Table of contents:

1. introduction

2. disclaimer

3. copyrights

4. requirements

5. distribution

6. installation

7. usage

8. want to help me ?

9. misc infos

10. author

This documentation is Copyrighted © 2000 by Tomasz Malerczyk.

INTRODUCTION

Image Descriptor 2 is small program with you can
add your own description to images.

It supports Amiga IFF-ILBM images, and image formats
used on World Wide Web: GIF (still and animated), PNG, JPEG

Few additional features:

- MUI user interface
- removes any description already present in images
- edit, change already present description (if any found)
and write it back to image
- descripting all directories
(you can select whole directory content and program
will detect and load only supported images)
- file comment support (user specified text, image based info
or it may clean up already present file comment)
- shows to user few image informations (resolution, depth etc.)
- datatypes not needed for loading and saving images
(so it should work with OS lower than 3.0)
- viewing images with datatypes or external viewer
- OpenURL library support (if installed) you can call Web Browser
to visit Web Site or e-mail author at any time
- its very easy and its FREE!

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DISCLAIMER

The program Image Descriptor 2 is distributed "as is"
and the author will not be responsible for any
damage on either you, your computer or any data.
This program is used entirely on YOUR own risk.

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COPYRIGHTS

Image Descriptor 2 and this manual is
Copyrighted © 2000 by Tomasz Malerczyk.

MUI is Coprighted by Stefan Stuntz.
Asm-Pro by Genetic.
MUI Builder by Eric Totel.
OpenUrl library by Troels Walsted Hansen.
BetterString.mcc by Allan Odgaard

Image Descriptor 2 Web Site is hosted by
http://www.promail.pl
(free www and e-mail acounts)
Image Descriptor 2 Web Site is powered by
http://www.prv.pl
(free www and e-mail aliases)

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REQUIREMENTS

Image Descriptor 2 is designed to work in
Hires Interlaced (640x512) resolution
or higher, but it should work in lower
resolutions too.

Screenmode with 256 colors or more is also
good idea. But it is not required, ID 2 will
work on any screen depth.
(for datatype viewing 256 or more colors
mode is sugested).

Image Descriptor 2 should not be launched
from CLI if stack size is lower than 8192 bytes.

Image Descriptor 2 requires:

- Magic User Interface (MUI) 3.8 or higher
- asl.library
- AmigaOS (should run on OS 2.0 or higher,
but not tested on OS 3.5)
- some free memory
- some images ...

If Image Descriptor 2 is unable to locate any of
above (except images) or there is not enough memory
it will exits silently without any message.
Please remember that ...

Used but not required:

- more free memory (for big images)
- hard disk
- openurl.library (Web Browser and E-mail client)
- BetterString.mcc
- Dtpic.mui
- datatypes (ILBM,GIF,JPEG,PNG)
- image viewer

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DISTRIBUTION

Image Descriptor 2 is released as Mailware.
It may be used, copied and spread as long as you want
without taking any charge for it but you must send
mail to author.

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INSTALLATION

Very easy! Just clik on Install icon and install
script do all work.

You can uninstall it anytime using install script again.

Since verison 2.1, Installer will show you what version
is currently installed and what version you are about
to install. You can then install new version , uninstall
previous or uninstall and install in one step.
Note, that Install do NOT check version, it only
show version number stored by previous Installer script.
Decisions are up to you, so read carefuly what Installer
says to you.

You can ofcourse execute Installer script for that same
version, it is very comfortable way to move ID 2 files
from one place to another (uninstall and install)
still having possibility to automatically uninstall them
by Install script.

Note for Image Descriptor 1 (which is obsolete !) users:
First of all REMOVE THIS PIECE OF SHIT FROM YOUR SYSTEM :-)
it have more bugs than W!ndoze (if its possible).
And second, you must remove it manualy, this Install script
will not do that.

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USAGE

How to use Image Descriptor 2.

First of all you must know that ID 2 can work in two
modes which are a little diffirent.

First mode (called SingleFile) is standard mode
and it means that ONE image is loaded into memory
and ID2 is operating on that image.
You can add any description, view info or show
that image and then save it.

Second mode (called MultiFile) is enblad when you
select MORE than one file from file requester.
ID 2 will then remember all file names you`ve selected.
When ID 2 is working in MultiFile mode you can`t
view image info or show image becouse there are
too much images and that images are not in memory.
So what you can?
You can add description to that images.
After that you can save that images.
ID 2 will load, describe and save all images one by one
depending on image format you`ve selected. (explained below)

To do all this stuff look at ID 2 window which consist
of five pages: FILE, NOTE, INFO, VIEW, ABOUT.

The first page is ...

File page

First group on that page is File info which consist of
NAME, TYPE and SIZE labels.

NAME:
(SingleFile) name of image loaded into memory
(MulitFile) "MultiFile Mode" when working in

TYPE:
(SingleFile) type of loaded image
[ ILBM, GIF, PNG, JPEG ]
(MultiFile) word "MULTI"

SIZE:
(SingleFile) size od loaded image in bytes
(MultiFile) number of selected images

Next group is only available when working in
MultiFile mode.
You can select here which image format will
be accepted when loading and saving images.
You can select whole directory content not
matter that there are images, binary files
or text files. ID 2 will check all files
and load only that you choose here.
This selection is ignored when ID 2 cleans images

Next is File Comment group. Here you can make
some selections for file comment operations.

That options are checked only when ID 2 saving images
except CLEAN UP which is also checked when ID 2 cleans
images

There are four choices.

DON`T CHANGE:
file comment will not be changed for existing
files and will not be added for new files

BASED ON IMAGE INFO:
file comment will be created from image info
and will look like this example:
ILBM - 00640 x 00512 - 256
which means that it is ILBM image with
resolution 640 x 512 and 256 colors

USER SPECIFIED TEXT:
an additional string gadget will be enable
and you can type you own text

CLEAN UP
any existing file comment will be erased

That options are valid for both SingleFile and
MultiFile mode.

And finally there are four buttons.

OPEN
when you click it a file requester will show up
and you can selected one or more files

on right side of "Open" word on this button
is standard MUI PopUp image, when you click
it additional button will popup below Open
button which contains path of last save dir.
this path is stored in file called "lastdir"
in "ENV:ImageDescriptor" and is created
after first use of Save button and is loaded
only when ID 2 starts.

if ID 2 is in MultiFile it swith itself to
SingleFile mode asking you before that.

if image appears to corrupted or is not
recognized ID 2 will tell you about that

if there is not enough memory to load image
ID 2 will tell you about that


PASTE
second button allow you to paste image from
clipboard. it is very useful when you just
painted some image and you want to save it
as brush. now you can just copy this brush to
clipboard and paste it directly to ID 2,
describe it and save to disk.
only thing you must know is that system
stores images in clipboard in ILBM format
so you can save it only in this format
from ID 2
default name for that image is "Clipboard.iff"

if ID 2 is in MultiFile it swith itself to
SingleFile mode asking you before that.

if image appears to corrupted or clipboard
not contains image ID 2 will tell you about that

if there is not enough memory to load image
ID 2 will disable all pages just like no image
is loaded

SAVE
with this button you may save images to disk.
this button is disabled as long as you type
something on Note page (see below)

(SingleFile) a file requester will show up
and you can select dir and filename
if file already exists you may choose
if you want to overwrite it or not

if for some reason ID 2 will be unable to
save image it will tell you about that

(MultiFile) a file requester will show up
and you can select only dir
then all images will be saved into that dir

if files already exists you may choose
if you want to overwrite it or not

if for some reason ID 2 will be unable to
load or save images it will tell you about that

When image is saved ID 2 checks File Comment
options and file comment is added or not
(both for SingleFile and MultiFile modes)

file comment errors are not checked

CLEAN UP

this works like save except:
- all descriptions all removed
- file comment is cleared if CLEAN UP is
selected in File Comment options
otherwise file comment is not changed

error handling is identical to save

For all file operations a window is opened
with progress bar and main window is frozen
(in case you have weird ideas :-)

(MultiFile) additional for MultiFile mode an Abort
button is available allowing you to cancel load/save
process in any moment

Note page

This is second page. Its content depends on image type
you loaded or selected via cycle gadget on File page.

ILBM:
there are four string gadgets available
Title, Author, Copyrights, Annotation
you can edit any of them or all
empty gadgets are ignored when saving
you must type a least one letter to enable
Save button

all string are limited to 256 characters for now
(even if PNG and ILBM image format can handle
up to 16 milions of characters, JPEG 65535 characters
and GIF unlimited blocks of 256 characters)

you don`t need to press Enter at end of typing

by pressing Tab you can go to next string gadget

PNG:
there are five string gadgets available
Title, Author, Copyrights, Comment, Software
but you can edit only four of them

Software gadget is read only

rest is the same as for ILBM

GIF:
there is only Comment string gadget available

rest is the same as for ILBM

JPEG:
there is also one string gadget available

rest is the same as for ILBM

If you have BetterString.mcc class installed ID 2
will automatically make use of it.
You can use Copy/Paste features of this class.

Otherwise standard String class will be used.

Info page

On this page you can read some informations about
loaded image. Most of that infos are the same for
diffirent image type but few of them are specifc
to image type.

Few hints ...
for GIF:
- if it`s GIF 89a and Application extension
is NETSCAPE2.0 you may be sure that it`s
animated GIF
- GIF 87a can`t be descibed so ID 2 will
write it as GIF 89a
for ILBM:
- if image size is smaller than screen size
it`s propably brush
- Amiga interlace has nothing to do with
GIF interlace (called also progressive)
for JPEG:
- if number of colors equal to 256 that you
may be sure that this is greyscaled image
- JFIF extension segment is only valid for
version 1.02 and it contains thumbnail
- even version 1.01 can have thumbnail
without JFIF extension segment
ID 2 tell you its size if it find thumbnail
for PNG:
- PNG is designed to replace GIF
- it can provide many infos not available
for above image format like Chromma and
Gamma infos

This page is not available in MultiFile mode.

View page

For your enjoyment ID 2 provide View option.
If you are lucky owner of AmigaOS 3.0 or higher
ID 2 will make use of datatype system available
on that systems (if you have Dtpic.mui class
installed which is part of MUI 3.8)

Just click View button and wait untill datatypes
are done with image.

If an empty window popup it means:
- there is not enough memory
- image is in High or True color, you have 8 bit
screenmode and you datatypes are unable
to load 24 bit images
in that case try to install diffirent datatypes
(try use that which comes with Picasso96 software)
- or aliens erases that image before datatypes
load it

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE!
Datatypes loads images from disk. If you load image
into memory with ID 2 datatypes still needs that image
on disk.

DON`T TRY TO LOAD IMAGE THEN SILENTLY DELETE IT VIA
SOME FILE MANAGERS AND THEN TRY TO VIEW IT
THAT WON`T WORK

As far i know only OS3.5 datatypes are able to
access image stored in memory, but either MUI and
ID 2 doesn`t support OS 3.5 datatypes.
MUI becouse it was written before OS 3.5 and
ID 2 becouse it uses MUI.

Dtpic.mui is required becouse standard Image class
has bug and "forgets" to unlock file after using it.

If datatypes are not available ID 2 should disable
View button.

If you arent lucky you don`t need to worry.
ID 2 can show you image using external viewer.

To do that you need external viewer (like Visage
or ViewTek). Click Select button and file requester
will popup, you can then select your viewer.
ID 2 will call it with image full path as parameter.

Example:

You loaded "Myphoto.jpg" from "Work:pictures"
and you selected "Visage" as you viewer which is
located in "System:tools".

ID 2 will execute following AmigaDOS command:
"System:tools/Visage" "Work:pictures/Myphoto.jpg"

so again ... DON`T TRY TO DELETE IMAGE AFTER LOADING IT TO
ID 2 AND THEN TO VIEW IT

This page is not available in MultiFile mode and
in SingleFile mode if image was pasted from clipboard

(maybe next version will be able to view image even
if it`s pasted from clipboard via iffparse.library
and datatypes system)

About page

This page is not very useful itself but you can
read here how to contact with me.

Also you can check what version of ID 2 you have.

And last at the bottom of this page is placed
internet adress together with e-mail adress.
If you click one of them ID 2 will call openurl.library
and if it`s installed a Web Browser or Email Client
will be launched.

ID 2 automatically sets Subject for e-mail to version number.
It`s done for two purposes:
- i know what version of ID you have
- i can count how many peoples writes e-mail to
me directly from program and how many via Web Site

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WANT TO HELP ME ?

You may ask "how can i help ?", the answer is ...

If you have image that you can`t load with ID 2 or can`t
save it or can save it but can`t display it later or
(i hope not) image that make ID 2 freeze and you are
sure that this image is viewable with other software
please send it to me.

Also, if you have JPEG image with thumbnail inside
(version 1.01 not 1.02) please send it to me.
You can check if thumbnail is inside by checking
18 and 19 byte of image. If they are diffirent than
ZERO you may be sure that there is thumbnail.

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AUTHOR

If you want more infos or only say how
beatiful is this program and how much
you like it :-) ...

Feel free to write to:

Tomasz Malerczyk
ul.Szczesliwa 10/3
41-506 Chorzow
Poland

or e-mail: feedback@imagedescriptor.prv.pl 


IRC Nickname: Vepar (on IRCNet)

internet: http://www.imagedescriptor.prv.pl/ 

Any suggestions are welcome together with bug reports.
Especially MC68030 and above users with Enforcer like
software installed.

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