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1996-12-31
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WALL-ACE 1.1 README
Wall-Ace 1.1 Copyright 1996 Sidney D. Peters. All Rights Reserved.
CONTENTS
--------
A WORD ABOUT SHAREWARE
INTRODUCTION
WHAT'S NEW
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
FILES INCLUDED
INSTALLATION
REVISION HISTORY
A WORD ABOUT SHAREWARE
----------------------
Wall-Ace is shareware, not free software. Shareware is not a type of
software, but rather a method of distributing software. Shareware
remains copyrighted, commercial software, which you are allowed to
evaluate before paying for.
You are allowed to evaluate Wall-Ace for a period of thirty days without
cost. If after that time you continue to use Wall-Ace, you are required
to register the program. Please see the license.txt file for details.
INTRODUCTION
------------
Wall-Ace is a Windows wallpaper manager which allows you to change your
wallpaper on command whenever you wish, or to have your wallpaper
changed automatically at timed intervals or each time Windows starts.
You can choose the wallpaper you wish to have displayed directly from a
list of wallpapers conveniently accessible in the main window, or you
can have Wall-Ace select new wallpapers from your wallpaper list either
randomly or sequentially.
Wall-Ace brings together abilities not found together in any other
single utility, as well as capabilities not found anywhere else. Some
of Wall-Ace's unique features are:
- can be run either full screen, or quietly from the command line. In
full screen mode, Wall-Ace can optionally change wallpaper when
started, and can optionally exit after the first wallpaper change
occurs. In command line mode, Wall-Ace starts, changes the wallpaper,
and exits, all without appearing on the screen.
- combines a user specified wallpaper directory, along with user
selected wallpaper files from any directory on your system, into a
single easy to use wallpaper list.
- optionally, can automatically add to your wallpaper list any new
wallpaper files which have appeared in your wallpaper directory since
the last time Wall-Ace was run.
- allows you to assign to each wallpaper in your list a weighting, which
is the number of times it will appear in random selection before the
cycle is complete, thus allowing wallpapers to appear more or less
frequently, as compared to other wallpapers.
Here are some additional features of Wall-Ace:
- works with all standard Windows bitmap files (including run length
encoded [RLE] files) which have a .bmp extension.
- can select wallpapers from directories anywhere on your system, not
just your WINDOWS directory.
- any wallpaper in your list can be immediately displayed by selecting
it directly from the wallpaper list conveniently available in the main
window.
- new wallpapers can be chosen either randomly or sequentially from your
wallpaper list.
- a new wallpaper can be automatically selected at timed intervals, as
well as each time Wall-Ace runs.
- accumulated time within the current interval can be saved when
Wall-Ace exits, and the interval resumed when Wall-Ace next runs.
- quick access to Wall-Ace's secondary windows via command buttons in
the main window.
- easy and flexible configuration via Preferences window.
- easy addition and editing of wallpapers in your wallpaper list.
- individual tile/center settings for each wallpaper in your list.
- added wallpapers can be automatically given a tile or center setting,
or can have the tile/center setting chosen automatically based on the
wallpaper file's size.
- Wall-Ace is well-behaved -- it doesn't modify your hard drive or
system files, or litter your hard drive with miscellaneous files.
WHAT'S NEW
----------
Wall-Ace 1.1 has quite a few new features:
* A Hide Icon option has been added. If active, when Wall-Ace is
minimized, its icon is invisible. To reactivate the program, simply
run Wall-Ace again; instead of a second copy being run, the first
instance will be reactivated.
* All automatic selection methods now ignore wallpapers whose weight is
zero, allowing wallpapers to be in the wallpaper list, yet never be
chosen by automatic selection. They may still be chosen by direct
selection.
* The Random selection method has been renamed Random Cyclic, and a new
selection method named Random has been added. The new Random
selection generates weighted random selections from all enabled
(weight > 0) wallpapers, without regard to their count. The newly
named Random Cyclic selection, as before, generates random selections
only from available (count > 0) wallpapers, and resets the counts when
all have reached zero, in cyclic fashion. Hence the new name.
* The way in which wallpapers are chosen with the Random Cyclic
(formerly called Random) selection method has been improved.
Previously, the wallpaper was chosen randomly from all available
wallpapers with an even distribution (unweighted), i.e. all wallpapers
with count > 0 had an equal probability of selection regardless of
their count. Wallpapers with greater weights simply appeared a
greater number of times within the cycle, but without greater
probability of selection at any change. The selection is now chosen
randomly from all available wallpapers with a weighted distribution,
i.e. those with greater counts have a greater probability of selection
at each change.
* Wall-Ace now has the ability to play user selected .wav sound files.
A different sound may be played when the wallpaper is changed
manually, when it is changed automatically, or when the selection
cycle repeats.
* The Wallpaper Directory selection panel has been moved from the
Preferences window to the Edit Wallpaper File List window. This
physical arrangement coincides more closely with the logical
structure, and makes setup more straight forward. In addition, it
provides more space in the Preferences window for the added Sound
Options panel.
* The alt-hotkeys in the Preferences window have been slightly modified
to accomodate the changes and additions.
* An item titled '(None)' has been added to the top of the list in the
Current Wallpaper list box in the Main window to allow setting the
Windows wallpaper to none.
* Previously, if the Windows wallpaper that was current when Wall-Ace
was started, as reported by win.ini, was not in the wallpaper list,
the current entry in the Current Wallpaper list box in the Main window
was empty. Now, the current wallpaper, if it is not in the wallpaper
list, is added to the end of the list in the Current Wallpaper list
box and displayed in the Current Wallpaper list box. It remains a
valid entry until Wall-Ace is exited, and may be manually selected
even after other wallpapers have been selected.
* Previously, if the Wallpaper Directory was changed and then the
Preferneces (now Edit Wallpaper File List) Cancel button was pressed,
the Wallpaper Directory change was not cancelled, but remained in
effect. Fixed.
* Previously, if Wall-Ace was minimized when exited, the main window
position was incorrectly saved as the position of the minimized icon,
and with Windows 95 caused and overflow error. Fixed.
* Since the wallace.txt file contained the same information as the
wallace.hlp file, the text file has been removed and replaced by a
readme.txt file.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
-------------------
Wall-Ace runs under either Windows 3.1x, Windows For Workgroups 3.1x, or
Windows 95, and requires the Visual Basic run-time file, vbrun300.dll.
FILES INCLUDED
--------------
The following files are included in the archive for this release of
Wall-Ace:
wallace.exe - the Wall-Ace program file.
wallace.hlp - the on-line help file.
readme.txt - introduction and installation instructions.
license.txt - Wall-Ace license and distribution guidelines.
orderfrm.txt - Wall-Ace order form.
beep.wav - a sound file
drip.wav - a sound file
boing.wav - a sound file
spaceage.wav - a sound file
gametime.wav - a sound file
spin.vbx - provides additional program functionality.
threed.vbx - provides additional program functionality.
file_id.diz - a short program description for BBSs.
INSTALLATION
------------
NEW INSTALLATION
After extracting the included files from the archive, copy wallace.exe,
wallace.hlp, the sound files (.wav), and the text files (.txt) to any
directory in which you normally place executable Windows utilities.
(The text files may be placed in a corresponding documentation
directory, and the sound files may be placed in another location in
which you normally keep sound files, but the files wallace.exe and
wallace.hlp should be kept together.)
The spin.vbx and threed.vbx files are Visual Basic files which should be
placed in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. These files are used by
certain other Visual Basic programs as well, so you may already have
copies of them in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. If so, don't copy
these files over top of the ones you already have; instead simply
discard them.
The file_id.diz file exists only to provide a short description of the
program to BBSs, and may be discarded.
In addition to the above files, the file vbrun300.dll must be in your
WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory in order for Wall-Ace to run. This is the
Visual Basic runtime file required by all Visual Basic 3.0 programs.
Following Microsoft recommendations, this file is not included, as it is
a large file which would substantially increase the size of the archive.
Since it is required by all Visual Basic programs, chances are very good
that you already have this file in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, but if
not, it may be downloaded separately from most BBSs and internet archive
sites.
Once the files have been placed in their proper directories, simply
create an icon for Wall-Ace in any group you choose, and installation is
complete. You may wish to create an icon for Wall-Ace in your startup
group in order to have Wall-Ace run each time Windows starts. See the
topic Using Wall-Ace in the OPERATION section of the Wall-Ace help file
for more information.
When Wall-Ace is run for the first time, (or whenever its .ini file
cannot be found), it will create its initialization file, wallace.ini,
with default values. This is the ONLY additional file that Wall-Ace
will add to your system! Normally, the .ini file is created in the same
directory in which wallace.exe resides (see the topic The Wall-Ace
Initialization File in the OPERATION section of the Wall-Ace help file
for more information).
UPGRADE INSTALLATION
After extracting the included files from the archive, copy wallace.exe,
wallace.hlp, and the text files (.txt) over top of the existing files
from your previous version. The old wallace.txt file may be discarded,
as it has been replaced by the readme.txt file.
Copy the sound files (.wav) to the same directory as your wallace.exe
file, or to another location in which you normally keep sound files.
The spin.vbx and threed.vbx files from the archive may be discarded,
since they should already be in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory from your
previous version.
The file_id.diz file exists only to provide a short description of the
program to BBSs, and may be discarded.
When Wall-Ace is run for the first time, it will update your wallace.ini
file, preserving all your previous settings and wallpapers. If your
wallace.ini file cannot be found, Wall-Ace will create a new
initialization file with default values.
REVISION HISTORY
----------------
1.0 96/09/15 - first public release.
1.1 96/12/31.
- Added Hide Icon option to make icon invisible when Wall-Ace is
minimized.
- All automatic selection methods now ignore wallpapers whose weight is
zero.
- Random selection method renamed Random Cyclic, and new selection
method named Random added.
- Random Cyclic selection method improved; now selectes new wallpaper
with a weighted distribution.
- Added ability to play user selected .wav sound files when the
wallpaper is changed manually, when it is changed automatically, or
when a new cycle begins.
- Wallpaper Directory selection panel moved from Preferences window to
Edit Wallpaper File List window.
- Alt-hotkeys in Preferences window slightly modified to accomodate
changes and additions.
- Added item titled '(None)' to the top of the list in the Current
Wallpaper list box to allow setting the Windows wallpaper to none.
- If the current Windows wallpaper when Wall-Ace is started, as reported
by win.ini, is not in the wallpaper list, it is now added to the end
of the Current Wallpaper list box list and displayed in the Current
Wallpaper list box.
- Previously, if the Wallpaper Directory was changed and then the
Preferneces (now Edit Wallpaper File List) Cancel button was pressed,
the Wallpaper Directory change was not cancelled, but remained in
effect. Fixed.
- Previously, if Wall-Ace was minimized when exited, the main window
position was incorrectly saved as the position of the minimized icon,
and with Windows 95 caused an overflow error. Fixed.
- Since the wallace.txt file contained the same information as the
wallace.hlp file, the text file has been removed and replaced by a
readme.txt file.
END OF WALL-ACE 1.1 README