Dr Wimp p12
New version - 3.56
By the time you read this, a new version of the Dr Wimp package should be
on my website.
There are no changes to the user-functions this time, so upgrading existing
applications - should you wish to - is solely a matter of substituting the
new DrWimp library and changing the name or parameters in a few
wimp-functions, if you have used them (see later).
The new version has several minor improvements and bug-fixes plus the
following new features:
- You can now scale drawfiles when you render them. You also have the
option to render them with the bottom left corner of the drawfile page
at the designated location or the bottom left corner of the overall
bounding box of the graphic objects at the designated location. These
changes have been effected via additional parameters to PROCwimp_render
and PROCwimp_renderwindow.
- A pair of new wimp-functions have been added to enable you to directly
render sprites which are resident in the Wimp's sprite pool - and to scale
them at the same time if you wish.
A few of the minor improvements are also worth a mention here:
- !Fabricate will now throw a warning if you use an application name
which is greater than seven characters. It won't stop you doing this if
you want to, but it will warn you that the automatically generated
'iconiser' icon (which has the prefix "ic_" added to the application name)
will exceed 10 characters and hence will not be able to be used as your
customised iconiser icon (if that is your intention). (N.B. DrWimp's
iconiser options have also been modified to give a similar warning.)
- The wimp-function FNwimp_getdirectory-size has been renamed to make
its use clearer and to be consistent with other wimp-function names. It
is now FNwimp_countdirectoryobjects,
- Apart from changes consequential upon the above, the manual has had
some additions made to it mainly to explain the use of keypresses better,
particularly the need to set up an icon's validation string to get the
right keypress responses.
Sprite colours
Although Dr Wimp now renders nearly all types of sprite in their correct
colours, you may, very occasionally, run across the odd (old) sprite which
shows a colour change when rendered on the screen. I have to admit that I
haven't found the answer to this yet. It seems to be a very complex subject
and you may have noticed my cry for help on Archive-on-Line.
However, there are two possible work-rounds. Firstly, drag the errant
sprite to a Draw window and render it as a drawfile rather than a sprite.
(It's a measure of the perverse nature of the world that Dr Wimp seems to
be able to handle all sprites correctly when in a drawfile. You would
think that I could sort out why, wouldn't you!) If that method doesn't
appeal to you, try changing the sprite by using Paint to take a snapshot
of it in your normal screen mode.
I would also be very grateful if you would let me know if you run into
this colour change problem - using version 3.56, that is. Please send me
a copy of the original uncooperative sprite, attached to an email or on
disc. Even though I don't expect many cases, I am more likely to be able
to find a solution if a pattern emerges.
TemplEd
A copy of the freeware window template editor TemplEd (by Dick Alstein)
has always been included in the Dr Wimp package. The current version is
1.34 (the last to be issued, I think) and you may not know that this
version allows you to change:
- the maximum number of icons per window (default 256);
- the maximum number of windows per template file (default 100);
- the maximum space for indirected data when loading a template file
into TemplEd (default 8000 bytes).
All these values are in system variables which are set in the TemplEd
!Run file and can therefore be amended to suit your wishes. The !Run file
contains sufficient notes to help you make changes. (If you make these
values very large, you may also need to alter TemplEd's WimpSlot which,
as usual, is also set in the same !Run file.)