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============================================================================ VESAVIEW - Keywords: VESA GIF PCX IMG HPGL PRINT CATALOG ARRAY VIEWER PAN DESKJET LASERJET (69c) Brief Desc: View and print GIF, PCX & IMG/GEM images and HPGL plotter files. Arrays of up to 81 images per screen can be generated and saved as GIFs for easy cataloging. HPGL plot files can be saved as IMG files. Mouse support. Requires a VESA driver for your graphics card and enough extended memory to hold entire image. Supports VESA modes thru 1280x1024x256. Size of image is limited only by the amount of extended memory. Quick panning of images larger than your screen resolution. Color/brightness/contrast adjustments, scaling & cropping of GIF images. Excellent printing to HP DeskJet or LaserJet. Tested on Paradise, CompuAdd Hirez (Tseng 3000/4000), Trident 8900, Dell's built in Paradise, Video-7 VRAM II, Orchid Designer Pro, Diamond Stealth, and ATI Wonder & Vantage. ============================================================================ VESAVIEW - Copyright (c) William M. White 1992. Compuserve ID: 71770,2340 This product is Shareware. If you find it useful, please register your copy and tell your friends about it. This product may not be sold or packaged, either individually, or as part of any other product without the express written consent of the author. This product may not be changed or altered and then distributed without the express written consent of the author. The VESAVIEW.DOC file must accompany VESAVIEW.EXE whenever it is distributed. REGISTRATION: Please send your $25.00 registration fee to: William M. White P. O. Box 2273 Glen Allen, VA. 23058-2273 By Registering your copy, you will receive notice of any major upgrades to VESAVIEW and help support the continued development of the product. Current versions of the product will always be available on Compuserve in the GRAPHSUPPORT forum (GO PICS). DISCLAIMER: VESAVIEW is offered to you on an as-is-basis without any guarantee as to the correct functioning or fitness for specific purpose. The author believes this program to work as described but you use the program entirely at your own risk. The author will not be responsible for any hardware or software damage, loss of data, or incidental or consequential damage that may result from its use, whether or not such use is in accordance with the instructions. REVISION HISTORY: v1.0 - v1.9 - Developmental versions v2.0 (04/03/92) - First release to the Public as Shareware v2.1 (04/10/92) - Changed algorithum used for arrays color palette. Now uses color dithering for much more accurate color reproduction. v2.2 (04/21/92) - Added new option to Automatically generate multiple pages of array images and save them to GIF files without user intervention. Also added a Scaling option. v2.3 (04/27/92) - Fixed a minor bug while displaying multiple pages of arrays. REQUIREMENTS: - IBM compatible 286 or better - Extended memory (and driver such as HIMEM). For 256 color files, you'll need 1 byte/pixel in your image. For 2 color files, you'll need 1 byte per 8 pixels in your image. - Will use a math coprocessor if available - A graphics card that supports the VESA BIOS EXTENSIONS for the 'Super VGA modes' either through hardware or a software driver. FEATURES: - Will read any size GIF (Compuserve), PCX (Zsoft 2 or 256 color only), IMG (GEM/Digital Research Inc. black & white) or a HPGL (Hewlett Packard plotter file). Program determines filetype from the extension (.GIF, .PCX, or .IMG for images and .HPG or .PLT for plotter files). If the file is larger than the screen mode you selected, you can quickly pan around the image. Size of image is limited only by the amount of extended memory you have. NOTE: The entire image is read into Extended memory to allow for quick panning of large images. - Plotting to a HP DeskJet or HP LaserJet printer is supported for both color and black & white images. Halftoning is used for reproducing color plots. - Red/Green/Blue/Contrast/Brightness values may be changed while viewing a color image. - Color screen images can be saved as a GIF file. These images may be cropped before saving. - Black & White images can be saved as an IMG file. This is useful to save a HPGL file that is displayed on screen out to a quicker retrieving IMG file. If these images are displayed in a color VESA mode they can also be saved &/or cropped as GIF files. - Arrays of up to 81 images can be displayed on a single screen at once. This screen can then be saved as a single GIF file for cataloging or plotting. - Supports VESA modes (assuming your graphics card can handle): 100 - 640 x 400 x 256 101 - 640 x 480 x 256 103 - 800 x 600 x 256 105 - 1024 x 768 x 256 107 - 1280 x 1024 x 256 - Will support a 800 x 600 x 2 color B&W mode if your card has one. (See /SVnnn option below) - Supports the use of a MicroSoft compatible 2-button mouse. RUNNING: Make sure you have enough extended memory available and that a driver (such as HIMEM) is loaded. Make sure your graphics card has VESA BIOS EXTENSIONS (VBE) either built-in or that you have installed a VESA software driver. Keyin VESAVIEW [/P1 or /P2] [/AB or /AW] [/LOmode] [/AMmode] [/NW] [/HW] [/Dnnn] [/SVnnn] where items in brackets are optional. The /P1 or /P2 designates which printer port to use for printing (LPT1 or LPT2). The /AB forces the array mode to use a black background and white text for the filenames. The /AW forces the array mode to use a white background and black text (saves black ink when printing). The /LOmode (where mode is 100, 101, 103, 105 or 107) will lock out a mode. This is useful if your VESA driver is designed for a graphics card which has been fully populated with memory chips but your card doesn't have all of this memory installed. You may use more than one of these switches on your command line. The /AMmode (where mode is 100, 101, 103, 105 or 107) will let you default to a specific mode when displaying arrays. The program will default to mode 101 if this switch is not used. Only use a mode number that your card can support! The /NW (no weight) will not display weights of lines in an HPGL plot file if the SP (select pen) keyword was used when creating the plots. This will greatly speed up the screen drawing if you don't need to look at or print the weights. Some CAD programs which generate the plot files create weighted lines by simply drawing the lines multiple times in the plot file (each slightly offset) and not by using the SP (set pen) command. The /NW & /HW switches will have no effect on this type of plot files. The /HW is similar to /NW except that the weights of lines will be halved (divided by 2). The /Dnnn is for setting the delay in seconds to use between slides. The nnn is an integer number from 1 to 999 and defaults to 3 seconds. This time is approximate and will vary depending on the size of the image being read in. The /SVnnn will allow you to use a 800 x 600 x 2 color mode to display IMG or HPGL files in a high resolution mode if your graphics card supports it. The nnn is the decimal mode number that your card uses for this mode. Most Paradise cards use 41 decimal for this mode, and the Tseng cards (including Orchid) use 89 decimal. This special mode and the standard 640 x 480 x 2 mode will allow faster panning on screen than the same resolutions in VESA modes will for large B & W images. Ex: VESAVIEW /L2 /AW /D10 - Will use printer port LPT2:, display arrays with a white background, and delay 10 seconds between slides. Ex: VESAVIEW /LO105 /LO107 /AM103 - Will lockout modes 105 and 107 from being valid VESA modes and will use mode 103 when displaying arrays. The program will test to see if your graphics card supports the VESA Bios Extensions by either hardware or software driver, whether you have a HIMEM driver loaded and how much extended memory you have available. Use the <ESC> key to exit program. CHANGING DIRECTORY: While the list of files is on your screen, you can change your current directory by placing the cursor on the lite blue entries (which are directory names) and pressing <ENTER>. The . (single dot) will take you back to the root directory, and the .. (double dots) will take you back one directory level. You can also press the <C> key to keyin a path which can include a new disk drive. (Ex: B:\ or C:\GIF or C:\IMAGES\GIF or \GIF) VIEW SINGLE IMAGE: To view a single image move the cursor (with arrows, pageup, pagedown, home or end keys) to the desired image file and press <ENTER>. Then select a Vesa Mode from the Mode Menu. An asterisk denotes the Best Mode (calculated by the program) which will display the most of your entire image on a single screen in the best resolution. After your image is displayed, press <ESC> to return to main menu. Note that when viewing IMG files or HPGL files, you can use a VESA mode (only B&W colors used), use the standard 640 x 480 x 2 mode or use the Super VGA mode that you optionally entered on the command line. Entries in gray on the Mode Menu are not available for your graphics card. VIEW MULTIPLE IMAGES (slide show): To view multiple images as a 'slide show', use the space bar to select the images you wish to view. You can mark all images in the current directory with the <M> key or unmark them with the key. These can include GIF, PCX, IMG, PLT or HPG files. By pressing the <C> key, you can change your current Disk &/or Directory. Press <ENTER> to start the slide show. The files will be displayed one by one in the best VESA mode as determined by the program (640x480x2 mode is used for PLT & HPG files). The delay between slides will vary depending on the time it takes to read in the next file while one is on your screen and the value used in the /Dnnn switch. After the last file is displayed, the program will loop back to first slide. Pressing <ESC> during the display will stop the slide show after the next slide is displayed. (this may take several seconds) VIEW AN ARRAY OF IMAGES: To view multiple images on a single screen at once, use the space bar to select the images you wish to view. These can include GIF, PCX and IMG files but not PLT or HPG files. Press <A> to select array display. Select the VESA mode from Mode Menu and then select the number of images to display per screen page. Then sit back and watch your images appear. Pressing <ESC> will abort the display after the current image is displayed. If more than one page is required, you could press <G> to save the currently displayed page as a GIF image (for later plotting for example) or <PAGE DN> will continue to display the next page. Since each image uses it own unique 256 colors, a special optimized color table and color dithering is used to display arrays. Note that when displaying an IMG file in an array, the scaling down of the original image (especially a line type drawing) will cause much of the info to be lost on the screen. AUTO ARRAY GENERATION/SAVING: If you are going to have many pages (screens) of array images and you will be saving them all out as GIF files, you can do this automatically by using the <G> option. This will automatically display the arrays on the screen and then save them out without any user intervention until the last one is processed. You begin just as you would for the standard array option by selecting the files to display, the VESA mode, and then the number of images/page. Then you are prompted for the first 1-6 characters of the filename that the program will use for the GIF files it generates. The system will append a 2 digit page number and '.GIF' to your input. EX: You are going to have 3 pages of array images and you enter TEST as the filename. The System will generate 3 files named TEST01.GIF, TEST02.GIF & TEST03.GIF. VIEWING HPG or PLT FILES: To view a plot file created in a HPGL format, move the cursor to the filename and press <ENTER>. Then choose the Display Mode and Plot Mode you wish to use. The program will try and determine the size of plot from the plot file header, but some CADD packages don't supply this info in which case the program will assume a "C size". The HPGL codes for Plot Sizes are: PS4 = 'A' size PS0 = 'B' size PS1 = 'C' size Choosing a display mode of FIT, 2X or 4X will speed up the drawing process but the resolution of the image will be diminished. You will only be able to plot an "A size" or smaller. As the image is decoded, you will see it being drawn in a preview mode at screen size. After the image is complete, pressing any key will swap you to the actual image as stored in Extended memory for panning around in. Pressing <ESC> as the image is being decoded will abort it. Currently supported HPGL commands are: PU,PD,PA,PR,PS,IP,SC,SP Even though the LB,CI,SI,SR,DF,DI & DR commands are parsed and used to display the image on the initial preview screen, they are not supported as the drawing is being created in Extended memory. This won't usually pose a problem since this program was designed to view HPGL files created by CADD programs and most of those programs represent Text, Circles etc. as vector elements. WARNING: Only plot files which were created as C size or smaller should be viewed, since the program does no checking for elements which could be drawn 'off' the page if too big. This check was omitted to speed up the drawing. DELETING FILES: While the file list is displayed on your screen, you may delete a file by moving the cursor to it and pressing <DEL> on the keyboard. To delete multiple files, mark them with the <spacebar> or Right Mouse Button and then press <DEL>. You will be asked to confirm each deletion. SPECIAL KEYS WHILE VIEWING: While viewing images in a VESA mode (other than arrays): F1/F2 Increase/Decrease RED F3/F4 Increase/Decrease GREEN F5/F6 Increase/Decrease BLUE F7/F8 Increase/Decrease RED F9/F10 Increase/Decrease RED ALT F9 Change to Gray tones ALT F10 Restore original palette P Send XMEM contents to printer G Create a GIF file of screen contents C Crop an image and save as GIF file S Scale XMEM contents to screen and save as GIF file V Display the current VGA palette While viewing an array: G Create a GIF file of screen contents C Crop an image and create a GIF file While viewing IMG or HPGL files in a B & W mode: P Send XMEM contents to printer I Create an IMG file of entire XMEM contents. The 'I' option may also be used if you are viewing an IMG or HPGL file in a color VESA mode. In both Color and B & W modes you may pan screen with: (make sure the NUMLOCK key is on to use keypad) HOME Top left of image END Bottom right of image Page Up Move up approx. 1 inch Page Dn Move down approx. 1 inch ESC Return to File Selection Menu The arrow keys on either numeric keypad or separate arrow keypad pan the image approx. 1/4 inch in that direction. In addition, on the numeric keypad, the 1,3,7 & 9 keys pan the image diagonally and the 5 pans to center of image. Use the Control key with left or right arrows to pan 1 inch to the left or right. SAVING SCREEN AS a GIF FILE: While viewing an image in a VESA mode, pressing <G> will save the current screen (not necessarily everything in Extended memory) to a GIF file with the filename of your choosing. The dimensions will come from the mode you are currently viewing the image in or the cropped size that you used. The color table written to file will reflect any adjustments you've made with the Function keys. CROPPING SCREEN & SAVING AS a GIF FILE: If you press <C> instead of <G> you will be able to crop your screen image before saving as a GIF file. You will see a box drawn around your complete image when you first press <C>. Press a <T> to move the TopLeft corner of box. Press to move the BottomRight corner. Use the arrow keys to move a single pixel at a time, or PageUp, PageDown, <CTRL>Leftarrow or <CTRL>Rightarrow to move 10 pixels at a time. <HOME> will move the Topleft corner of box to Topleft of screen. <END> will move the Bottomright corner of box to Bottomright of screen. <ESC> will abort and a <CR> will start the screen save. SCALING XMEM CONTENTS TO SCREEN & SAVING AS a GIF FILE: If you press <S> you will be able to scale the entire image in XMEM to your screen. You will see a box drawn the screen when you first press <S>. If you just press the <CR> key at this time, your entire image will be fitted to your screen at the current VESA resolution. Use the arrow keys etc. (like in cropping above) to move the lower right corner of box. Scaling always occurs about the upper left corner of image, so you can't move this point. <ESC> will abort and a <CR> will start the screen save. SAVING XMEM CONTENTS AS a IMG FILE: While viewing a 2 color Black/White image (either IMG, 2-color PCX or HPGL files), pressing an will save the entire eXtended memory contents to a IMG file. You will have the opportunity to reverse the image before saving. It doesn't matter whether you are viewing the image in a color VESA mode or one of the Black & White modes in order to save with the mode, as long as the original image was actually a 2 color image. Currently, there is not a cropping option before saving as a IMG file. However, if you are viewing the 2-color image in a color VESA mode, you could save out as a cropped GIF file. PRINTING IMAGES: While a color (GIF or PCX) file is displayed on the screen, pressing will create a print on a HP DeskJet or HP Laser printer. A halftoning process is used to achieve an excellent reproduction of the screen. Up to an 800 x 600 resolution image will be allowed as this is the max size for an 8 1/2 x 11 inch plot. (Recommend using legal size paper for a 800 x 600 plot, since depending on the paper feed mechanism on certain plotters, the last 1/4 inch may not plot). You may cancel the plot by pressing <ESC> during the plot. The port defaults to LPT1 unless you specified a command line argument of /L2 when starting the program. The actual plot will be of your entire image (stored in extended memory) and not just what you may be viewing on your screen. While viewing a IMG (black & white) file pressing will create a print. The maximum size is 3150 x 2400 pixels (fairly large). While viewing a HPG or PLT file displayed as an "A size" or smaller plot, pressing will create a print. As opposed to the IMG print where black was printed as black and white as white, the colors for a HPG or PLT file will be reversed. MOUSE USE: In most cases where the keypad is used to move the text cursor, a MicroSoft compatible mouse can also be used. You must install any required mouse drivers before running VESAVIEW. The Left button is used just like the <CR> key on the keyboard to display one image. It is also used to select choices from pop-up menus, to select commands at the bottom of screen and to select the PageUp and PageDown icons from the vertical bar on the right side of screen. The Right button is used just like the <ESC> key on the keyboard to abort displays and menus. It is also used to mark files for use in arrays or for displaying them as slides (like the <spacebar>). If the mouse (right button) is used to abort the display of slides or images in an array, you must hold the button down until you hear a double beep, since the program only scans the mouse at the end of each image. This is unlike using the <ESC> key which just needs to be pressed and let go of, even though the image doesn't abort until it has been fully displayed. If a large image has been displayed in one of the 256 color VESA modes, holding down the Left mouse button will display a panning icon on your screen. The green box represents your entire image size and the red box represents your screen size. While holding down the Left button, move the mouse and the red box will pan around with the green box. When you let go of the button, the screen with be moved to reflect your new window area. This mode of panning is much quicker than using the arrow keys, although you will probably use the arrow keys for fine tuning the pan. If a double-beep is heard when trying to use this feature, your image is probably smaller than your screen and no panning is possible. CAUTIONS: The array used to store the files in current directory is limited to 400 files. The program determines the type of file to display by the extension used on the filename. Supported extensions are PCX, GIF, IMG, HPG and PLT. Any other extensions are ignored. Incorrect extensions may cause program to hang (ie. Don't name a PCX file with a GIF extension). Even though your VESA driver thinks it supports some of the higher resolution modes, your hardware may not have the required memory to do so. Therefore, you need to lockout these modes from the program with the /LOmode command line switch. If you don't lock out these modes, the program may hang and you'll have to do the 3 finger trick (<CTRL> <ALT> <DEL>). HINTS: If you are using a printer supported by the DOS GRAPHICS command, you can get a quick print of a Black & White screen by using the GRAPHICS command before running VESAVIEW. Version 5.0 of DOS supports the DeskJet & LaserJets and the syntax would be: GRAPHICS DESKJET /r (the /r will reverse black & white) Use <SHIFT><PRT SCRN> while graphics are on the screen to initiate the print. Besides using the SCALE option, there is a trick you can use to scale down an image by 1/2,1/3,1/4...1/9. Mark just one image and display it as an array. Select the Array Size according to the scale factor you wish to use. (The color table used to display a single image as an array will be the true color table of that image and not the optimized palette). After the image is displayed, use the CROP feature to save the area you desire as a GIF image. Note that when a single array image is displayed, the background color and text colors will change according to the color table of the single image being displayed. If you need a VESA driver for your graphics card, login to Compuserve and go to the IBMPRO forum (GO VESA). In Lib #12 (Vesa), you will find VESA drivers for almost any card. If you are not sure what graphics card you have in your machine, there is a great little program in the GRAPHSUPPORT forum on Compuserve (GO PICS). In Lib #14 (Misc Util & Code) download VDEOID.EXE. This program will try and determine the card manufacturer & memory on it. CARDS TESTED: This program has been tested on the following computers and graphics cards: DELL 325D - Using built-in Paradise card DELL 325D - Using a CompuAdd Hi-rez card DELL 433D - Using Trident 8900 card DELL 433P - Using built-in Paradise card DELL 433P - Using a Video-7 VRAM II card NEC 386SX - Using a CompuAdd Hi-rez card AST 286/386 Premium - Using Orchid Designer Pro card AST 286/386 Premium - Using Diamond Stealth card (has built in VESA Bios on card) IBM 286 AT - Using a Paradise VGA Plus IBM 286 AT - Using a ATI Wonder card & ATI Vantage SUPPORT: If you have any comments, suggestions or questions, please leave me a message in the GRAPHSUPPORT forum (GO PICS) on Compuserve. My CIS ID number is 71170,2340. The current version of VESAVIEW will always be posted in the LIB #3 (Decoders & Encoders) of the GRAPHSUPPORT forum on Compuserve. The Zipped archival of VESAVIEW will usually be named VEVIxx.ZIP where xx is the version number. Note that it was named VESAVW.ZIP for versions prior to 2.3. You can also reach me at the P. O. Box listed in the Registration section.