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GRABBER/AI(tm) Release 2.10 Shareware Issue 8514/A Adapter Interface Version ---------------------- The Screen Capture Program for MS-DOS and 8514/A-Compatible Video Graphics DOCUMENTATION AND TECHNICAL NOTES August 1, 1995 Copyright 1987-1995 by Gerald A. Monroe All rights reserved. +-------------------------------------------------+ | Although they are shareware, GR4AI and this | | documentation file are copyrighted. They are | | not in the public domain and they are not | | "freeware." Please consult page 6 of the | | REGISTER.DOC file for important copyright | | information and license provisions. All use, | | copying or distribution of GR4AI.EXE or this | | document is governed by the terms and condi- | | tions of the Shareware License contained in | | the REGISTER.DOC file. | +-------------------------------------------------+ Thank you for your interest in the GRABBER(tm) screen capture system! The GRABBER package is being marketed in this special form as shareware. This means you have the opportunity to use and evaluate it for 30 days before you decide whether to buy. If you continue to use GRABBER.EXE, any of its "offspring" programs, or any of the other programs in the GRABBER package beyond such 30-day period, then you are re- quired to send your registration fee to the publisher according to the instructions in the REGISTER.DOC file. When you register, you will receive a copy of the latest release of the registered GRABBER package that you order. You may not continue using GRABBER beyond such 30-day period without registering. For registration instructions and a complete statement of your license to use this software, please consult the REGISTER.DOC file. (IBM and PC are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. MS-DOS and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other trademarks referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners.) Table of Contents Overview of GR4AI.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Overview of the 8514/A Adapter Interface . . . . . . . . . . 3 About This Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 System Requirements for GR4AI.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Types of Screens that GR4AI.EXE Can Capture . . . . . . . . . 4 The AI Driver Must Be Loaded Before GR4AI.EXE . . . . . . . . 5 How to Install GR4AI.EXE in Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 How to Capture the Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Ascending Two-Tone Chirp Indicates a Successful Screen Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 One Low-Pitched Beep Indicates No AI Driver Is Present . . . 6 Two Low-Pitched Beeps Indicate an Unrecognized Video Mode, Or the AI Driver Is Not In Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Three Low-Pitched Beeps Indicate a File System Error . . . . 7 Changing the Destination Drive or Directory . . . . . . . . . 7 Configuration Options for GR4AI.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 How to use .EXE Offspring Files Created by GR4AI.EXE . . . . 8 Options for Running GR4AI.EXE's Offspring Files . . . . . . . 8 Changing GR4AI.EXE's Hotkey Combination . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Displaying GR4AI.EXE's Offspring Files on Other Computers . . 9 Converting GR4AI.EXE Offspring to .PCX and .GIF Formats . . . 10 Programmers' Note: Calling GR4AI.EXE From Your Own Software 11 How to Contact the Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 GR4AI.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 3 of 12 1. Overview of GR4AI.EXE GRABBER/AI, or "GR4AI.EXE," is an alternative version of the GRABBER.EXE screen capture program. It is a memory-resident screen capture program designed exclusively for capturing high- resolution graphic images from PC systems that are compatible with the IBM 8514/A Adapter Interface, and which are running in "real mode" under MS-DOS. (GR4AI does not capture screens from Microsoft Windows or Windows applications.) Like GRABBER.EXE, the GR4AI.EXE program captures screens to ordinary MS-DOS executable program files with an ".EXE" filename extension. Because of this, you can conveniently go back and redisplay the picture later, simply by entering the name of the file to which the picture was saved. The ".EXE" image files created by GR4AI.EXE will be referred to throughout this document as "offspring" files. 2. Overview of the 8514/A Adapter Interface The 8514/A Adapter Interface, or "AI," is a programming interface that lets application programs work with your high- resolution video adapter. The AI is loaded as a memory-resident program in your computer's memory by means of an AI driver supplied by the video adapter manufacturer or by a third-party source. For most video adapters, an AI driver is not available because the AI is not a very widely supported standard. However, AI drivers are available for some adapters, and when loaded, they allow GR4AI.EXE to capture certain types of high-resolution graphics. Video adapters for which an AI driver is available include IBM's 8514/A and XGA cards, and cards based on ATI Technologies' Mach-8 and Mach-32 controller chips such as the Graphics Vantage, Graphics Ultra, and 8514/Ultra. The AI driver for these IBM and ATI cards is usually named HDILOAD.EXE. A third-party AI driver published by RIX Softworks Inc. is available for cards based on the Tseng Laboratories ET4000 controller chip. GR4AI.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 4 of 12 3. About This Documentation This document must be read in conjunction with GRABBER.DOC, which is the documentation file for GRABBER.EXE. This is because GR4AI.EXE is installed in memory and operated in almost exactly the same way as the GRABBER.EXE program. This document does not explain in detail how to install and operate GR4AI.EXE, but instead explains what the AI is, and what the few operational differences are between GR4AI.EXE and GRABBER.EXE. 4. System Requirements for GR4AI.EXE To use GR4AI.EXE, you will need the following: - An IBM-PC, PC-XT, PC-AT, PS/1, PS/2, or 100% compatible computer. - At least one "local" floppy disk drive or hard disk drive. - MS-DOS, or IBM PC-DOS, Version 3.0 or later. - A video adapter that is compatible with the IBM VGA adapter. - An AI driver that designed for compatibility with your VGA adapter. 5. Types of Screens that GR4AI.EXE Can Capture GR4AI.EXE is designed to capture screens from programs that run in "real mode" or "virtual 8086" mode under MS-DOS, and which use the AI to generate screen images. GR4AI.EXE captures only graphics screens, not character-based text images. GR4AI.EXE is designed to capture the following AI graphics modes: - 640 x 480 (16 or 256 colors) - 800 x 600 (16 or 256 colors) - 1,024 x 768 (16 or 256 colors) - 1,280 x 1,024 (16 or 256 colors) GR4AI.EXE can only capture a screen if the program generating the image is actually using the AI to do its screen work. Note GR4AI.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 5 of 12 that this is not always the case. For example, if you have an IBM 8514/A adapter, or another manufacturer's card that is compatible with the 8514/A at the register level (such as an ATI 8514/Ultra, Graphics Ultra or Graphics Vantage card), then it is possible for some application programs to work with the screen by writing directly to the adapter's hardware registers and ignoring the AI completely. GR4AI.EXE cannot capture any screens from such applications which write directly to the hardware registers. 6. The AI Driver Must Be Loaded Before GR4AI.EXE Whatever kind of video hardware is installed, GR4AI.EXE expects to find an AI driver already resident in memory when you initially install GR4AI.EXE in memory. If an AI driver is not already present, GR4AI.EXE will not install. 7. How to Install GR4AI.EXE in Memory To use GR4AI.EXE, load it into your computer's memory by entering a command that follows this example: GR4AI x:\pathname GR4AI.EXE will not stay resident in memory (and you will not be able to capture screens) until you tell GR4AI.EXE where to place its offspring files, using the syntax shown above. For more information see Section 4 of GRABBER.DOC. When you install GR4AI.EXE in memory, it will display a start- up message in a blue box in the corner of your screen. The start-up box is followed by a several lines of information about the way GR4AI.EXE is currently configured to run on your system. If you want to change this configuration, you can do so at the time you install GR4AI.EXE in memory by adding additional parameters on the command line after your "x:\pathname" parameter, or you can change it after GR4AI.EXE is already installed. See Section 13 of this document for more information about changing the destination path for offspring files. GR4AI.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 6 of 12 8. How to Capture the Screen To capture the screen, press GR4AI.EXE's current hotkey combination, as listed on the start-up information screen. GR4AI.EXE's default hotkey is [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F10] (i.e., press and hold both the [Ctrl] key and the [Alt] key, then press the [F10] key, then release all three keys). 9. Ascending Two-Tone Chirp Indicates a Successful Screen Capture If you hear an ascending, two-tone chirp from your computer's speaker, it means that GR4AI.EXE has successfully completed the screen capture, and the offspring file containing the current screen image is located in the "Drive/path for .EXE files." 10. One Low-Pitched Beep Indicates No AI Driver Is Present If you hear one low-pitched beep from your speaker after pressing the hotkey, no offspring file was created. This is because either (a) your AI driver was removed from memory after GR4AI.EXE was installed, or (b) the AI driver is still present but GR4AI.EXE is unable to locate it. You should remove GR4AI.EXE from memory immediately by entering the command "GR4AI UNLOAD", then re-load your AI driver, then re-load GR4AI.EXE according to the instructions in Section 7. 11. Two Low-Pitched Beeps Indicate an Unrecognized Video Mode, Or the AI Driver Is Not In Use If you hear two low-pitched beeps from your speaker after pressing the hotkey, no offspring file was created. This is because either (a) you are trying to capture a graphics mode that is not listed above in Section 5, or (b) the foreground program that is generating the image is not using the AI to perform its screen work, and is probably writing directly to the video adapter's hardware registers. GR4AI.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 7 of 12 12. Three Low-Pitched Beeps Indicate a File System Error If you hear three low-pitched beeps from your speaker, it means that no offspring file was created. GR4AI.EXE was unable to complete the screen capture because of a file system error. For a list of possible errors and how to correct them, see Section 7 of GRABBER.DOC. 13. Changing the Destination Drive or Directory To change the drive or directory where GR4AI.EXE deposits offspring files, enter another GR4AI.EXE command like the one described in Section 7 of this document. From that point forward, GR4AI.EXE will place offspring files in the new destination you specify. 14. Configuration Options for GR4AI.EXE GR4AI.EXE responds to many of the same command-line switches used by GRABBER.EXE, which are described in Section 12 of GRABBER.DOC. These switches allow you to modify the way in which GR4AI.EXE performs certain operations. The following command-line switches are available under GR4AI.EXE. For an explanation of what these switches do under GRPCX.EXE, how to activate them, and any limitations on their usage, refer to GRABBER.DOC. The switches, and the locations in GRABBER.DOC where they are explained, are: - INT=nn (Section 12.1) - INT=OFF (Section 12.2) - PROMPT and NOPROMPT (Section 12.3) - MOUSE and NOMOUSE (Section 12.4) - SOUND and NOSOUND (Section 12.5) - BATCHCAPTURE[:] (Section 12.6) - NOSWAP (Section 12.7) - NOEMS (Section 12.8) - NOUMB (Section 12.9) - UNLOAD (Section 12.10) GR4AI.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 8 of 12 15. How to use .EXE Offspring Files Created by GR4AI.EXE Each .EXE offspring file created by GR4AI.EXE is a standalone MS-DOS executable program containing two parts: (1) the image you captured, plus (2) a proprietary program which redisplays the captured image. To view the image contained within an .EXE offspring file, simply run the offspring file like any other executable program. You don't need any other software to redisplay the image. To remove the image from the screen, simply press any key. The image will disappear, and the .EXE offspring program will exit back to the DOS prompt or to the batch file which called it. For on-screen help and other useful information with any GRABBER.EXE offspring image file, include the /? switch on the offspring's command line. For example: SCREEN00 /? 16. Options for Running GR4AI.EXE's Offspring Files GR4AI.EXE's offspring files support the same command-line options as are supported by the offspring files generated by GRABBER.EXE. These include the "FADEIN" and "FADEOUT" options, the /Tn option for timed execution, the /F and /N options for exiting to DOS without erasing the screen, and the /K keylist option for batch file operation and menuing. For a description of what these options can do and how to use them, consult the following sections of GRABBER.DOC: - FADEIN Section 13.1 - FADEOUT Section 13.2 - /Tn Section 13.3 - /F Section 13.4 - /N Section 13.4 - /K "keylist" Section 13.6 You should note that, for technical reasons, it is not always safe to use the /F or /N command-line options with GR4AI.EXE's offspring files. These two options can cause a system crash when you are executing a GR4AI.EXE offspring at the DOS prompt or within a batch file, and should not be used in those situations. You may use these two options when executing a GR4AI.EXE offspring file from inside another program by way of a SHELL or GR4AI.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 9 of 12 EXEC-type function, but ONLY IF the parent program re-initializes the AI (with the AI's "HINIT" or "HSYNC" functions) or closes the AI (with the AI's "HCLOSE" function) immediately upon return from the child program. If you are not sure about the other program's ability to do this, you should assume that it cannot and avoid the /F and /N command-line options with the GR4AI.EXE offspring file. 17. Changing GR4AI.EXE's Hotkey Combination The default hotkey combination which activates GR4AI.EXE is [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F10]. If you wish, you can change this default hotkey combination to something else, and save the change permanently to the GR4AI.EXE file so that the change will automatically take effect each time you install GR4AI.EXE in memory. To accomplish a hotkey change, use the "SHIFT=" and "KEY=" command-line options. To save a hotkey change permanently, use the "SAVEHOTKEY" command-line option. All of these options work exactly the same way under GR4AI.EXE as under GRABBER.EXE. See Section 15 of GRABBER.DOC for a description of the SHIFT=, KEY= and SAVEHOTKEY options and how to use them. Refer to Appendices A and B of GRABBER.DOC for a list of the codes that must be used with the SHIFT= and KEY= options to specify a new hotkey. 18. Displaying GR4AI.EXE's Offspring Files on Other Computers An offspring file generated by GR4AI.EXE can be redisplayed on a computer other than the one from which it was originally captured, but ONLY IF: (1) the other computer is configured with an AI driver of its own, and that AI driver is resident when you attempt to run the offspring file, OR (2) the other computer is compatible with the VESA Video Bios Extension (the "VESA VBE"), and that VESA VBE support is present when you attempt to run the offspring file. In general, you should not assume that any other computer on which you want to run a GR4AI.EXE offspring file has an AI driver available, because the AI is not a very widely supported standard. However, most other computers with Super-VGA video adapters (i.e., video cards that are capable of displaying the kinds of screens described in Section 3.3 of GRABBER.DOC) are either supplied with a VESA VBE driver from the manufacturer, or GR4AI.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 10 of 12 have a VESA VBE driver that is available from a third-party source. For more information about the VESA VBE, see Section 16 of GRABBER.DOC 19. Converting GR4AI.EXE Offspring to .PCX and .GIF Formats GR4AI.EXE is supplied with two companion utilities which convert the images contained in GR4AI.EXE offspring files to the popular .PCX and .GIF graphics file formats. These utilities are called GRAI2PCX.EXE and GRAI2GIF.EXE. These utilities function in exactly the same way as the GR2PCX.EXE and GR2GIF.EXE programs which are also included in this GRABBER package. To use GRAI2PCX.EXE and GRAI2GIF.EXE, your AI driver must be loaded in memory. For instructions on using these programs, consult the CONVERT.DOC file. GR4AI.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 11 of 12 20. Programmers' Note: Calling GR4AI.EXE From Your Own Software If you are a programmer developing your own software, you can invoke GR4AI.EXE to capture the screen from within your own pro- gram, assuming that GR4AI.EXE is already resident in memory. This is accomplished by using GR4AI.EXE's external programming hook, which is a customized call to Interrupt 16h, described below. You can write a routine to implement this hook in 80x86 assembly language or in any high-level programming language which supports BIOS-level interrupt calls. INTERRUPT 16h, FUNCTION 4741h On entry: AX = 4741h DL = 0 (to check only if GR4AI.EXE is resident) DL = 1 (to capture the current screen) On return: AX = 4147h (if GR4AI.EXE is installed in memory) For DL=0 or DL=1: BL contains the logical drive to which the capture would be attempted (for DL=0), or was attempted (for DL=1). 0 = default drive, 1 = drive A, 2 = drive B, and so forth. For DL=1: If CF=0: Capture was successful. ES:DX points to an ASCIIZ string which contains the [drive:][\path\]filename of the newly created offspring (the drive is also coded in BL; see above). If CF=1: If DX = FFFFh, then a capture attempt failed due to a critical disk error or disk-full error on the logical drive encoded in BL (see above). Speaker will beep. If DX does not equal FFFFh, capture was not attempted. GR4AI.EXE was busy servicing a prior capture request, or some other disk I/O was occurring, or DOS was not in a reenterable state. Try again momentarily. GR4AI.EXE Documentation and Technical Notes Page 12 of 12 21. Technical Questions? Reporting a Problem or Bug? >> Do not contact the Public Software Library if you are experiencing a technical problem with GR4AI.EXE or if you have any questions about how GR4AI.EXE is supposed to work. Instead, contact the publisher directly, as described in this section. << The publisher wants to know if GR4AI.EXE ever fails to function on your system as documented in this manual. Also, if you feel there is an aspect of the program which is not clearly or completely described here, we appreciate your suggestions. Please read all of the documentation before submitting a problem report. This way you can be certain whether there really is a problem, or whether the program is being put to a use for which it is not designed or intended. When submitting a problem report, be as specific as possible about what happens and in what sequence or situation. Be sure to list these specific things: (1) All of the information provided on the screen after you enter the GR4AI command at the DOS prompt with the program already resident in memory. (2) Your brand and model of video adapter. (3) Your brand and model of PC. (4) Your brand and version of DOS (for example, MS-DOS V6.20, DR-DOS V5.0, PC DOS V4.0, etc.). (5) Your brand and model of video adapter. (6) The program from which you are trying to capture when the problem occurs. (7) The contents of both your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Without all of this information, it is difficult to solve a problem, and a response will be delayed. The publisher can be reached at the following addresses: Mail: Gerald A. Monroe Fax: (216) 333-6299 P.O. Box 16296 Telephone: (216) 333-6075 Cleveland, Ohio 44116 U.S.A. CompuServe: 72321,1257 Internet: 72321.1257@compuserve.com * * * End of GR4AI.DOC * * *