Zoom+

Copyright 1998 Russell Freeman

E-mail: russf@gipsysoft.com

To see other great products or to get updates for Zoom+ why not visit my web site at GipsySoft.com

Zoom+ screen magnification utility to replace the ever-popular ZoomIn shipped with various Microsoft development tools. I liked ZoomIn, it did almost everything I wanted and was small and light. But, the interface was a little clumsy for setting the update speed, it did not save its settings to the registry and it had a nasty flicker when resizing.

So I decided to write Zoom+. It addresses all of the problems I found with ZoomIn and has some extra features. Here is a complete list:

  Magnify any portion of the screen.

  Remembers its size and position.

  Remembers its zoom factor and the area it is magnifying.

  Up to date interface.

  Interface allows access to all controls.

  Intellimouse support for data-zoom, that is hold down the CTRL key whilst pushing the mouse wheel forwards and backwards.

  Full keyboard support.

  Always on top - this allows Zoom+ to remain floating above all other applications.

  Copy to clipboard - both the zoomed image and the screen image can be copied to the clipboard.

  Save to file support - both the zoomed image and the screen image can be saved to an uncompressed Windows bitmap, this file can then be loaded and edited using an image editor such as Microsoft Paint.

  Follow mouse - allows Zoom+ to update the display every time the mouse moves. This is useful when inspecting areas of the screen that may be animated or where you are not really sure where the area of interest may be.

  Zoom+ has a small footprint due to the fact that it does not use the MFC or MSVCRT.

Keys

Remember

Zoom+ is Shareware. That means you can use and distribute it for free, but if you like Zoom+ then you need to register it. To register Zoom+ simply send me £10 (10 Pounds Sterling) in an envelope and mail to:

Russ Freeman
22 Gipsy Lane
Exmouth
Devon
EX8 3HW
England

Don't forget to give me your name, address and email so that I can let you know of updates and other products that I write.


Displays the Help About dialog box


Save the image to an uncompressed Windows bitmap file.


Copy the magnified image to the clipboard, the magnified image is the image currently displayed in the Zoom+ main window area.


Copy the selected screen image to the clipboard. This is useful when you want to capture a small portion of the screen in one go, this saves the steps of capturing the entire window/screen, copying to a paint package and then cutting out the piece you are interested in.


Set the magnification level currently in use.


Set the update speed used, this is used when you want Zoom+ to watch an area of the screen and automatically update the main display when the screen changes.

  Slow will update once per second

  Medium will update ten times per second.

  Fast will update twenty times per second.


Changes the position of the Zoom+ window. If this option is selected then Zoom+ will remain on top of all other applications even when it is not active. This is useful when you want to magnify a maximized window.


Zoom+ toolbar. Use the What's This help to find out more about the commands on the toolbar.


This is the sizing gripper for the window.


This is the main display area of Zoom+, it displays a magnified area of the screen.

To move the magnification area simply hold down the left mouse button and drag, this will display a selection rectangle that you can move around the entire screen, where ever you drop the rectangle will determine the screen area Zoom+ will magnify.


Keyboard Control

  Cursor keys move the view one pixel in the desired direction, when combined with Ctrl the view will move 16 pixels in the desired direction.

  Page Up and Page Down move the view up or down by a little under the height of the view, when combined with Ctrl will move the view left or right a little under the width of the view.

  Plus(+) will zoom in, Minus(-) will zoom out. Also, if you have an intellimouse then using the mouse wheel roll forward/backward with Ctrl pressed (datazoom) will zoom in/out.

  Plus(+) and Minus(-) combined with Ctrl will increase or decrease the update speed.

  Ctrl-C will copy the magnified image to the clipboard, when combined with Shift it will copy the unmagnified image to the clipboard. This is useful for grabbing a portion of the screen instead of doing a screen grab and then cutting out the bit you want using your image editor.

  Ctrl-M toggles the follow mouse feature on and off. When enabled the Zoom+ display will track along with the mouse movements. An arrow will also be displayed within the Zoom+ display at the same position as the mouse relative to the Zoom+ display.

  Ctrl-S will allow you to save the image in either magnified or unmagnified format.


Used to determine whether you save a large, zoomed bitmap or a small, non-zoomed bitmap


Follow Mouse will cause the zoom view to move with the mouse.


The status bar, context relevant information appears here.


This panel displays the RGB (Red, Green and Blue) colour values at the current cursor position.


This panel displays a solid fill of the colour value at the current cursor position


This panel displays the mouse coordinates relative to the desktop.