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Text File | 1994-11-24 | 17.6 KB | 418 lines

╒════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ │ │▐ │ PCX-SHOW-UP │▐▐ │ developers' pcx display and startup utility │▐▐ │ for DOS applications │▐▐ │ │▐▐ │ Copyright (c) 1994 by HME-Software │▐▐ │ fax+phone: +49 7121 550520 CIS:100024,3140 │▐▐ ╘════════════════════════════════════════════════╛▐▐ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▐ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ PCX-SHOW-UP-Capabilities ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ PCX-SHOW-UP is basically a utility that allows developers of DOS applications to use standard VGA .pcx files (640x480x16 and 320x200x256) for the two most wanted purposes: 1. Display a graphic-(VGA .pcx)-copyright or other splashscreen and/or some "Loading..." message on the user's screen, while loading and be- ginning execution of much larger applications and change the env- ironment of this application (SET PATH, SET CLIPPER, SET TEMP, ...). 2. Display a .pcx file from anywhere within the application via the 'system' or 'run' functions. PCX-SHOW-UP was designed to close the gaps other pcx-viewers leave open when used to reach this purposes. So it offers the developer a large flexibility to configure it's use. PCX-SHOW-UP for direct PCX-displays ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ PCX-SHOW-UP can be called with the following commandline arguments to display a pcx file directly (from DOS or from within an application): pcxup [dirve][path]file-name [display-time] The drive, path and display-time parameters are optional. If no drive and path are given, PCX-SHOW-UP looks in the current directory for the pcx file. File-name must include an extension; .pcx is not assumed and so you can name the pcx files how you like (and hide them from end-user modifications <g>). NEW: File-name can now optional include a starting pixel-position and a color- ▀▀▀▀ number (from your pcx-color-table) for the background. So you can position a small pcx anywhere on the screen and choose the background color. The format is as follows: file-name@x-pos@y-pos@back-color file-name : name of your pcx-file [x|y]-pos : upper-left edge of the display in the clipper-style (x-line# in pixel, y-col# in pixel {is 'byte-aligned' for performance}) back-color : number of the background color Display-time must be specified in seconds, if no display-time is given, PCX-SHOW-UP displays the pcx until a key is pressed. (A key-press will always end the display.) If drive, path or file-name are invalid PCX-SHOW-UP will do nothing. PCX-SHOW-UP for application startup-screens ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ For this purpose PCX-SHOW-UP is called without commandline parameters, it will then look for your startup-commands in the following way: NEW: 1. For a 'Startup.inf' file compiled directly into the pcxup.exe ▀▀▀▀ Syntax for the included 'compinf.exe': compinf <original-pcxup.exe> <command-file> <new-exe-file> Compinf will take <command-file> and create a specialized pcxup.exe named <new-exe-file> including all commands from <command-file>. NEW: 2. For a file named 'exe-name'+'.inf' in 'exe-path', where ▀▀▀▀ exe-name is the name of the called pcxup.exe without the extension, exe-path is the drive/path from where the pcxup.exe is called. (if you rename pcxup.exe to thebook.exe and place it in c:\program\book, it will look for a file 'thebook.inf' in c:\program\book to get it's startup-commands from) 3. For a file called 'startup.inf' in the current directory. Syntax for the PCX-SHOW-UP startup-commands (plain-ascii, use any asci-editor to create a 'startup.inf' file with the commands you want.): 1. '_SHOW_FILE=' followed by the name (optinal including drive/path) of the pcx file to display NEW: The name can now optional include a starting pixel- ▀▀▀▀ position and a color- number (from your pcx-color- table) for the background. So you can position a small pcx anywhere on the screen and choose the background color. The format is as follows: file-name@x-pos@y-pos@back-color file-name : name of your pcx-file [x|y]-pos : upper-left edge of the display in the clipper-style (x-line# in pixel, y-col# in pixel {is 'byte-aligned' for perfor- mance}) back-color : number of the background color If this command is not present, then no graphic is dis- played and the following commands '_WAIT_SECONDS' and '_STAY_GRAPHIC' are ignored. 2. '_WAIT_SECONDS=' followed by the number of seconds to display the graphic (000 - 999). If this command is not present, PCX-SHOW-UP displays the pcx until a key is pressed. (A key-press will always end the display.) 3. '_STAY_GRAPHIC' If this command is found, PCX-SHOW-UP displays the pcx and don't switch back to VGA-Text-Mode. This can be used to display the graphic until the real application is loaded and resets/clears the screen. If '_STAY_GRAPHIC' is used, the following '_SAY_TEXT=' command can't. (in this version - graphic text display is planned for the future...) Without this command PCX-SHOW-UP switches back to VGA-TEXT- Mode after '_WAIT_SECONS'. 4. '_SAY_TEXT=' followed by a line of text (80 characters) which is displayed after PCX-SHOW-UP has switched back to VGA-TEXT- Mode. This command can be used several times. 5. '_RUN_FILE=' followed by the name (optinal including drive/path) of the application which should be loaded. The file-name can be any valid file-name, not only .exe, .com or .bat, so you can rename your application file and hide it from direct calling by end-users. Commandline parameters can be passed to the application via the following syntax: '_RUN_FILE=app.exe|parameter1|p2|p3|p4|p5|p6|p7|p8|p9' This version can pass up to nine parameters to the app. If you need to pass more - call for a special version. Don't include any blanks in this command and divide the tokens only with the '|' character (ASCI 124). PCX-SHOW-UP loads and executes the application as a new DOS child process. When this is successful, the child process is placed in the memory previously occupied by PCX-SHOW-UP, thus, the application sees NO LOSS of memory, as compared with it running manually from the DOS command line. NEW: Searching-routine for the given file-name as follows: ▀▀▀▀ File-name can be specified with a full (from the root) or partial path (from the current working dir) or just as a 'file-name'. If file-name does not have an exten- sion or does not end with a period (.), PCX-SHOW-UP searches for the named file; if the search is unsuc- cessful, it tries the same base name, first with the extension .COM, then with the extension .EXE. If the file-name has an extension, only that extension is used in the search. If it ends with a period (.), PCX-SHOW-UP starts the search with no extension. PCX-SHOW-UP search for file-name in the directories specified by the PATH env-var. IF file-name contains a drive specifier or any slashes (that is, if it is a relative path), PCX-SHOW-UP searches only for the specified file, the path is not searched. NEW: ▀▀▀▀ 6. '_CHANGE_ENV=' followed by a number of env-var's you want to add/change in the environment of the '_RUN_FILE'. The syntax is as follows: '_CHANGE_ENV=PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS|CLIPPER= //F:50 //DYNF:4 //SWAPK:4096 //NOIDLE|TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP|...' or more formal: '_CHANGE_ENV='{env-var-name '=' env-var-value '|'}* The line-lenght is limited to 1024 chars. If you need more - call for a special version. PCX-SHOW-UP will look for every env-var of your string in the current environment. If it is found, it will be set to your new value, if not it is added with your value. You can delete existing env-vars by assigning an empty value to them ('_CHANGE_ENV=CLIPPER=|...'). Any env-vars you don't assign will be copied as they are. (So if you don't use '_CHANGE_ENV' your current env will be copied.) PCX-SHOW-UP will assign this changed-environment to the process of your '_RUN_FILE' (and it's sub-processes) only. Your current master/DOS-environment will not be changed. As stated all commands in 'STARTUP.INF' are optional. Don't use any blanks in the commands (except in your text after _SAY_TEXT= ... <g>) and start every command in a new line. PCX-SHOW-UP examples ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Here are some examples for the different possibilities of PCX-SHOW-UP: - Just display a pcx-file from the commandline for 30 seconds or till a key is pressed: pcxup c:\windows\pcx\flower.pcx 30 - Display a small logo from the commandline for 30 seconds or till a key is pressed at line 100, col 300 and set the background to color# 10 of your pcx-color-table: pcxup c:\windows\pcx\flower.pcx@100@300@10 30 - Display a 'hidden' pcx-file from within a MS-C app until a key is pressed: ... cScreen=SaveScreen(); system("pcxup data\___sys1.sys"); RestScreen(cScreen); ... - Display a 'hidden' pcx-file from within a CA-Clipper app until a key is pressed at line 100, col 300 and set the background to color# 10 of your pcx-color-table: ... cScreen:=SaveScreen() run pcxup data\___sys1.sys@100@300@10 RestScreen(cScreen) ... or along with provision:Windows() ... pw():suspend() run pcxup data\___sys1.sys@100@300@10 pw():resume() ... and if you like overkill <g> use blinkers 'SwpRunCmd()' or overlays 'Overlay()' function insteat of the normal Clipper 'run' ... - Display a 'Loading' message while your large application (app.exe) loads: Create the following 'STARTUP.INF': _SAY_TEXT=The large application >app.exe< is now loading from your _SAY_TEXT=slow network-server. _SAY_TEXT= _SAY_TEXT=Please wait... _RUN_FILE=app.exe and call pcxup - Display a graphic copyright-screen for 20 seconds (or till a key is pressed) and then show some loading-message while the real app loads: Create the following 'STARTUP.INF': _SHOW_FILE=myfirm.pcx _WAIT_SECONDS=20 _SAY_TEXT=The large application >realapp.exe< is now loading from your _SAY_TEXT=slow network-server. _SAY_TEXT= _SAY_TEXT=Please wait... _RUN_FILE=realapp.exe and call pcxup - Clean up your application directory and prevent the (normal) end-user from altering your copyright screens and from calling your app directly. Display a graphic copyright-screen for 20 seconds (or till a key is pressed) at line 50, col 100 with a background color of 10 and then load your app in graphic-mode with path setting of C:\PROGRAM\SPECIAL and a CLIPPER setting of '//F:50 //DYNF:4 //SWAPK:4096 //NOIDLE': move your application files in some 'data' or 'system' directory, rename your copyright-pcx to something like '$_msbios.sys' and your application file to '_system.sys',rename pcxup.exe to match the name of your application (i.e.'yourapp.exe') and Create the following 'STARTUP.INF': _SHOW_FILE=data\$_msbios.sys@50@100@10 _WAIT_SECONDS=20 _STAY_GRAPHIC _RUN_FILE=system\_system.sys _CHANGE_ENV=PATH=C:\PROGRAM\SPECIAL|CLIPPER=//F:50 //DYNF:4 //SWAPK:4096 //NOIDLE Compile it into PCX-SHOW-UP: compinf c:\util\pcx\pcxup.exe startup.inf yourapp.exe and call 'yourapp' - ... A word about PCX-Files ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ PCX-SHOW-UP assumes you wan't feed it a pcx file of a type it can't process. It is only designed to display standard VGA pcx-files with resolutions of 640 x 480 and 16 colors or 320 x 200 and 256 colors and as that are the only standard VGA display modes commonly available to the majority of end-users, you will most likely not have a problem with this. Quite a few applications that export pcx files create 16 color files in- correctly, so that any 'well-behaved' pcx viewer (like PCX-SHOW-UP <g>) will not handle them correctly. If this happens with your application, try to open and save that file in another program, such as Windows Paintbrush. In almost all cases this will produce a correct pcx-file. ShareWare vs Registered version ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ There are no functional differences between these versions except that the shareware version will display from time to time an copyright screen at startup. You may test the unregistered version for 30 days. The registration of your copy of PCX-SHOW-UP will allow license for a single user to make use of the program for purposes that are traditionally accepted for software utilities of this type. There are no runtime royalties involved in the distribution of registered PCX-SHOW-UP as part of your application. A notice to your users must be included in your documentation (electronic or paper) that precludes the use (or distribution) of PCX-SHOW-UP for any purpose other than running your software. Registration Notes ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ To obtain a password to the registered version, you must mail an advance payment registration fee of US$ 40.00 directly to HME Software. Payment is to be made by money order only, please. You can also register your copy of PCX-SHOW-UP via Compuserve Shareware Registration (GO SWREG, Programm ID 3023) Prices and/or registration and/or license fees are subject to change. Contact Info ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ You can contact us via: - CompuServe ID 100024,3140 - Fax +49 7121 550520 - Phone +49 7121 550520 - Mail HME Software / EDV Beratung Morgenstern Pfarrbrunnenweg 9/1 D-72770 Reutlingen Germany - e-mail HMStar@ACM.org Licensing Information ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ This program is licensed and supplied as is, without any warranty. To the extent permitted under applicable law, HME Software disclaims all warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to this software program, its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. In particular, this software program is not guaranteed to prevent or detect damage to your data or programs. In no event shall HME Software be liable for any claims for lost profits or any damage, including, but not limited to, special, incidental, consequential or other damage (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use this HME Software product, even if HME Software has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. In no case shall HME Software liability exceed the license fees paid for the right to use the licensed version of the software. This software program is protected under the Copyright Laws of the European Community and all applicable International Copyright Conventions. Makers and/or users of illegal or unauthorized copies of the registered version are subject to prosecution under these laws.