colors not available in the
default palette. Take, for example, a photo touchup/editing application needing
to display a picture of a red balloon. Assume that to accurately display the
gradients of the balloon, the application needs 128 shades of red. The default
color palette doesn't contain anywhere near 128 shades of red. The application
could override the default palette by directly setting the hardware color
palette to contain 128 shades of red. This would make the balloon look great.
However, other applications running on the Desktop, which are depending on the
default color palette, will also be displayed with 128 shades of red; this is
probably not what the applications' authors had in mind, and would most likely
lead to horrendous looking results for these other applications. Now assume
that a second graphics application directly sets the hardware color palette to
192 shades of green to accurately represent it's own graphic. Since the
hardware color palette was snatched away from the first application, the red
balloon won't display properly (because many of the red shades will now have
become green). It's important to note that the application displaying the red
balloon has no way to know that it has lost it's entries in the hardware color
palette, and that it's display is incorrect. These are the nature of problems
which OS/2's Palette Manager system addresses and prevents.
Palette Manager provides a controlled mechanism for an application to set
the hardware color palette by making requests for custom colors. It provides
arbitration when multiple applications are trying to concurrently request
custom color be set. This arbitration follows a few simple rules:
o If the application is the active foreground window, then it gets all of
it's color requests assigned to the hardware palette. If the active
foreground windows doesn't request all of the hardware palette slots,
then the remaining colors slots are considered as unclaimed.
o If the application is a background window, then it is granted it's
requests only from the color slots which are unclaimed. In this case the
application may only be granted a subset of it's requests. The remaining
color requests for the application are mapped to the closest matching
color available in the hardware color palette.
o All slots of the default color palette are considered unclaimed.
o When a new application becomes the active foreground window, all the
applications are notified by the system to reclaim their color requests.
This allows the arbitration to start anew. It also allows the
applications to repaint their windows, thereby utilizing the new color
palette resulting from the arbitration.
With the Palette Manager's arbitration, the foreground application --
usually the one the user is concentrating on -- is always assured of being
displayed with the most accurate color selection possible. The background
applications are assured of, if not the most accurate color selection, then
the best use of the colors available.
Other Functions
Palette Manager also allows applications a special function: animating color
palette slots. The color value of an animated color palette slot can be
changed very rapidly. The change is visible immediately, without the need for
window repainting. PalView uses palette animation to create the color effect
seen on the "About PalView" dialog box.
Special Notes
Palette Manager withholds 20 hardware color palette slots to maintain the
default colors necessary for a consistent looking Desktop. These 20 slots are
divided up as the first 10 and last 10 slots of the palette, as can be seen
with PalView. This leaves a maximum 236 slots available for application usage.
Although it is programmatically possible for an application to claim and
override these 20 slots, thereby using the full 256 slots, it is generally
discouraged.
More On Palettes
For more information on Palette Manager and color palette management,
particularly from a programming standpoint, see:
"Color Palette Management with OS/2", John D. Webb, OS/2 Developer Magazine,
November 1994.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 25. Mouse Actions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
This sections describes the mouse actions or assignments that are particular
to PalView. Mouse action that are, in general, standard for PM/WPS application
are not discussed; for information about the standard PM/WPS mouse action
assignments, see the manual OS/2 2.1 Using the Operating System or run the OS/2
Tutorial that is optionally installed with OS/2.
The following list describes the actions that can be performed with the
mouse, along with the necessary conditions and locations :
"Pop Up" the Main Menu
Action
Single-click the right mouse button (i.e. mouse button 2).
Location
Anywhere on the palette entry display field (i.e. on any of the
colored squares).
Condition
At any time.
Select color entry for the RGB Component Display
Action
Move the mouse pointer over the palette entry display field (i.e.
on any of the colored squares).
Location
Anywhere on the palette entry display field.
Condition
Only when the RGB Component Display has been enabled via the
Settings Dialog.
Note
When the RGB Component Display is enabled, the mouse pointer is
set to look like a magnifying glass:
Dynamically update the RGB Component Display of an "animated" palette entry
Action
Click and hold the left mouse button (i.e. mouse button 1).
Location
Over the palette entry (i.e. the colored square) of interest.
Condition
Only when the RGB Component Display has been enabled via the
Settings Dialog.
Note
For information on animated palette entries, see the section How
Color Palettes Work.
Reset the default System Color Palette
Action
Double-click the left mouse button.
Location
Anywhere on the palette entry display field (i.e. on any of the
colored squares).
Condition
At any time.
Note: This section describes PalView mouse actions for an OS/2 system using
the default mouse mappings. If changes have been made to the default System
mouse action settings via the Mappings page of the Mouse Settings object
(under the System Setup object), then PalView will conform to these changes.
For example, if the action to display pop-up menus is changed from the PM/WPS
default of Single-clicking button 2 to Single-clicking button 1 with the ALT
key pressed, then PalView will require the new action to display it's pop-up
menu rather than the default action described in the section above.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 26. Limitations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
This section will describe the known caveats or limitations of PalView.
o PalView only works on machines capable of supporting Palette Manager. For
example, VGA does not support Palette Manager, therefore if PalView is run
on a VGA machine, it will report that Palette Manager is not supported and
exit. Most current SVGA, XGA, and 8514A drivers support Palette Manager. If
in doubt, check with the video driver manufacturer.
o PalView is currently only designed to work with palettes of 256 colors. This
is due to the lack of palette arbitration in true-color (or near true color)
configurations (i.e. there wouldn't be any changes for PalView to display);
it is also due, in no small part, to the difficulties of displaying 65,536
or more color entries in a meaningful way that doesn't also cover the entire
screen area.
o The 'Reset Palette' feature of PalView may not work in all cases. There is
no explicit function built into the PM system to reset the palette, so
PalView must try to trick PM into resetting the palette. PM is not always
fooled by the trick. Hopefully, this will change in the future.
o Because PalView saves information about it window size and position between
invocations of the application, if the screen resolution is changed (e.g.
changed from 1024x768 to 640x480) between invocations, the PalView window
may size and position itself incorrectly the next time it is run. This is
because, under OS/2, size and position are resolution dependent. Incorrect
sizing can be easily corrected by pulling up the Settings panel and changing
(i.e. setting) the size to another size and then changing it back. Incorrect
positioning may be corrected by moving the window to the desired location.
o If one of PalView's dialog boxes is opened and then closed while monitoring
a palette animating application, and the dialog was covering the main
PalView window, the palette animation may suspend. This is caused by PalView
repainting it's window (and grabbing the palette to do so) while being the
active focus window; this takes away the reserved animating palette slots
from the palette animating application. If the palette animating application
is made the active focus window, then palette animation should resume as
normal.
o If the "About PalView" dialog box (which is a palette animating window) is
opened while monitoring a palette animating application, and another palette
managing application is also running, it is possible that the palette
managing application may not be draw properly when the "About PalView"
dialog is close. To fix the drawing, simply cause a repaint of the palette
animating application while it is the active focus window; an easy way to do
this is to minimize and then restore the applications window.
o If the 'Floating Window' feature of PalView is enabled, then in a few
special cases the PalView window may float to the top of OS/2's desktop
Lockup window. The special cases are limited to when a message box is
generated by the Lockup screen, as in the case of typing in an incorrect
password or pressing the help button. This is due to how PM handles the
Z-ordering during the Lockup Screen process. This is a cosmetic problem
only; because PalView does not influence the active window or the window
modal state of PM, this problem will never inhibit the user's ability to
unlock the OS/2 desktop Lockup window !
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 27. Technical Support ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
PalView, as stated in the section Legalities is provided free of charge on a
strictly "as is" basis.
However, the author will make a good faith effort to address:
o Errors, traps, unexpected behavior, and problems encountered with
PalView.
o Errors and typos in PalView's help system documentation.
o Questions about PalView's general operation.
o Questions about distributing PalView.
o Comments and criticisms of PalView.
o Feature suggestions and enhancements for PalView.
Please send all correspondence to the author, John D. Webb, at the following
E-mail address:
Compuserve
71075,1117
Internet
71075.1117@compuserve.com
Note: The author cannot guarantee a timely response to all inquiries.
ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 28. Legalities ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
Copyright
Program and documentation copyright(c) 1994, John D. Webb. All rights reserved.
License
The author, John D. Webb, licenses the program, PalView, to you under the
following conditions:
o There is no monetary charge or fee for your use of the program.
o You may make copies of the program.
o You may distribute copies of the program, under the following conditions:
- The components that comprise the PalView program, including the program
executable file (.EXE) and the program help file (.HLP), are always
distributed together.
- The components that comprise the PalView program, including the program
executable file (.EXE) and the program help file (.HLP), are not tampered
with or altered in any way.
- The copyright and warranty notices for the program are not tampered with,
altered, or removed.
- There is never a direct monetary charge, sales fee, or rental fee
attached to a distributed copy. If you want to include and distribute
PalView in a collection of programs, where a charge or fee applies solely
to the distribution media or to the collection as a whole, please first
receive written permission from the author at the address listed in the
Technical Support.
o You may not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or create derivative
work from the program.
Disclaimer of Warranties
This program, PalView, is not warranted in any manner and is provided
strictly "as is". There is no warranty, either express or implied, oral or
written, including implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a
particular purpose. Note that your state laws may disallow exclusion of
implied warranties.
Limitation of Liability
The author, John D. Webb, shall not be liable for any direct, indirect,
incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising out of your
use, or inability to use, this program, even if he has been advised of the
possibility of such damages.
Note: If you do not agree to and accept all terms and conditions stated in
this document, simply delete all copies of the PalView program in your
possession. Your continued use of this program constitutes your acceptance of
all the terms and conditions as stated.