G I F E X E Version 3.0 October 1, 1991 A Self-Displayer and Slideshow Program for Your GIF(tm) Pictures Copyright 1990,1991 Synergrafix Consulting All right reserved. GIFEXE is produced by: Steve Enns Synergrafix Consulting 2425 Haultain Ave. and 2425 Haultain Ave. Saskatoon, Sk. Saskatoon, Sk. Canada S7J 1R2 Canada S7J 1R2 Okay, here's the boring stuff, but don't worry, it's better than chewing tinfoil: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Kudos, thanks, and good karma to John Bridges for the enlightening information and code contained in his VGAKIT package. Trademarks like GIF(tm) and PC(tm) are held by their respective companies. DISCLAIMER The GIFEXE program is provided without warranty of any kind. The user of the GIFEXE assumes complete responsibility for any and all incidental or consequential damages which may occur during normal or abnormal use of the GIFEXE program. Use the GIFEXE program at your own risk. LICENSE The entire GIFEXE package, including the GIFEXE program, documentation, and sample files are Copyright 1990,1991 Synergrafix Consulting. All rights reserved. The unregistered shareware version of the GIFEXE may be freely distributed to others by any means, as long the following (three) conditions are met: 1) GIFEXE is distributed in a "package" containing the following three files: GIFEXE.EXE GIFEXE.DOC GE-READ.ME 2) GIFEXE is not distributed as part of any other product, except with specific written permission from the authors. 3) NO fee of any kind is charged for the GIFEXE package or for the service of providing the package, except Computer Bulletin Board Systems, which may distribute the GIFEXE package even though they may charge a membership or service fee. You can use the "shareware" version for as long as you want, even until you're well into your nineties, but you are of course encouraged to send us lots of money, too. (I'm struggling to pay for my violin lessons, and Dan needs a new fishing rod.) If you send $8.00 U.S. or more to the "Steve Enns" guy above, you will receive a 5.25" disk (3.5" disks are $2.00 extra) with the latest registered version of GIFEXE, which has several additional "special effects" features, and can make slideshows from an unlimited number of GIFs. (See below.) If you send $23.00 U.S. or more, you will also receive registered versions of the following programs: GIFWARP! Warp, bend stretch your GIFs for interesting effects. GIFCLIP Clip/crop your GIFs, add text or your own GIF logo or signature. GIFSIZE Resize all or part of your GIFs. Shrink an entire screen to the size of an icon. (These programs are available in licensed SuperVGA versions for $8.00 U.S. each, or get all three, and the latest version of GIFEXE for $23.00 U.S. or more. The registered versions may not be distributed to others, or distributed with, or as part of any other product.) REQUIREMENTS GIFEXE requires the following: - PC(tm)/XT(tm)/AT(tm)/386(tm) computer thing - About 280K of free RAM - DOS 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.0 (others untested) - A VGA or SuperVGA card - Some GIF(tm) pictures. and optionally: - GIFEXE supports modes like 640x480, 800x600 with 256 colours on 512K and 1024K SuperVGA cards from ATI, Ahead, Cirrus, Chips and Technologies, Everex, OAK, Paradise, Trident, Tseng, Video7, Compaq, NCR, Genoa and VESA. INSTALLATION Copy the GIFEXE program (and this helpful document of course!) to any directory that you want - perhaps with your favourite GIF(tm) viewer somewhere in the DOS path. USAGE Syntax for GIFEXE is as follows: GIFEXE [?] infilename[.GIF] [outfilename[.EXE]] /mode=0,1,2.. /autoscale to make a single GIF display program, or GIFEXE [?] @listfile [outfilename[.EXE]] /stopkey=n /cycle=0,1,2,3 to make a slideshow program. In addition, the following "special effects" options are available in the registered version: /fadein [ /fadeout | /dissolve ] /delay=secs Generally, the options may be used with GIFEXE when you are creating an EXE, or with the EXE that you have already created. When using a list file to make an EXE slideshow, the special effects options are placed in the list file. (See TUTORIAL below.) The options are as follows: /mode=code /mode=0 Ordinary 320x200 mode /mode=1 Low resolution SVGA 640x400 or 640x350 depending on your card. /mode=2 Medium resolution 640x480 /mode=3 High resolution 800x600 /mode=4 Higher resolution 1024x768 is supported on some 1024K cards.) /autoscale When this switch is used, the GIF will be scaled up to fit on the screen if the screen resolution is 2 or more times the resolution of the GIF. (Just try it with a 320x200 GIF and a 640x480 screen mode.) When using a list file to make a slideshow: /cycle=code /cycle=0 Play the slideshow once, forward /cycle=1 Play the slideshow forward, continuously /cycle=2 Play the slideshow backward, continuously /cycle=4 Play the slideshow backward, once /stopkey=code /stopkey=27 Play the show until ESC key (ascii 27) is hit. Default. /stopkey=32 Play until spacebar is hit And the additional "special effects" available in the registered version: /fadein Gradually fade in when displaying the GIF. The screen will start black, and gradually the pictures will appear as the colors brighten. /fadeout After the GIF has been displayed, and the program is going to exit after a keypress, or a delay (see below) the screen will gradually fade to black. /dissolve After the GIF has been displayed, and the program is going to exit, the pixels will randomly turn black until the entire picture is gone. /delay=secs After the GIF has been displayed, wait "secs" seconds before automatically exiting. The program will also exit if a key is pressed before the time has expired. When using a list file to make a slideshow, the listfile has the following format: file1[.gif] /fadein /delay=n /fadeout /mode=m /autoscale file2[.gif] ... . . . filen[.gif] ... (One GIF filename with the desired display options on each line of the file. The unregistered version is limited to five images in a list file. The registered version should be able to do several thousand, in case you have the disk space and inclination to make a 100 Megabyte slideshow. For example, try: C> GIFEXE to see the title screen C> GIFEXE ? to see the help/brag screen C> GIFEXE house to make the .EXE HOUSE.EXE from the file HOUSE.GIF C> GIFEXE house house2 /autoscale /fadein make the .EXE file HOUSE2.EXE, from the GIF(tm) HOUSE.GIF using autoscale and fadein, so that HOUSE2 will fadein and autoscale when run. (/fadein available on registered versions only.) C> GIFEXE house /delay=10 make an EXE, HOUSE.EXE which will display HOUSE.GIF and then wait 10 seconds before exiting. C> GIFEXE @list /cycle=1 /stopkey=32 make an EXE, LIST.EXE of the GIF in the listfile LIST, which will play in a loop until the spacebar (ascii 32) is pressed. The first image will fadein, wait 2 seconds and then continue to the next image. The file LIST contains: gif1 /fadein /delay=2 gif2 gif3 gif4 TUTORIAL (Nothin' to it!) Try out the following with your favourite GIF(tm) picture: C> GIFEXE picturename GIFEXE will prduce an EXE program with the name "picturename.EXE" That's it! Now just run the program you've just made: C> picturename The picture will be displayed on your screen in VGA, or in SuperVGA if your computer has SuperVGA, and the picture requires it. If you want a small (VGA) picture to be displayed in SuperVGA resolution, try: C> picturename /mode=2 to display the picture in medium SuperVGA resolution. If you have the registered version, you can make an EXE that will "fade in", and "dissolve out": C> GIFEXE picturename /fadein /dissolve Now when you run picturename, C> picturename The picture will "fade in", wait for a keypress, and then "dissolve" and the program will exit. And even if you didn't use some options when you created picturename.EXE, you can still use them later. Try: C> picturename /delay=10 /mode=3 and then the picture will "fade in" using mode 3, wait for 10 seconds or a keypress, and then "dissolve" and exit. To make an automated slideshow, make the following file (GIFSHOW.LST) with your text editor and your own GIF filenames: gifname1 /fadein /delay=2 /fadeout gifname2 /delay=2 gifname3 /delay=2 gifname4 /delay=2 gifname5 /delay=2 /fadeout Now, use the following GIFEXE command: C> GIFEXE @gifshow.lst /cycle=1 The file GIFSHOW.EXE will be produced, which will display the five images in your slideshow, continuously, until the ESC key is pressed: C> gifshow You can play the show backwards, until the spacebar is hit by changing the cycle and stopkey parameters: C> gifshow /cycle=3 /stopkey=32 If you omitted the /delay parameters in the list file, each GIF would be displayed until a key was pressed, or the slideshow was aborted with the ESC or /stopkey. HINTS - The EXEs produced by GIFEXE are handy for startup screens on your computer, or title screens for your programs. - Since version 3.0, self-running slideshows of GIFs may be produced without using batch files. If you are using DOS 5.0, there is an easy way to make a list file for slideshows: C> dir /b *.gif > listfile "listfile" will now contain the names of all the GIFs in the current directory. You can then just add the desired options to each line of file. ERRORS - The following self explanatory error messages may be produced by GIFEXE. The errors involving the GIF(tm) files will generally be due to disk errors or faulty image files. Other errors refer to lack of enough free RAM space, or lack of required hardware (VGA). Can't initialize VGA graphics! Unexpected EOF reading GIF! Premature end of GIF! Not GIF file! Invalid GIF format Error writing GIF! Buffer allocation failure! NOTES - GIFEXE reads both GIF87A standard (the original) and new GIF89A pictures, although most of the extensions in the new GIF89A standard like (silly) text windows are ignored. The last image in multi-image GIFs will be the one displayed by GIFEXE. HISTORY - Version 1.0 Completed June.1 1991 - Version 1.2 Completed Sep.15 1991 Some additional cards now supported. 1024x768x256 now supported on some 1024K cards. - Version 2.0 Completed Sep.20 1991 Registered version introduced with /fadein /fadeout /dissolve /delay options. /autoscale option added to both versions. - Version 3.0 Completed Oct.1 1991 Multiple GIF EXE slideshows may now be produced.