Icons Control Help Contents

This program was designed to manage and display as many Windows icon (ICO) or small (32x32) bit-mapped (BMP) files as possible.  New icons can be quickly created and existing icons can be copied, renamed, moved, or deleted with a click of the mouse.  Icons can also be created using the screen capture function to capture any areas of the screen. Hard copy of icons can be printed on any Windows-supported laser or color printers for easy reference.  You can even print icons from directly inside DLL or EXE files without having to extract them first.

Perhaps one of the popular features is the ability to convert ICO to BMP, BMP to ICO, and extract icons from DLL and EXE files. In addition to manage and display icons, Icons Control can be used for simple editing jobs.  Simply double click on the icon itself to enlarge the image 10 times for easy editing.

Icons Control supports regular icons, high color, and true color icons (up to 16.7 million colors).

Also available is Icons Control 95, the full 32-bit counterpart of Icons Control and was designed for Windows 95.  Please contact doanc@worldnet.att.net for more information.

•	Features

•	Differences between shareware and registered Icons Control

•	Hardware & software requirements

•	The toolbars

•	How to delete, copy, rename, or move an icon or bitmap?

•	How to recover deleted images?

•	How to print hard copy of icons to printers?

•	How to capture any part of the screen and save as an icon or bitmap?

•	How to highlight an icon using the file list box?

•	How to highlight a file name in the file list box using the icon grid?

•	How to view icons embedded inside DLL or EXE files?

•	How to extract icons from DLL or EXE files?

•	How to edit an icon?

•	How to bypass the opening screen upon startup?

•	How to convert ICO file format to BMP file format and vice versa?

•	Problems? Read this section first before contacting me

•	Registration & Contacting the author

•	Copyright Information & Disclaimer


Tool bar
Main toolbar

Create new icon/bitmap

Edit existing icon/bitmap

Convert the selected bitmap to icon

Convert the selected icon to bitmap

Capture any portion of the screen into an icon

Print hard copy of icons to printer

Icons Control Help

Exit Icons Control

Drag icon to delete into this trash can


How to capture any part of the screen into an icon
Click on the capture icon, the icon viewer will minimize itself into the upper left corner of the screen to make room for you to capture screen graphics.  A square will also appear as a tracking window.  Move this tracking window to any part of the screen you want to capture and click the left mouse button again to capture that part (to abort the capturing process, simply click on the right mouse button).  You will be asked a file name to save the captured image in.  Select either ICO to save the captured image as an icon file or BMP to save the captured image as a bitmap file.  To move 1 pixel at a time for greater accuracy, use the mouse to bring the tracking window to a vicinity of the region you want to capture then use the arrow keys to slowly position the tracking window on top of the part you want to capture.

NOTE:

•	To capture the graphics beneath the capturing window, press the HOME button to move the capturing window over.  You will also notice that the tracking window will not go below the lower bottom of the screen.  This is not a bug.  In order to go over this limit, you have to press HOME again to bring the capturing window back to its original position.

•	To allow you to capture ANY part of the screen, I provided the Page Up and Page Down keys to enlarge or reduce the size of the tracking window.  Please note that capture enlarging the tracking window larger than the default size will dramatically degrade the image quality of the captured image.  This is because I use the Windows API StretchBlt to squeeze that portion of the window into a smaller box.  And the StretchBlt is optimized for speed, not palette handling.  I recommend using the default size of the tracking window of 32x32 for best performance.


Features

•	Displays 100 icons/bitmaps simultaneously.

•	Quickly copies, renames, moves, and deletes existing icons/bitmaps.

•	Prints hard copy of icons to printers for quick reference.

•	Converts icon file format to bitmap file format (vice versa) with a mouse click.

•	Extracts icons from DLL and EXE files with a mouse click.

•	Quickly creates new icons/bitmaps.

•	Supports regular icons, high color, and true color icons (up to 16.7 million colors).

•	Supports Windows 95 & Macintosh-style trash can with drag & drop.

•	Captures any part of the screen and saves as an icon.

•	Makes parts of icon transparent (16-color icons only).

•	Editing tools:

 Free-hand drawing (pixel by pixel).

 Line drawing.

 Box drawing (outline/fill).

 Circle drawing (outline/fill).

 Flood fill drawing (solid/transparent).

 Color probe.

 Image shifting (up, down, left, and right).

 Image flipping (horizontal and vertical).


Differences between shareware and registered versions
Shareware:

•	Copy.

•	Rename.

•	Move.

•	Delete.

•	Edit.

•	ICO to BMP conversion.

•	Printing hard copy of icons.

•	No "nag" screen (I don't believe in "nag" screen" ;-)

Registered:

Above functions plus:

•	BMP to ICO conversion.

•	Icons extraction from DLLs and EXEs.

•	Captures any portion of the screen into an icon.

•	Access to image flip, shift, and rotate tools.

•	Printing of icons using color optimization.

•	Your name (or your company name) is displayed on  the opening screen and in the About window.  No more shamefully displaying that you are merely evaluating this software -- you will be a full-fledged Icons Control power user :-)

•	You will know in your heart that you have done the right thing (both legally and morally).

•	You will be notified via e-mail of new major releases and will be qualified for substantial discount for the upgrade.

•	Although technical support has not been a drastic necessity, registered users are naturally given  more priority and attention regarding technical support.


How to  delete or rename an icon

There are 3 ways to delete, copy, rename, or move files since version 4.0:

1.	Simply click, hold down the left mouse and drag the icon or bitmap over the trash can.  The icon will turn from the image to an regular mouse pointer and the trash can will turn black to confirm that this item is trashable.  At this point, release the mouse button and a confirmation box will appear with the name of the to delete for final confirmation.

2.	File can also be trashed by clicking and holding the file name in the drive list box, drag the file over the trash can similar to the above procedure.

3.	Or

1)	Select the desired icon using the icon grid or highlight the icon using the file list box.

2)	Choose Delete (Copy, Rename, Move) under File in the pull-down menu.

or

Press Del (Ctrl+C, CTRL+R, CTLR+M).

WARNING:

Deleted files cannot be recovered after trashed.  Be absolutely sure before deleting files.

.


Hardware & software requirements
Hardware Requirements

•	Any computer capable of running Window 3.1 (a 486 or better is recommended).

•	A standard VGA (a Windows-accelerated video card is recommended).

•	A mouse or trackball.

•	Any printer supported by Windows (optional).

Icons Control was also tested on the following computers:

•	100 MHz PCI Pentium-based computer with 16 MB of RAM and a 1 MB PCI Diamond Stealth SE.

•	150 MHz PCI Pentium-based computer with 32 MB of RAM and a 2 MB VRAM Diamond Stealth Video 3200 (S3-968) under the above resolutions and color depth modes.

•	IBM P5-133 with 32 MB or RAM and a 1MB PCI Diamond Stealth DRAM (S3-764).

•	AST Bravo LC 4/33s with 8MB of RAM and a 512K ATI video card.

•	Sharp PC-9050 notebook computer with 32 MB RAM and a 2 MB VRAM PCI  Trident (9660/9680/938X) linear accelerator.

The following printers were successfully  tested:

•	HP LaserJet 4L.

•	HP LaserJet 5L Extra.

•	Brother HL-720.

•	Canon BJC-610.

•	Epson Stylus Color.

•	Epson Stylus Color Pro.

Software Requirements

•	Icons Control was designed and tested under Microsoft Windows 3.1/Windows 95/Windows NT 3.51 on an ISA 486DX66-based computer with 8 MB of RAM, a mouse/trackball, and a 1MB ISA Diamond Stealth 24 graphic board under the following video modes: 640x480x16, 640x480x256, 640x480x65536, 800x600x256, 800x600x65536, 1024x768x16, and 1024x768x256.

Icons Control has not been tested in other environments because I do not have all the time and resources in the world.

NOTE:

The tracking window in the screen capture mode will not operate over the desktop portion (or any 32-bit window) of Windows 95 or Windows NT.  This is a problem for all screen capture software written for 16-bit operating system, such as Windows 3.0/3.1 running under 32-bit operating systems such as Windows 95 and Windows NT.  If youre using Icons Control screen capture on a 32-bit OS, please press AND hold down the left mouse and move the tracking rectangle over the target area, THEN release the mouse button to capture that area.


How to highlight an icon using the file list box
Single-click on a specific file in the file list box will also make the corresponding icon flash. If none of the icons in the view window is flashing then the selected icon is not within view of the grid.  In this case, click on the down arrow in the icon grid until the flashing icon comes within view.

NOTE:

Clicking on an icon embedded inside either a DLL or EXE file will not flash that icon.


How to print hardcopy of icons to printers
Simply click on the printer icon or pull down File on the menu bar, then click Print.  All icons/bitmaps in the current directory will be printed on the current default printer.  To switch to a different printer, pull down File on the menu bar and click on Print Setup.  The default print method Generic is supposed to work with a wide variety of printers on the market.  However, using Optimized print method will significantly speed up the printing process, but is not guaranteed to work with certain printers which have ill-behaved Windows printer driver.

NOTE:

•	The default print settings were set for the HP LaserJet 5L Extra at 300 dpi  You will have to change this settings for your specific printer (unless youre using the exact same printer at the same resolution).

•	Hard copy size of icons can be adjusted by pulling down Print Settings  under File on the menu bar.

•	Optimized print method is not available in the shareware version of Icons Control.


How to highlight a file name using the icon grid
Single-click on any icon will make that icon flash and will also highlight the file name of that icon in the file list box.

NOTE:

Clicking on an icon embedded inside either a DLL or EXE file will not flash that icon.


How to view icons embedded inside DLL or EXE files
First select the DLL or EXE extension in the File Type box.  Then single-click on the desired DLL or EXE file (do NOT double-click on files in the file list box, this will be interpreted as 2 single-clicks and cause Icons Control to display the icons (if any) inside the DLL or EXE twice.)

NOTE:

The number of icon will be 0 if none of the DLL or EXE file is currently selected.


How to extract icons from DLL or EXE files

1.	If you wish to extract all icons in the selected DLL or EXE file, put a check mark next to Batch Mode under Options first.  Otherwise, make sure to uncheck Batch Mode to extract only the selected icon.

2.	If you wish to extract only selected icons:

•	Double-click on the icon you want to extract, a file dialog box will appear and ask you to give the icon a file name.  Type in the name of the icon and click OK.  The selected icon will be saved under Windows icon format with the new file name.

or

If you wish to extract all embedded icons:

•	Select Extract under Image on the menu bar.

NOTE:

Extracting capability is only available to registered users of Icons Control (see Contacting the author  for more information.)


How to edit an icon
There are 3 ways to enter the Icon Editor:

•	Double click on the selected icon/bitmap.

or

•	Select the desired icon/bitmap or file name and select Edit under Image on the menu bar.

or

•	Select the desired icon/bitmap or file name and press Ctrl+E.

The selected icon/bitmap will be enlarged 10 times for easy viewing and editing of the pixels representation.  Use the left and right mouse buttons to single-click on the color palette to pick out the 2 colors which will be available for editing at any given time.  These 2 colors will be saved in the icnctrl.ini file for later use.

Make sure to save your work regularly by clicking on the disk icon.

To abort the last operation, click on the undo icon.

To start the editing session all over again, click on the original icon box.

NOTE:

Editing capability is only available to registered users of Icons Control (see Contacting the author for more information.)


Disclaimer
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION & DISCLAIMER

There is no 30-day evaluation period to use Icons Control.  Registration is not required to use the shareware version of Icons Control.  Non-registered users may use Icons Control as long as they wish.  However, in order to use the additional features, you must register the software to receive the registered, full-featured version.

A single user license permits a user to use Icons Control only on a single computer.  Licensed users may use the program on different computers, as long as there is NO POSSIBILITY of it being used at one location while it is being used at another, or on a computer network by more than one user at a time.

No one may modify or patch the Icons Control executable files in any way, including but not limited to decompiling, disassembling, or otherwise reverse engineering the program.

A limited license is granted to copy and distribute Icons Control only for the trial use of others, subject to the above limitations, and also the following:

1)	Icons Control and all of its release files must be copied in unmodified form, complete with the file containing this license information.

2)	Operators of electronic BBSs (sysops) may make Icons Control available for downloading only as long as the above conditions are met.  An overall or time-dependent charge for the use of the bulletin board system is permitted as long as there is not a specific charge for the download of Icons Control.

3)	Shareware copies may be uploaded to BBSs, FTP sites, Usenet newsgroups, and any network sites with the condition that all of its release files must be included in unmodified form, complete with the file containing this license information.

4)	Vendors of user-supported or shareware software approved by the ASP may distribute Icons Control, subject to the above conditions, without specific permission.  Non-approved vendors may distribute Icons Control only after obtaining written permission from myself.  Please write to:

Chris Doan

4891 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., #401

San Diego,  CA 92117

4)	Non-profit user groups may distribute copies of the Icons Control diskette to their members, subject to the above conditions, without specific permission. Non-profit groups may collect a disk duplication fee enough to cover the cost of the media and handling.

DISCLAIMER

I, CHRISTOPHER C. DOAN, MAKE NO GUARANTEE THAT THIS SOFTWARE WILL FUNCTION FLAWLESSLY NOR WILL I TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGES INCURRED BY THE USER EITHER ACCIDENTALLY OR  INTENTIONALLY THROUGH THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS. IT IS SHAREWARE AND YOU MAY DISTRIBUTE IT AS SUCH PROVIDING YOU KEEP THE HELP FILE, THE PROGRAM FILE AND THE INTRODUCTORY TEXT FILE IN ORIGINAL INTACT CONDITION. THE PROGRAM MAY BE DISTRIBUTED IN SHAREWARE\FREEWARE PACKAGES IN WHICH FEES COVER DUPLICATION/MEDIA COSTS. THIS PROGRAM MAY NOT BE SOLD COMMERCIALLY OR PRIVATELY WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

Use of this product for any period of time constitutes your acceptance of this agreement and subjects you to its contents.


How to bypass opening screen
Remove the check mark next to Opening Screen under Options to bypass the opening screen and music.


How to convert an icon (ICO) file to bitmap (BMP) file
If you wish to convert all ICO or BMP files in the current directory, first check the Batch Mode under Options.

To convert an icon (ICO) file to a bitmap (BMP) file, follow these 2 steps:

1.	Single click on the icon you wish to convert to bitmap.

2.	Click on the BMP icon on the toolbar or select the Convert to Bitmap from Options on the menu bar.

To convert a bitmap (BMP) file to an icon (ICO) file, follow these 2 steps:

1.	Single click on the bitmap you wish to convert to icon.

2.	Click on the ICO icon on the toolbar or select the Convert to Icon from Options on the menu bar.

NOTE:

File conversion capability is only available to registered users of Icons Control (see Contacting the author or more information.)


How to undelete images
1. Double click on the trash can to bring up the deleted items list.

2. Double click on the item(s) you wish to undelete.


Problems

PROBLEM:

Icon pixels were misaligned with the editing grid.

SOLUTION:

Your video driver may not be fully compatible with the Windows API.  Set the lowest possible color depth and try again.  If this problem goes away, then increase the color depth to a point where the problem occurs again.  Use the color depth one level below this point.

PROBLEM:

After the editing, the bottom part of the icon became all black.

SOLUTION:

Reduce the color depth.

PROBLEM:

The flood fill tool does not work on some parts of the icon.

SOLUTION:

The selected icon may not be a standard Windows 3.1 icon.  Try using the free-hand drawing tool instead.

PROBLEM:

The number of icons box shows 0 even though the number of files box shows some DLL or EXE files

SOLUTION:

None of the DLL or EXE file was selected.  You have to select of those files first before Icons Control will calculate the number of icons embedded inside that file and display the number of icons.

OTHER PROBLEMS:

Please send e-mail to doanc@worldnet.att.net or chris_doan@compuserve.com and explain in details the sequence to reproduce the problem.  If possible, please also send the snapshot of the problem screen under any graphics format (if its a formatting problem) or the DLL or EXE files that you have problems extracting icons from (if its an icon extraction problem.)  Ill figure out whats going on, fix the bugs, and e-mail you the revised version immediately.  Bug fixes have the highest priority over any new development in progress.


How to contact the author
REGISTRATION & CONTACTING THE AUTHOR

I first wrote this program for my own use using the Microsoft Visual BASIC 3.0 Professional Edition but I am releasing it to the public as shareware (versions 3.3 and older were Display Icons), and hope others find it as useful as I do.  There is no evaluation period to use Icons Control.  You may use it as long as you wish to display, manage, and edit icons.  In order to use additional features, you must register it.  Registered users will receive a registered copy of Icons Control on a disk and/or through internet e-mail (UUencoded or MIME-encoded) for $25.  For those of you who are not familiar with neither of the above e-mail decoding methods, I recommend that you pay $4 to receive the software on a disk through regular mail (it takes about 3-4 days).

Those of you have access to CompuServe, you can register Icons Control on line directly with CompuServe and receive the registered version almost instantly.  Icons Control CompuServe Registration ID is 7437.  Within hours of registration, youll receive a temporary license file in your CIS mailbox which you can use to turn your shareware version into a fully functional version.  A disk with your permanent license will be in the mail the next business day.  For international users, this registration method may be the best option since you do not have to worry about currency conversion and the mailing delay.

For international users who may want to do bank transfer for some reasons, you can transfer $US 25 directly to my Bank of America account.  There will be an additional  processing fee of $10 because thats how much my bank charges my account for Fund Transfer Service.  You will have to contact me by e-mail to obtain my account number for this type of payment.

As of this writing, I only accept money orders, cashiers checks, bank checks, or personal checks.

A site license is required by a corporation, company, educational institution, or governmental agency for use of Icons Control software on the total number of computers that will use the software.

Please fill in the registration form in the REGISTER.TXT file and mail it along with your payment to:

Chris Doan

4891 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., #401

San Diego,  CA 92117

For my bookkeeping purposes, please refrain from sending cash.  But if you have to send cash, please also include a written order so I can keep track of my users. For your payment, you will receive a copy of Icons Control with additional features.  Ill trust you enough and send you the registered version on the day I received your check without waiting for the check to clear first, please dont write bounced check because this may void your registration status and cut off all future communications in case you ever need technical support.  You may receive the registered version on the same day I receive your check by specifying on the registration form that you wish to do this (UUencoded or MIME-encoded), please be aware that if you are not familiar with the decoding process, you may as well wait about 3 days to receive the disk because the decoding process can be frustrating for those of you who dont know how to decode software embedded inside the body of the e-mails.

A collection of over 2,800 high quality icons in 34 different categories is also available upon request for an additional $14.  These are icons I created, collected from various sources, and sorted into these categories: animator, animal/insect, arrows, botany,  buildings, characters, communication, company logos, computers, crafts, electronics, flags, games, hazards, mail, matters, medieval, miscellaneous, monsters, office, party, patterns, religion, scenery, science, Simpsons, sports, multimedia, money, office, party, patterns, scenery, science, sports, symbols, utilities, and Xmas.  This collection will grow as I come across more high quality and interesting icons.

Thank you for your interest in Icons Control.

Chris Doan

San Diego,  California

March 1997

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

I am not obligated to provide technical or other support of Icons Control.  However, I am very responsive most of the time to feedback from my users about bugs report.  If bugs were found and I could reproduce them on my systems, I  usually fixed the bugs within a few days and sent the bug-fixed version to the users who took the time to report them first, next to all registered users, and then to other shareware sites later.

Please let me know if you found any bugs, glitches, or send your comments, feedback to me on the internet at doanc@worldnet.att.net or chris_doan@compuserve.com.

.

REFUNDS

1)	The registered version of Icons Control is guaranteed to deliver all the features listed in the features section, if any of these features did not work as stated under the system hardware/software configurations mentioned in the Hardware & software requirements section, you may be entitled to a refund.

2)	No refund will be given other than the condition stated in section 1 OR after 3 days from the day of receiving the registered version.