P - VIEW 



    P-View is a tiny but highly capable ILBM viewer for all Amigas.  


    A number of the programmes of mine published on Fish Library Disks,
  such as P-Reader and S-Pic have been able to display simple ILBMs.  It
  is time that they were updated to include all OS2 and OS3 viewmodes -
  ie to full AGA; the first obvious step was to look at current AGA-
  capable viewers to see what they could do.  I found very few:

    Nic Wilson's IFF Displayer.  A very nice little viewer, but it could
  not adjust screen modes or monitor drivers to match the requirements of
  a picture and was not really full AGA.  It also neglected to use the
  auto-scroll facilities of OS2 and 3.

    Commodore's MultiView.  This is very good at many things - except
  pictures, where it as often as not corrupts the colormap.  It will call
  up any necessary monitors and set screen sizes correctly.

    Viewtek.  An excellent programme that gets most things right, except
  that for some reason in OS3 it crashes if you try to load a HAM6 picture.
  Convert the pic to HAM8 and all is well - very odd.

    Mostra is a good IFF viewer, but I have yet to see an AGA update.

    One thing that all of these have in common is that if they are unable
  to match the pics Viewmode requirement for screen size & monitor, they
  just go sullen and refuse to show anything at all - or crash!

    All in all a less than perfect bunch.  Clearly before updating my own
  programmes some work was needed on AGA displays generally.  The result
  is this programme.  P-View should work with all OS versions from 1.3 (and
  probably with 1.2 as well).  It should work with all currently available
  viewmodes and monitor types.  If a picture size is larger than the screen
  it allows autoscrolling so that the whole picture can be seen (OS2 & 3
  only).

    If the required monitor drivers, number of planes, or screen sizes
  are not available, it will show what it can.  The result may be that only
  part of the picture will be visible, it may be distorted, or only the
  first few planes may be shown - but at least you should see something!


    INSTRUCTIONS 

    P-View can be run from either WorkBench or CLI.

    CLI:

        Call:        P-View <picture> <picture> . . .

        At least one picture reference is required.  There are no switches.

    WorkBench:

        Call P-View as the `Default Tool' in the picture's icon OR

        Hold down the keyboard Ctrl (Shift) key, click the LMB on the
        picture's icon, double-click on P-View's icon.   Multiple selection
        can be used to call a sequence of pictures.

    Close:

        Click the LMB to clear the screen. 
  


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    P-View is Freeware.  It may be copied and distributed freely and used
  without charge for non_commercial purposes.  Authority for commercial use
  should be obtained from the author below.

    No responsibility can be accepted for any loss occasioned by use of the
  programme.

    Comments, suggestions, bug-reports all welcome.

   Chas A. Wyndham,
   1265 Canning Mills Road,
   Roleystone,
   WA 6111,
   Australia.