Grabber2k Lite is a stand-alone screen and image capturing tool that simplifies the creation of Windows help files, print manuals and documentation in general. It allows the user to capture the following, in either Windows Bitmap or JPEG format :-
The whole screen
The Active Window
A Window
An Area
A Client Area
An Object
Grabber2k was created because of the lack of simple, powerful screen capturing tools. We believe we have an excellent, stable and versatile product.
A straight-forward and easy-to-use interface
Grabber2k is split into three main windows. There is a Capture Window, a Viewer and a Settings dialog. Most of our users would agree that the user interface is very intuitive. The most important of these is the Settings screen. When you first run Grabber2k, it is advisable that you go into the Settings screen and set up how you want to work. Even though Grabber2k is very intuitive there are some advanced features that need explaining.
If you want to learn how to use Grabber2k in 45 minutes or under, then click here.
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See Also
Even though Grabber2k is only in version 1 it is still quite a mature product, which comes from having over 6 months of alpha and beta testing. Here are some of the features :
Product Features:
Capture any Area, Window, Client Area, Object or even the whole screen
Capture using a key press or a delay or even both
Pick from a number of keys, not just Print Screen
Include mouse cursors into captured images
Set up automated file saving for captured images
Also, Set up automated printing and copying to the clipboard
Save to either JPG or BMP (GIF and WMF coming in future versions)
Specify colour depths from 2 colours to 4.92 billion colours, great for saving disk space
Specify colour quality, great for making thumb nails for the web
Advanced Printing, with definable headers and the option to print to large, normal or thumbnail sizes.
An image viewer, that allows :-
Multiple or singular file deletion
Ability to open up the explorer window for any complex file handling
Ability to print single or multiple images (2up, 3up and 4up coming in next version)
Ability to open up any image in the default viewer for JPG or BMP on your system
When we created Grabber2k, we followed a simple ethos, which is give the user exactly what we believe they want, no more no less. In this age of "bloatware" we need to get back to basics. Grabber2k is fast and efficient because it does not have "feature overload", but we believe it addresses most people's needs.
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We believe the selling points of Grabber2k Lite are it's features. However, if you need any more convincing here is a list of exactly what it can do for you
Save time
Grabber2k helps you capture and store images quicker than most screen capture tools. It allows you to define where and how to automatically store images, so all you have to do is move your cursor over what you want and press PrintScreen* and Grabber2k will store it for you. It's as simple as that, now just move onto the next window and start all over again.
Save Money
Time is money as they say. Not only that, but Grabber2k Lite is free and Grabber2k pro will be a lot cheaper than most screen capturing tools out there. If you need to purchase in volumes then we promise to undercut and price on any product we that is close to ours. Our prices are already very competitive.
Ease of use
Many of our users tell us that our interace is intuitive, this is no accident, this is planning. We designed Grabber2k with a lot of thought to H.C.I. (Human Computer Interface). Our programmers have been trained in H.C.I.and try their best to implement it where possible, therefore giving you, the user, less to learn and more time using the product.
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See Also
Rad2k Systems is a small consultancy company specialising in the use of Borland Delphi to create applications. Rad2k Systems has been operating since October 1998. We are a UK based limited company. We are located in London. If you need to contact us then please use the folowing email adresses :-
support@rad2k.com
sales@rad2k.com
enquires@rad2k.com
We do not have a telphone line as we are web based, we do not intend to get one in the near future. If you really need to talk then email us and leave your telephone number(s) and we will get back to you.
We can be contacted by fax also on (+44) 0870 130 6382
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How to Buy
Grabber2k Pricing
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How to purchase - By credit card, over the web
If you go to Rad2k's website there is a page dedicated to Grabber2k, go to this page and you will find information on how to register there. The web pages addresses below will help you find what you want to know, if you get stuck, then email support on the address below :-
You may fax Rad2k Systems on (0870) 130 6382 or if you are faxing from outside the UK : +44 870 130 6382
Paying by Check via Postal Mail
If you are a UK resident, then you may send a cheque made payable to "Rad2k Systems" for ú14.95 to the following address :-
Grabber2k Sales, Rad2k Systems
c/o Business Manager Services
Sir Robert Peel Mill
Fazeley
Tamworth
Staffs
B78 3QD
Please ensure you mark the envelope clearly as Grabber2k Sales, Rad2k Systems.
For international checks, we would prefer the funds be drawn in US dollars. When this is not possible, we will accept checks for a corresponding amount in the your country's currency.
Bulk Orders
We have a pricing structure that we try to adhere to. There are only a number of different license packs available on the web. These are 1,5,10 and 25 users. If you want anything different, then please refer to our pricing structure or email us at sales@rad2k.com.
Purchase Orders
A purchase order must be faxed or mailed to us with all necessary information including billing information. Once we receive the purchase order, we run it through our system, again this will appear no different than an order made online. We will then bill the company the total.
If you require site licenses, please contact us.
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See Also
The Lite Edition will always be free for non-commercial, single user usage. If you are a commercial organisation then our prices for the professional edition are as follows :-
Single user/cpu - $19.95
2 to 10 users - $15.95 each (10 pack = $159.50)
11 to 50 users - $13.00 each (50 pack = $650.00)
51 to 100 users - $10.50 each (100 pack = $1050.00)
> 100 users - $8.00 each (200 pack = $1600.00)
The prices go down close to 20% with each block, with some slight deviation, until the final price of $8 per unit. You can buy single licenses from 1 to 10 units, after that you have to buy in multiples of 5, upto 100, where you have to buy in mulitples of 10.
We make exceptions and/or further discounts to certain organsations, such as charities. These are available on application only and cannot be disclosed here.
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This version
History
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Grabber2k v0.98n, dated 5th May 2001
Grabber2k has been through several versions since it's introduction in August 2000. The first official release was version 0.70a. Although Grabber2k is still a beta product it is a late beta and is close to being released as a full version. Version 0.98m was the last major release and it fixed over a dozen issues.
Click on history to see what has been fixed.
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Version: 0.98n, dated 5th May 2001
Enhancements to the File ListBox to stop flickering
Enhancements to the Save routines for all formats
Integration of code for the professional version
Version: 0.98m, dated 14th March 2001
Outstanding:
Date formatting needs to be been improved and an intelligent solution to sequencing needs to be implemented.
Some more memory management improvement Image file handling will be improved. This will include Files will not be overwritten unless specified as being Ok to do so and some sort of file management utility
Fixes / Changes:
Memory mangement has been improved
A Quick Capture menu from the tray has been included.
Allows a "one off" style capture from the tray menu
Memory leak in view form resolved
Smaller, quicker - Redundant code has been removed and vast changes made
Autoprint mode now works
Can print from capture form now
No need for unlock / registration codes anymore
Can print from Do nothing mode now
Formatting of sequence numbers 1,2, .. 10,11 is now 000001,000002, .. 000010, 000011
Date formatting has changed, on file save, and now includes milliseconds.
Capture by delay fixed
The predefined area function has been removed.
Version 0.98f, dated 20th December 2000
Fixes / Changes:
Problem with Viewer form refresh fixed
Not "shelling out" to Explorer mode on some O/S's fixed
File deletion now does not delete, but places the files in the recycle bin
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Installing Grabber2k
The Basics
Overview (Tutorial)
Capture configuration
Image settings
Advanced options
Quick capture menu
Uninstalling Grabber2k
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The Grabber2k installation is a single executable, that once downloaded from the internet, can be double-clicked and immediatley it will begin to install Grabber2k. The installation program will copy the files to the necessary directories, will create all shortcuts and will create all uninstall routines.
When you first double-click on Grabber2k, you will get the following dialog :-
Click Next to accept this and to continue. Selecting No will abort the installation. At any point during the installation, clicking on No or Cancel where approriate will abort the installation. Once you have started the installation, the first dialog you will see is the information page. The page will tell you the version and name of what you are installing, as well as advising you to close all other applications.
When you click Next, the installation will move to the next stage. This is where you will be informed as to what the License Agreement between yourself / yourselves and Rad2k Systems is. Please take the time to read this, as it does change occasionally from version to version and you do not want to put yourself outside the law.
Once you have read the License Agreement and have accepted it by clicking Yes, you can continue. If you do not agree with the License Agreement, then click on No and terminate the installation. The next dialog shows any information that will assist a user in the use of Grabber2k. Again, please take time to read this.
Once you are past the Information and the License Agreement pages the next few dialogs will ask you where you want to install Grabber2k and how. After this will come several pages, these will ask you :-
For the Destination directory - The directory where you want Grabber2k to be installed
For the Start Menu Folder - The folder on your Start Menu where you want Grabber2k to appear
If you want to Create a desktop icon and/or Create a Quick Launch icon
Once you have selected all of these then installation will begin. Once installation has completed you will be asked on the final page if you want to run Grabber2k.
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Overview (Tutorial)
Capture configuration
Image settings
Advanced options
Quick capture menu
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See Also
Grabber2k has been designed to function in many different ways, such as :-
It can work from the tray menu or from a normal dialog;
It can auto start every time windows starts or not;
It can automatically save every capture;
It can automatically print;
It can automaticall copy the image to the clipboard
It can capture the mouse pointer or not
When Grabber2k is first installed it works in Auto-Pop mode, capturing Active Windows. Until you change the Settings, it will always popup the capture screen when you press the Print Screen key on an Active Window. The whole power behind the many different modes of operation can be controlled via the Settings dialog.
All of these options are discussed in the Capture configuration topic, the Image Settings, the Quick capture menu topic and the Advanced options menu.
Take the next 45 to 60 minutes to carefully read and try out each option. Click on the right arrow to move to the next page or on the left arrow to go back to the previous page. Please try out everthing that is discussed in order to make yourself more familiar with Grabber2k's options.
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See Also
To configure how Grabber2k is going to capture and what it is going to capture you need to open the Settings dialog and make changes to the settings. When you first open the Settings dialog, it will appear like :-
The Settings dialog has 3 main "pages", these are the Capture, Image Setting and Advanced pages. We are going to concentrate on the Capture page for this topic. There are three areas on the capture page. These are as follows :-
The first area is the area entitled "I want to capture after", this really is the how, you can tell Grabber2k to capture after :-
A key press, where PrintScreen is the default key
A delay, where Grabber2k will capture after a specified time
A combination of delay and key, where if the key is not pressed then the delay will capture
The default is "A key press"
The second area within this page is entitled "Start Capture". This section is for specifying what key to capture with and/or what delay period to capture with. PrintScreen is not the only key that can be used for capturing, click on the Capture key option and you will see that Middle mouse button, Right Alt key, F11 and F12 can be used. If you have a 3 button mouse (not the thumbwheel one) then you can use the middle button to capture with, which should speed up the captures. It is in this section you can specify a delay for the the "A delay" and "Both delay and key" options in the section entitled "I want to capture after", but remember, if you set this lower than 20 seconds then you have to process your capturing for every capture within 20 seconds or less, the recommended minimum is 20 seconds. If you want to include the mouse cursor within your capture you can tick the option entitled "Include Mouse"
The third area within this page is entitled "I wish to capture the". This section allows you to specify what it is you are going to capture. For an explanation of exactly what each of these are, click on the links below :-
The whole screen
The Active Window
A Window
An Area
A Client Area
An Object
Exercises
1. Open Grabber2k and go to the Capture options on the Settings dialog and select either A key press, A delay or Both delay and key from the I want to capture after option. Now open up your "My Computer" window and press PrintScreen (or not, if you are using A delay).
2. Open Grabber2k and go to the Capture options on the Settings dialog and select either Area, Client, Screen, Object, Window or Active Window from the I wish to capture the option. Now open up your "My Computer" window and press PrintScreen. You should experiment with screen other than the "My Computer" window. For an explaination of what should be captured, click on any of the links below :-
The whole screen
The Active Window
A Window
An Area
A Client Area
An Object
3. Open Grabber2k and go to the Capture options on the Settings dialog and try checking and unchecking the Include mouse option. Now open up your "My Computer" window and press PrintScreen, the resultant screen shot will or will not contain the mouse cursor, depending on what option you picked. At this point you should also experiment with using a capture key other than PrintScreen, such as MiddleMouse, if your mouse has 3 mouse button (the middle mouse cannot be a Scroll button).
Time required: 15 Minutes
The capture options are not just confined to those described here, there are another two pages of Setting on the Settings dialog, these are the Automatic Options on the Image Settings page and the Advanced options page.
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See Also
The second page of the Settings dialog contains all of the Automatic options and the Image options. The second page looks like :-
As with the first page, there are the three main distinct sections on the page.
In the first section the directory into which any image to be saved is defined in the edit box entitled "My AutoSave or Default directory is". The prefix for the file being save is defined in the edit box below this one and the incremental method is defined after that one. The Filename prefix and Incremental method boxes are the way a unique filename with an identifiable sequence can be created. In this instance we would start at Image_000055 and move to Image_000056 and so on. If in our Incremental method we had specified "Date & Time stamp" instead of "Sequence number" then we may have ended up with Image_2001-04-24 0727.11.628.JPG and then Image_2001-04-24- 0727.17.829.JPG for tow files saved on 24th April 2001 at 7:27 am, but on at 11 seconds and 628ms and the other at 17 seconds and 829ms after.
As a further example, the settings that can be seen here would mean that , if AutoSave was selected, pressing PrintScreen would save a JPG file called Image_000055.JPG in the directory C:\Program Files\Grabber2k Setup\manual.
We keep saying that the image would be saved as a JPG, but we could set this to a BMP. Notice on JPG images we can set the image quality and on the BMP images we can set image colour depth.
We now have the ability to specify wether or not we want to compress an images. In a BMP, the compression is RLE and can make quite a differnece to the size of the images. In GIF, this compression is LZW and like BMP can also make quite an impression on the size.
These options may change in the future.
Notice in the second section that we have three items we can select from : AutoSave, AutoPop and Do Nothing. Directly below these options we have two more options : Auto Print and Auto Clipboard. To get a clearer explaination of these options we should go to the following sections :-
Auto-Save explained
Auto-Clip explained
Auto-Pop explained
Auto-Print explained
It is worth noting that while you can only choose between AutoSave, AutoPop and Do Nothing and cannot have more than one of these options set, you can have both Auto Print and Auto Clipboard enabled or both disabled or any combination of one enabled, one disabled. This means that you could be Auto-Saving every image, but also printing it and copying it to the clipboard at the same time.
Exercises
1. Open Grabber2k and go to the Image settings options on the Settings dialog and check / set in turn AutoSave, AutoPop and Do Nothing in combination with Auto Print and Auto Clipboard. Now open up your "My Computer" window and press PrintScreen. Depending on what you set will depend on wether the Capture form pops up, the image is silently saved in the background, the image is copied to the clipboard or automatically printed.
2. Open Grabber2k and go to the Image settings options on the Settings dialog and try the different Image formats and Compression / Graphic Depth otions. Now open up your "My Computer" window and press PrintScreen. You should have several different BMP, JPG images and, if you tried using compression, then they should be of different sizes.
3. Open Grabber2k and go to the Image settings options on the Settings dialog and try the different sequencing otions, ensuring you check AutoSave. Now open up your "My Computer" window and press PrintScreen. You should have several images and they should have names similar to the ones discussed above.
You should ensure that you have made yourself familiar with all of these options before moving on to the next topic.
Time required: 20 Minutes
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See Also
The third page of the Settings dialog contains all of the Advanced options. The third page looks like :-
As with the first and second pages, there are the three main distinct sections on the page. This page is desinged for printing options and startup options.
In the first section, you are asked to specify how you want to print. The default setting is Print at normal size, where normal size is a size on the printed page that is close to the size it would be seen on the screen. Of course, this can never be accurate, as monitor sizes vary. This normal size is for a 19" monitor. However, if the image on the screen is too big for the page, the printing scale will reduce until it fits on the page. The largest size is where the image is scaled up to take up as much, if not all, of the remain print area. Print as thumbnail will simply does almost the reverse of Print at largest size, in that it will print at the smallest size possible, without being to small to read.
The second section contains two check boxes. The first of these check boxes are for specifying whether Grabber2k automatically starts when Windows starts, this is the option entitled Auto start at "boot up". The second check box, entitled Show Capture form at Start up, allows you to say whether the capture form is visible when Grabber2k starts, if you decide not to allow it to appear then Grabber2k will run entirely from the tray menu.
The third section is the section where you select what you want printed at the top of the page when you print an image. There are several options, these are :-
Date & Time OR Short Date
Filename OR Short Filename
Username
Computername
File statistics
Note that you can only print Date & Time OR Short Date, you cannot print both as that would not make sense, the same applies to filename. The Date & Time, prints the date and time in the long format defined in your Windows Regional Settings properties. Go to Control Panel, Regional Settings and click on Date if you wish to change these. A Short Date will be whatever you have defined in Windows Regional Settings, Once again go to Control Panel, Regional Settings and click on Date if you wish to change these. Filename is the full filename, including the path and drive of the image, whereas Short filename is simply the filename, with any path or drive information. The Username is the person you are logged in as and the Computer name is the name given to the PC you are currently working on. Selecting File statistics will mean that information regarding height, width and size (in Kb) of the file will be printed
Exercises
1. Open Grabber2k and go to the Advanced options on the Settings dialog and try the different print sizes. Go to the Viewer to images you have already saved from the last excercise and print at all of the sizes.
2. Open Grabber2k and go to the Advanced options on the Settings dialog and check the Show Capture form at Start up otion. Now close Grabber2k and re-open. When you re-open Grabber2k, it will be running from the tray menu.
3. Open Grabber2k and go to the Advanced options on the Settings dialog and check the Auto start at "boot up" otion. Now close Grabber2k and re-boot your machine. When you start your system Grabber2k will automatically load itself and will be running from the tray menu, if you have not turned that option back to what it was.
4. Open Grabber2k and go to the Advanced options on the Settings dialog and simply try out every printout heading setting there is, or that you feel you need. Go back to the Viewer and print any image you saved earlier in order to see what the differences in the headings are.
Time required: 20 Minutes
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See Also
The Quick capture menu is an option available from the tray menu only. Using the Quick capture otion allows you to "break out" of a capture method for a single capture. The best way to explain it is to use a scenario.
Let's say we are capturing Active Windows in order to capture images for writing a help document. Part way through this process, after we have already captured a dozen or so images, we realize we need to capture and Area. At this point, it really would be inconvenient to have to invoke the Settings dialog, go to the Capture page and select Area, then click on Ok, especially as we would have to go to the Capture page and select Active Window, then click on Ok before we selected the next image in order to reset it back. This is why we came up with the concept of a Quick capture method. In the scenario mentioned above, all the user would have to do would be to go to the tray menu and select Area from the Quick capture sub-menu, as seen in the image above. Once the image had been captured, then settings defined in the Settings dialog would take over again, so no need to reset back.
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See Also
Grabber2k sets up an uninstall option when it is installed. So there is no need to go searching for Grabber2k in the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs options. Simply go to Start, then go to the Grabber2k group. You will see and option entitled "Uninstall Grabber2k", click this option and relax.
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Toolbars and menu option
The Capture form
The Viewer form
The Settings dialog
Keyboard shortcuts
Configuring Grabber2k
Automatic options
Auto-Save explained
Auto-Clip explained
Auto-Pop explained
Auto-Print explained
Advanced settings
Startup options
Advanced printer settings
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See Also
The whole ethos of the Grabber2k interface is simplicity and straightforward functionality. This is why we have opted for non-dockable toolbars similar to those found on the Netscape browser. The toolbar in the Capture form and the Viewer are similar to each other in the otions offered and is like those found on Netscape. All of the functions found on the Toolbars can also be found on the menu's of each of these forms also. The Toolbars hold the main functions available within each form, therefore making the interface quicker and easier.
The toolbar functions are :-
Capture form
From left to right, the options on the Capture form toolbar are Save, Copy the image to clipboard, Capture Settings, Printer Settings, Print the current image, Invoke the Viewer, About
Viewer
From left to right, the otions on the Viewer for toolbar are Open image - this opens the current image with it's associated program, Copy the image to clipboard, Delete the image(s), Capture Settings, Printer Settings, Print the current image, Explore the image directory, About
Toolbar and window options explained
To the first time user, some of the options on the these toolbars are not clear as to what they do. Below is a more in depth explaination of each of these.
Open image : Invoking this option will cause the current image to be displayed in the the default viewer for the file type. If Microsoft Paint is the default application for BMP's and JASC Paint Shop Pro is the default viewer for JPG's, then if we click on this option for a JPG image file, Paint Shop Pro will be opened in the backgound and the selected image will opened within Paint Shop Pro, ready for editing.
Copying the image to the clipboard : Invoking this option will cause the current image found on that form to be copied into the Windows clipboard. This means that if you open another program, such as Microsoft Paint, Wang Imaging or Jasc Paint Shop Pro, you should be able to go to the Edit menu and select Paste and the image will be copied into a new / or the existing Window. From within those applications you can then manipulate your captured image.
Capture Settings : Clicking on this, will start the Settings dialog.
Explore the image directory : Invoking this option will open a Windows explorer view of the image directory and consequently of the image files. From within this Windows explorer, you can delete or rename any file and the changes will be seen instantly in the viewer also.
Delete the image(s) : Invoking this option will delete whatever image(s) has / have been selected. This could be more than one image. If you do not know how to multi-select images, then read the keyboard shortcuts topic.
Printer Settings : Invoking this option will call the printer settings for Windows and will allow you to define which printer you are going to use and what printing options you require for that printer. Every printer is slightly different, so the options available to Grabber2k for printing will differ from printer to printer.
Print the current image : Invoking this option will print the current image on the current printer with the current printer settings. It will also take the settings defined in the Advanced options of the Settings dialog and use those when printing also.
Invoke the Viewer :
Hiding the toolbars
To hide toolbars or to display hidden toolbars again, there is a small button to the left of every toolbar, if you click on this is will appear or disappear.
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See Also
The capture form can be invoked by either double-clicking or selecting Capture Screen from the tray menu. If you have not set up Grabber2k to run from the tray menu (see Startup options) then when you start Grabber2k the Capture form will be visible.
The capture form is where all captured images can be viewed, before they are saved, printed or moved to the clipboard. When an image is captured it will be displayed in the window area in the Capture form. Whilst the image is displayed, it is in memory and it is possible to manipulate it further.
If the image is not in the clipboard, then you can still place it in the clipboard from here. If you select either Edit, Copy from the main menu or right click on the image and select Copy, or press Ctrl + C, the image will be moved to the clipboard.
Whilst opening the images popup menu (right click on the image), you will have noticed several other options. Such as :-
Save As : It is possible to Save the image under another name using either the JPG or BMP format. The image can be saved anywhere with any name. Unfortunately, the image quality cannot be fine tuned at this point, so they will save a True Colour images.
Print (Ctrl-P) : It is possible to print the image at this point
Print Settings : You can alter the printer settings, so the image can go to another printer for example. You may want a colour image of what you have just captured and therefore need to redirect the output to a colour printer.
Viewer (F5) : This will invoke the Viewer.
Settings (F9) : This will invoke the Settings dialog
The main menu
The main menu consists of File, Edit, View, Tools and Help options. All options found on the toolbar can be found on the main menu. There are a few more besides, as the toolbar is desinged to have only the most used options. These additional otions are :-
View, Normal
View, Stay on Top : Stay on Top and Normal are toggle style switches for switching between a form that behaves normally and one that will always be "On Top" of all other forms. If you have never seen this type of option before, then select Stay on Top and try to move another form over the top of it.
Help, About : Displays the Version information and Free resources
Help, Tutorial : Starts up the Help file and go's to the 45 minute Tutorial
Help, Support : Starts up the Help file and go's to the Support Topic
Help, FAQ : Starts up the Help file and go's to the Frequently asked questions topic
The form footer
When an image has been captured. the Capture form footer will always display "Ready to capture: Press Print Screen to continue". If this does not appear, then the likelehood is something is wrong. If it does not display this, then follow the instructions on the footer.
The Capture form has a minimum size and will not go below this. This is to prevent a user from inadvertently sizing the form so small that it cannot located easily.
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See Also
All of the settings have been described fully in the Tutorial. You should go to the tutorial if you do not understand how to use or define the Settings. There is a quick explaination of each page of the Settings dialog, along with a link to each part of the tutorial below :-
Capture configuration - Page 1 of the Capture Settings dialog allows you to define the capture method and the PrintScreen key
Image settings - Page 2 of the Capture Settings dialog allows you to define wether you want to Auto-Save, Auto-Pop, Auto-Clip or Auto-Print. It also allow you to define the file sequencing methods.
Advanced options - Page 3 of the Capture Settings dialog allows you to define the startup options and advanced printer settings.
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See Also
The viewer form can be invoked by selecting Viewer from the tray menu. If you have not set up Grabber2k to run from the tray menu (see Startup options) then when you start Grabber2k the Capture form will be visible and pressing F5 or picking Tools, Viewer from the main menu will invoke the Viewer
The Viewer is where all saved captured images can be viewed. When an image is captured, with Auto-Save selected it will be stored as an image in the directory specified with a unique file name. The Viewer is simply an easy way to navigate these saved images and it allows the user to perform simple operations on each and every image, such as printing, deleting, bulk-printing and bulk-deletion, all of which will be discussed later.
To view an image, simply click on one of the images in the list on the left hand pane. The image will be fetched into memory and will be visible on the right hand pane. You can perform individual operations on an image by selecting it as describe above, then right clicking on the image name. The following popup menu will appear.
Insert popup image here
There are several options available from this menu. These options are :-
Open : This will open the image with it associated program.
Explorer : This will open a windows explorer for the directory the images are residing in. If you alter images here, such as renaming an image, the changes will be reflected immediatley in the Viewer.
Copy (Ctrl-C) : The image will be moved into the windows clipboard
Printer settings : You can alter the printer settings, so the image can go to another printer for example. You may want a colour image of what you have just captured and therefore need to redirect the output to a colour printer.
Print (Ctrl-P) : It is possible to print the image at this point. Multiple printing is allowed in the Viewer. Select all the files you wish to print. If you do not know how to do this, look at the topic entitled keyboard shortcuts. Now simply press Ctrl-P or select print through one of the other methods.
Delete : This will delete an image. It will not be permanantly deleted, it will simply be moved into the windows recycle bin. However, if you empty the recycle bin, then the file will be lost forever. Multiple deletion is allowed in the Viewer. Select all the files you wish to delete. If you do not know how to do this, look at the topic entitled keyboard shortcuts. Now simply press Delete or select delete through the popup menu.
Print Settings : You can alter the printer settings, so the image can go to another printer for example. You may want a colour image of what you have just captured and therefore need to redirect the output to a colour printer.
The main menu
The main menu consists of File, Edit, View, Tools and Help options. All options found on the toolbar can be found on the main menu. There are a few more besides, as the toolbar is desinged to have only the most used options. These additional otions are :-
Help, About : Displays the Version information and Free resources
Help, Tutorial : Starts up the Help file and go's to the 45 minute Tutorial
Help, Support : Starts up the Help file and go's to the Support Topic
Help, FAQ : Starts up the Help file and go's to the Frequently asked questions topic
The form footer
When you select an image it's full name, including it's path will be displayed, then it's statistics will also be displayed. A typical image statistic will look like :
[ Image Size: 26h x, 229w, File Size: 17kb ]
This is saying that the image is 26 pixels high by 229 pixels wide and is 17k.
Resizing and using the splitter
The Viewer has a minimum size and will not go below this. This is to prevent a user from inadvertently sizing the form so small that it cannot located easily. You will notice that the Viewer has two main "panes", the left pane : the image file list and the right pane : the image area. These two panes can be resized, simply place you mouse over the the area between the two area's until your mouse cursor changes to a resing cursor, then simply move the pane.
.topic 440
Grabber2k defines several keyboard shortcuts that allow you to access various functions quicklier.
Key Action
F1 Displays the help file of Grabber2kl. In dialog boxes, F1 displays help for a particular control.
F5 Invokes the Viewer
F9 Invokes the Settings dialog
Ctrl + Del In the Image file list box* on the Viewer, if you click these keys it is a quick way of deleting an individual file. If you have mutiple images selected and not just on, it will delete all images
Double-Click If you double-click an image on the file list box, it will open that image with the default viewer
Ctrl + Click In the image file list box*, if you click on an image whilst holding down the Ctrl key, it allows you to make mutliple selections. So whilst still holding down the Ctrl key, if you move to another image and click on that, you will have two images selected.
Shift + Click In the image file list box*, if you click on an image then hold down the Shift key and move to an image below the first image and click on that image whilst the shift key is still depressed, it will select every image between and including those two images.
Ctrl + P Will print the currently selected image, in either the Capture dialog or the Viewer
Ctrl + C Will copy the current image to the cliboard in either the Capture dialog or the Viewer
Shift + F1 Enters context sensitive help mode.
*Image file list box This is the list of images that can be found in the left pane of the Viewer.
.topic 340
Automatic options
Auto-Save explained
Auto-Clip explained
Auto-Pop explained
Auto-Print explained
Advanced settings
Startup options
Advanced printer settings
.topic 360
Auto-Save explained
Auto-Clip explained
Auto-Pop explained
Auto-Print explained
.topic 370
See Also
Firstly, Auto-Save is found on the second page of the Settings dialog, the page entitled Image Settings. To invoke the Settings dialog, press either F9 from the Capture form or from the Viewer. Alternatively, select Settings from the tray menu.
Selecting AutoSave from the AutoSave,AutoPop, Do Nothing choices will turn Auto-Pop off. Any captured images will be saved to file as a result of setting this option. If Auto-Save is set then all the settings defined to to the left of this option, namely the AutoSave directory, Filename prefix, Incremental method, Sequence, Graphic type and Quality / Graphic depth will be required. It is these options that define how, where and what the file is saved as. If you do not understand how these options work, you need to go through the tutorial.
Any image you capture will now be available in the Viewer. The best way to see this is to open the viewer and open "My Computer", move to the "My computer" with the mouse and Press PrintScreen. You will see that an image was added to the Viewer as you pressed PrintScreen. Now click on that image and you will see that it was what you just captured.
.topic 380
See Also
Firstly, Auto Clipboard is found on the second page of the Settings dialog, the page entitled Image Settings. To invoke the Settings dialog, press either F9 from the Capture form or from the Viewer. Alternatively, select Settings from the tray menu.
Selecting Auto Clipboard from the AutoSettings (Auto Print, AutoCliboard) will mean that any subsequent captured image will be moved to the Windows clipboard. Selecting Auto Clipboard will not have any effect on the current AutoSave,AutoPop, Do Nothing choices.
Any image you capture will now be available to any other Windows program capable of graphical manipulation, for instance, Word, Paint or even Paint Shop Pro. Usually you will have to paste your image into these application by using either Edit, Paste or by pressing Ctrl-V.
.topic 390
See Also
Firstly, Auto-Pop is found on the second page of the Settings dialog, the page entitled Image Settings. To invoke the Settings dialog, press either F9 from the Capture form or from the Viewer. Alternatively, select Settings from the tray menu.
Selecting AutoPop from the AutoSave,AutoPop, Do Nothing choices will turn any previous instance of AutoSave off, in other words, images will not be automatically saved to file.
AutoPop does not Save any images, nor does it copy any images, nor does it Print them. You might be forgiven for wondering what it does do. AutoPop as it's name implies pop's the Capture form into the foreground, so that the user can select what to do.
.topic 400
See Also
Firstly, Auto Print is found on the second page of the Settings dialog, the page entitled Image Settings. To invoke the Settings dialog, press either F9 from the Capture form or from the Viewer. Alternatively, select Settings from the tray menu.
Selecting Auto Print from the AutoSettings (Auto Print, AutoCliboard) will mean that any subsequent captured image will be automatically printed. Selecting Auto Print will not have any effect on the current AutoSave,AutoPop, Do Nothing choices.
.topic 410
Startup options
Advanced printer settings
.topic 420
See Also
The Startup otions can be found by opening the Settings dialog and selecting the Advanced page. The second section on this page contains two check boxes. The first of these check boxes are for specifying whether Grabber2k automatically starts when Windows starts, this is the option entitled Auto start at "boot up". The second check box, entitled Show Capture form at Start up, allows you to say whether the capture form is visible when Grabber2k starts, if you decide not to allow it to appear then Grabber2k will run entirely from the tray menu.
.topic 430
See Also
The Advanced Printer settings otions can be found by opening the Settings dialog and selecting the Advanced page. The third section is the section where you select what you want printed at the top of the page when you print an image. There are several options, these are :-
Date & Time OR Short Date
Filename OR Short Filename
Username
Computername
File statistics
Note that you can only print Date & Time OR Short Date, you cannot print both as that would not make sense, the same applies to filename. The Date & Time, prints the date and time in the long format defined in your Windows Regional Settings properties. Go to Control Panel, Regional Settings and click on Date if you wish to change these. A Short Date will be whatever you have defined in Windows Regional Settings, Once again go to Control Panel, Regional Settings and click on Date if you wish to change these. Filename is the full filename, including the path and drive of the image, whereas Short filename is simply the filename, with any path or drive information. The Username is the person you are logged in as and the Computer name is the name given to the PC you are currently working on. Selecting File statistics will mean that information regarding height, width and size (in Kb) of the file will be printed
.topic 206480
Frequently asked questions
Support on the web
License agreement
Copyrights
Trademarks
.topic 500
See Also
We have found that no matter how intuitive you strive to make a product there will always be questions, especially when you want to get the most out of a product. Grabber2k is, we believe, very intuitive for the audience it is aimed at, but we have a lot of users who do not fall into our intended audience and who are stretching the product to work how they want to work. Hence the need for a FAQ's section.
Q: How do I register for support ?
A: This is the question that we get asked the most, so it is right at the top of this list. If you go to the section entitled Support on the Web, you will see all the web addresses you will ever need, along with a description for each one.
Q: How do I get Grabber2k to automatically save my images ?
A: Please read the section entitled Auto-Save explained.
Q: Where is the tray menu and what is it ?
A: Please read the section entitled The tray menu.
Q: What image formats can I use? and how do I get really small images ?
A: On the Lite edition of Grabber2k, you can only use BMP and JPG formats. On the professional version there are more image formats, such as GIF and PNG, these formats are known to save images smaller than JPG's or BMP's. However, if you are using the Lite version there are several ways in which you can achieve smaller files. These are :-
You can can open each file with it associated viewer after it has been captured and saved and from this external program, such as JASC Paint Shop Pro or Microsoft Paint, you could re-save it as a GIF, PNG or any other format. You could even compress or reduce the colours of the image from within the external program.
You could reduce the quality of the JPG image or the colour depth of the BMP image you are using. To see how to do this go to the Image settings topic.
Q: I can't seem to capture my DVD movies ?
A: Bad news, Grabber2k was never designed to capture DVD images. However, with some of the DVD players it is possible to pause the movie and then capture the image using Grabber2k. This is not guaranteed to work and you must pause the action to even have a chance of it possibly working.
Q: I can't seem to capture shots from a game I am playing ?
A: Games are very similar to DVD movies as far a Grabber2k is concerned. If you can pause the action of your game, you will have more chance of capturing the image to Grabber2k. As with DVD's this is really not what Grabber2k was designed for and we could not possibly test this out with every game or DVD player out there. So, as with DVD players, it is trial and error.
Q: I want to capture for Word, what are the best settings ?
A: If all you want to do is paste in an image into the document you are working on then simply go to the Settings dialog and set the "On capturing I want to" option to Do Nothing and check the Auto Clipboard option. When you press PrintScreen now the image that Grabber2k captures will reside in the clipboard. Now, simply switch back to Word and press Ctrl-V, or choose Edit, Paste
Q: All I want to do is print what I am capturing, how do I do it ?
A: If you set the options entitled "On capturing I want to" to Do Nothing and then check the Auto Print option, everything that you capture will simply be sent to the printer, nothing will ever be saved. This is a good selection for people who want to take image shot of another product for sending paper based shot via Fax or other means for support or training.
Q: I want to email a screen shot to someone ?
A: If all you want to do is paste in an image into an email message you are working on then simply go to the Settings dialog and set the "On capturing I want to" option to Do Nothing and check the Auto Clipboard option. When you press PrintScreen now the image that Grabber2k captures will reside in the clipboard. Now, simply switch back to your email message and press Ctrl-V, or choose Edit, Paste. If you are using Microsoft Outlook make sure that your message format is switched to HTML, before you paste (Format, HTML). Alternatively, you could AutoSave the image and then add it as an attachement.
If you have any queries that are not on here, please look on the FAQ's on the Web first. Naturally, if you cannot find an answer there either then email us. The addresses for emailing can be found in the topic entitles Support on the Web.
.topic 510
See Also
How to get support and answers over the web
If you go to Rad2k's website there are pages dedicated to ordering, questions and feedback. The web pages addresses below will help you find what you want to know, if you get stuck, then email support on the address below :-
Home page
www.rad2k.com
Grabber2k order page
http://www.rad2k.com/html/orderg2k.html
FAQ's (Frequently asked Questions)
http://www.rad2k.com/html/faq.html
Feedback
http://www.rad2k.com/html/feedback.html
EMail support
support@rad2k.com
.topic 520
See Also
Grabber2k is freeware, but for non-commercial use only.
All copyrights to Grabber2k Lite are exclusively owned by Rad2k Systems. Anyone may use this software during a test period of 30 days. Following this test period of 30 days, if you wish to continue to use Grabber2k Lite, you must register.
Once registered, the user is granted a non-exclusive license to use Grabber2k Lite on one computer, (i.e. a single CPU) at a time, for any legal purpose. The registered Grabber2k Lite software may not be
rented or leased, but may be permanently transferred, if the person receiving it agrees to the terms of this
license. If the software is an update, the transfer must include the update and all previous versions.
The Grabber2k Lite unregistered version may be freely distributed, provided the distribution package is not modified. No person or company may charge a fee for the distribution of Grabber2k Lite without written permission from the copyright holder.
Grabber2k Lite is for private use only. Commercial users wishing to use Grabber2k must use the professional edition of Grabber2k.
Grabber2k is distrbuted "As Is". No Warranty of any kind is expressed or implied. You use this software at your own risk. The author will not be liable for data loss, damages, loss of profit or any other kind of loss resulting from the use or misuse of this software.
You may not use, copy, emulate, clone, rent, lease, sell, modify, decompile, disassemble, otherwise reverse engineer, or transfer the licensed program, or any subset of the licensed program, except as provided for in this agreement. Any such unauthorised use shall result in immediate and automatic termination of this license and may result in criminal and/or civil prosecution.
All rights not expressly granted here are reserved by Rad2k Systems. Installing and using Grabber2k
signifies acceptance of the terms and conditions of this license.If you do not agree with the terms of
this license you must remove Grabber2k files from your storage devices and cease to use the product.
.topic 530
See Also
Copyright (c) 1999-2001 by Rad2k Systems, Ltd. All rights reserved.
This software is intended for private, single copy use only.
.topic 540
See Also
Grabber2k is a registered trademark of Rad2k Systems, Ltd. Microsoft, Windows NT, Windows, and the Windows Logo are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright ⌐ 1999-2001 by Rad2k Systems, Ltd.
.topic 206440
Terminology
The tray menu
The whole screen
The active window
A window
The client area
An area
An object
.topic 140
The tray menu
The whole screen
The active window
A window
The client area
An area
An object
.topic 206450
See Also
The tray are in Windows is the depressed area usually found in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and usually contains the time. The tray menu for Grabber2k , as seen above, can be found by either :-
Minimising the capture form or Re-Starting Grabber2k after the Show Capture form at Startup option has been un-checked. For information on how to uncheck the Show Capture form at Startup option go to the topic on Startup options.
.topic 150
See Also
The whole screen is simply the whole of the current desktop or everything on the screen that can be seen.
To capture the whole screen, select Screen from the Capture Method in the Settings dialog.
.topic 160
See Also
The active window is simply the window on the desktop that currently has the focus, in other words it is the window that is currently selected or highlighted.
To capture the active window, select Active Window from the Capture Method in the Settings dialog.
.topic 170
See Also
A window is simply any window on the desktop, it does not need to have the focus, in other words it does not have to be the window that is selected or highlighted.
To capture a window, select Window from the Capture Method in the Settings dialog.
.topic 180
See Also
The client area is the portion within the current window, minus the titlebar, toolbar(s).
To capture a client area, select Client from Capture Method in the Settings dialog or pick Client from the Quick Capture option on the tray menu.. If the original window looked like this :-
Then the client area within this window would look like this :-
.topic 190
See Also
An area, as far as Grabber2k is concerned, is any area the user selects, by placing the mouse cursor over the start of the are and pressing PrintScreen and then move to the end of the area and pressing PrintScreen again.
To capture an area, select Area from Capture Method in the Settings dialog or pick Area from the Quick Capture option on the tray menu. Once we have set this, we can capture and area by moving the mouse to where we want to start capturing from and then press PrintScreen to initiate the start of capturing, now move the mouse to where the capture should end to "surround" our selection with a visible selection area and press PrintScreen again. Area capturing allows us to be very specific about what we want. So, if we had a box :-
and we wanted just a tiny portion of the contents we could use area capture to select the area we wanted, for example :-
.topic 200
See Also
To capture an object, select Object from Capture Method in the Settings dialog or pick Object from the Quick Capture option on the tray menu. An object is literally what it says it is an object. If we take a window :-
If we set the capture method as object and then click on the toolbar and then after that press PrintScreen, we would get :-
Or if we just wanted to get the directory contents and not the window, then if we selected the capture method as object again and moved the mouse over the contents list and click on it and then press PrintScreen, we would get :-
