MIPFIC 1.0 ========== MIPFIC is Copyright Đ 1995-1996 Reinhard Haslbeck. All rights reserved. Disclaimer ---------- With this document I make no warranties or representations, either expressed or implied, with respect to the program described herein. The program and the information presented herein is being supplied on an `as is' basis and is expressly subject to change without notice. The entire risk as to the use of the program and the information presented is assumed by the user. In no event will I be liable for direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from any claim arising out of the use of the program or the information presented herein, even if I have been advised of the possibilities of such damages. Introduction to MIPFIC ---------------------- Since ImageDesk catalogs are just usable on Amigas, MIPFIC offers the possibility to present graphics collections in a system independend manner. MIPFIC stands for `Make Index Pictures From ImageDesk Catalogs`. The program name says exactly what it does. It generates IFF pictures from catalogs made with ImageDesk. MIPFIC allows various layout styles such as different border and text styles, custom spacing etc. To check how the current layout looks like, it has a built in preview function. System Requirements ------------------- MIPFIC should run on every 68K CPU, it was compiled and optimized for the plain 68000. MIPFIC currently requires an Amiga running Workbench/Kickstart 3.0 or higher, it also needs the following libraries (they should be in your LIBS: directory): `asl.library`, `diskfont.library` and `iff.library' V23. The resulting index pictures will have 256 colors. To enable a preview of the pictures, MIPFIC requires a graphics device which allows system friendly 8bit screens. Starting MIPFIC --------------- During startup MIPFIC looks for the standard prefs file. If it doesn`t find one default values will be used. You can place MIPFIC anywhere you want, but if you change the position of the program, it won`t find its default prefs file `MIPFIC.prefs` anymore. MIPFIC can be started from the Workbench or from a Shell. You can use different arguments to change the startup behavoir of MIPFIC. When MIPFIC was started from a Shell it will read the specified arguments from the commandline (with ReadArgs()).IF started from Workbench it will examine its Icon Tooltypes. When you use MIPFIC from the Workbench, you can change or add these arguments by changing or adding the Tool Type (with the same name) in the window that appears when you select the `Information...' menu item. Recognized Tooltypes: - PREFS (uses the specified file name for the default prefs file) - PUBSCREEN (opens its GUI on the specified screen) When you use MIPFIC from a Shell you can specify the same arguments on the commandline. MIPFIC uses this template: P=PREFS/K,S=PUBSCREEN/K Using MIPFIC ------------ This section is just a quick overview of MIPFICs Gadgets. In My opinon this program is easy enough to use to omit large texts of description. Framed Box `Screen` ................... A click into the `?`-Button pops up the screen requester. The selected screen is used for previewing the pictures. `Width` and `Height` are also used for the dimensions of the resulting IFF pictures. Framed Box `Font` ................. A click into the `?`-Button pops up the font requester. The selected font is used for printing the file names below the thumbnail images. (also supports selected flags like `italic`, `bold` etc.) Framed Box `Colors` ................... These four Integer Gadgets specify which color registers will be used for background, bright edges, dark edges and text. To find out which colors the registers are assigned to, use a painting program like DPaint, load a MIPFIC generated IFF picture into it and activate the palette tool (All resulting pictures will have this palette). Framed Box `Layout` ................... The two Cycle Gadgets allow different text and border styles. With the two Slider Gadgets you can regulate the horizontal and vertical spacing between the thumbnails. Simply test it! Framed Box `Commands` ..................... `Open Catalog`: Opens a file requester which prompts you for an ImageDesk catalog. `Preview Screen(s)`: Previews the pictures with the current layout settings. If this screen is displayed you can abort the preview by pressing the key or continue to render the next picture by pressing any other key. `Make Index Pic(s)`: First prompts for a file name the IFF pictures will get (if more than one IFF picture has to be saved, the file names will get a numbered extension). The pictures are rendered hidden, you just will see the busy mouse pointer. `Save Settings`: Saves your current settings as the default prefs file. `Save Settings As`: Saves your current settings but prompts for a custom file name first. `Load Settings`: Opens a former saved prefs file. `About`: Tells something interesting. `Quit`: Quits MIPFIC after a security check. Framed Box `Status` ................... Here you will find some information: Catalog loaded: Has a catalog already been loaded? Valid Screen: Are the screen specs valid? Thumbnails per Picture: How many thumbnails will fit on one IFF picture? Required Pictures: How many IFF pictures are needed for all thumbs? Notes ----- This program was coded in just a few days during the X-Mas holidays. It hasnīt passed a beta test phase so it is likely to have some bugs. Anyway, Enforcer hits and memory leaks havenīt been detected. MIPFIC supports XPK compressed catalogs but doesnīt support XPK password encrypted catalogs. If you want to load encrypted catalogs decrypt them first with `CATRepack`. Feature requests to support further image formats will be ignored. IMHO there are enough converting tools available to do this job. But please do me one favour and donīt convert these IFFs into JPEGs. MIPFIC produces 8bit colormapped IFFs which are not very suitable for JPEG. To save disk space PNG and GIF are well suited formats. Thanks and Credits ------------------ MIPFIC uses - `gengui 1.0` from Matthias Meixner for its GUI-Layout - `iff.library V23` from Christian Weber for saving IFF images A big `Thank You` must go to all of you who decided to register for ImageDesk. Without you MIPFIC and even ImageDesk 2.x wouldnīt exist. About the Author ---------------- MIPFIC was written by Reinhard Haslbeck. If you have a good reason to contact me, take a look into the ImageDesk docs for getting my address.