AWC Version History

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2.3.1 - September 26, 2004

Modified filtering to allow you to display the most recent file in the selected directory. This allows users of web cams to display the newest capture on the desktop at each change. (request by cuibel. My thanks to Twohead too for all the help with testing)

2.3 - September 26, 2004

Added mirror tiling (request by Twohead).

Added some special effects processing. Pretty limited at the moment and the emboss function needs a bit more work.

More effective memory clean up after image processing gives reduced program memory footprint

2.2.8 - September 12, 2004

Added remaining time indicator (request by mdvbilt).

2.2.7 - September 05, 2004

Bug fix only - No repeats option stopped working after last update. My thanks to jwd_jr2004 for reporting the problem.

2.2.6 - August 10, 2004

Added external editor to preferences (request by KarenC)

Added delete file to pop up

Added Open for editing to pop up

Modified MessageBox function so it displays the box in a sensible place if the window would be off screen

2.2.5 - July 11, 2004

Modified help and About screen to include details of the new AWC support forum.

2.2.4 - July 05, 2004

No changes to software but the support address has been changed. I'm ditching the smurphynet.co.uk domain when it expires in August because I'm sick of all the spam.

2.2.4 - June 07, 2004

Added option to display only the file name when Show filename is turned on (request by Oscar Moreno).

Added ability to set the action when the user double clicks the tray icon (request by Danny McClatchey).

Please note that these most recent options don't have a command line setting yet as I'm running out of letters to use. I'll have a bit of a think a try to work out something logical(ish).

2.2.3 - April 29, 2004

Added the option to restart the display process automatically when all the pictures in AWC's list have been displayed. You previously got a warning message telling you to press the Start button. In any event this is only relevant if you've also selected the No repeats option too. This was added at the request of Arno.

2.2.2 - April 09, 2004

Added Apply button to the preferences screen.

Added /NOSPLASH command line option at the request of Scott Danesi.

2.2.1 - March 11, 2004

Fixed very weird bug that could crash the program with some very weird errors indeed. My apologies to anyone who suffered.

Also updated installation program so that the tiling and positioning settings used in AWC are properly cleaned up on uninstallation.

2.2 - March 05, 2004

Big change to the interface. The Options menu was getting very long and unmanageable so I've removed it and implemented a preferences screen instead. This means the users can make multiple changes and apply them in one hit rather than keep going back to the menu. Just pick Preferences from the File menu.

Added stretch to full screen option 'cos people keep asking for it.

Best fit check box removed and stretching option is now available from the Preferences screen.

Filtering by file specification is now available on the Preferences screen and is persistent. Previously only available from command line.

The splash screen now only displays if AWC is not already running.

Splash screen now disappears after a maximum of ten seconds even if AWC is still in the middle of processing the start sequence.

2.1.1 - February 21, 2004

Added a splash screen.

Added Preserve File List option.

Added Show File Name option.

2.1 - January 25, 2004

Removed the third party graphics library I was using to read files and replaced it with the excellent Open Source library FreeImage, which is covered by the GNU public licence.

Fiddled with the interface to make it a bit cleaner and less clunky.

Added sharpening filters to enhance image quality.

Changed the tiling settings so that all files can be tiled even after resizing.

Added an Edit menu and moved the copy to clipboard functionality there.

Added facility in edit menu to open the current image in its default editor.

2.0 - December 19, 2003

This is a major update as I have removed the old, third party, graphics engine and written one myself from scratch. The new system is wholly written in VB and uses Windows GDI for all processing. As a result I've been able to introduce bilinear resampling to produce a huge quality improvement when resizing files.

Added Shrink large pics to fit option.

Modified tiling algorithm so that small files will be tiled, rather than resized, even if Best fit is turned on.

1.6.0 - October 12, 2003

I discovered that the method I'd used to store the list of files for display resulted in a limit to the number of entries of 32767 files. I've changed the methodology so the limit is now in excess of two billion. A nice bonus is that filling the list is now a lot quicker too.

At the request of Uzik in the EAW forum I've added a new option so that AWC can check for newly added files in its source directory and below on each change of the wallpaper.

1.5.5 - September 28, 2003

Added /O command line switch at Mark Holden's request.

Added /L command line switch.

1.5.4a - August 16, 2003

I've finally figured out why versions of Windows 98 didn't change the wallpaper. Suffice to say I'd boobed. There are no changes to the software itself; just to one of its components. Hence the addition of a version letter rather than an increase in version number.

1.5.4 - July 03, 2003

Got a lot of feedback about Use Earliest Date option, requesting more control. Have updated so that you can filter files by date depending on the modification date being before or after a user defined date, or by the age of the file being older or younger than a given age in days. The /E command line option has been removed as /A is used instead.

Clear On Exit option updated so that the positioning flags are reset to windows defaults. Previously any positioning was retained which could muck things up if you used another tool to set the wallpaper (shame on you!). Thanks to Mark Holden for spotting this.

Clear On Exit option updated so the wallpaper file that is actually displayed, AutoWall.bmp, is physically deleted from your hard disk.

Added functionality to recreate the tray icon in the event of Explorer crashing.

1.5.3 - June 27, 2003

Added Use Earliest Date option.

1.5.2 - June 8, 2003

Added Exit Immediately option to command line settings.

1.5.1 - May 17, 2003

Added Clear On Exit option.

1.5.0 - May 14, 2003

Added full command line switch settings to override all saved settings.

1.4.0 - May 10, 2003

Added ability to tile small files when not in Best Fit mode.

1.3.6 - April 12, 2003

Added support for PNG, PCX, TGA, RLE file formats.

Changed name of installation file to AWCSetup.exe instead of simply Setup.exe: another suggestion by Mark Holden.

1.3.5 - March 25, 2003

Added Restart On Not Found facility to options in response to a request by Mark Holden.

1.3.4 - March 17, 2003

Added facility so that if the user launches a second instance of AWC, with a new source directory specified, the original instance is shut down and the new source used instead. Credit to Mark Holden for this modification, inspired by his idea to create a file association to AWC on a folder so that it appears in the context menu for the folder in Explorer.

1.3.3 - March 8, 2003

Added new setting to Options menu to prevent the AWC from redisplaying a picture it has already displayed in the current session. The current session is defined as the period of time elapsed since the program started or the Start button was clicked.

The change process is now suspended while the screen saver is running or if the screen is locked. Note that, on versions of Windows prior to Win2K, the suspend on screen saver functionality will only work properly if the Password Protected checkbox was checked when selecting the screen saver

1.3.2 - March 4, 2003

Updated so current file number indicator counts from 1 to FileCount instead of 0 to (FileCount - 1). Again thanks to Mark Walker for spotting this.

1.3.1 - March 3, 2003

Added ability for user to change the period type.

Updated Help menu to include an About option so user can check version number and support details.

Switched to Inno Setup Compiler for creating the installation program due to problems on some systems with the installation files created by the Visual Studio Package And Deployment Wizard. My thanks to Mark Walker for taking the time to report the problems he was having.

1.3 - February 23, 2003

First Public Release

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