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NOTE: THIS PROGRAM REQUIRES VBRUN300.DLL, NOT NECESSARILY INCLUDED WITH IT. SEE SECTION III BELOW FOR DETAILS. WWPlus Windows Wallpaper Manager/Changer/Editor - screen saver. Print this file for program instructions. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, see HISTORY.TXT for features that have been added or changed. See the file FORMATS.TXT for information on the graphics formats recognized by WWPlus and the pros and cons of using them as Windows wallpaper. ⌐1992-1995 All rights reserved By Don Bradner Arcata Pet 600 F Street Arcata, CA 95521 Compuserve address: 76130,1007 America OnLine: DBirdMan Internet: dbirdman@redshift.com Contents of this file: I. Program Description II. Program Requirements III. Installing WWPlus IV. Getting Started V. Files that make up WWPlus VI. Troubleshooting VII. UnInstalling WWPlus VIII. Obtaining wallpaper images IX. Getting future upgrades X. Registration and distribution I. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION. WWPlus is a program for organizing and displaying Windows 3.1 wallpaper files. With this program you can easily maintain a collection of wallpapers, automatically change them at an interval you select, and use image formats (GIF, PCX, TGA, TIF, .ICO and .JPG) that would otherwise be unusable by Windows as wallpaper. GIF and PCX provide compression of 256-color images, and .JPG provides compression for 16-million color images, thus saving disk space. There is a screen saver module that will turn your wallpaper files into a screen saver after a period of inactivity. Extensive setup options, including password protection, are available both from the Windows Control Panel Desktop icon and from the main WWPlus screen. WWPlus has editing features and file conversion routines built in, which allow you to change images to suit your wallpaper needs. You can crop, resize, stretch, rotate, mirror, flip, sharpen, soften, and adjust brightness, contrast and gamma. Wallpapers may be tiled (small images displayed in multiples to fill the entire screen) or not, individually determined. Each non-tiled wallpaper may be precisely positioned anywhere on the screen, not just centered (the Windows default). Non-tiled images may be resized on-the-fly to full screen or a user-set dimension. Multiple sets of wallpapers called "queues" may be built, with easy changing of queues. A wallpaper may appear in more than one queue. Some program configuration items are maintained with the queue, others are "Global." Queues may be specified as command line options, and the .QUE extension may be associated with WWPlus to allow the program to start by running the queue from File Manager or Program Manager icons. All of the images installed in a wallpaper queue may be displayed simultaneously in "thumbnail form" for easy maintenance. A single image selection my be previewed on the main screen before deciding to edit it or make it the current wallpaper. Changing interval may be as short as 6 seconds (0.1 minutes) for "slideshow" effect, or as long as 999.9 minutes. If an active application is maximized (shown full screen), the program timer will be suspended so as to avoid annoying screen jumps when the wallpaper changes. When adding files there is a "preview" option in the dialog box. If you do not recognize a file name, you may use this option to view a thumbnail of the image before choosing to load it. There is an additional option to have the icon "disappear" when the program is running. If you select this option and then need to access the program to make changes, open the group where you have installed WWPlus and double-click the icon. Instead of starting another copy of the program, the running version will be restored. Full documentation is included in the form of a Windows Help file. When you desire help, press your F1 function key for context-sensitive help, or press the help key if you are in a file dialog box. WWPlus contains functions which can read and right the .GIF format, which contains compression technology covered by U.S. Patent No. 4,558,302, owned by the Unisys corporation. The author of WWPlus has obtained a license from Unisys, and pays a royalty on each registration, to use this technology. The following statement is required by that license: "Use of this software is permitted only to the extent reasonably required to determine whether to purchase the software. "After payment is made, use of this software is limited to use on only a single personal computer or workstation which is not used as a server. An additional payment is required for each use on another personal computer or workstation. "Only a single copy may be made of this software solely for backup or archival purposes. The software may also be transferred to a single hard disk. "Any use of this software in violation of the above is not licensed. "For information concerning licensing the LZW compression and/or decompression capability, please contact: Unisys Corporation Welch Licensing Department - CISW19 Township Line & Union Meeting Roads P.O. Box 500 Blue Bell, Pennsylvania 19424" Users active in the online world may be aware that there has been considerable debate among shareware authors as to whether to continue to support .GIF with the royalty requirements, which became known as of 1/1/95. The author of WWPlus feels that it is in the best interest of the users of this program to continue to support that format so long as it is the dominant 8-bit color format. Future decisions will be made with some reliance on user feedback. Please feel free to communicate with the author on this topic. II. Program requirements. WWPlus requires an IBM compatible 386 or better, running Windows 3.1, with at least 4 megs of RAM and VGA or better graphics. Manipulating large images may require 8 megs or more of memory, and more is always better. A monitor and video card capable of 256 colors is recommended for viewing of photographic images. If your monitor/card setup is capable of true color (16 million colors), WWPlus will handle files with that color depth. Generally, such cards will perform best at 32,000 or 65,000 colors rather than 16 million, and it is unlikely that any quality will be lost. Some operations require a mouse. Graphics files can be quite large, particularly with true-color, so a large hard disk is recommended. WWPlus will require about 1 meg for installation. III. Installing WWPlus If you obtained WWPlus by downloading it from a computer Bulletin Board (BBS) or another online source, one necessary file may not have been included. You will need a file called VBRUN300.DLL, which is almost always available from any source that would have WWPlus. On BBS systems the file will usually be called VBRUN300.ZIP or VBRUN3.ZIP. If you obtained the program on disk, the file should be included and may be called VBRUN300.DL_. If it is missing, contact the supplier of the program. Registered versions obtained from the author should always include VBRUN300. If you are installing VBRUN300 separately, it MUST be put in the \Windows\System directory. To install WWPlus, insert the disk in your computer and choose File/Run from the Program Manager. Enter A:Setup or B:Setup as appropriate and follow the prompts. If you downloaded WWPlus, you probably have the files in a download or temporary directory. Change the directions above to provide a path to the setup, such as D:\temp\setup. At the end of the setup operation you will be given the option of adding WWPlus to your Startup Group. Doing so will cause the program to start whenever you start a Windows session. This is the recommended procedure; you can always delete the icon from the group at a later time if you wish. NOTE: Setup will not run if any other program is using VBRUN300.DLL or any other library file used by the program, including other versions of WWPlus. An error message will be generated, and you must end all such applications before retrying the installation. You may restart these programs after installation is completed - they will share the VBRUN module without problem. To be safe, it is best to have only Windows running before installing WWPlus or any other program. Keep this in mind for the future, particularly if you have WWPlus running as a hidden Icon - you should end the program before installing other software. IV. Getting Started. You will need one or more wallpaper images to use with the program. These files may be located in any directory on any drive, but management will be simplified if you place them all in one directory. A directory named WALLPAPR is recommended, either as a root directory on your C: drive or a subdirectory under the \WWPlus directory. Windows comes with a few wallpapers in .BMP format. If you do not have any other images, you can make some simple drawings with Windows Paintbrush and save them as either .BMP or .PCX files. For further information on obtaining images see section VII below. Double-click the WWPlus icon to start the program. The first time that the program starts it will be a full program window. Once you have one or more wallpapers installed, the program will start as an icon, which you may double-click at any time to show the main window. If you have chosen the hidden icon option, the program will not be visible when started. Simply start it a second time; the first instance will become visible and the second will end itself. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the program elements on screen. If you press the F1 key, a help file will be displayed, and you may graphically choose different program elements to see an explanation of their function. When you move your mouse pointer across the toolbar icons and some other screen elements a small "smart caption" will appear to give you a better idea about what the icon does. You may turn these captions off when you no longer need them, via the Preferences menu. Now click the Add button (or choose Add from the Wallpaper menu). Use the dialog box to browse for images in any of the supported formats. If you do not know from a file name what the image looks like, click the preview button and you will see a small representation of the image. The size of and number of colors in the image will be shown below the image. When you have a desired image, click OK. The path and filename will appear in the Wallpaper Queue. Click once on the listing to "select" it. Now click the "Make Current Wallpaper" button to view the image as a wallpaper. If it displays as you would wish, go on to add additional wallpapers. If you would like to change the way the image is displayed, you have many options to choose from, a few of which are explained next. 1. Positioning. If the image is not a full screen image you may want to change the place where it appears on your screen. Select the image in the Wallpaper Queue, and then click the position icon. You may now move the image around by dragging it with your mouse. Place the mouse cursor over the image and press the left button down. Holding the button down, move the mouse and the image will move with it. When the image is where you wish, release the button. Now you may set the position by either pressing the Enter key or double-clicking the image. If you want to abort the positioning, press the ESCape key. The coordinates of the upper left corner of the image will show in the X and Y boxes at the bottom right of the program screen (you may directly alter them if you wish). From now on whenever the image is displayed it will be in the set position. 2. Tiling. If a wallpaper image is small, you may wish to "tile" it. This will make the image appear many times to fill the screen. You may adjust the position of the first image in the same manner described above; all other images will orient to the first. To make an image tile, select it in the Wallpaper Queue and click the "Tiling" icon. Tiling may be turned off in the same way. The position of the tiled image will also be influenced by the X and Y coordinates: The first image will follow the setting, and all other copies of the image will orient to the first. 3. Displaying wallpapers as full screen. Non-tiled wallpapers may be displayed full-screen, or at a pre-set size. Larger images will be reduced, and smaller images will be enlarged. The images proportions (aspect ratio of width to height) may be left intact, or the image may be stretched to fill the entire screen or selected size. Choose "Resize Wallpaper" in the preferences menu to invoke this option. 4. Altering the image. You may perform a variety of editing functions on an image by selecting it in the Wallpaper Queue and then clicking the "Edit" button. The first time you do this, press the F1 key when the editor is visible and browse through the help file for explanations of the editing functions. When you have a few images installed, set the timer to an appropriate interval and turn it on (if it is not already on). Once you have everything the way you want it, minimize the program window (click the down arrow at the upper right of the program window) and leave it running as an icon. If you are not expecting to make changes immediately, you may wish to make the icon disappear by selecting that option before you minimize it. Remember that you can always get the program back by opening the group where it is installed and double-clicking the icon. Preferences: There are some items which you can set to affect the way the program operates. These are found as a Preferences submenu under the Wallpaper menu. The first is "Change Wallpaper at Startup." If this is not checked, the wallpaper will be whatever was displayed prior to the program startup. The second is "Remove Wallpaper at Exit," which will make your next Windows session start faster. Next is "Special 'Multipurpose' Icon." If this menu item is checked the minimized program icon will be replaced with a miniature 4-button icon that can be used to perform several functions. This form will initially appear at the bottom right of the screen, but will "remember" any change in its location which you may choose to make. Double-Click the icon's control box to restore the main program window. This option has no meaning if the hidden icon option described above is in use. The fourth preference is "Resize Wallpaper," explained above. Fifth is "Screen Saver Setup," which will display a dialog for that function's setup and allow testing. Next is "Display Order," with the choices being Random or Sequential. The seventh is "Default Origin," which is where WWPlus will position your wallpapers unless they are individually specified. The eigth is "Smart Captions," which sets your preference for text boxes to identify the icons. The final preference is "Monitor Com Ports." Because a wallpaper change would likely disrupt a data transfer by modem, you may choose to have WWPlus monitor a com port to which the modem is connected. When WWPlus detects that the port is opened the timer is disabled. Choose ports 1 through 4, or None. The default is None. If you choose a port that has a serial device other than an modem attached, such as a printer, you may get unpredictable results. V. FILES THAT MAKE UP WWPLUS. The program files are compressed prior to setup. They are listed here with their compressed and uncompressed names. The setup program only copies a file to your disk if it does not find the file already or if this file is newer. References to the WWPlus directory refer to the directory selected at installation; default is C:\WWPLUS Compressed File Name Type and where installed WWPLUS.EX_ WWPLUS.EXE Program, WWPlus directory WWPSAVER.EX_ WWPSAVER.EXE Screen Saver Program Ditto WWPSAVR.SC_ WWPSAVR.SCR Screen Saver Bootstrap Windows directory WWPLUS.HL_ WWPLUS.HLP Help file WWPlus directory SETUPWWP.EX_ SETUPWWP.EXE WWPlus Setup Windows directory -- SETUP.EXE Setup Program, not transferred -- SETUP.LST Used by Setup IMK.DL_ IMK.DLL Library File, Windows\System directory JPEGIO.DL_ JPEGIO.DLL Ditto KNIFE.VB_ KNIFE.VBX Ditto SETUPKIT.DL_ SETUPKIT.DLL Ditto VER.DL_ VER.DLL Ditto WWPLIBR.VB_ WWPLIBR.VBX Ditto -- WWP_REG.KEY Registration key, WWPlus directory ***Note: WWP_REG.KEY included only with registered versions. -- README.TXT This file WWPlus directory HISTORY.TX_ HISTORY.TXT version history ditto FORMATS.TX_ FORMATS.TXT explanation of graphics formats ditto SCANNING.WR_ SCANNING.WRI details on scanning service ditto -- FILE_ID.DIZ program description for BBS use -- VENDOR.DOC program description for shareware vendors VBRUN300.DL_ VBRUN300.DLL Library File, Windows\System directory ***note: VBRUN300.DLL may not be included if the program was obtained from an online source. It will have to be obtained to run the program and the setup program. From on-line sources, it is usually VBRUN300.ZIP or VBRUN3.ZIP. If the program was obtained on disk then the file should be included; if not, contact the source of the disk. If the file is obtained separately, it must be installed in your Windows\System directory BEFORE you run setup. If the program is obtained on disk there may be images included, usually in an \images directory. These are not installed by the program. There may be a Rights.TXT file with the images to establish their usage rights. FILES CREATED BY WWPLUS: The following are generally located in your WWPLUS directory: *.QUE These data files hold lists of the images that you have selected as wallpapers, as well as some of your program settings. WWPLUS.BMP This is a "temporary" file that WWPlus uses to translate non-standard images so that they can be used by Windows. It is destroyed and recreated each time the wallpaper changes unless the new image is a .BMP file. *.TIF This is a multiple image file that is used to speed the display of thumbnail images. The name will correspond to the queue name. WWPlus also creates some other temporary files with .TMP extensions, as well as a WWPLTEMP.TIF file. Under normal use, the program will clean these up when it exits. If the program crashes, it will clean them up the next time it is run and then exited normally. FILES ALTERED BY WWPLUS: CONTROL.INI WWPlus will add a section called [ScreenSaver.WWPSaver]. Global parameters for both the program and the screen saver module are stored here. VI. Troubleshooting. If you receive a message which says something like "Unable to install VBRUN300.DL_" during the program install, it means that you have a version of WWPlus that originally included the VBRUN file but it is not present. You can solve this two ways: copy VBRUN300.DLL to the directory where the rest of the distribution files are and rename it VBRUN300.DL_, or else use a text editor (such as Windows Notepad) to edit the file SETUP.LST. Remove the listing for VBRUN300.DL_ and save the file. The VBRUN file will still have to be located in your Windows\System directory, but the setup won't try to reinstall it. If WWPlus has been working fine, but suddenly will not load, the queue file may have become corrupted. Try starting WWPlus from the command line with a new queue selected (one that doesn't already exist). Choose Run from the Program Manager file menu, and type C:\WWPLUS\WWPLUS.EXE C:\WWPLUS\TEST1.QUE (if your wwplus directory has a different name, use that instead, and if the test1.que exists, use a different name). If the program starts, try changing the queue to the one you were using before. If it crashes at that point, the best solution is to delete that queue completely. A related problem can occur if a file has become corrupted and the Change Wallpaper at Startup preference is selected. If that is the next file to be used, WWPlus may crash when trying to load a corrupt wallpaper. The cure would be the same as shown above. USERS THAT ROUTINELY CHANGE DISPLAY COLOR-DEPTHS SHOULD PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE FOLLOWING ITEM: If you are using a display of more than 256 colors, and you have a wallpaper loaded that is true color (16 million colors), if you then change display drivers to a 256-color driver, Windows will hang during its load. If this happens, you should run setup from the DOS prompt within your Windows directory, change to a 16 color driver or a true color driver, and reload Windows. Clear the wallpaper and then proceed to change to the 256 color driver. You can also simply wait it out, which could be many minutes. Windows will eventually usually load. If you are using the Thumbnail option to look at all of your installed files, and it does not appear to show them all in proper order, then the thumbnail file has become corrupted. Simply choose the "Build new display" option from the File menu on the thumbnail screen. If you have an image that WWPlus will not display, it may be in a format that cannot be used. There are some variations of .GIF and .PCX that are known to make problems for WWPlus. There are many non-standard versions of JPEG that will cause problems. If you can load them into another image editing program you may be able to save it in a usable format. It is possible for some corrupted JPEG files to crash WWPlus completely, and WWPlus will sometimes crash with grayscale JPEG files as well. If WWPlus runs correctly, but will not read .GIF or .JPG files, you may have a version of Image/Knife installed on your system that does not support these formats. An example is the version of Knife that comes with Borland's Visual Solution Pack. Since that file has a date newer than the one supplied with WWPlus, the WWPlus SETUP program will "respect" the newer version and not write over it. Solution: expand the two files IMK.DL_ and KNIFE.VB_ that come with WWPlus to IMK.DLL and KNIFE.VBX, and copy them to your WWPLUS directory. If you want to use the development versions that remain in your Windows/System directory you will need to exit WWPlus first. WWPlus expects image file names to match their formats. If you have a .BMP image but give it a .GIF name, the program will not be able to read it. Speed vs compression: Compressed files will take noticeably longer to load than uncompressed (.BMP). .GIF files provide the greatest amount of compression, and take the longest to change. .PCX files provide moderate compression with faster change. During the change, there will be a short few seconds when the computer will "hang" and you must wait for the completion. If you are working on something critical, you may wish to turn off the timer so that the wallpaper will not change. Alternatively, Maximize the program that you are working on, and the WWPlus timer will be suspended until the program is reduced to less than full screen size. Note for users of compressed disk programs (Stacker, DOS 6 DoubleSpace, etc): There is no space advantage to using compressed file formats with compressed drives (other than JPEG - see the FORMATS.TXT file). You will lose the speed without gaining space, since your compression program cannot further compress a .GIF file. Use .BMP in this case. If you have chosen a wallpaper file with more colors than your display can show there will be significant delay while the program changes the color depth. If you intend to use the image regularly you should edit the image to lower the color depth to match your display. VII. Uninstalling WWPlus The following information is provided if you would like to remove WWPlus from your computer. If you have used WWPlus as a screen saver, the first thing to do is to change your Windows screen saver to another program or to "None." Open the Windows Control Panel in your Main Group, and open the Desktop item. Look at the Screen Saver Name. If WWPlus is the screen saver it will say "WWPSAVR." Use the drop-down selection to pick another screen saver or (none). Close the dialog. Most of the files used by WWPlus are located in your WWPlus directory. This will be C:\WWPLUS unless you chose another directory during installation. Delete this directory using File Manager. In your Windows directory will be a file named WWPSAVR.SCR, which is the screen saver startup. Delete it. In your Windows\System directory, delete WWPLIBR.VBX. Two other files are installed to this directory: IMK.DLL and KNIFE.VBX. These are files that may possibly be used by other programs. If you delete them, make backup copies first so that they can be reinstalled if another program complains about their absence. Make a backup copy of the file CONTROL.INI in your Windows directory. Open CONTROL.INI in NOTEPAD or another text-only editor. Look for a section called [ScreenSaver.WWPSaver], which contains the global variables for WWPlus. Delete the entire section and save the file. Delete your WWPlus program group. If WWPlus is set to start when you run Windows, open the Startup Group and delete the WWPlus icon. Make sure that you have selected "Save Settings on Exit" in the Options menu, and close Windows. WWPlus is now removed. VIII. Obtaining wallpaper images. Any image that can be displayed on your computer may be used as wallpaper. If you regularly use Computer BBS systems or online sources such as Compuserve, Genie, America Online, etc. you will find a wealth of images that can be downloaded. These images are usually in the .GIF format to reduce download time. If you obtained this program on disk, there may be images included, usually in an \images directory. A RIGHTS.TXT file may be included in this directory describing the user's rights to the images included. The author is maintaining a small collection of his scans of his own photos and those of users where permission has been granted. It is available by FTP from redshift.com/arcatpet/wwplus/images Files are in JPEG format. You may use Windows Paintbrush to create images, or other similar programs. By far the greatest enjoyment of WWPlus will come if you can use photographs that you own or have taken. If you do not have access to a scanner, there are a number of services which offer scanning, including one run by the author of WWPlus. For details, including a free scan offer for registrants of the program, see the file "SCANNING.WRI." IX. Getting future Upgrades. When you register WWPlus with the author, you will receive a copy of the latest version and a registration key that removes the startup screen. That key file will work with future versions of the program, so no upgrade fee will be required. Current versions of WWPlus can always be found on Compuserve in several forums, including WINAV, GRAPHSUP, PHOTOFORUM and EDRIVE. Current versions are also posted to America OnLine. Use the keyword "Windows" and search the software library for "WWPlus." At this writing the program is found in Top Picks. The author is endeavoring to maintain a personal FTP site on the internet. Address at this writing is redshift.com/arcatpet/wwplus/wwpxxx.zip where xxx is the version number. If you find this address to be inaccurate in the future, E-Mail the author dbirdman@redshift.com or dbirdman@aol.com for a current address. Current versions are also uploaded to two internet archival sites, CICA and SimTel. Addresses respectively are ftp://ftp.cica.indiana.edu/pub/pc/win3/desktop and ftp://oak.oakland.edu/SimTel/win3/desktop. These two sites have many mirror sites worldwide as well. Registered users who do not have online access may get a disk copy from the author for a fee of $5 ($7 non-US). Send a short note indicating your registered status and requesting the latest copy. Please use the same name under which you are registered. X. Registration and Distribution. WWPlus is shareware. Free use is extended to any user for a reasonable evaluation period; typical idea of "reasonable" is 30 days. If use is continued, the program should be registered with the author. Registration fee is $20. California registrants please add $1.45 sales tax, and foreign registrants should include $1.00 for airmail shipping. All funds should be drawn on a US Dollar account. A convenient form for registration is included below and in the Help file (and may be printed from there). Until you register, there will be a startup screen asking you to register which you will have to respond to. When you register, this annoyance will go away. Otherwise, this version is complete and un-crippled in any way. As a registration incentive, the author will provide on request two free scanned images from your original prints or slides, when sent with the registration. See the file "SCANNING.WRI" for details. Commercial use: WWPlus may be used commercially, as long as there is a registered copy for each computer/terminal that is using it. The author is willing to discuss customization of the program for commercial/large scale application, including use as presentation software. You may freely distribute WWPlus as long as no fees are charged for the program, and all necessary files are included. If you are a registered user, do not distribute the file WWP_REG.KEY, which identifies you as the user (This identification shows up in the "About" box). The author is very interested in feedback from users. Please feel free to make contact at the address shown at the beginning of this file with any comments/questions/problems. WWPlus version 1.45 Registration Form Thank you for registering. There are several registration methods available: With a credit card you may order by FAX: (707) 822-6570 or Phone: (707) 822-6350 10-6 PST, ask for Don. By mail, with check, credit card, or money order in US Dollars To: Don Bradner Arcata Pet 600 F Street Arcata, CA 95521-6301 Compuserve members may register on-line: GO SWREG, program registration number is 2213. Registration price is US$20.00, including postage within the US. Number of registrations desired_______x 20.00 = $____________ California residents add $1.45/registration sales tax________ Non-US add $1.00 per registration for air mail ____________ Total $____________ Software will be sent on 1.44 meg 3-1/2 inch disk. Registrants Name: __________________________________________ Mailing Address: __________________________________________ City/State/Zip/Country:_________________________________________ Phone number ( )________________E-Mail, if any______________ If paying with a credit card: Card type: _VISA _MasterCard _AMEX _Discover Card Number: _______________________________Exp Date: _________ Signature to authorize charge: _______________________________ (Optional) Where did you get WWPlus 1.45? __BBS or on-line service Which one?___________________________ __Software/Shareware service Which one?________________________ __Shareware CD-ROM Which one?_________________________________ __Internet What Site?_______________________________________ __Friend __Other ____________________________________ The author would be happy to hear your comments about WWPlus, or your ideas for changes or improvements.