This is a quick and dirty 32-bit background randomizer for Windows.

Installation:  Simply unzip into a directory.  I like "C:\Program
Files\Background Randomizer" myself.  This is a Visual Basic 5 application
so you need to have the so-called Visual Basic runtimes.

To use the randomizer, simply run it with a command line argument pointing
to a file list.  To make a file list, you can run the BakCnf.exe program
or just make it yourself.  If you don't know what a command line is, it's
really not too hard for a moderatly experienced Windows user.  Just make a
shortcut to the background randomizer program.  Right click on this
shortcut, select properties, and go to the Shortcut tab.  You'll see a
line for "Target" that will have something like: 

"C:\Program Files\Background Randomizer\Background Randomizer.exe"

Edit this line to be something like:

"C:\Program Files\Background Randomizer\Background Randomizer.exe" C:\MyBaks.Txt

Where 'C:\MyBacks.Txt' should be the name and path of your file list.

If, when you run the Background Randomizer, you get a message about a DLL
not loading it means you probably haven't got the Visual Basic runtimes.
Head to the support page listed below and you can download a complete
setup that includes the runtimes.  If you get a message saying file list
not found it means you didn't put the command line in correctly.

The file list is just a text file.  The first line should be where you want the
background file stored.  Your Windows temp directory is always a good spot, or the
Windows directory itself.  The file is always saved as a BMP file so you probably
want to put .bmp as the file name extension.

All the following lines are file names.  I suspect you could just put the filename
in if the picture file is in the same directory the Background Randomizer.exe is
in, but I've always given it the full path.

Optionally, you can put a command in front of a file name.  There are only two
commands, t and m.  The t means to tile the background.  This is just the
standard Windows tile where the picture is repeated to fill the whole desktop.

The problem with t, as many of you have seen, is that it only looks good if the
picture is symetrical.  The m command rectifies this.  This command will take your
image, do some flipping and reversing, and save the result to your background
file.  The mirroring effect can be quite interesting.  Try it and see what it
does.

So a file list might look something like this....

C:\Temp\MyBak.Bmp
C:\Bmps\Bigone.jpg
t, C:\Bmps\Tyl.gif
m, C:\Bmps\Dazl.jpg

This will make the background picture file in C:\Temp and call it MyBak.Bmp.  It
will then randomly pick one of the following three pictures.  If the first one
is selected, the Bigone.jpg will be saved in C:\Temp and made the background
without tile.  If the second one is used, Tyl.gif will be saved in C:\Temp and \
made the background with the tile effect turned on.  If the third one is 
selected, Dazl.jpg will be mirrored, saved in C:\Temp, and set as the background
with tile turned on.

The Background Randomizer can take GIF files, JPEG files, BMP files, Windows
Metafiles, RLE files, and, if you are feeling particularly bizzare, icon files.

IMPORTANT:  When I set the file to be the background for Windows, the original
background will already be present.  Thus, your new background will not appear
until you reboot Windows!  This isn't as bad as it sounds.  The Background
Randomizer will actually be picking the view for your NEXT Windows session when
it runs, not your current session, but who cares?  Random is random.

If you really want to have the background the Randomizer picked right away, just
right click on the desktop and select properties.  The new background file will
already be highlighted.  Click on that file and then click OK.

Known Bug:  If another window manages to get in front of the background randomizer
while it's doing the mirror trick, that window will get incorperated into the picture.
I've made it pretty hard for windows to do this, but some splash screens might manage
to jump ahead.  Sorry about that, but I don't know how to fix it.


BAKCNF.EXE

This program makes building and modifying a file list much easier.  First enter the
name of the file you want the backgrounds to be stored as in the text box.  Then
just start selecting files and adding them to the list box on the right.  If you have
a whole directory you want to add, highlight it click the add directory button.  This
will add all files in the directory and all files in any subdirectories.

Note that this program just adds to its heart's content.  It trusts you to pick files
that are actually graphics.  (In fact, if you select the 'normal' option, this program
can be handy for simply making a list of files under a certain directory.)

Preview lets you preview what the background will look like.  The mode used is the mode
selected in the center area.

There's also a slideshow.  A pretty weak slideshow but it works.


THE FUTURE

I want to add a little bit of editting to the preview.  Not much, probably just a
crop command and perhaps rotation.

If you really get into these, you should get yourself on some sort of unix computer
and start using a program named xv.


These programs are distributed AS IS.  If you manage to hurt yourself or your system with
it, too bad.  You are free to distribute these programs to anyone you wish as long as
this Readme file is distributed along with them.


Written by Bob Bingham (sloth@sky.net)
Support page is at www.sky.net/~sloth/RandBak.html
