DRAW Version 2.8 Chocolate Island Software Copyright (c) Rick Andrews 1992-1996 Contact Information =================== DRAW is produced by: Rick Andrews Chocolate Island Software 16 Alpine Street Reading England RG1 2QA Tel: +44 118 950 0369 Email: rick@cix.compulink.co.uk CompuServe: 100676,120 WWW: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/chocolate_island_software/ Overview of DRAW ================ DRAW is the number one shareware bitmap editor for the Psion Series 3a. It allows PIC bitmap files to be viewed, edited, and printed on your Psion. To help you create exciting images, it features real-time zoom, flood fill, user-defined fonts, undo, variable-width lines, scroll bars, an INI file (to remember your default settings), clipboard and lots more. And by using a third-party app (FirePic), foreign format files like PCX can be imported and exported. The design goal behind DRAW is to try and match the ease of use of the built-in Psion applications - so if you're used to the Word app (for example) you should find DRAW simple to use. Though if you do get stuck, there is optional on-line help. How to register =============== DRAW is shareware and costs œ10 (ten pounds) or US$20 to register. If you have a British bank account, you may send a cheque payable to "Rick Andrews" to the address above. For European users, payment is acceptable by Eurocheque - value œ10. For American users (or anywhere else in the world) please send US$20. Though please be careful when sending cash notes through the post. Alternatively, you can register on-line with CompuServe for $20. GO SWREG and use registration ID 7028. For more information about registering, please see the section called 'Registration' in the User Guide below. --------------------------------------------------------------- USER GUIDE FOR DRAW 2.8 ======================= The rest of this document is the user guide for DRAW version 2.8, a shareware graphical bitmap editor for the Psion Series 3a palmtop computer, dated 22 August 1995. DRAW v1 for the Series 3 is also available. Contact the author for more information. Introduction ============ DRAW is a bitmap editor designed to be easy to use, yet powerful enough to provide your image editing requirements. The main direction of the software design is a requirement to match the ease-of-use of Psions built-in applications. If you do need a bit of assistance, DRAW has on-line help. This user guide, coupled with the on-line help, should answer all your questions. If you do have any further questions, please contact me and I'll try to help you out. DRAW has some useful bitmap editing features : * can create, view, edit and print PIC bitmaps * has a real-time zoom facility * line, box, circle and ellipse with variable-width lines * flood fill an area with a pattern, or from the clipboard * scroll bars and undo * can create icons * allows cut, copy and paste to a bitmap clipboard. Requirements ============ DRAW is written for the Psion Series 3a. It requires 76K of disk space (67K without on-line help) for a full install. Though if you load the example bitmap as well, you'll need about 110K. When running, it needs about 59K of system memory, plus system memory for up to two copies of the image being edited. So to edit a screen-sized image, you'll need about 96K free. If free memory is a bit tight, you can switch certain features off, and will only need about 77K to edit a screen-sized image. (See the FAQ section below.) Installation ============ DRAW is a fairly standard Psion application; just copy the files listed below to your Series 3a, then install with Psion-I from the system screen as normal. File (size) Description Destination ------------ ------------ ------------ DRAW28.OPA (63601) Main application \APP\ DRAW2HLP.RSC (9382) Help resource file \APP\DRAW2 DRAW2.PAT (5140) Fill pattern file \APP\DRAW2 EXAMPLE3.PIC (30032) Optional sample bitmap \PIC\ DRAW.TXT (27305) This user guide \WRD\ The following files may also be created by DRAW at some point: DRAW2.INI (181) Initialisation file \OPD\ DRAW2.REG (about 50) Registration file \OPD\ You can delete all program files from previous versions of DRAW, or leave them installed if you wish to run more than one version. To uninstall DRAW, remove the above files, the \PIC subdirectory and any DRAW files in the \OPD directory. Registration ============ DRAW is shareware, which means you get to try the application before you pay for it. It does _not_ mean DRAW is free. You may use DRAW for a limited evaluation period (30 days) after which you must register the software. To register, send œ10 to the Chocolate Island address below. When you register, you will receive a registration code which will unlock the software and disable the save nag screen delays. Also, as a registered user, future upgrades to DRAW will be free (apart from small postage and packing costs for a disk if necessary). When registering, you must remember to include your name as it is to appear on the registration details (maximum 32 characters including spaces), and the version number of DRAW (e.g. 2.8). Please give details of anything you like or dislike about the app, and where you obtained it. You will be sent a registration letter containing information about any upgrades and changes made to the current version along with an encrypted registration code by return of post (or sooner if you include an e-mail address). You enter the code at the Register prompt (Psion-Shift-Q). The code is then saved in \OPD\DRAW2.REG on the default drive. This file must be present in \OPD on a local drive every time DRAW is used. When a valid registration code is found in this file, the annoying nag screens at startup and when saving are disabled. Note that the DRAW2.REG file is unique to you and must not be distributed to other people. When sending payment if you have a British bank account, you may send a cheque payable to "Rick Andrews". For European users, payment is acceptable by Eurocheque - value œ10. For American users (or anywhere else in the world) you can send US$20. Though please be careful when sending cash notes through the post. Alternatively, you can register on-line with CompuServe. GO SWREG and use registration ID 7028. Note to registered users: Registration codes from earlier versions of Draw are not compatible with Draw 2.8 due to technical reasons. Existing users of Draw v2 should have received a _free_ updated registration code automatically. If you're a registered user and you haven't yet received a Draw 2.8 code, please contact the author, quoting your name and serial number. DRAW Contact Address: Rick Andrews Chocolate Island Software 16 Alpine Street Reading Berkshire England RG1 2QA E-mail: rick@cix.compulink.co.uk CompuServe ID: 100676,120 WWW: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/chocolate_island_software/ This program is copyright (c) Rick Andrews 1992-1996. It is a Chocolate Island Software program. Disassembly or reverse translation of this program is prohibited. This software is provided as is, without any warranty of any kind. The author shall not be liable for any loss of data or damage arising from the use of this software. Using DRAW ========== Create new files from the System screen, the same way as standard Psion applications. Move the graphics cursor `+' around the screen with the arrow keys; use the Control and Psion key to increase the movement. Use Enter or Space to set a pixel in the colour selected by the diamond key. Select a drawing tool using a hot-key or the menu. To highlight an area, use a shift key whilst moving, then Delete to cut, `Copy' to copy graphics back in etc. Use the diamond key to draw in black, grey or both. The tools operate in the selected colour too. Selecting `Zoom' (or pressing Tab) shows a window containing a magnified image of area around the cursor. As you move around and make changes to the bitmap, the Zoom window is updated automatically. Use `Zoom in' and `Zoom out' to change the magnification. Selecting `Icon' allows the top left 48x48 pixels of the bitmap to be edited in a magnified window. If you make a mistake, use `Undo' to reverse the last change made, or `Revert' to lose all changes made. If the bitmap is too large to fit on the screen, a part of it is displayed, with scroll bars across the bottom and right-hand side of the screen to show which part of the bitmap is visible. As DRAW has a few user-configurable options, the preferences are kept in an initialisation file \OPD\DRAW2.INI on the default disk. It is created and updated automatically by DRAW, and is not text based. If you believe the INI file is corrupted, you can safely delete it as a new one will be created when DRAW exits. The DRAW menu allows operation of the main commands. Use the menu to choose the operation, or use the hot key listed alongside the command : File n - New file. Choose the height and width of the new bitmap, and whether the grey plane is to be used. Bitmaps with a grey plane are twice the file size of those without. o - Open file. Load a PIC bitmap file. Will normally load both black and grey planes of a multi-plane bitmap, but can be set to load either. See `File defaults' in `Set Preferences' option. O - Open special. Load a special file. At the moment, the only special file is a screendump, which always sits in the root directory of the internal drive. To take a screendump, hit Psion-Shift-Control-S in any application. This information will be prompted by the Open Special dialog if a screendump is not found. A - Save as Save the bitmap with a new name. Uses the new file. s - Save Save the current bitmap. m - Merge in Overlays a PIC bitmap onto the current bitmap. Move the bitmap with the cursor keys until it is positioned correctly then press Enter to confirm or Esc to cancel. I - Import Read in an external file type (e.g. PCX) using FirePic. The image becomes the current PIC file. See FirePic section below. E - Export Write the current PIC file to an external format using FirePic. Edit i - Insert Paste the clipboard contents into the bitmap. Position with the cursor keys then Enter to confirm, or Esc to abandon. c - Copy Copy the highlighted area into the clipboard, overwriting the current clipboard contents. L - Highlight all Highlight the entire bitmap. v - Revert Lose all changes to bitmap since the last save. u - Undo Reverse the last change made. You can undo the Undo by pressing Psion-U again. Using Psion-U a third time will redo the change. V - About Show DRAW version number, release date and registration details. Q - Register Enter your registration code here. (To get your code, see the Registration section.) Make sure you enter it correctly. If you don't, the message "Invalid code" appears, and you can try again. When it is entered correctly, a message appears confirming you are registered. Each time DRAW is started, a brief message is shown indicating the software is registered to you. The code details are stored in \OPD\DRAW2.REG on a local drive. You must ensure this file is present each time DRAW is used, otherwise it will run as unregistered. Tools t - Text Places a input text string onto the bitmap in the current style and font. Position with cursor keys, then Enter to confirm, or Esc to cancel. l - Line Draws an elastic line using the current nib with the cursor position as the starting point. Move the cursor to the second point. The line stretches with the cursor. Press Enter to confirm, or Esc to cancel. b - Box Draws a box using the current nib. The cursor position is one corner. The box is drawn with the diagonally opposite corner at the cursor. Move the cursor, then press Enter to confirm. k - Circle Draws a square box as above for a outline guide to the circle. The height and width are kept equal to each other. When Enter pressed, a circle is drawn using the pen nib, with the diameter of the circle the same as the box. The box disappears. e - Ellipse Draws an ellipse using the current pen nib. A guiding rectangle is shown. Size the rectangle as required then press Enter. An ellipse is drawn that fits exactly in the outline rectangle. The outline disappears. R - Eraser Displays a square eraser four times the size of the pen nib. Position with the cursor keys, then Enter to delete the area under the eraser. To stop using the Eraser, select another tool, or use `Eraser off' Psion-Shift-R. f - Fill Flood fill the area under the cursor with the current pattern. The area must be enclosed by at least a single pixel-thick border. Styles w - Plot mode Sets the various drawing modes. `Graphics mode' sets the method used to draw items onto the bitmap. For example, set, invert, replace. `Fill mode' is used by `insert' and `merge'. `Text mode' sets the same for any text items added. Y - Text style Sets the text appearance. Choose bold, underlined, inverted, double height, mono or italic. N - Font Choose a font to use for text entry. Select one of the built-in fonts (Roman 16 is the default) or load a user-defined font. See Fonts section below. B - Fill pattern Choose a pattern to use with the `Fill' command. The patterns range from shades to grids, meshes etc. Use the arrow keys to move the chooser box, then hit Enter to select or Esc to cancel. Or select the `clipboard' pattern to fill from the current clipboard. The DRAW2.PAT pattern file must be present in \APP\DRAW2. P - Pen nib Set the size of the pen nib used for drawing lines, circles etc. Ranges from 1x1 to 8x8, or choose to use to current clipboard image as a pen nib (e.g. for italic nibs.) Draw r - Rotate Spins the current highlighted area clockwise or anti-clockwise by 90 degrees. The resulting image remains highlighted for further rotations. A - Flip Flip the current highlighted area across a horizontal or vertical axis (ie. a mirror image). h - Shift Drag the pixels in the current highlighted area. Pixels will automatically rotate around top/bottom and left/right. Shift scrolls both grey and black together. d - Dimensions Change the size of the current bitmap. Gives a warning dialog if parts of the bitmap will be lost. View D - Hide cursor Makes the cursor invisible when viewing bitmaps. Hit any key to continue. S - Snap-to-grid Keep the cursor on a invisible grid 8 pixels apart. When this option is selected, the cursor will jump to the nearest grid point. Use the Control and Psion keys to speed movement up as normal. Use Psion-Shift-S again to switch the snap-to-grid off. The size of the snap grid is adjustable using the `Cursor defaults' option. C - Clipboard Displays the clipboard sub-menu. Choose to view, clear, open, save or disable the clipboard. Disabling the clipboard saves memory, but you lose the ability to `insert'. To re-enable the clipboard, choose `Clipboard' again. j - Jump Displays the jump point sub-menu. Jump points are places in the bitmap that the cursor can return to immediately. Choose to set a jump point, reset a point, jump to the next point, or jump back to the last. There can be up to four jump points set. J - Icon Magnify the top left 48x48 pixels of the bitmap. Useful for designing icons. K - Close zoom(tab) Use Psion-K or Tab to close the zoom (or icon) magnified window. Special q - Set preferences There are two broad groups of preference settings: view preferences, and entry preferences. The view preferences are: Cursor defaults Cursor type - Set the cursor to a dot, small, medium or large cross, lines or an arrow-shaped pointer. Cursor step - Set the number of pixels to step when the Control and Psion keys are used to accelerate movement. Snap-to-grid - Set the width of the grid lines when snap-to-grid is used. Cursor scroll - Choose which type of scrolling to use when the screen display moves to show other parts of the bitmap. Either `normal', or `smooth'. Zoom defaults Zoom window size - Set the number of pixels around the cursor to be magnified. The maximum is 80, but this will be reduced automatically if the window size (and zoom factor) would mean the zoom window getting too big. Zoom factor - The size of magnification; either 2x, 3x, 4x, 6x or 8x. Gap between zoomed pixels - Give the appearance of a grid in the zoom window. Scroll bar defaults Scroll bar thickness - Set the width in pixels of the scroll bars that appear when a bitmap is too big to fit onto the screen. A size of 0 will stop scroll bars from being displayed. Status defaults View status window - Choose this option to display a cursor status window showing the current x y co-ordinates of the cursor, the dimensions of the bitmap, whether the bitmap has been modified since the last save, and whether the grey plane is used. The entry preferences are: File defaults Bitmap number - Choose which bitmap plane to load from a multi-plane file. Normal 3a .PIC files are two-plane, the black in plane zero, and the grey in plane one. Load monochrome only - Force the loading of one plane from a multi-plane bitmap file. Normally DRAW will load two colour planes if they are present in the file. Undo defaults Keep undo buffer - Use `No' to save some system memory (the undo buffer is the same size as the bitmap.) Nib defaults Nib shape - When drawing boxes, choose to use a round nib or a square nib. A round nib will give rounded corners to the box. This is more apparent with thicker pen nibs. z - Zoom in Increases the zoom factor. A zoom window will be shown if there isn't one already. The Zoom window shape is always square. For certain intensive operations (e.g. Shift) Zoom is disabled until the operations is complete, then Zoom will automatically update. If the zoom factor and window size prevent the whole zoom window from fitting onto the screen, the number of pixels being zoomed is reduced automatically. Z - Zoom out Decrease the zoom. This cycles around back to the maximum zoom setting. p -Print Print the bitmap to an Epson (or Epson compatible) printer using the parallel or serial port. Grey parts of the bitmap are dithered into a greyscale on the printer. If there is a problem, you can hit Esc to abandon the printing. X - Exit, lose changes Quit the application. A dialog box will confirm that changes are to be lost. x - Exit Quits and automatically saves the bitmap if it has changed. Diamond (Only available in multicolour bitmaps) F - Black Set the tool colour to black. G - Grey Set it to grey. H - Both Set it to both black and grey. This is the default setting. Miscellaneous Delete key Will delete the current highlighted area. It is normally copied to the clipboard unless the clipboard is disabled. If you use Shift-Delete, the clipboard contents are not changed. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ================================ Q. How do you get rid of the nag screen? A. The nag screen is designed to encourage you to register. When you register, the startup nag screen and the save delay screen do not appear. Q. What is customisable on DRAW? A. Quite a lot! Use the `Set Preferences' options to setup DRAW so that you're comfortable using it. For example, change the size of the cursor so it is big enough to see clearly. And if you're doing a lot of fiddly work, use the zoom feature to magnify the pixels. The preferences get saved in the .INI file between sessions. Q. I'm working on a large bitmap file and it's awkward moving the cursor around it. What can I do? A. Set some Jump points to return to areas you know you'll be working on. These jump points are saved in the .INI file too. Q. Can I work with PCX format files? A. Yes, if you install the freeware application FirePic. DRAW uses the FirePic DYLs to convert foreign file formats into .PIC files and vice versa. Other formats may be available. See the FirePic section below. Q. Does DRAW work with the built-in Psion applications? A. To get pictures from other apps into DRAW, you should capture the screen of the running app using Psion-Shift-Control-S then use the `Open Special' option in DRAW. Q. Do you have any tips on using DRAW? A. Yes. Make the bitmap an extra 150 pixels or so higher than it should be and use the lower area as a `scratchpad' for temporary intermediate work. Set a jump point there so it can be reached quickly. When the bitmap is finished, resize it back to the original dimensions, losing the scratchpad area. Having the scratchpad also means the cursor status window won't cover the cursor when it is at the bottom left of the bitmap. Q. Why does a multi-colour bitmap load as black only? A. The `Load monochrome only' in `File defaults' is set. Change it to `off'. Q. How can I load an image from a multi-plane bitmap? A. You need to know the position in the multi-plane bitmap file at which the required bitmap is located. Use this number as the `Bitmap number' in `File defaults'. If it is a single-plane bitmap at this location, set the `Load monochrome only' default too. Q. Why does the text "Both planes" keep appearing at the top right of the screen? A. You have the Psion status window switched off, so the diamond position is displayed briefly to remind you which colour is selected. When you use the diamond key to change colour, the new colour setting is also briefly displayed. You can switch the status window back on by pressing Control-Menu. Q. DRAW won't start-up properly. What can I do to correct this? A. Try deleting the \OPD\DRAW2.INI file that contains your initialisation settings, and try again. Q. I'm running out of system memory. How can I cut down the amount of system memory DRAW requires? A. Switch Undo off by setting `Keep undo buffer' to no. Keep the zoom window small. Don't use the on-line help (or you could even delete the help file \APP\DRAW2\DRAW2HLP.RSC to make sure it isn't used.) Q. When I rotate large areas, parts of the rotated area are being clipped. What's happening? A. If the end of a rotated area won't fit in the bitmap because it sticks out, it will get truncated when pasted back in. Q. The zoomed window looks 'bitty' - can I make it look better? A. The default zoom window has a grid of blank pixels between each magnified pixel. If you don't want to see the grid, set `Gap between zoomed pixels' in `Zoom defaults' to no. Q. I don't want to see scroll bars. How can I get rid of them? A. Simple - change `Scroll bar thickness' in `Scroll bar defaults' found in the `Set preferences' option to 0. No scroll bars will appear. Q. I want to use my own pattern in Fill. How can I do this? A. Load your pattern in the Clipboard, choose `Clipboard' as the fill pattern, then Fill as normal. Thanks ====== DRAW owes a lot to some neat people : A special thank-you to Ronald Weeserik for providing the Zoom and Fill routines. That OPL demo was amazing! "Ta" to Jezar for the Help resource compiler. Nick Healey's OPLREF.DBF was extremely useful. And a big tip goes to the cafe-meisters at the Dolce Vita in Reading whose capuccinos fuelled a lot of Saturday morning development. Thanks to Tom Dolbilin for his help with the about box and the documentation standard. Cheers to Andy Clarkson for the OPL preprocessor app OPP10F - if only I'd seen it when it first came out! And last but not least, big hugs for my wife Caz and our daughter Rach who have put up with the DRAW monster for the past year! About 3-Lib =========== Psion Series 3 and 3a shareware and public-domain software is available through 3- Lib, the clearing house for Psion third-party software. For a catalog, contact: Steve Litchfield 3-Lib 22 Grays Crescent Woodley Berkshire RG5 3EN England E-mail: slitchfield@cix.compulink.co.uk WWW: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/slitchfield About FirePic ============= FirePic is a Psion picture viewer and convertor that can handle multiple image file formats, with further formats available in the future. The graphics libraries are designed to allow third-party apps to import and export graphics. DRAW uses the FirePic libraries to load and save the foreign file formats like PCX. FirePic is a FireCrest program. About Fonts =========== User-defined fonts are stored in .FON files, usually in a \FON directory. If you're interested in designing your own fonts, try Steve Godfreys FontEditor Psion shareware application. It allows you to create your own fonts, or modify existing fonts, including the ones in the Series 3a ROM. About CIX ========= CIX is a London-based subscriber computer conferencing system that also has Internet facilities. It has a well established Psion conference (around 1200 participants) and a large library of shareware for the S3 and S3a. There are over 2500 conferences for other subjects. CIX can be reached on 0181 296 1255 (data 8N1) for more details. Or telnet cix.compulink.co.uk with login name cix. About Palmtop ============= Palmtop is _the_ Series 3 & 3a independent magazine. It features software and hardware reviews, editorials, how-to articles, readers' letters and more, with plenty of illustrations and screen shots. Contact the editor for further information: Steve Clack Palmtop Magazine 25 Avocet Way Bicester Oxon. OX6 0YN England E-mail: sclack@cix.compulink.co.uk Compuserve: 100602,3723 DRAW Version history ==================== 1.00 2 November 92 - First version for Series 3. 1.02 17 March 93 - Tidy up for shareware release. 2.00 24 Sept 93 - Version for Series 3a. 2.06 30 August 94 - Second shareware release. 2.8 22 August 95 - Added Ronalds Zoom, Fill. Undo, variable line thickness, and scroll bars, user-defined fonts, .INI file and loads more... World Wide Web ============== For the latest news about Draw, and to download the newest version, please check out the Chocolate Island Software homepage on the World Wide Web at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/chocolate_island_software/ or search your favourite Web index for "Chocolate Island Software". Happy DRAWing! Rick Andrews rick@cix.compulink.co.uk CompuServe: 100676,120