Contents

Legal Issues

System Requirements

Installation

Operation Procedures

Main Window

Making a Simple WebSite

Auto Organization

Site Customization

Moving Site to UNIX

CD-ROM Support

Tips, Bugs, Upgrades, & Support


Main Window

The Main Window is what you see when you first start ImageGen.  You perform all functions by press one of the buttons on the right.

Close	Save any changes to the layout and exit the program.
Generate Site	Click on this button to generate or re-generate your picture site.  You should already have selected a directory containing your picture collection.  Remember, ImageGen produces the in-line (also called thumbnail) images.  You must provide the anchor (full sized) images.
Select Folder	Select the folder where to look for pictures.
Layout Wizard	Click on this button to have ImageGen create a layout for a web site, based on set questions it will ask you.
Close	Use this button to save any changes you made and exit the program.

If you want to change settings click on the relevent item on the left pane window.  Then change the relevent text in the appropriate edit box.


Obtaining Upgrades to the Program

You can obtain updated versions of  ImageGen at:

http://www.canuck.com/~thivier1/imagegen/index.html

After getting ImageGen you may want to be added to my mailing list of people who receive notices of upgrades.  Simply send me e-mail (at thivier1@canuck.com) asking to join.

If after trying out the latest version of ImageGen you find it missing some desirable features, you are encouraged to let me know of what you think should be added to future upgrades.  Also, you should always let me know that you are using my program (regardless of whether you have problems with it).  As a condition of use, all commercial users are required to notify me (at thivier1@canuck.com) of their use of my program and provide me access to any sites created with ImageGen.  Simply send me the URL of the site you created.  If it’s a private site, I’ll need any required information on how to access it (such as a password).  If there is normally a charge to access the site (made with ImageGen) any fee must be waved for me.  Remember, this version of ImageGen you have is still cost free to use, I simply wish to be told of its use.  When giving me a private URL, simply mention that it’s private, and I will keep it private.  If you’re worried I’ld be offended by the site’s content, let me know, but still provide the URL.  I’ll make my own decision if I wish to look at the site.


Legal Issues and Credits

Usage of this program means that you have read, understood, and agreed with all of the following terms and conditions unconditionally.

Ownership

ImageGen(c) 1996
The Picture Page Generator

Written by Robert Thivierge
All rights reserved by Robert Thivierge

Any attempt by a person other than myself (Robert Thivierge) to reverse compile, sell, or to represent the program as their own is prohibited. You may give a copy of the program to someone else free of charge, provided you include all the files you received yourself. They then should notify me of receipt of it.

However, any person or organization may distribute my program as freeware. They may charge a fee for the service of distribution (such as on-line charges, charge for distribution media, etc...). An acceptable form of distribution is including my program on CD-ROMs containing freeware/shareware, where there is a charge for the CD-ROM. However, it must be understood that they are not selling my program. And absolutely nobody, but me, may imply or suggest that they authored this program or that it is their property. I must always be given full credit.

CD-ROM distributors should inform me when they use my program.  However, this is not required.

Remember This document refers to this version of ImageGen.  Licensing rules for future versions may be different.

Freeware Status

This program is freeware.  The only consideration I require is:

1.	You inform me that you have received and used the program, and what results you obtained.

2.	You provide me with the URL of web sites created with Search. Private and fee-for-access sites should make an arrangement for me to be given free access to the site.  Privacy of such sites will be respected.

NOTE TO COMMERCIAL USERS:  Notification of use and of sites produced with ImageGen is manadatory if you wish royalty free rights to work produced with ImageGen.

Upon meeting the above requirements (and only upon meeting them), you (as a person or company) are free to use this version of ImageGen without financial charge, regardless of whether the use for profit or not.  Please send all notifications to thivier1@canuck.com.

Credits

Due to limited time, I have not mentioned all the people who helped with their comments and suggestions.  There have been many people who have given extensive help, which I appreciate.

	This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.  They are kind enough to allow programmers to use their code library without financial charge.
	The Graphics Interchange Format(C) is the Copyright property of CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(SM) is a Service Mark property of CompuServe Incorporated.
	The actual compression method used in GIF is copyrighted by Unisys Corporation. I thank them for allowing freeware authors to use their compression method without obtaining a license or paying royalties. See the Unisys FAQ on GIF for further details.

Disclaimer

Use my program at your own risk. There are bugs I know of, there are bugs I don't know of. I assume no liability for any losses incurred by use of my program. I myself have accidentally overwritten files with ImageGen. So, if I can loose stuff, you can too.  FOR GOODNESS SAKES, BACKUP OF YOUR WORK!!!  In order for me to make ImageGen powerful, I had to also make it potentially destructive.


System Requirements

Operating System	Windows 95 It may or may not work with other versions of Windows.
Processor	Intel 80486 or better.
Memory	The amount required is semi-proportional to the size of the largest picture you wish to compress.


Installation Procedures

To install, do the following:

1	Make a directory for the program (such as C:\IMAGEGEN).  It is very important that you have a directory set aside exclusively for IMAGEGEN.EXE.  Never use the same directory for the program that you use for your Web Site.
2	Copy the ZIP File into it.
3	Unzip it with PKUNZIP or a compatible program.
4	You should have the following files:  IMAGEGEN.EXE, SEARCH.INI, SEARCH.HLP, GLOBALS.TXT, DGLOBALS.TXT, MGLOBALS.TXT and README.TXT.  If you’re upgrading you can keep your old IMAGEGEN.INI and GLOBALS.TXT file, to preserve you existing settings.  Although, these old files may cause a problem if you choose to use the Layout Wizard.
5	In Win95 double-click on IMAGEGEN.EXE in the Windows Explorer or create a shortcut to it.  See your Win95 documentation for help with this.
6	Run IMAGEGEN.EXE.  If this is your first time, click on “Layout Wizard”.  You will be guided through the required steps.


Operation Procedures

To start the program double click on IMAGEGEN.EXE in the Windows Explorer or set up a short-cut.   For information on a particular operation select the appropriate topic:

Main Window

Making a Simple Web Site

Auto Organization

Site Customization

Moving Site to UNIX

Searching for Files

Decoding UUEncoded Files


Generating a Simple Web Site

Press “Layout Wizaard, and you’ll be guided along the required steps to create a web site.


Auto Organizing Feature
Auto Organizing

You can use this feature to have IMAGEGEN.EXE organize your pictures into separate pages.  It examines the names of all your picture files and looks for similiarities in file names.  When it finds some files with similiar names it places them on a page together.  All the other pictures are placed on a page called miscpics.htm.  These new pages are called Match Pages, because only picture files that match a certain pattern are placed on them.

To have IMAGEGEN.EXE Auto Organize your pictures, press the AutoOrg button.  You will see a dialog box which will ask you if you wish to re-generate your site.  If you click on “Yes” the whole site will be re-generated immediately.  If you select no, you will have the chance to edit the Match Pages you created.  When your ready to re-generate the site, press the “Generate Site” button.


Match Pattern Settings Dialog Box
Match Pattern Settings

By default IMAGEGEN.EXE will place all the pictures in a directory on one page.  As an alternative, you may wish to have IMAGEGEN.EXE split the pages up into sub-pages.  The Directory Index Page will have links to all of these sub-pages.  You can have each sub-page contain only those files who’s file name matches a certain pattern.  A sub-page that contains files that match a certain pattern are referred to as Match Pages.

1	In the list box on the left of the screen click on the “Match Pages” item.
2	On the right enter the minimum number of pictures you want on a Match Page and also use that “DoAutoOrganize” is set to yes.
3	Delete unwanted Match Pages by selecting each one, and then selecting Edit/Delete from the menu.
4	Fill a value for “SearchPattern” to determine which files will be placed on the file.  Wild cards are used in a way similiar to DOS. When specifying patterns  you can use the following wild-cards:  * Any number of characters ? Any one character # Any single digit @ Any single letter.   Character matching is not case-sensitive.
	Enclose file names or file patterns with square brackets.  For example to match JPEG files that start with the letters “red”, enter the following:  [red*.jpg]
5	If you want multiple patterns for one Match Page, seperate them with a comma.  Do not use spaces to separate them.
6	You can fill in values such as the page title, label, and introduction.  You can also add any amount of additional information to appear on the page you wish.


Customizing Your Site

There are several ways to customize your site to suite your needs.  For further information click on the highlighted text below.

Please keep in mind, that future version of ImageGen will radically change how a site is customized.  Ultimately, everything will be done visually.  So, don’t spend to much time learning how to do things the hard way.

	How to access	Description
Creating Sub-Directories	Use Windows Explorerr	For every Sub-Folder you create a corresponding Sub-Page is created.  These Sub-Pages are linked to the controlling parent page.
Auto Organization	Click on the AutoOrg button.	This causes IMAGEGEN.EXE to examine all your picture files for similiarities in file names.  File’s with similiar names are grouped together on their own page.
Setting Variable Values	This is done on the opening screen of the program.	This allows you to precisely control the text and HTML mark-up that is to appear anywhere on any pages produced.


Sub-Directories
You create a new Sub-Folder (sub-directory) by going to the Windows Explorer and selecting “File/New Folder”.  For each Sub-Folder under the current Folder  (also called the “Search Folder” or “Base Folder”) IMAGEGEN.EXE will produce a Folder Index Page.  The Folder Index Page for the parent directory will link to the Folder Index Pages for the sub-directories.  The browser user will be able to follow links up and down between these pages, thereby seeing all the files in all the directories.


Variables
Layout Configuration

Note:  The following is for advanced users.  Future versions of ImageGen will provide a completely visual interface, so the following information will be obsolete.  Also, you should try to do as much customization with the Layout Wizard, before you follow the instructions below.

IMPORTANT:  Changes to the layout are lost every time you re-run the Layout Wizard.

Setting Variables

You can control everything that is to appear on outputted Web Pages by setting variables.  For instance if you wanted to change the title of a page you need to change the variable called “PageTitle”.  Each piece of the page has a corresponding variable.  You can set the values of variables on the opening screen of the program (In SEARCH.EXE this screen was call the Configuration Layout Screen).

You will notice  that there are two “panes”.  The left pane lists all of the objects in your web site.  An object can be a page (or part of a page), group of settings, or an individual picture.  By selecting an individual object in the left pane, you will see all if it’s associated variables in the right pane.  What follows is a description of what the more important variables are.  Keep in mind that you are free to add your own variables by simply filling in the empty boxes.  If you don’t see any empty boxes, simply use the scroll bar to the right to move down to some.  You’ll notice that in the left pane some items have a “+” next to them.  Click on the to see all the items contains within this “parent” item.

Note that variables can refer to one another using the ${VariableName} notation.  At run-time variable subsitituion occurs.  The best way to learn how this works is to look over the default variable values that come with the program.

Variable Name	Example	Description
PersonFullName	John Smith	This value was set with the Settings Dialog Box.
EMailAddress	smith@domain.com	This value was set with the Settings Dialog Box.

The following built-in variables are re-set for every page.

Variable Name	Example	Description
PageFullDOSFileName	c:\web\pics\index.htm	This is the DOS full file name for the particular web page.  Note that DOS file names have the “htm” extension instead of the “html” extension used in URL’s.
SearchPattern	[red*.jpg]	For match pages this variable is set the pattern a file’s name or comments must have to be included in the page.  This variable is undefined for Dir Index pages.
TotalFileSizeInK		This value is only defined for the end of the page.  You should only refer to this variable within “PageEndTempate”.

The following built-in variables are re-set for every picture file:

Variable Name	Example	Description
BaseFileName	mypic	This is the name of the file without the directory name or file extension.
AnchorDOSFullFileName	c:\web\pics\mypic.jpg	The anchor file is the main file which is normally downloaded by the user
AnchorFileName	mypic.jpg	The is name used to refer to the file in a URL.
ImageDOSFullFileName	c:\web\pics\mypic.gif	The image file is the in-line image file that’s referred to in an IMG tag
ImageFileName	mypic.gif	This is URL used to refer to the in-line image.
TextDOSFullFileName	c:\web\pics\mypic.txt
FileSizeInBytes	100000	The size of the anchor file in bytes.
FileSizeInK	100	This is equal to FileSizeInBytes divided by 1024
ImageComments	This is a picture of something, blah, blah, blah, etc...	These are the comments stored inside a JPEG file.
DisplayWidth	70	This is the actual width an image should be displayed with in a browser.  It’s value will be used in the IMG tag’s WIDTH modifier.  Not all browsers support “WIDTH”.  One’s that don’t simple ignore it.  If you want to control the display width, you should set the Max Display Width in the settings dialog box.  Keep in mind certain browsers, such as Netscape, display images quicker if they have both a WIDTH and HEIGHT tag.
DisplayHeight	70	The height an image is displayed with

The values of the following standard variables may be changed if you wish to customize your site. All of these variables have values set in the variable files that come with IMAGEGEN.EXE.  You are free to change these values.  If you wish to make a variable blank delete the text for the name and contents of the variable.

FileLeaderTemplate	When IMAGEGEN.EXE lists the anchor files (*.jpg) on a page it puts value of this variable at the beginning of the list.  If you want the pictures to appear in a table you would use the <TABLE> tag.  If you didn’t want a table you would remove the <TABLE> tag, and possible replace it with a heading tag (such as <H3>).
FileEntryTemplate	This is the text that appears for every file.  For instance including the text ${ FileSizeInK}K in this variable’s value, means you want the size of the file shown in kilobytes followed by the letter K.
FileTrailerTemplate	This text follows the list of files on a page.  You should close any HTML constructs you started with FileLeaderTemplate.  For instance if you had <TABLE> in FileLeaderTemplate, you should have </TABLE> here.
GroupLeaderTemplate	This text appears before a group of pictures.  Pictures are automatically put in groups 1 of more depending on the “Pictures Per Group” setting in the settings dialog box.  Typically a group corresponds to a row in a table.  4 picture files per group means that there will be 4 columns in the table.  Since every cell in a table starts with the <TD> tag, you normally put a <TD> tag here if you want a table.
GroupTrailerTemplate	This text follows each group.  Any HTML construct opened in GroupLeaderTemplate should be closed here.
DirLeaderTemplate	This text appears before a list of  sub- pages.  The sub pages can be sub directories or Match Pages containing files.  A normal use for this is start a table with the <TABLE> tag
DirEntryTemplate	This text appears in a Dir Index Page for each reference to a sub page.  Any variable that you put in here refers to the value in the sub page.  For instance if you put the text “${PageLabel}, the page label of the sub page is used
DirTrailerTemplate	This text appears at the end of a list of sub pages.  You should end any HTML construct that began with DirLeaderTemplate.  For instance if you have a “<TABLE>“ tag in DirLeaderTemplate, you should have a “</TABLE>“ tag in DirTailerTemplate.
PageHeadTemplate	This controls the text that appears at the top of the page.  The text you enter goes between <HEAD> and </HEAD> automatically.  So do not explicitly enter the <HEAD> tag yourself.  You’ll only cause problems.
PageTitle	This is text which go between <TITLE> and <TITLE>.  The text will be seen on the title bar of the browser window.  This text should clearly describe what is in a page concisely.  Remember it has to fit well within one line to be seen by the browser user.
PageLabel	This text is used as a short reference to the page for the browser uesr.  It appears at the top of the page.  If the page is referred to by another page, the other page uses this text to refer to it.
ParentPageLabel	This controls how the a page’s parent is referred to.  Normally it is set to ${PageLabel}, which mean’s the parent page is referred to with it’s PageLabel.
PageEndTemplate	This is the text that will appear at the bottom of the page.  By default this includes a reference to any parent page and your e mail address.  You remove or edit this to your own choosing.

The values of the following variables are used if and only if you create Detail Pages.  When used, one Detail Page is produced for every anchor image.  Typically you would show the full sized picture as well as additional information about the picture.  You can if you wish just show the smaller sized picture on this page.

DetailPageTemplate	If this variable is defined to have a value, then IMAGEGEN.EXE creates one detail page for every anchor image.  The value of this variable determines the entire contents of the Detail Page files.  You define both the head and body with this variable.  Note that the <HEAD> tag is not automatically inserted the way it is with a normal page.  It must be included in the value of this variable, in order for it to appear.
DetailPageTitle	This defines the title for the Detail Page.
DetailPageLabel	This defines the label of the Detail Page.  You may use it to refer to the page.

The following variables are used when you wish to create a web site out of pictures on a CD-ROM.  Since you can’t write to a CD-ROM, all of the files created  (*.htm and *.gif) are located in a separate directory on your hard disk.  These variables are intended for advanced users, and won’t concern the average user.  These variables were introduced with Version 2.1.

OutputDirDOSFullFileName	This is the directory where you want all of your web pages (*.htm) and in-line image files (*.gif) to be located in.  If needed ImageGen will automatically create sub-directories as required.  But this directory must exist.  Be sure to check the spelling is exact.
ReadOnlyDirHTMLFileName	If you just want to view the files locally (ie. on your hard disk), then leave this blank.  Otherwise, enter the URL of where the anchor images (ie. pictures on the CD-ROM) will be.  Typically, a person will leave this blank while their testing of viewing the images locally.  Then when it’s ready to put on the web, they will change this to the URL of the CD-ROM.  Remember, that this must be a proper URL.  That means that you can not use the DOS “:” or “\” characters.  You can ues the “|” or “/”, which is accepted by browsers, instead.
ReadOnlyAnchorURLPrefix	This variable is automatically set by ImageGen.  It’s used to preface URLs of anchor images.  By default a web browser looks for a file in the same directory as the web page.  This variable tells the web browser to look elsewhere


Settings Dialog Box
General Settings

Ta access the general settings look at the left pane window on the main (opening screen) of ImageGen.  Look for the “General Settings” item.  If there’s a “+” to the left of it, click it to see the sub-items.  Click on each item to see the group of settings.  Replace the old values with new ones that you want.

User:

PersonFullName	This identifies you to web browser users who are viewing your site.  You must fill this value in..
EMailAddress	By filling in this value, users can e-mail you by clicking on your name on a web page.

Images:

MaxDisplayWidth	This width that in-line images will be created and displayed with.
MaxDisplayHeight	This is the height that in-line images will be created and displayed with.

Names:

Don’t change these settings unless your an expert.

AnchorFileExtList	Don’t change this.
InLineFileExt	Don’t change this.
PageDOSFileExt	This is the extension ImageGen creates files with.
PageHTMLFileExt	This is the extension ImageGen uses to link to HTML files.


Sample Layout Selection Dialog Box

This feature doesn’t apply to version 1.2 or later.  You should use the Layout Wizard instead.


CD-ROM Support

Note:  this feature is for advanced users only.  You must already be familiar with the WWW and URLs before attempting to use this feature.

By default ImageGen assumes your picture collection is located on a hard drive, which you are free to read and write to.  ImageGen creates in-line GIF files and HTML files in the same directory that it reads the anchor images (the pictures you provide, either JPEG or GIF).  This is because a web browser, by default, assumes anchor images, in-line images, and HTML files, are all located in the same directory.  Now, if your pictures are on a CD-ROM you obviously can’t have ImgaeGen write to the same directory.

To have ImageGen can relocate the output files for you, you should first start-up ImageGen.  On the left side pane,  select “General Settings” by clicking once with the left mouse button on it.  If at first you don’t see this item, then use the vertical scroll bar to locate it.  Next locate the variable name “OutputDirDOSFullFileName” on the right side.  Again, use the vertical scroll bar as needed..  Immediately below this variable name, enter the value, which is the exact DOS full path of the directory where you want pictures placed in.  Next go to “ReadOnlyDirHTMLFileName”.  If you just want to view files locally (ie. no internet), ensure it’s value is blank.  Otherwise, set it’s value to the HTML path leading to where the pictures will go.  Note, if you plan on moving files to a separate web server, than put the server’s URL here.

Pleaes keep in mind the following:

1)Since, this feature was first implemented with Version 2.1 of ImageGen, only new Sample Layouts will support CD-ROM sites.  You should use a Sample Layout, as your base for creating your own Layout.

2)Every time you re-locate a site created this way, you must re-run ImageGen, filling in a value for “ReadOnlyDirHTMLFileName” as appropriate.  This applies to relocating where the site can be browsed from.


Moving your site to a UNIX machine
Moving your site to a UNIX machine (optional)

In order to move a picture site from a Windows machine to a UNIX machine you must do the following.

1	You should find out if you will want to use the “htm” or “html” file extension.  Life is simpler if you use the “htm” file extension, which is the default setting of ImageGen.  However, some web servers (ie. on UNIX) want the “html” extension.   32-bit users: Set “PageHTMLFileExt” and “PageDOSFileExt” to “html”.  You will not need to rename them after the file transfer.
2	Re-create the directory structure from the base directory (which you specified as the Search Directory) on down, using lower case letters. The base (search) directory does not have to have the same name. But all of its sub-directories must keep their names.
3	Copy *.gif, *.jpg, and *.htm (or *.html) files into their respective directories.
4	Ensure all file names names are lower case.
5	Ensure that JPEGs, and GIFs were transfered in binary mode.
6	Any *.htm (*.html) files must be transfered as "Text"
7	If you set “Page DOS File Ext” to “htm” you may now have to rename all the “htm” names to “html”.

If you have a complicated site with many Sub-Folders you can use the tar utility. It is available for both DOS and UNIX. It archives all your files and directories into a ".tar" file and re-creates the files and original directory structure when you extract the files. To archive the files in DOS you use the command "tar -cvf archive.tar *.*". Then you FTP this file in binary mode to your UNIX account, using a utility like WS_FTP. Then you extract the files with the command "tar -xvf archive.tar".  The tar utility is available at SimTel and other freeware/shareware repositories.

In order to change *.htm file extensions to *.html you can use a shell script.  You’ll find a uselful script called dun.sh at http://www.canuck.com/~thivier1/software.html.


Search for Files

This feature no longer exists with ImageGen.


Converting to Progressive-JPEG Format

This feature no longer exists with ImageGen.


Decoding UUEncoded Files

This feature no longer exists with ImageGen.


Support
KTips, Upgrades, Bugs, and Support

Pleaes let me know of any problems, comments, or suggestions.  at thivier1@canuck.com.  When requesting help remember to tell me what version you are using.  Fixes and updates will be posted to http://www.cnauck.com/~thivier1/imagegen.  Remember, I leave it entirely up to my descretion to decide what if any bugs to fix or improvements to make.  You are solely liable for any problems you encounter with ImageGen.

Information on bugs is located at the above mentioned web site.  You should read the web page entirely before using the program, since it’s the only place I can keep up to date information.  This includes information on bugs.  And of course rember, use of the program is exclusively at your own risk.