Contents
tinyCAM! Help Contents:

Please click on the following topics to explore tinyCAM!.

1. Please consider registering.

2. What is tinyCAM!?

3. How do you use tinyCAM!?

4. The tinyCAM!.INI file.

5. The tyranny of the DOS session and other topics.

Please click on the following topics for other information.

5. How to contact the author.

6. Credits (or how do you make something like this anyway?).

7. Other products by the author (or maybe you'll like one of these too!).


1. Please consider registering
1. Please consider registering.

Please consider registering.  tinyCAM! is not freeware, it's shareware; even though it is not 'hobbled' in any way, nor are there pesky 'nag' screens to bother you.

To continue to use this sofware legally,  you must register this program after 21 days.  To register, send $10 to:

P.S. Neeley
248 W.  3325 N.
North Ogden, Utah 84414


2. What is tinyCAM!?

It's a fact (although not so well known) that pressing PrintScreen any time during a windows session captures the screen image to Window's clipboard.   By the same token, pressing Alt--PrintScreen captures the active window's image to the clipboard.   This works fine and many people (myself included) use it all the time.   But what if you have more than one image you want to capture?  You can only place one image on the clipboard.  Even then, you have to stop, access you favorite graphics package ( Window's PaintBrush for example), paste the image to the graphics package, and save the file in order to preserve your captured image.   Otherwise, it will just be written over by whatever or whomever needs the clipboard next.

tinyCAM! solves this problem!

tinyCAM! is a Windows 3.1 shareware program that captures the screen (or alternately, the active window) to a BMP file in the directory of your choice ( and also Window's clipboard).  tinyCAM! looks, acts, and sounds just like a camera and allows you to capture many screen pictures in succession.  You'll never run out of film until you run out of disk space!   It can be used in manual mode, in which you release the shutter manually just like using a camera, or in automatic mode, in which tinyCAM! takes pictures at regular intervals automatically (just as some camera's do to allow you time to get around front, in front of the lens, and smile).

tinyCAM! is extremely useful in :

Developing help files (just like this one -- the one you're reading now).

Preparing user documentation (for which a picture is truly worth a thousand words).

Obtaining hard evidence and recordings of unusual program events and bugs (in which a picture may be the only proof that anything unusual happened at all).

Preserving and collecting interesting and beautiful screens (like those produced by your favorite screen saver).

tinyCAM! doesn't pretend to be a full featured graphics package.  It doesn't do scaling, re-sampling, converting, etc..   It just captures screen images to BMP files -- that's what it does; that's all it does.   The idea is for you to then use a full-featured graphics package to, according to your taste and needs, select, cull, manipulate, modify, and re-touch the raw and plentiful BMP images tinyCAM! has stored for you (although I rarely have had to use anything more sophisticated for this than PaintBrush which comes free with Windows 3.1).

tinyCAM! is a simple, elegant, yet powerful, tool that is actually fun to use.


3. How do you use tinyCAM!?

The first thing to know is that tinyCAM! exists in two forms only:

 (1) in camera form at left -- the tinyCAM! camera, or

(2),  in control panel form as below.

Important point #1: The camera form is the working mode for tinyCAM! -- all pictures are taken when tinyCAM! is in this form.

Please notice that the control panel only has two menu choices -- Help and Exit.  Help brings up this help file or the About box, depending on which sub-menu option you choose.   Exit shuts down tinyCAM!.   This menu option is the only way to turn-off tinyCAM!.

Important point #2: The 'Exit' menu option on the control panel is the only way to get out of, and turn-off, tinyCAM!.

When you switch to control panel mode, it's as if you had picked up the camera and turned it over to look at its back-side (idealized in the  picture at left) -- you can't take any pictures, but there are a whole lot of buttons, switches, and things to fool with.

When you first start tinyCAM!, it appears in control panel form.  This gives you the chance to get the settings right before you proceed.   Once you've got things set, you change tinyCAM! from control panel form to camera form by clicking the large 'OK' command button in the center of the control panel.   Switching from camera form back to control panel form is just as easy -- you just double click, with your mouse, on the camera and tinyCAM! will switch to control panel mode.

Important point #3: Clicking the 'OK' button changes tinyCAM! from control panel form to (tiny) camera form.   Double-clicking the tiny camera changes tinyCAM! from camera form to control panel form

You'll notice that the control panel is broken up into four sections with the big 'Ok' button occupying the center ground.

The four sections can be idealized as at left.

Sections 1 & 2 contain controls that you probably will only set once ( the first time you use tinyCAM!), but of course you're welcome to change them anytime.

Specifically, section 1 contains controls that let you tell tinyCAM! whether you always want it to 'Stay on Top' and what camera sounds you want to hear (if any).

Section 2 is where you tell tinyCAM! what key(s) on your keyboard will act as the shutter release button on your tinyCAM! camera -- press this key(s) and the camera takes a picture.

Sections 3 & 4 are areas you'll tinker with more often.

Section 3 contains controls that let you tell tinyCAM! what to call the BMP screen capture files and where to put them on your hard disk (or floppy).  You'll probably be changing this section a lot depending on your needs.

Finally, Section 4 contains the automatic timer controls.   You can use the controls in this section to have tinyCAM! take pictures on queue while you just sit back and watch.  You may never need the controls in section 4, on the other hand, they might be just what you need.

Let's look at each of the four sections in detail:

Section 1 -- Sounds and Window Play.

Stay-on-Top -- check this option is you want tinyCAM! to always stay on top of any other windows.  This is the normal mode since it makes tinyCAM! easy to see and to get at.

Shutter Sound -- check this option if you have a sound card and you want to hear a shutter sound when tinyCAM! takes a picture.

Timer Sound --  check this option if you have a sound card and you want to hear the sound of the camera timer when in automatic mode. (note:  use the timer sound only if you have a sound card -- with a P.C. speaker driver, the sound takes up too much of system resources to be usable.   With a sound card you should be fine.)

Section 2 -- HotKeys for shutter release.

This is where you choose which Key or Keys will act as the shutter release button of your tinyCAM! camera.  Check one of them, check some of them, or check them all if you want.   In the example at left, both the Num Lock key and the Scroll Lock key have been designated the shutter release buttons.  If your press and release the bare key, you'll capture the entire screen.  If you press the shift key in combination with one of the 'HotKeys', you'll capture just the active window.   The HotKey activates the shutter release when it is released not when it is first depressed -- in other words, its the up-stroke of the key that does the work.   The windows 'Hook' technology used to detect the HotKey 'discards' the keystroke after it detects it so that it will not affect any other windows application besides tinyCAM!.

Important point #4:  HotKey = capture entire screen; Shift + HotKey = capture just the active window.   The shutter is released on up-stroke of the key, not the down-stroke.

Section 3 -- File names and directories.

These tiny, glowing, backlit screens allow you to tell tinyCAM! under which drive, directory, and file name it should store your pictures.

The file name boxes give you the chance to set a file naming convention by typing in the prefix and suffix you want to use as your file name.   tinyCAM! takes the alphanumeric Prefix + the numeric Suffix to generate the full file name.   After the picture is taken, it increments the numeric suffix to get the next file name.   In the example above, the next picture will be stored as file SNP36.  Unless we do something to change it, the next picture after that will be called SNP37.

The drive and directory boxes allow you to set the path in which tinyCAM! is to store the pictures -- in the example at above; drive C:, directory, C:\FAMMEM.   You use your mouse to select a drive from the drive list box and a directory from the directory list box.  Changing directories requires a double-click of the mouse, so make sure you have really changed directories and not just highlighted one.

The examples below should make this more clear:

In the example at left, the fcabinet sub-directory has been highlighted with a single mouse click, but tinyCAM! is still set to store pictures in the c:\cserve directory.  You can tell this by the line of open folders -- c:\ & cserve have open folders beside them, fcabinet does not.

Now we've done it -- double clicked fcabinet I mean.   See how fcabinet now has an open folder by it?  tinyCAM! is now set to store BMP images to c:\cserve\fcabinet directory.

Important point #5: Remember to double click the directory in the directory box to cause tinyCAM! to store pictures there.  Look for the line of 'open folders' -- they'll tell you where the current path is and where tinyCAM! will place its pictures on the next shot.

Section 4 -- Automatic timer.

The recessed 'Auto Off -- Auto On' command button turns the auto-timer off and on.   You can set the interval at which you want tinyCAM! to take pictures with the scroll bar.   In Auto-timer mode, you don't have as fine a control over full screen vs. active window as you do in manual mode.  Use the check box to designate which picture type you want to take.   This choice will remain in force during automatic mode until you change it again at the control panel.

Important point #6:  In automatic timer mode, you have to 'preset' whether you want to capture the full screen or just the active window -- there's no way to tell tinyCAM! which option you want 'on the fly'.

tinyCAM!'s camera always tells you, just like the film counter window in a real camera,  the NEXT (not the one just taken's) name in the title area under its tiny camera icon.   In the example at left, tinyCAM! will name its next picture SNP15.  The picture tinyCAM! just took might have been SNP14, or you may have left off at SNP14 the last time you used tinyCAM!, or maybe you just barely switch back from control mode where you reset and modified tinyCAM!'s file naming scheme.  In any case, the next picture taken will be named SNP15.

tinyCAM! is really quite simple to use.  Try a few shots, fool with the controls a little and you'll get the hang of it!


4. The tinyCAM! INI file
4. The tinyCAM!.INI file.

tinyCAM! uses the information in the TINYCAM!.INI file in the Windows directory to re-set its configuration when you start.   This INI file is updated when you exit, via the menu 'Exit' command, for use next time you use tinyCAM!.

The TINYCAM!.INI file contains all of your set-up information -- do you want to 'Stay on TOP'?, do you want sounds?, which HotKeys are active?, what directory were you storing pictures in last time?, what file prefix did you use last time?, etc.

 If you ever want to delete tinyCAM!  from your system, you should also delete TINYCAM!.INI in addition to the files in your TINYCAM! directory.


7. Credits
7. Credits (or how do you make something like this anyway?).

tinyCAM! was programmed in Microsoft's Visual Basic 3.0.

The graphics used in the program were created with Microsoft's Paintbrush program that is furnished with Windows 3.1.

The icons used in the program were created with IconMaster, a program furnished as an example program with Visual Basic 3.0.

The sounds used in the program were recorded using the recorder utility furnished with Windows 3.1, my UltraSound sound card, and my trusty Radio Shack microphone.  They are, in fact, the sounds made by my old, but still good, Cannon FTb 35 millimeter camera that I purchased in Nobeoka, Japan, lo these many long years ago.

The Windows hook technology that allows tinyCAM! to 'Hook' into the Windows keyboard system and activate HotKeys was furnished by Desaware's SpyWorks-VB, version 2.0.

This help file was written with the aid of Craig Villalon's shareware help authoring system -- VB Automatic Help Author v1.32.

The knowledge and interest in Mathematics and programming is due to my father Pat's influence and the fine education I received from the many Math and Science teachers and professors who taught so very well (obligating a debt I can never repay).

The time to complete this programming project was largely 'stolen' during the late, late evening and wee morning hours when more normal people would, and should, be sleeping.  But, inevitably, some prime time was 'donated' by my wife, Barbara and my children, Jon, Melissa, Christie, Patrick, Nick, and James.

Some day they may come to understand that while other fathers were tinkering with the family car, mowing the lawn, doing woodwork in the garage, etc. -- tending to normal business -- their father, high in the dark castle tower, and bathed in the soft glow of the electron's fire, was practicing modern-day sorcery.   For he was building something that would never really grow old and decay, that could be copied exactly many times with almost no effort, that could be used and enjoyed by many, many people at the same time, and that could be scattered on the electronic winds to the ends of the Earth.  Yet, this something was made out of nothing but an idea, diagrams in the air, and glowing bits of phosphorus.   Can there be anything more magic than that?


8. Other creations by the author:

8. Other products by the author (or maybe you'll like one of these too!).

Here are some of my other humble shareware creations that you might enjoy.  All can be found in CompuServe's WINFUN forum and, I would hope, eventually other services and BBSs.

Family Memory Match:

A Windows memory match game for the whole family.   Play on an infinite number of levels against the computer, or play against a friend.   Great graphics, fun for the children, definitely challenging for adults.

ShuttleSave:

A Windows 3.1 screen saver that uses your BMP collection as material to create stunningly beautiful collages in the contrails of launching rockets.   Full featured including password protection.   Not gimmicky, not intruding, ever changing as your swap BMP pictures in your library.   The family will love it at home; as good as an office with a window at work.

LunarBBall:

A Windows simulation (not just a game) of a small basketball court that can be moved from Earth, to Orbit, to the Moon, and even Jupiter.   What would it be like to play basketball on the Moon?  Could you play in orbit.   Can you even shoot the ball on Jupiter?   Find out!    Great user interface, great graphics, basket ball sounds -- educational and definitely fun.    Real physics!   Real action!

GoMoku Narabe:

The ancient Japanese game of 5 in-a-row for Windows.   Great graphics, beautiful to look at.   Easy to understand and play -- but definitely challenging.   A good example of a simple game with no known winning strategy.   Includes a 'mathematics laboratory' that allows you to explore alternate M x M, N in-a-row games.    Real Japanese culture and flavor.    Play against the computer on three levels or against a friend.    A thinking game with history, culture, and deep mathematical meaning.

Space Dodge'm:

A Windows version of the classic game of Dodgem.  Get your landers or shuttles off the space station before the rogue asteroid hits.  Great graphics, sounds, MIDI background music.   An example of a game without a known winning strategy that is simple to learn and play.  Challenging, yet fun; Beautiful!


6. How to contact the author
6. How to contact the author.

If you have comments or suggestions, you can contact me by:

E-Mail at CompuServe:  74212,1123

or by letter to:

P.S. Neeley
248 W.  3325 N.
North Ogden, Utah 84414


6. The tyranny of the DOS session and other topics
5. The tyranny of the DOS session and other topics.

To use tinyCAM! effectively you should know about the following:

The tyranny of the DOS session:

tinyCAM! relies on 'Hooks' into Window's keyboard system to tell when you've released a 'HotKey' and its time to take a picture -- the shutter release mechanism.  The problem is that Windows allows active, non-minimized (non icon-ized)  DOS sessions to circumvent its own internal keyboard system and capture keystrokes exclusively.   What this means is that if you have an active windowed DOS session (usually in a half-window mode), tinyCAM! will not recognize the HotKey until you make some other window the active window.  You can easily do this by making tinyCAM! the active window (just click on the camera,  once, to do it, or on any other non-DOS window for that matter).  The active window has its title bar highlighted so its easy to tell which window is active (only one window can be active at a time in Window's 3.1).   In Automatic mode, however, tinyCAM! will take a picture of an active, half-window DOS session just fine.

What about full screen DOS sessions?   Well there's no way, in this case, to make the DOS session inactive.   So manual mode tinyCAM! is useless.  Automatic mode tinyCAM! will take a picture, but it'll come out garbled.  A full window DOS session is not in graphics form, rather it's in text form, and tinyCAM! cannot take a picture of a text screen -- only graphics.    Sorry, tinyCAM! wasn't designed to take pictures of text screens.

'Ditto' for system modal applications:

System modal applications also 'hog' the Window's keyboard system just like the tyrannical DOS session we discussed above.  The only system modal application you're likely to see is a screen saver -- many of these take-on system modal status so that a would-be intruder can't go around the screen saver by switching windows tasks.  The long and the short of it:  HotKeys won't work with system modal applications.   But tinyCAM! will take a picture just fine in auto-timer mode -- which is what I suggest you use in this situation.

Just how big is that active window?:

As you now know, pressing ALT-PrintScreen copies an image of the active windows into the clipboard.   With tinyCAM!, pressing SHIFT-HotKey will do the same and, in addition, create a BMP file for later use.   One of the frustrating things about ALT-PrintScreen is that by pressing the ALT key you destroyed many of the more 'ephemeral' elements of the window you were trying to take a picture of -- like sub-menus, pop-up menus, etc.   This is because Windows uses the Alt key in combination with others as an access key.  Luckily,  tinyCAM! will not disturb menus, submenus, pop-up menus, etc. so it is perfect for recording such images. BUT it will take pictures large enough to contain any such elements -- which may mean a larger picture (since some menu items may appear above or below the active form) than just the window itself (even if you do use the Shift-HotKey combinations to specify only the active window).

tinyCAM! may punch 'Holes' in screen saver images.

tinyCAM! vanishes a second before it takes the picture so that it will not be part of the picture -- it's getting out of the way.   Sometimes, especially with some screen savers, a program will write graphics directly to the screen instead of a window or form.  When this happens, and tinyCAM! has been designated a 'Stay-on-Top' application, it's disappearence will leave a hole in the graphics on the screen.   The hole will then become part of the picture when tinyCAM! takes its  shot -- not a good situation.    When this is a problem, you can lessen the problem if you take away tinyCAM!'s 'Stay-on-Top' status via the control panel.   tinyCAM! will now be hidden under any such 'direct to screen' graphics and will cease punching as many holes in your beautiful screensaver images.

Only one tinyCAM! at a time:

You can have only one session of tinyCAM! going at one time.  This is to prevent HotKey conflicts, cascading snapshots, etc. -- tinyCAM! wars as it were.   You don't have to do anything here, tinyCAM! just won't let another tinyCAM! start-up -- two's a crowd.