Copyright: (C) Copyright 1997, KS Lim


INTRODUCTION
THE LIM SLIDE SHOW

(C) Copyright 1997, KS Lim

INTRODUCTION

If you have tons of image files located all over the place that you would like to select and organise for your viewing pleasure with special display and undisplay effects amid a beautiful background of randomly changing colors and the accompaniment of soothing music, then the LIM SLIDE SHOW is the program for you.

Most slide show programs allow you to select files from only 1 folder at a time and then display your selections in a table with no clue of what the images look like or how the music sounds like.  You only know how your slide show  will look and sound like after you play the whole selection.

The LIM SLIDE SHOW is designed to overcome all the above weaknesses while at the same time provide enhanced features to ensure that you produce your perfect slide show.


PRODUCT FEATURES

The LIM SLIDE SHOW provides the following features :

•	Supports  JPG, BMP and GIF image files

•	Supports  CD AUDIO, MIDI and WAV sound files

•	Easy to use point & click user interface

•	Selection of files from multiple folders

•	Automatic filtering of file selection for supported file types

•	Can select via Directory mode in which the whole directory is searched for selected file types

•	Can select via File mode in which individual files or groups of files can be selected

•	File selection can be saved as .LFL files & different .LFL files can be combined to form a new slide show

•	Edit Mode for sound files in which supported sound file types can be selected from multiple folders and listed in table form. The user can test the sound of any of the selected files, re-arrange their order and remove unsuitable sound files

•	Edit Mode for image files in which selected files will be displayed as thumbnail images along with other details such as the actual size of the image in pixels, display & undisplay effects and time delay between images. Based on the image size displayed, the user will find it easier to decide whether to display the image in full screen, tiled or actual size mode. The user can preview the display effects of any listed image file or test the various display and undisplay effects individually. Images can also be re-positioned, removed from the show or even deleted from the disk.

•	During the display of thumbnail images in the Edit Mode, the music selection will be played

•	Options screen is available to apply selected properties globally or on marked images only

•	Image files can be exported to other applications such as image editors, etc.

•	Run Mode which can play the final slide show in 4 different ways - sequential (default), random starting point, random image selection and repeated endless loop of displays. Images are displayed according to the selected properties amid a beautiful background of randomly changing colors while the selected music files are played in a round-robin manner.

•	Favourite slide shows can be configured as screen savers (Registered version only)


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Minimum Hardware Configuration

80486 25 Mhz Processor

8 MB RAM

512KB Video RAM

Recommended Hardware Configuration

Pentium Processor

16 MB RAM

2 MB Video RAM

Sound Card

4X CD ROM drive

Operating Software

16-bit version	- Win 3.1, Win 3.11, Win'95

32-bit version - Win'95, Win NT

Video For Windows

WinG

Supported Color Modes

256 color

64 K color (16-bit)  Recommended for best performance vs quality

16 M color (24-bit)


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The author is a full time Technical Support Manager in a major mainframe computer installation. He has developed various tools and utilities for Database and Telecommunications subsystems in the mainframe environment besides providing technical support and consultancy.

Software development and programming on the PC is a part-time, 'after-hours' endeavour for the author and represents his main hobby. The Lim Slide Show was inspired by the lack of suitable products that can help the author to manage his huge collection of family images for viewing pleasure. It is being offered as Shareware to help fund the author's further development of more quality software products.


LICENSING

Please note that the LIM SLIDE SHOW is SHAREWARE and is not FREE. You are allowed to try out this program at no charge for 30 days only, after which your license for free use of the program will be revoked. To continue enjoying the product after the 30-day trial period, you are required to register the progam by mailing the completed Registration Form  along with US$19.95 to the author as registration fees. Users from the United States have the more convenient option of registering online and paying the Registration Fees through their telephone bill. For more details on this convenient mode of payment, please connect to the author's  Home Page at  www.geocities.siliconvalley/way/6837.

This evaluation version is a fully functional program with no disabled features or time limits. However, it will only display up to a maximum of 10 slides with a reminder to register the product at the end of your slide show. By registering the program, you will receive via email, a Registration Key to remove the reminder and 10-slide restriction, as well as an extra feature to setup  your favourite slide show as a screen saver.

You are encouraged to freely distribute the evaluation copy during the 30-day trial period. However, after registration, any distribution of the registered program constitute a copyright violation and is illegal. You are also not allowed to modify the program in any way and then re-distribute it as your own work.

This program had been written and tested with great care. However, the author cannot warrant that it is bug-free and will not be liable for any consequential or incidental damage caused directly or indirectly through the use of this software.


REGISTRATION

ONLINE REGISTRATION

   You can register Lim Slide Show  online through the Internet at http://www.shareit.com/programs/100404.htm. Alternatively, you can go to http://www.shareit.com and enter the program number there : 100404.

   For more details, please link to the author's Home Page at  www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/way/6837. Please visit the author's Home Page for other great shareware and freeware.

NORMAL REGISTRATION

You can also register Lim Slide Show  through postal mail by the following procedure :-

•	Print out the Registration Form provided in the next topic.

•	Execute the Lim Setup program called lssetup.exe and click on the REGISTER button. The product Serial Number will be displayed. This number is used to generate the Registration Key and thus must be copied into the Registration Form. Please note that capital and small letters are different and must be copied exactly as displayed into the Form.

•	Fill in the other details in the Form. In particular, your email address must be correctly filled in. Mail the completed Registration Form together with a check for the registration fee,  drawn on a Malaysian bank for US$20 or MR 50 (Malaysian Ringgit) made payable to the payee and at the address indicated on the Form.

ENTERING THE REGISTRATION KEY

•	Upon receipt of payment, you will receive the Registration Key via email together with an attached file called limssv.fgx.

•	Detach the file and save it in the same directory as the Lim Slide Show.

•	Execute lssetup.exe and click on the REGISTER button. Enter  your Registration Key and you should see a message indicating acceptance of the key.

•	Upon successful acceptance of your Registration Key, there will no longer be any registration reminders or restriction on the number of slides to be displayed. You can now configure your favourite slide show as a screen saver.

•	To configure your favourite slide show as a screen saver, save it in the Windows directory as SSHOW.LFL. Execute lssetup.exe and click on the SCN SAVER button to install your screen saver.

•	Select the Lim Slide Show from the Windows Display Properties as the active screen saver.


REGISTRATION FORM

To register the LIM SLIDE SHOW please fill up the following details :

Name	______________________________________ (mandatory information)

Address	 _______________________________________________________

                    	 _______________________________________________________

Country	 ________________________________

Email Address	 ________________________________( mandatory information)

Product Serial Number ___________________________(mandatory information)

I found the LIM SLIDE SHOW here :

web site URL _________________________

usenet group _________________________

other means  _________________________

As Registration Fees, I enclose a cheque drawn on a bank in Malaysia for  US$20 (or RM 50) made payable to :

  	    Lim Kean Seng

    24 Jalan SS25/37

    Taman Mayang

     Petaling Jaya 47301

     Malaysia

I confirm that I would like to register the LIM SLIDE SHOW and I've understood and accepted the licensing terms specified under the LICENSING topic above. I further understand that no refund will be entertained since I have had the opportunity to try out the product before purchasing.

_________________________

(Signature)

Date : ______________


GETTING STARTED

When the Lim Slide Show is first executed, the Main Screen will appear with the Lim Slide Show Logo. You can then select your image files by clicking on the SELECT button.  If you  prefer the keyboard, use the arrow keys to move the highlight to the desired button and press the ENTER key.

The File Selection Screen will then be displayed with 3 main buttons. Clicking the File Mode button will allow you to select individual files or groups of files (by pressing the Ctrl key while clicking). The Directory Mode button will select all the requested file types in the selected directory, but before clicking it, you should click the smaller sub-buttons to specify the file types desired - BMP JPG GIF and/or  LFL file types. Clicking the CANCEL button will bring you back to the Main Screen.

LFL files are previously selected and saved slide show files. If selected, the slides will retain previously selected properties, otherwise, default properties are assigned to newly selected files.

At this stage, you can play your slide show by clicking on the RUN button. The default sound selection is Track 1 to 10 of an audio CD, so just stick in a CD before clicking on the RUN button to enjoy music with your slide show.

If you like, you can change the properties of your slide show before you RUN it by clicking on the OPTIONS button. The Slide Show Options screen will be displayed with the slide show properties available. Each property can be turned on by clicking on the small button beside it. If a property is not turned on, it will not have any effect on your slide show.

Click on the SAVE button to save your slide show. The default file name is SSHOW.LFL. You can change it to whatever name you like except that the file extension of LFL should remain unchanged. If you want your slide show to be displayed as a screen saver, save it as SSHOW.LFL in the Windows folder.

The EDIT button allows you to further customise your slide show by providing facilites to  manage, test, re-arrange, remove and combine your image and sound files.


EDIT SLIDES

Click on the EDIT button on the Main Screen and select Edit Slides from the drop down menu. If a list of files have already been selected earlier via the SELECT button on the Main Screen, they will start to be displayed as thumbnail images.

If not, click on the ADD button to invoke the File Selection Screen to select your image files. The selected list will then start to display as thumbnail images, along with their actual dimensions (in pixels) and other properties. As the thumbnails are displayed, the music selection will also start to play. If you do not like music at this stage, click off the Music On button in the Slide Show Options Screen before selecting files.

While the thumbnails are being displayed, the mouse cursor will be suppressed. You can stop the display at any time by pressing the ESC key. Stopping the display will not affect the selection list except that you cannot preview and individually edit those images that have not been displayed yet. Once the thumbnail display completes, the mouse cursor will re-appear and you can then browse through the thumbnails by clicking on the PGUP and PGDN  buttons or pressing the Page Up and Page Down keys. Pressing the Home key will display the first page while pressing the End key will display the last page.

If you have more images to add from other folders, click on the ADD button again. You can also select .LFL files  to include previously saved slide shows to your current selection list.


EDIT PROPERTIES

You can edit each thumbnail individually by directly clicking on their property buttons. If you use the keyboard, position the highlight on the desired thumbnail and press the Tab key to access the property buttons.

To edit groups of thumbnails, click on the desired thumbnails to mark them (or hit the ENTER key on the highlighted thumbnail) before clicking on the OPTIONS button. On the Slide Show Options Screen, click on the Global button to edit the properties for the whole list or click on the Marked files button to affect only the group of marked files.


REMOVE SLIDES

You can remove unwanted slides in groups or individually.

To remove a group of slides, click on each unwanted thumbnail to mark it for removal. Then click on the REMOVE button. You will be asked whether to delete the marked files. Answering Yes will result in the deletion of the marked files as well. Therefore, if you merely want to remove the slides from your slide show, be sure to answer No to avoid losing your file totally.

To remove a slide individually, right click on the unwanted thumbnail and select Remove slide from the pop-up list. If you want to delete the file as well, select Delete slide from the pop-up list.


REPOSITION SLIDES

The default display sequence for slide show is the order in which the files were selected. You can change the display sequence by repositioning your slides. Right click on the thumbnail to be re-positioned and select Reposition slide from the pop-up list. Enter the new position for slide.


TEST SLIDES

You can test the display of any slide to have a preview of what it will look like in the final slide show. In fact the display effects of each and every slide property can be previewed. To do so, select the desired properties and right click on the thumbnail. Select Test slide from the pop-up list and the slide will be displayed with the selected properties.


EXPORT SLIDES

You can export selected slides to other applications. To do so, mark the slide to be exported by clicking on the thumbnail and then click the EXPORT button. Key in the full path name of the target application when prompted. This is especially useful if you want to edit your images using an Image Editor package. The thumbnail will help you to locate the image you want and export it to the Image Editor.


EDIT MUSIC

Click on the EDIT button on the Main Screen and select Edit Music from the drop down menu. The current music selection will be displayed. Tracks 0 to 10 of an Audio CD will be the default music selection.

You can add your own MIDI or WAV files to the selection by clicking on the ADD button. A Music Selection Mode screen will be displayed with 4 main buttons.

The File Mode button allows you to select MIDI or WAV files individually or in groups.

The Directory Mode button has 2 sub-buttons to allow you to specify the file types to be selected. Click on the MID button for MIDI files and WAV button for WAV files. The click on the Directory Mode button to select the target directory. All files in the selected directory of the specified types (MIDI and/or WAV) will be selected.

Click on the CD Audio Track button to specify the start and end track numbers to be selected.

Click OK to accept the new music selection or CANCEL to discard all changes.


REMOVE MUSIC

You can remove unwanted sound files in groups or individually.

To remove a group of sound files, click on each unwanted sound file to mark it for removal. Then click on the REMOVE button. You will be asked whether to delete the marked files. Answering Yes will result in the deletion of the marked files as well. Therefore, if you merely want to remove the sound files from your slide show, be sure to answer No to avoid losing your file totally.

To remove a sound file individually, right click on the unwanted sound file and select Remove music from the pop-up list.


REPOSITION MUSIC

The default PLAY sequence for music  is the order in which the files were selected. The sound files will be played in sequence in round-robin fashion for the duration of the slide show. You can change the PLAYsequence by repositioning your sound files. Right click on the sound file to be re-positioned and select Reposition music from the pop-up list. Enter the new position for the sound file.


TEST MUSIC

You can test any sound file to sample  how it will sound like in the final slide show. To do so, right click on the desired sound file and  select Test music from the pop-up list. The sound file will be played to completion or until you click OK to stop the test.


SLIDE SHOW OPTIONS

When the OPTIONS button is clicked, the Slide Show Options Screen will be displayed. This screen allows you to turn on properties that will affect your slide show :-

SCOPE

This property is alway turned on. It specifies the scope of the effect of the slide properties. If Global is clicked on, the properties that are turned on will affect every slide in the slide show. If Marked files is turned on, only the group of marked files will be affected.

IMAGE SIZE

If clicked on, the slides will be displayed in full screen, tiled or actual size mode, depending on which button is clicked on.

SHOW MODE

Show Mode effects are always global.

If Repeated is clicked on, the slides will be displayed in a round-robin fashion indefinitely.

If Random slides is clicked on, the slides will be picked at random for display.

If Random start is clicked on, the first slide will be picked at random. Subsequent slides will be follow sequentially from the first random slide.

If Music On is clicked on, the music selection will be played for the duration of the slide show. If clicked off, no music will be played.

DISPLAY EFFECTS

Special effects when the slides are displayed. Pick from the drop-down list. The Default effect will cycle through all the available display effects in a round robin fashion.

UNDISPLAY EFFECTS

Special effects when a slide is undisplayed. Pick from the drop-down list.

DELAY TIME

Select from the drop-down list the time delay between each slide. If Wait for key is selected, the displayed slide will remain indefinitely until a mouse click or key press.


RUNNING THE SLIDE SHOW

When you are finally satisfied with your slide and sound selections, click on the RUN button to play the slide show. A bevelled  frame with randomly changing colors will automatically be displayed to act as a backdrop for your slides. If music has been clicked on in the Slide Show Options screen, the selected sound files will also play in a round robin fashion.

Each slide will be displayed and undisplayed according to the selected properties. If the delay between slides is too long, you can manually cause the next slide to be displayed by hitting the SPACE BAR or ENTER keys. You can stop the slide show at any time by hitting the ESC key.