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MIPFIC 1.0
==========
MIPFIC is Copyright © 1995-1996 Reinhard Haslbeck.
All rights reserved.
Disclaimer
----------
With this document I make no warranties or representations, either
expressed or implied, with respect to the program described herein.
The program and the information presented herein is being supplied on
an `as is' basis and is expressly subject to change without notice.
The entire risk as to the use of the program and the information
presented is assumed by the user. In no event will I be liable for
direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from
any claim arising out of the use of the program or the information
presented herein, even if I have been advised of the possibilities of
such damages.
Introduction to MIPFIC
----------------------
Since ImageDesk catalogs are just usable on Amigas, MIPFIC offers the
possibility to present graphics collections in a system independend
manner.
MIPFIC stands for `Make Index Pictures From ImageDesk Catalogs`. The
program name says exactly what it does. It generates IFF pictures from
catalogs made with ImageDesk. MIPFIC allows various layout styles such
as different border and text styles, custom spacing etc. To check how
the current layout looks like, it has a built in preview function.
System Requirements
-------------------
MIPFIC should run on every 68K CPU, it was compiled and optimized for
the plain 68000.
MIPFIC currently requires an Amiga running Workbench/Kickstart 3.0 or
higher, it also needs the following libraries (they should be in your
LIBS: directory): `asl.library`, `diskfont.library` and `iff.library'
V23.
The resulting index pictures will have 256 colors. To enable a preview
of the pictures, MIPFIC requires a graphics device which allows system
friendly 8bit screens.
Starting MIPFIC
---------------
During startup MIPFIC looks for the standard prefs file. If it doesn`t
find one default values will be used.
You can place MIPFIC anywhere you want, but if you change the position
of the program, it won`t find its default prefs file `MIPFIC.prefs`
anymore.
MIPFIC can be started from the Workbench or from a Shell. You can use
different arguments to change the startup behavoir of MIPFIC.
When MIPFIC was started from a Shell it will read the specified
arguments from the commandline (with ReadArgs()).IF started from
Workbench it will examine its Icon Tooltypes.
When you use MIPFIC from the Workbench, you can change or add these
arguments by changing or adding the Tool Type (with the same name) in
the window that appears when you select the `Information...'
menu item.
Recognized Tooltypes:
- PREFS (uses the specified file name
for the default prefs file)
- PUBSCREEN (opens its GUI on the specified screen)
When you use MIPFIC from a Shell you can specify the same arguments on
the commandline. MIPFIC uses this template:
P=PREFS/K,S=PUBSCREEN/K
Using MIPFIC
------------
This section is just a quick overview of MIPFICs Gadgets. In My opinon
this program is easy enough to use to omit large texts of description.
Framed Box `Screen`
...................
A click into the `?`-Button pops up the screen requester. The selected
screen is used for previewing the pictures. `Width` and `Height` are
also used for the dimensions of the resulting IFF pictures.
Framed Box `Font`
.................
A click into the `?`-Button pops up the font requester. The selected
font is used for printing the file names below the thumbnail images.
(also supports selected flags like `italic`, `bold` etc.)
Framed Box `Colors`
...................
These four Integer Gadgets specify which color registers will be used
for background, bright edges, dark edges and text. To find out which
colors the registers are assigned to, use a painting program like
DPaint, load a MIPFIC generated IFF picture into it and activate the
palette tool (All resulting pictures will have this palette).
Framed Box `Layout`
...................
The two Cycle Gadgets allow different text and border styles. With the
two Slider Gadgets you can regulate the horizontal and vertical
spacing between the thumbnails. Simply test it!
Framed Box `Commands`
.....................
`Open Catalog`: Opens a file requester which prompts you for an
ImageDesk catalog.
`Preview Screen(s)`: Previews the pictures with the current layout
settings. If this screen is displayed you can abort the preview by
pressing the <ESC> key or continue to render the next picture by
pressing any other key.
`Make Index Pic(s)`: First prompts for a file name the IFF pictures
will get (if more than one IFF picture has to be saved, the file names
will get a numbered extension). The pictures are rendered hidden, you
just will see the busy mouse pointer.
`Save Settings`: Saves your current settings as the default prefs file.
`Save Settings As`: Saves your current settings but prompts for a
custom file name first.
`Load Settings`: Opens a former saved prefs file.
`About`: Tells something interesting.
`Quit`: Quits MIPFIC after a security check.
Framed Box `Status`
...................
Here you will find some information:
Catalog loaded: Has a catalog already been loaded?
Valid Screen: Are the screen specs valid?
Thumbnails per Picture: How many thumbnails will fit on one IFF picture?
Required Pictures: How many IFF pictures are needed for all thumbs?
Notes
-----
This program was coded in just a few days during the X-Mas holidays.
It hasn´t passed a beta test phase so it is likely to have some bugs.
Anyway, Enforcer hits and memory leaks haven´t been detected.
MIPFIC supports XPK compressed catalogs but doesn´t support XPK
password encrypted catalogs. If you want to load encrypted catalogs
decrypt them first with `CATRepack`.
If MIPFICs GUI doesn´t look very good because of overlapping gadgets
and boxes, simply resize its window and do a `Save Settings´. MIPFIC
automatically will rearange the GUI and the new window size will be
stored in the prefs file.
Feature requests to support further image formats will be ignored.
IMHO there are enough converting tools available to do this job. But
please do me one favour and don´t convert these IFFs into JPEGs.
MIPFIC produces 8bit colormapped IFFs which are not very suitable for
JPEG. To save disk space PNG and GIF are well suited formats.
Thanks and Credits
------------------
MIPFIC uses
- `gengui 1.0` from Matthias Meixner for its GUI-Layout
- `iff.library V23` from Christian Weber for saving IFF images
A big `Thank You` must go to all of you who decided to register for
ImageDesk. Without you MIPFIC and even ImageDesk 2.x wouldn´t exist.
About the Author
----------------
MIPFIC was written by Reinhard Haslbeck.
If you have a good reason to contact me, take a look into the
ImageDesk docs for getting my address.