Copyright: Copyright ® 1996-1998 C. L. Lankford


Add-Ons

Add-On Functionality

LSCU functionality can be extended via add-on DLL or separate EXE.  If you do not do any Windows programming, you may want to completely skip reading this section, as it is slightly technical.  In the paragraphs to follow, VB is intended to mean Visual Basic, VC++ means Visual C++, etc.

...if an executable program file (.exe) exists in the same

   directory as lscu.exe at runtime, and is named lscuaexe.exe,

   then that program will be executed when an image is captured

   and saved to a .bmp file.  This feature can be used by

   programmers of any Windows-based languages (VB, VC++, Delphi,

   Borland C++, etc.) which are capable of reading the program

   command-line parameters at execution.  If it is found at runtime,

   lscuaexe.exe will be executed, passing the uppercase filename

   of the saved file as the command-line parameter.

example of a command line executed by LSCU when the

file 00000000.bmp is saved, if lscuaexe.exe is found:

c:\lscu\lscuaexe.exe C:\LSCU\SCRN-PIX\00000000.BMP

   Descriptions/Restrictions/Limitations:

- as LSCU is itself a 16-bit package, your add-on program

  should probably also be a 16-bit executable (at the time

  of this writing, LSCU has not yet been tested executing

  a 32-bit add-on program)

- you may NOT bundle/include any of the LSCU files,

  or LSCU registration codes/info, with any distribution

  of your add-on package (likewise, the reg. codes may not

  be distributed in any fashion, bundled, or separately)

- the add-on program MUST be named lscuaexe.exe

- lscuaexe.exe MUST be located in the directory with

  lscu.exe at execution/runtime

- lscuaexe.exe will be executed AFTER an image is

  captured and saved to a disk file

- the command-line parameter passed with execution

  of lscuaexe.exe is the uppercase complete file path

  of the image .bmp file just created

- lscu.exe will NOT wait for lscuaexe.exe to terminate

  before continuing execution

...if an add-on dynamic-link library file (.dll) exists in the

   same directory as lscu.exe at runtime, is named lscuadll.dll,

   and has an entry point named onlscusave, then the function

   onlscusave in your DLL will be executed when an image is

   captured and saved to a .bmp file.  This feature can be used by

   programmers of any Windows-based languages (VC++, Delphi, etc.)

   which are capable of creating Windows DLL libraries.  If it is

   found, the onlscusave function in your lscuadll.dll DLL

   will be executed, passing to it a long (32-bit) pointer to the

   null-terminated string that contains the complete uppercase

   filepath of the file just saved by LSCU.

Here is the entire source code (Delphi) of a very simple

example (simply displays the file name) lscuadll.dll DLL:

library lscuadll;

{$X+} {Compiler option: extended syntax}

uses

    wintypes, winprocs;

function onlscusave(fname:pchar):integer;export;

begin

     messagebox(0,fname,'LSCUADLL.DLL TEST',mb_ok);

     result:=0;

end;

exports

       onlscusave;

begin

end.

   Descriptions/Restrictions/Limitations:

- as LSCU is itself a 16-bit package, your add-on DLL

  should be a 16-bit DLL

- you may NOT bundle/include any of the LSCU files,

  or LSCU registration codes/info, with any distribution

  of your add-on package (likewise, the reg. codes may not

  be distributed in any fashion, bundled, or separately)

- the add-on DLL MUST be named lscuadll.dll

- lscuadll.dll MUST be located in the directory with

  lscu.exe at execution/runtime

- the exported entry point MUST be named onlscusave

- onlscusave will be executed AFTER an image is

  captured and saved to a disk file, but BEFORE

  execution of lscuaexe.exe (if present)

- lscu.exe WILL wait for the return from onlscusave

  before continuing execution

- onlscusave, the entry point, is an exported function

  in your DLL which accepts a single parameter (a 32-bit

  pointer to a null-terminated string, consisting of

  the uppercase complete file path of the image .bmp

  file just saved to disk) and returns a 16-bit signed

  integer to LSCU (the caller).  The return value will

  indicate to LSCU the disposition of the file.  A value

   = 0 returned to LSCU is a "typical/normal" return,

  <> 0 returned will force LSCU to delete the file.

- C++ programmers: LSCU was written in Delphi (Object Pascal).

  If you encounter DLL interfacing problems, try declaring

  your exported function onlscusave as FAR PASCAL.


Control Menu Box

 Control Menu Box - located in the upper left-hand corner of a Windows application screen.  Select (mouse click) to access an application Control Menu for switching to other applications, etc.  Pressing Alt+Spacebar on the keyboard will also display the Control (system) Menu.


Commands and Actions List

The Lankford Screen Copy Utility Main Screen contains all control menu items, application menu items, speedbar buttons, command buttons, and controls, that are LSCU defined/related.  What follows is a list of the various items/controls, etc., and descriptions of their functions.  Also documented in this topic are: keyboard keys (function keys, and <Esc> escape key) that can be used from the LSCU main window, and the Screen Capture Key(s) that are defined system-wide (can be used from any window or application to capture screen images) while LSCU is loaded in memory (until LSCU has been closed or Windows shuts down).

Control Menu Items

Restore: restores a resized/minimized/maximized window to its previous size.

Move: enables the automatic dragging (movement) of an iconized window.

Size: enables the resizing of a window.

Minimize: minimizes a window to an iconic state.

Maximize: maximizes a window to a full screen state.

Close: provides an alternate (system level) method to end/close/terminate an application or window.  Note: pressing Alt+F4 will also close the window.

Switch To...: provides the ability to switch between executing applications, or terminate selected applications.  Selecting this item will cause Windows to display the Task Manager's Task List, from which task switching, task ending, etc., can be performed.  Note: pressing Ctrl+Esc will also display the Task List window.

About LSCU...: displays the LSCU program information window (the LSCU "About" box).  This item performs the same action (display of the "About" Window) as selecting to display it from the LSCU menu, etc.  The only reason this item was added was to allow the display of the "About" window when LSCU is minimized to an icon, which would not otherwise be possible.

SpeedBar/SpeedButton Items

These items provide a quick and convenient way to perform various menu item actions, selected with only a mouse button click.  If application hints are turned on (default), then the speedbar buttons will display short hints about their functionality when the user moves the mouse over them.  As the speedbuttons replicate the functionality of the various menu item selections, it would be redundant to repeat their functions here.  Hence, see the section describing menu items.

Application Menu Items

File

Save To...: saves the selected image to a directory location, and file format (BMP or JPG), specified by the user.

Delete: deletes, with user confirmation, the selected image file.

Page Setup...: displays the Page Setup window, from which the user may choose size and alignment options for printing images.

Printer Setup...: displays the Printer Setup window, from which the user may select printers, printed page sizes, and print orientation (landscape or portrait).  Note: the actual user selectable options for printer setup will vary for different printers.

Print...: print the selected image, using the current printer setup and page setup options.

Abort Printing...: aborts/cancels printing.

Exit: exit/close the LSCU application.

Edit

Copy: copy the selected image to the Windows ClipBoard.

Resize: resizes the selected image, enlarges or shrinks to 1% to 1000% of its original size, per user selection.

Add Caption: adds a user defined caption to the bottom of an image, using the currently selected image caption options (font, size, color, etc.).

Crop Image: opens the image into the image cropping window.  From this window, users may select a portion of an image to save, the unselected portion is discarded.

Invert Colors: inverts the colors of the selected image to their color compliments.

Save Mods: saves a modified image, with all modifications, back to its original file.

Refresh: refreshes the entire LSCU main window, including the file list, image preview, etc.

Interface

Main Window: allows user selection of the color of the LSCU main window background.  Changes made to the background color will also change the speedbar background color, and that of the status bar.

Headings: allows user selection of the color to be used for listbox headings, image preview heading, directory location text, etc.

File List Box: allows user selection of the color to be used for the background of the file listbox.  Changes made will affect the background only, and text color will not be affected.

File List Box Text: allows user selection of the color to be used for the file list box text items.  File names will appear in the listbox in this color.

Image Caption: allows user selection of the text options for image captions to be appended to images.  If/when you add a caption to an image, the currently selected text options will be used for the caption appearance.  Selectable items for caption text include: font, size, color, underline, strikeout, bold, italics, etc.

Status Bar Text: allows user selection of the status bar text color.  Only the color of status bar text is affected.  The background color of the status bar will always match the color of the main window background.

Show Status Bar: if selected (checked), the status bar is enabled, and hints of a longer nature are displayed when the user moves the mouse over speedbar items, command buttons, menu items, etc.  The status bar text will also indicate embedded comments in JPG files when selected, if present in the file.  If not selected (checked), the status bar is disabled, and no information will be shown.  Until you become familiar with the operation of LSCU, it is recommended that you leave the status bar turned on.  You should also leave it enabled if you wish to see the JPG file embedded comments.

Application Hint Color: allows user selection of the background color of the application hints (there is no way to change the hint text color, only the background color may be changed).

Show Application Hints: if selected (checked), application hints are displayed when the user moves the mouse over the speedbar buttons.  If not selected (checked) no hints are displayed.  The status bar displays hints that are longer and in more detail than the application hints, and the application hints for the speedbar items are intended for quick/short reminders of the items function.  Until you become familiar with the operation of LSCU, it is recommended that you leave application hints turned on.

Defaults: reset all LSCU main window user interface colors, etc., back to the default values.

Options

View All Image Files: selecting this option will begin displaying ALL stored images, full screen, with/without titlebars and with/without image scaling as indicated by the current state of the Fit Full-View to Screen option described below.  To cycle through the images, press the left mouse button to move forward through the images, or the right mouse button to move backward.  The arrow keys on the keyboard will also cycle through the images, with the up or right keys moving forward, and down or left keys moving backward.  Cycled viewing of images will continue until cycling has been terminated by the user.  To terminate cycling, left mouse button double-click in the window or on the image, or press any keyboard key other than F1 (which displays help).  If ALL images consists of only one single image, there is no cycled viewing, and any regular cycling actions will close the image display window.

Print All Image Files: selecting this option will print ALL stored image files, using the printer and parameters/options specified by the Printer Setup and the Page Setup.  To abort/cancel printing, you can mouseclick on the indicated abort printing area (displayed when printing has started), select the Abort Printing... menu item under File, or simply press Ctrl+Z on the keyboard.

Rename All Image Files: selecting this option will allow a user to rename ALL stored image files.  A file renaming window will be displayed for each file, and will allow for user cancellation of either an individual file renaming, or the entire renaming process.  As each renaming window is displayed, the image from the selected file is displayed in the LSCU main window preview image frame, for visual verification, if needed.  The renaming window may partially or totally cover the preview image, as it is positioned in the screen center.  If needed, you can click the window title bar and drag the window to where you wish (away from the preview image).

Delete All Image Files: with user confirmation, this will delete ALL stored image files.

Set JPG Comment: selecting this option will display a window that will allow you to enter/change the comment/copyright text that will be embedded in the file header info of saved JPG files.  The comment/copyright is embedded in the file header info, and NOT visible in displayed images.  For your convenience, when there is no current comment set, the comment entry window will indicate a default value with the copyright symbol.  This is for your use with adding copyright protection into JPG files.

Set JPG Settings: selecting this option will display the JPG/JPEG compression/decompression settings window.  From the settings window, you can select/modify the compression and/or decompression parameters that LSCU will use for loading and/or saving JPG formatted image files.

Fit Full-View to Screen: if selected/checked, full screen image displays are shown with no window titlebar text, and the displayed image is proportionally scaled to fit the entire image on the screen (not scaled if image size is small enough to fit without scaling).  Scaling is proportional to preserve the proper aspect ratio.  If this option is not checked, full screen image displays are shown with the window titlebar text (filename, image pixel size info, etc.) and images too large to display are shown with scrollbars that can be used to scroll to the portion of the image that you wish to see.

Show Save Reminder: if selected/checked, a reminder to save modified image files is displayed after a modification is made to an image.  If you prefer not to have the file save reminder displayed, you should unselect/uncheck this option.

Resequence Image Files: with user confirmation, this function will resequence all stored image files and rename them to reflect the resequencing.  As images are captured by LSCU, they are stored in files that are named according to their numeric sequence, starting from 00000000.  The names of the files are generated from these sequence numbers (i.e., "00000000.bmp", "00000001.bmp", "00000002.bmp", etc.).  Over time, you may choose to delete files, rename them to other names, convert them to JPG, etc., which will leave "gaps" in the numeric sequences of the numerically identified image files.  This function will resequence all numerically identified files (both BMP and JPG), starting from 00000000, with no "gaps" in the sequence.  Files stored with non-numeric base names are not renamed.  This function is useful for maintaining file/filename sequential ordering (with no "gaps"), and keeping the sequence numbers low.

Set Screen Copy Key To: submenu for user selection of the keyboard key to use as the Screen Capture key, system-wide throughout Windows.  The selected key will be the key that LSCU will use for screen captures (full screen, active window, or client area of active window).  See the discussion below, System-Wide Keyboard Keys and Key Combinations, for more information on the result of keypresses of the selected Screen Capture key system-wide.

              Print Screen: use the Print Screen key.

              F5: use the F5 key.

              F6: use the F6 key.

              F7: use the F7 key.

              F8: use the F8 key.

Reset Configuration (ALL): resets the entire LSCU configuration to "factory" default settings.  These defaults provide known "workable" optimum parameter settings for the package.  Resetting the entire configuration will reset all window interface appearance parameters (color selections, etc.), and all user selectable LSCU options (JPG settings, screen capture key, etc.), to default values.  The Interface/Defaults menu item will reset only the interface options to default colors, etc., if only the interface appearance requires a reset.  Use this option if the entire package requires a reset.

Hide Window on Startup: this option is toggled, either checked or unchecked.  Check this option to hide the main window when LSCU is executed.  This effectively makes LSCU a background task within Windows.  While in the background, LSCU will perform screen captures when the screen capture key(s) are pressed, but the LSCU interface screen is not visible on the monitor.  Switching to LSCU from the Windows Task Manager, etc., will bring the LSCU interface window to the front, as you would expect.  This option is primarily useful for people who want to have LSCU start running when Windows starts up, and execute in the background to be able to capture screen images without manually executing LSCU.  To have LSCU autostart with Windows, with the main window interface hidden (run as a background task), do this: select/check the LSCU option to hide the window on startup (this setting is saved when LSCU is closed and used when next executed), and either add the full pathname to LSCU.EXE to the Run= line in the WIN.INI file ([Windows] section), or add a LSCU program item to your Program Manager Startup group.  If your system starts Program Manager when Windows starts up, you should use the startup group method.  Use the other method if your system starts some other shell program (File Manager, for example) instead.  If you modify the Run= entry of WIN.INI, be sure to use a non-formatting editor (notepad.exe, for example) to make the changes and save the file as strictly ASCII text (NO FORMATTING!!!  Word Processors, etc., will insert format characters, and will totally corrupt the WIN.INI file.).  See the Windows documentation for more discussion of startup groups, WIN.INI settings, etc.

Misc.

Compact Memory: makes Windows compact memory, rearranging all movable objects, programs, etc., to create a larger free block.  You have no doubt seen the "Out Of Memory" error at some time or other, when running applications.  Quite often, this is due to memory being fragmented, with numerous smaller free blocks, but none large enough to accomodate application requests for memory.  This function will cause Windows to rearrange all movable objects, collect the smaller free blocks, and combine the smaller free blocks to create a larger one.  This compaction feature is included in LSCU to assist users with computers that have less RAM, as the JPG compression capabilities are RAM intensive and utilize dynamic memory allocation.  It is entirely safe to compact the memory, as Windows itself actually does the compaction, but it is recommended that you only use this capability if/when you have a low memory condition.

Delete Corrupt Files: scans all LSCU stored BMP and JPG image files, looking for invalid/corrupt files.  As invalid/corrupt files are found, they are deleted from the disk.

Edit or View Notes: LSCU supports user note entries, for whatever purpose the user may desire.  This item will open the file LSCUNOTE.TXT into the Windows notepad application NOTEPAD.EXE for quick access to notes from within LSCU.

List Image File Info: writes LSCU stored image file info to file IMGLIST.TXT.  The info consists of the names of stored files, their creation/modification date, their size in bytes, the total count of stored files, and the total disk space occupied by the stored files.  IMGLIST.TXT will also identify the LSCU image directory location and the date of the report.

Special Capture: provides special window/control image capturing capabilities, primarily for use by Windows software developers to capture images of designated windows or controls.

              ...by Handle: capture window/control image, using its window handle to find it.

              ...by Title: capture window/control image, using its window title text to find it.

View Other Files: displays/executes the LSCU image viewer.  LSCU images can always be viewed from the LSCU main window functions, but the image viewer can display images from anywhere on the disk, delete them, or copy them to the Windows ClipBoard.  The image viewer can display images in BMP, ICO, WMF, or JPG formats.  See the Image Viewer topic for more information on this capability.

Help

Contents: displays the LSCU Windows helpfile contents/index topic.

Search for Help On...: allows for user topic searchs of the LSCU helpfile.

How to Use Help: provides the user with directions on how to use the Windows help system.

Image File Size Information: displays the number of stored image files and the total size, in bytes, of disk storage used by the files.

System Color-Depth Setting: displays the maximum number of colors that your system can currently use, as defined by its color-depth setting.

Register LSCU: LSCU registration submenu.  Registered users: you will not see this option or any of its submenu items.

              Information: displays general information on the registration code ordering procedure.

              Order Form: displays the LSCU order form window, for user completion.

              Reg. Code Entry: displays the registration code/info entry window.

About Lankford Screen Copy Utility...: displays the application "About" box containing copyright data, logos, credits, etc.  Free memory and free system resources information is also displayed in the "About" box.

Command Buttons and Controls

File ListBox: contains the names of stored image files, for user selection.  Select a file from the list for image preview, viewing full screen, deletion, modification, etc.  Selecting a file from the list will load the selected image into the the image preview frame.  When a file is selected, it can be viewed full screen by pressing the <Enter> key, or double clicking on the filename with the left mouse button.  Full screen image display can be closed by either clicking a mouse button anywhere in the full screen window or image, or by pressing any keyboard key (other than F1, which will display the help contents topic).  When you close a full screen image display window, control returns to the LSCU main window.  Selecting a filename will also show comments embedded in a selected file on the status line/bar, provided that: the display of the status line is enabled, the selected file is a JPG file, and the selected JPG file contains an embedded comment in its header info.

Image Preview: provides a framed preview image (small size) for the selected image file.  The displayed image is shown within a 3-D frame, and is proportionally scaled to preserve the proper image viewing aspect ratio.  Images displayed in the preview frame can be viewed full screen by clicking the mouse on the image.  Closing a full screen image display window works as documented above, for File ListBox.

Status Line/Bar: displayed at the bottom of the LSCU main window, provided that the user has left the interface option selected to show the status line.  This line/bar is used to indicate certain execution errors/warnings, provide an extended length hint for command buttons, menu items, etc., and also to display the embedded comments in selected JPG files.

View Full: displays the selected image full screen.  See above discussion for File ListBox and Image Preview.

Print: prints the selected image on the currently selected printer.  See the discussion for Page Setup and Printer Setup menu items for printing options.

Rename: provides the ability for user renaming of the selected image file to a name of his/her choice.

Delete File: optionally (with user confirmation) deletes the user selected image file.

Copy to CB: copies the selected image/picture to the Windows Clipboard, from which the picture may be pasted into other applications, etc.

Resize: allows the user to resize a selected image to a new size of from 1% to 1000% of its current size.  Size values must be integer values (no fractional percentages allowed) and are entered as: 1 for 1%, 10 for 10%, 100 for 100%, 200 for 200%, etc., to a maximum of 1000%.  Do not confuse resizing images with printed page size parameters.  Changing printed page image sizes stretches or reduces the image to fit a particular size on a page, but does not affect the actual size of the stored image.  Resizing an image will increase/decrease the actual size of the image (in horizontal and vertical pixels), and will result in larger/smaller files.

Add Caption: allows the user to enter caption text to append to the bottom of an image.  Captions become part of the visible image itself, unlike JPG comments which are not visible in the image itself, but are embedded in the JPG file header info.  See the Image Caption menu item description for discussion of caption options (font, size, color, etc.).

Crop Image: opens the selected image in the image cropping window, where cropping can be performed to remove all but a selected area of an image.

Save Mods: saves all modifications made to an image back to its original disk file.  Modifications are as above, cropping, captions, resizing, etc.  You do not need to select this button after each individual modification to an image, and can do all modifications needed and save them all at one time.  If you select another file before saving a modified image, all modifications are discarded.  Side note: as JPG compression is both RAM intensive and a "lossy" format, it is recommended that you make all modifications to an image as a bitmap (BMP) file and convert to JPG format when you have the image modified as you want it.  This will keep color information loss to a minimum.

Run Prog: run/execute another program, passing the name of a selected file as the commandline parameter.  The name passed to the program executed is the complete file path to the selected image file.  This is useful if you have other image/graphics packages that you wish to execute with files created by LSCU (for additional image processing capabilities that LSCU may not have).  After the program to execute has been selected, the user is prompted to enter any desired changes to the command line used for execution, additional parameters may be specified, etc.

BMP/JPG: saves selected images as either BMP or JPG files, in a toggle fashion.  If the selected image is a BMP file, this will save it as a JPG file.  Likewise, if the selected image is a JPG file, this will save it as a BMP file.  The base part of the filename of the created file will remain the same as that of the selected file (i.e., if "testfile.bmp" is the selected file, this will create "testfile.jpg", etc.).  Files created by this function will be located in the LSCU image file subdirectory with the original selected file.

Save To...: saves selected images as either BMP or JPG files, per the users selection, and will save to any user specified filename and/or directory location on the disk.

LSCU Main Window Keyboard Keys and Key Combinations

The following items define the special meanings of keys from within the LSCU main window interface (when the main window has focus, is the active window).  These describe the usage of the keyboard special key combinations to perform various actions in a "shortcut" fashion, using the Control, Alt, Escape, and Function keys.  In addition, all LSCU menu items and control buttons can be selected by pressing the Alt key, holding the key down, and pressing the keyboard key indicated by an underscore "_" in the menu item or control button caption.

Alt+F4: exits/closes LSCU (via system/control menu).

Alt+Spacebar: displays the LSCU system/control menu.

Alt+X: exits/closes LSCU (via Exit menu item).

Ctrl+Esc: displays the Windows Task Manager's Task List.

Ctrl+Z: aborts printing of images.

Esc: minimizes/iconizes LSCU.

F1: displays the LSCU Windows helpfile contents topic.

F2: accesses the printer setup to select printers, etc.

F3: resets the LSCU main window interface colors, etc., to default colors.

F4: resequences all stored image files, starting from a numeric 00000000 file number, user confirmed.

System-Wide Keyboard Keys and Key Combinations

In the paragraphs to follow, key combinations that mention a key + another key imply that the first key be pressed, and held down, before/during the press of the second key.  These key combinations are defined system-wide, and will work within any task/window that you switch to, until LSCU is closed.  The following paragraphs reference the PRINT SCREEN key as the Screen Capture key, and it IS the LSCU default Screen Capture key.  However, the actual Screen Capture key used by LSCU is user selectable from: PRINT SCREEN, F5, F6, F7, or F8.  To simplify the documentation, and avoid a bit of possible user confusion, these key combinations are defined below for the default key selection: PRINT SCREEN.  The meanings of the SHIFT and ALT keys remain the same, regardless of the selection of Screen Capture key.

PRINT SCREEN: pressing this single key will capture and store the entire screen image (desktop image) into a disk file.

ALT+PRINT SCREEN: pressing the PRINT SCREEN key, while holding the ALT key down, captures and stores the active window image into a disk file.  This key combination will capture/store the image of the visible portion of only the active window (window with focus), including title bar, borders, etc.

SHIFT+ALT+PRINT SCREEN: pressing the PRINT SCREEN key, while holding down BOTH the SHIFT and ALT keys, captures and stores the active window client area image into a disk file.  This key combination will capture/store the image of the visible portion of only the active window (window with focus) client area, without the title bar, borders, etc.


Contents

Contents for Lankford Screen Copy Utility Help

Lankford Screen Copy Utility is a Windows-based program for automating the capturing/copying/saving of Windows screen images (and DOS application screens, when executed within a Window) to disk files at the press of a key, and managing stored screen images.  In short, if you can see it on a monitor screen, then this utility can capture it, save it to a file, display it, print it, enhance/modify it, convert its format, and maintain it.

Utility Description

What the Utility Does

Uses for the Utility

Usage Information

How to Use

Commands and Actions List

Page Setup

JPEG Settings

Image Cropping

Image File Viewer

For Windows Programmers

Add-On Functionality

Programmatic Control

Misc. Details

Version History

Additional Notes

Thanks...

Copyright


Programmatic Control

LSCU can be programmatically controlled, via calls to an exported control routine in the support DLL lscusprt.dll.  This feature can be utilized by programmers of any Windows-based languages which are capable of calling routines in Windows DLLs (VB, VC++, Delphi, Borland C++, etc.).  If you do not do any Windows programming, you may want to completely skip reading this section, as it is slightly technical.

   LSCU support/control DLL, lscusprt.dll, exported entry point

   lscucontrol function declaration (Delphi, Object-Pascal):

function lscucontrol(command:integer):integer;export;

   Descriptions/Restrictions/Limitations:

- as LSCU is itself a 16-bit package, and the support/control

  DLL is a 16-bit DLL, you should consider this when designing

  your control program to access the LSCU control interface

  routine in the DLL (potentially a problem only if your

  control program is a 32-bit application)

- you may NOT bundle/include any of the LSCU files,

  or LSCU registration codes/info, with any distribution

  of your control program (likewise, the reg. codes may not

  be distributed in any fashion, bundled, or separately)

- your control program should be located in the same directory

  as both lscu.exe and lscusprt.dll, to avoid any

  stack switching problems, file path problems, etc.

- the LSCU support/control DLL is named lscusprt.dll

- the exported control routine/entry point in the DLL

  is named lscucontrol, which is a function that accepts

  a signed 16-bit integer parameter, and returns a

  a signed 16-bit integer return value to the caller

- C++ programmers: lscusprt.dll was written in Delphi.

  If you encounter DLL interfacing problems, try prototyping

  the lscucontrol function as FAR PASCAL in your code.

- the return value indicates status of command passage to LSCU

  return value: =  0, command passage was successful

                <> 0, command passage was NOT successful

- the command parameter specifies actions for LSCU to perform

  command parameter:

>  0, specifies the handle of a window to capture

      an image of and save to a .bmp image file

      (window/object/component with a window handle)

=  0, close/terminate/exit LSCU

= -1, execute LSCU (default main window state)

= -2, execute LSCU (with main window hidden)

= -3, execute LSCU (with main window showing)

= -4, disable lscuaexe.exe add-on execution

= -5, enable lscuaexe.exe add-on execution

= -6, disable lscuadll.dll add-on processing

= -7, enable lscuadll.dll add-on processing

= -8, disable keypress screen/window captures

= -9, enable keypress screen/window captures

=-10, disable LSCU main window interface completely

=-11, enable LSCU main window interface completely

=-12, hide LSCU main window

=-13, show LSCU main window

=-14, reset LSCU interface items to defaults

=-15, reset entire LSCU configuration to defaults

=-16, capture/save image of full-screen/desktop

=-17, capture/save image of active window only

=-18, capture/save image of active win. client area

=-19, resequence all image files

=-20, delete all image files

=-21, print all image files

=-22, abort/stop/cancel all printing

=-23, write image file info to file imglist.txt

=-24, compact system memory/RAM

=-25, delete/remove invalid/corrupt image files

To use the control function, you can use the Windows API calls (LoadLibrary, GetProcAddress, etc.) for explicit loading, or use external declarations within the body of your code for implicit loading.  A few examples of using external declarations to call the control function are given below.

Delphi

     Declaration (in declarations for unit or program):

        function lscucontrol(command:integer):integer;far;external 'LSCUSPRT';

     Example Usage (ret is assumed to be declared as integer type):

        ret:=lscucontrol(-3);

Visual Basic

     Declaration (must be on a single line):

        Declare Function lscucontrol Lib "LSCUSPRT.DLL" (ByVal cmd As Integer) As Integer

     Example Usage (ret is assumed to be declared as integer type):

        ret=lscucontrol(-3)

Visual C++

     Declaration (.DEF imports section and function prototype):

        IMPORTS

             lscucontrol=LSCUSPRT.lscucontrol

        int FAR PASCAL lscucontrol(int command);

     Example Usage (ret is assumed to be declared as int type):

        ret=lscucontrol(-3);


Copyright

Copyright © 1996-1998 C. L. Lankford

              All Rights Reserved.


How to Use

This topic documents the usage of the most frequently used aspects of the LSCU package, primarily the screen capture process itself.  For more in-depth discussion of the various program options, actions, etc., please see the Commands and Actions List topic for detailed information on the capabilities available to you from the LSCU main window (for operations on captured images).  Detailed information on the usage of the image viewer, JPG settings, etc., are presented in their respective separate topics.  To become completely familiar with the capabilities of LSCU, and their usage, it is recommended that you read the README.TXT file first, "play" with the program, and read all information contained in this help file.  While reading every single piece of information in this file is not needed to get started, you should read it all over time, as various aspects of program operation may be defined in a "clearer" fashion in some areas than in others, due to the context in which they appear.

To Run/Start/Execute/Initiate LSCU

The program can be executed in any one of three ways: by double-clicking the Lankford Screen Copy Utility (LSCU) program group icon from the Windows Program Manager and then double-clicking the LSCU program item icon, or via selection of the Run option from the Program Manager or File Manager File submenu, or by double-clicking the LSCU.EXE file name in the File Manager's file list.

If you would like for LSCU to automatically start when Windows starts, you can add a program icon for LSCU to your Windows Program Manager startup group, or modify the WIN.INI file (if you start Windows with some other shell program than Program Manager).  Details on how to do this are documented in the Hide Window on Startup section of the Commands and Actions List.  Further info on autostarting Windows programs, in general, is documented in the Windows documentation.

To End/Stop/Exit/Close LSCU

The program can be terminated in any one of several ways: by selecting the Exit item from the File menu item of the program, pressing Alt+X on the keyboard, selecting Close from the control menu, pressing Alt+F4 on the keyboard, or by selecting End Task from the Windows Task Manager Task List.  Closing LSCU disables screen capturing for a Windows session, until LSCU is executed again.  LSCU will also terminate when Windows shuts down.

To Get Help

Main Window: Select help items from the LSCU main window Help menu items, click on the help related speedbar buttons, or press the F1 function key on the keyboard.

Other Windows: Click the mouse on the Help command button, or select the button by keyboard shortcuts, etc., located within the screen/window.

To View, Rename, Print, Delete, or modify, Stored Screen Images - Single Files

Select the image file name from the file list box and click the appropriate command buttons, or menu items, for the operation desired.

To View, Rename, Print, Delete, etc., Stored Screen Images - ALL Files

Select the appropriate menu item under the Options submenu, or click the mouse on the corresponding speedbar button.

To copy an existing/saved image/picture to the Windows Clipboard

Select the desired image/picture file (.bmp or .jpg) from the file listbox, and click the Copy command button, or the Copy item of the Edit submenu.  When a file is selected, a preview image is shown in the preview frame.  If you want to copy the image to the clipboard (for pasting into another application), simply press/click/select the Copy button, and the image will be loaded into the Windows ClipBoard.

To Switch to Other Tasks Running in Windows, from LSCU

Select the Switch To... item from the LSCU system/control menu and then select the application that you would like to switch to, from the Windows Task Manager Task List.

To Switch Back to LSCU from Other Applications

Select the Switch To... item from the other applications system/control menu (including Program Manager, etc.) and then select to switch to LSCU from the Windows Task Manager Task List.

To Capture/Copy/Save Screen Images to Disk Files

While LSCU is in memory (started, and not yet closed), screen images may be captured and saved to disk files system-wide, from within any application window of any task running in Windows.  All you need to do is switch to/among the tasks/windows that you want to capture images of, and press the Screen Capture key(s).  The Screen Capture key itself is user selectable from: Print Screen, F5, F6, F7, or F8.  Whatever key you designate as the Screen Capture key will remain selected until you change it, and the selection will be saved when LSCU closes.  Pressing the key by itself will capture the entire screen (desktop).  To capture only the active window, hold down the ALT key and press the Screen Capture key, which will capture/copy the visible portion of the active window only, with titlebar and borders.  To capture only the client area of the active window (no titlebar, no borders), hold down both the SHIFT and ALT keys when the Screen Capture key is pressed.

Typical Usage Directions (Putting it all together)

1.	Start/run/execute/initiate the LSCU program.

2.	Switch to an application that you want to save screens from.

3.	Press the Screen Capture key(s) to capture screen images.

4.	Repeat steps 2 and 3 (switch and capture) as often as desired.

5.	When finished copying screens, switch back to LSCU.

6.	View, delete, print, rename, modify, etc., images as desired.

7.	Exit/close/terminate the LSCU program whenever desired.

Note: You may choose to have LSCU start and/or stop automatically, when Windows starts/stops.  To start LSCU with Windows, see the Hide Window on Startup section of the Commands and Actions List.  To stop LSCU when Windows closes, simply do not close LSCU manually, it will shut down automatically when Windows shuts down.  By having LSCU start and stop with Windows, you will have the screen capture capability available at all times during a Windows session.


Image Cropping

Cropping of an image is similar to a "cut" operation, but removes whatever is not selected.  As you know, to "cut" something (be it text, image, etc.) you select what you want to cut, do the actual cut, and the item is removed to the Windows clipboard.  With images, a cut can be done on the total image, or on a smaller portion of it, removing the selected portion from the image.  A "crop" works in a similar fashion.  You select the portion of an image that you want to keep, do the cropping, and the portions of the image that were not selected are removed from the image.

To crop an image with LSCU, select it on the main program screen and click the Crop Image button.  This will bring up an image cropping window with your selected image inside it.  If scroll bars appear, use them to scroll the window until the desired portion of the image is visible.  To select the portion to crop, move the mouse pointer to the location where you want to begin the cropping, click & hold down the left mouse button, drag the mouse to where you want the cropping to stop, and release the left mouse button.  These actions will draw a box around the portion of the image that you want to crop.  When you release the left mouse button, a popup menu will appear that will give you the option to cancel (close without cropping), get help (this topic), or actually do the cropping and return to the main screen for image saving, further image mods, etc.

Popup Menu Items

Cancel: Close the crop window, without cropping the selected image.  Pressing any key on the keyboard other than the F1 function key, or the Control key, will also close the window without doing image cropping.  Control returns to the LSCU main window, with the selected image left unchanged.

Do Image Cropping: Crop the selected image and close the crop window.  Control returns to the LSCU main window, with the selected image cropped.  To continue with other modifications to the image, prior to saving to a file, simply continue selecting the modifications that you want.  When finished with modifications, you can select to save the image back to its original file, save to another file, etc.  Unsaved modifications will be lost if you select another file from the list or select the refresh item of the edit menu.

Help: Displays image cropping help (this topic).

Keyboard Keys

F1: Displays this help topic.

Control: Displays the image cropping popup menu.

Mouse Buttons and Movement

Right Button Down: Displays the image cropping popup menu.

Left Button Down: Starts image portion selection (starts drawing selection box), from the current mouse position.

Left Button Up: Ends the image portion selection process (stops drawing selection box) and displays the popup menu.

Mouse Movement: If the left mouse button is held down and the mouse is moved, the selection box size will change to enclose the image area that you want to crop.


Image Viewer

The image viewer provides the capability to view, delete, or copy (to the Windows clipboard) images selected from anywhere on disk drives.  LSCU was never intended to be a general purpose graphics package, or image viewing package, but this capability does make LSCU even more useful.  As the viewing capability was a nice feature to add, and added very little additional size to the LSCU executable file (lscu.exe), it was incorporated.  The viewer can display images from files located anywhere on a disk drive that are of the following formats: BMP (bitmapped images), ICO (icons), WMF (Windows MetaFiles), or JPG (images in JPEG/JPG compressed format).

ListBoxes

Drives: Select the drive where images are located.  When a drive is selected, this will update the Directories listbox with the directories located on the selected drive.

Directories: Select the directory where images are located.  When a directory is selected, this will update the Files listbox with the files located in the selected directory.

Files: Select the file containing the image to be viewed, copied to the clipboard, or deleted.  When a file is selected, this will display the image in a reduced preview size, display the pixel size information above the image, display the full pathname of the file, and display the embedded comment/copyright (if the selected image is a JPG file and contains a comment/copyright, otherwise this field is empty/blank).

Viewing Images Full-Screen

A selected image can be viewed full-screen one of three ways: Press the <Enter> key on the keyboard, double-click the mouse on the filename in the file listbox, or click the mouse on the preview image.  When viewed full-screen, a mouse click in the full-screen window, or on the image itself, will close the full-screen image display and return to the image viewer window.  Any key pressed on the keyboard will also close the full-screen display, with the exceptions of the F1 function key, and the LSCU screen capture key.

Command Buttons

Delete: Delete the selected image file.

Copy: Copy the selected image to the Windows Clipboard.

Exit: Exit/Close the image viewer and return to the LSCU main window.

Help: Display this help topic.


JPEG Settings

Compression Settings

Quality: Using the scrollbar, select the compression quality to be used for compressing and saving JPG images.  Higher numeric values generally result in less color information loss, requires more compression processing and time, and result in larger file sizes.  Lower values generally result in more color information loss, faster compression, and result in smaller file sizes.  The quality setting you select is used for setting numerous JPG compression parameters "behind the scene", so that you need not be knowledgable about the JPG format and compression aspects of the format.  The overall appearance of images saved with differing compression quality settings may change little, and will vary from image to image.  The default compression setting of 75 tends to produce highly compressed smaller files, with minimal color information loss.  Tests executed have indicated that a 75 setting yields over a 90% reduction in file size, versus BMP format, while losing little or no color information.  The difference in appearance between a 75 setting and 100 may, or may not, be noticable to the human eye, but will result in file sizes that differ considerably.  Note also, that a 100 setting does not imply that an image saved as JPG will have the same visual appearance as the same image saved as BMP format.  A 100 setting merely means to compress images with as much quality and color preservation as is possible with JPG compression.  JPG is by definition a "lossy" format, developed primarily for photographic compression, and will lose some color information regardless of settings.

Compact Memory: Select this setting to compact the memory (RAM) of your computer, moving items in memory to produce a larger free block, prior to saving images in JPG format.  JPG compression is memory intensive and could possibly require a larger memory block than is currently free.  If this setting is set, memory compaction will be performed prior to the compression of a JPG image.  If you know for a fact that your particular computer does not have much RAM, or you have numerous RAM-hungry applications running, you should make use of this setting.  Memory compaction merely means moving all movable objects, programs, etc., in memory to combine all smaller free spaces into one large block.  This will not interfere with your other applications, as Windows itself will actually do the compaction, and Windows already will know which objects are movable or otherwise.

Progressive JPEG: Select this setting to save JPG images as Progressive JPEG.  Progressive JPEG images, when loaded/displayed, will display layer-by-layer as they load, as opposed to a standard JPG image which will only be displayed after it has been fully decompressed.  Typically, progressive JPEG images are used with internet WWW pages, so that the images will start to display immediately as a web page loads, and a visitor to a site will immediately see the images begin to form.  Note, while most web-browsers are fully capable of displaying progressive JPEG images, as are many graphic image viewing applications, progressive JPEG is far from standard.  As such, you may not really want to use this setting unless you are developing images for web usage.  Image viewing software that is not capable of handling progressive JPEG will most likely interpret it as an unknown format and will report it as an error.  Hence, be a bit selective about when you want to use this option.

Grayscale Image: Select this setting to save JPG images as grayscale.

Decompression Settings

Quality: Using the scrollbar, select the decompression quality to be used for loading and displaying JPG images.  Higher numeric values generally result in a more "fine-tuned" higher quality image appearance, which requires more decompression processing and time.  Lower values generally result in a lower quality image appearance, but require less processing and load time.  The quality setting you select is used for setting numerous JPG decompression parameters "behind the scene", so that you need not be knowledgable about the JPG format and decompression aspects of the format.  The overall appearance of displayed JPG images may, or may not, change much with differing decompression quality settings, and will vary from image to image.

Grayscale Image: Select this setting to load and display JPG images as grayscale.

Command Buttons

OK: Accepts all changes made to JPEG/JPG compression and/or decompression settings, and closes the JPEG settings window.  The settings will be changed throughout LSCU (image loads/saves/displays from the LSCU main window and the image viewer window), per the user's selections.

Cancel: Cancels all changes made to JPEG/JPG compression and/or decompression settings, and closes the JPEG settings window.  The settings will remain as they were before.

Help: Displays this help topic.


Additional Notes

GENERAL

This utility was designed from inception to operate in the Windows 3.1x environment, and was entirely tested in that system.  While the utility has also worked under Windows 95 in the past (previous versions), this is NOT an indication that this particular version will also.  However, you will know almost immediately if it does not work with Windows 95, as it should be obvious if the program does not execute or allow the screen capture of the very first screen image.  The utility will NOT work under Windows NT, as Windows NT is a totally 32-bit operating system, and the utility is a 16-bit application.  Windows 95, however, is a 32-bit system that still contains quite a bit of 16-bit code, and can supposedly still run most 16-bit Windows applications with no problem.

Unless specified to the contrary (explicitly), the acronym LSCU is intended/assumed to represent Lankford Screen Copy Utility throughout this help-file, the utility software itself, and in any other associated documentation.

Screen images captured/copied and saved to a disk file are saved as .BMP (bit-mapped) files.  The selection of the BMP format was based on multiple details of image manipulation and trade-offs between formats.  The BMP format is fastest to read/write from/to disk files and is a commonly accepted format with most graphics/image manipulation packages.  The utility needs to be able to write captured images to disk as fast as possible, thus ruling out the compressed formats.  Users can subsequently make modifications (caption, cropping, resize, etc.) to the saved image file and convert it to a JPEG compressed file (.JPG), all from within the LSCU itself.  If you have other image manipulation software, the capability also exists within LSCU to execute an external program on/with a selected image file.

Image files written/stored by the program are saved in subdirectory \scrn-pix in the same directory where the LSCU application resides.  For example, if you loaded the LSCU application to the default location specified by the setup program, then the saved images will be stored in c:\lscu\scrn-pix and files will be saved as c:\lscu\scrn-pix\00000000.bmp , ..., etc.

Screen images stored in disk files are stored as follows: the first file ever written will be 00000000.bmp, the next will be 00000001.bmp, the next 00000002.bmp, the next 00000003.bmp, etc., ..., until 99999999.bmp has been written.  Hence, a possible 100,000,000 files can be written before the program cycles back to and possibly rewrites 00000000.bmp.  That is, one-hundred million files will have been created before the very first one is rewritten.  Of course, by the time that you have written one-hundred million files, you most certainly would have renamed the first one and/or archived it, if it was important in the least.  Also, the user can always use the resequence option to reset the file names, beginning at 00000000.bmp, etc.  In addition, beginning with LSCU Version 2.0, when the program DOES have to cycle back to 00000000.bmp, it will look for unused file sequence numbers (gaps) to write files to.  If a "gap" is found, the file will be written with the unused sequence number.  Otherwise, LSCU must write the file over the older existing one.  Of course, this is highly unlikely, as you would have to have all one-hundred million file sequence numbers used, with no gaps in the sequence.  Even with todays larger hard-drives, etc., it is very doubtful that you will, at any given time, have one-hundred million image files resident on it.

The size of the BMP image files created (determined by the image size, dimensions, and color depth) is determined by the Windows color resolution mode that you are working in.  If your display color mode is set to 8-bit color (256 colors), then .BMP files created will also be 256 color images.  If your display color mode is set to 24-bit color (16.7 million colors), then .BMP files created will also be 16.7 million color images.  Note that if you are set for 24-bit color in the Windows display color mode, then images captured/copied/saved will be 24-bit images regardless of the actual number of colors contained in the image.  To achieve smaller files, you can either operate the utility in a lower system color mode (to produce smaller BMP files, not suggested), or operate the utility in 24-bit ("true" color) mode and convert files to JPG format (suggested).  In most cases, JPG files produced in 24-bit color mode will be smaller than BMP files produced in any color resolution depth, due to image compression.

For those not familiar with the JPG/JPEG image file format, it is a compressed format that yields a much smaller file size, at the expense of some loss of color information, a "lossy" format.  The color loss may or may not be noticable to the human eye, and can be controlled by changing the JPEG settings and quality factor within LSCU.  The default settings and quality factor are set to optimum settings, to produce very small JPG files with a minimum of color loss.  As the JPG format is a "lossy" format, you should do all of your modifications to images in their original BMP format and convert the file to JPG format when you want to produce a "final" product.  The JPEG/JPG format is intended for compression of 24-bit ("true" color) images.  If your system is currently set to use a lower color mode (4-bit: 16 colors, 8-bit: 256 colors, etc.), LSCU might not promote the image to 24-bit correctly when saved as a JPG file.  To check your color mode, there is a menu item in the HELP items, System Color-Depth Setting, that will display this information in number of colors form (24-bit = 16,777,216 colors).  You should also note that some minimal color information loss may happen, even with a 100% JPG Quality setting.  A 100% setting merely means 100% of the quality that can possibly be achieved when using the JPG format.

AUTHOR CONTACT

Comments on the LSCU utility software should be in WRITTEN form only and addressed to the author as follows:

C. L. Lankford

108 Marshall St. SW

Hartselle, AL  35640-4106

U.S.A.

or, via e-mail to: lankford@net-master.net (NO PHONE CALLS ACCEPTED)

Also, please note that the latest/current version of the LSCU can always be downloaded from the following internet WWW web site URL:

               http://www.net-master.net/~lankford/index.html

Versions of LSCU can also be found in, and downloaded from, the software libraries of various online services and internet WWW sites.

PROBLEMS/SUPPORT

Registered users may request problem support for a period of 60 (sixty) days following the date that their registration was processed.  Support for non-registered users (and registered users beyond the 60 day time frame) is at the sole discretion of the author.  The 60 day period begins when the registration has been processed and the reg. code sent to the user.  The 60 days is the time that you have to report a problem, request assistance, etc.  Once reported/requested, the solution effort is outside of the 60 day period, and a solution, if any is possible, will be provided to you regardless of the elapsed time since registration.

Problem support is via email only (you may, if you wish, use standard postal mail to report a problem, but any response will be via email to you).  Problems, questions, etc., should be of a technical nature only.  To report problems, etc., please see the author contact section above for address information.

Before contacting the author with what appears to be a problem, please: re-think it (is it really a true problem with LSCU, a problem with some aspect of Windows itself, or something due to an error on your part?), re-read/search the LSCU documentation to make sure that your problem has not already been answered/addressed, and make sure that the problem is repeatable (most, if not all, non-repeatable problems are due entirely to operator/user errors, typos, random/aperiodic Windows "glitches", etc.).  If you still feel that the issue is a problem and need to contact the author, please describe the problem as clearly and with as much detail as possible (general statements like: "it don't work" do not give enough information to even begin a solution effort).  In addition to details on the problem itself, please indicate such details as: Windows version (W3.1, W3.11, W95, etc.), computer type (desktop or notebook), CPU (386, 486, Pentium, etc.), RAM (4MB, 8MB, 16MB, etc.), and/or any other details of your specific system that you think may be helpful.

DISCLAIMER

As with most other software these days, there is a disclaimer.  While there is no possible way for the utility to damage any hardware or software, it is probably best to disclaim damages anyway.  So, here it is: The author hereby disclaims and refutes any/all responsibility for any hardware and/or software damages resulting from the use or misuse of this program (LSCU).  Users of this utility explicitly assume full responsibility for any damages to their hardware or software, that might result from usage of the utility.  Further, users of this utility hereby hold the author blameless for any damages, either real, perceived, or imaginary.  Any person not in complete agreement with the foregoing text should not utilize this software for any purposes, whatsoever.  Usage of this software implies acceptance of these terms.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 1996-1998 C. L. Lankford

                  All Rights Reserved.

UTILITY SETUP AND REMOVAL

Setting up the utility is quite simple.  If you received the software as a compressed archive file (.ZIP, .ARJ, etc.), then you must first "unzip" (for .ZIP files), or whatever de-archive procedure required, the files to a temporary location on disk (c:\temp, for example).  Next, you run/execute the SETUP.EXE program that was placed in the temporary location (which will complete the LSCU setup on your system).  That is it!  You are now ready to execute the LSCU software when you want.  To execute, double click on the LSCU program item in the LSCU program group of the Program Manager, or run the LSCU.EXE program from the File Manager.  As always, make a backup of the original archive file, just in case you ever need to reinstall the package.

To remove/uninstall LSCU, you should execute/run the LSCU uninstall program UNINST.EXE to do the removal.  The uninstall program will remove/delete all LSCU Program Manager icons (group and items), LSCU files, etc., and should leave your system "cleaned" of all LSCU related items.  As some versions/"flavors" of Windows will not permit a program to delete itself from the disk, it is possible that you may need to manually delete the UNINST.EXE file and the LSCU directory.  The UNINST.EXE program will notify you, if this applies in your case.  If you really want to uninstall LSCU, you need to use the uninstaller program UNINST.EXE, which will remove all traces of LSCU from your system, leaving no "remnants" of itself behind.

(Note: The UNINST.EXE program itself does not exist, as such, in the LSCU package contents.  UNINST.EXE is effectively created when you execute the setup program SETUP.EXE to install the package.  To reviewers: There is nothing "mysterious" about how UNINST.EXE is created.  When the user installs LSCU via SETUP.EXE, SETUP.EXE merely copies itself to the user specified directory and renames the copy to UNINST.EXE.  The copy knows to execute as the uninstaller if its name is UNINST.EXE at execution time.  There are a couple of technical reasons for handling the uninstallation program in this fashion, which we will not bore you with, and this also reduces the total LSCU distributed package size by over 15%.)

REQUIREMENTS

An IBM/compatible personal computer, 386 or better, with a hard-drive large enough to hold saved images, 4MB of RAM, and Windows 3.1x/W95 operating system.  Also, color printing of color images requires a color compatible/capable printer.  In addition, while all other functions of LSCU can be executed via alternative keyboard techniques, a mouse pointing device is required for cropping of images.  Per the heavy memory/RAM use for JPEG/JPG (de)compression, it is suggested that you have at least 8MB (eight megabytes) of RAM if you intend to fully utilize the JPEG/JPG capabilities of this package.  Of course, if you have a faster processor (486, Pentium, etc.), and more RAM (8MB, 16MB, etc.), the package will work much faster and efficiently for you.

PACKAGE CONTENTS

FILE_ID.DIZ	- Brief LSCU package description file

README.TXT	- Description, installation, and usage notes

LSCU.HLP	- LSCU Help File

SETUP.EXE	- Setup/installer/uninstaller Program

LSCU.EX_	- LSCU Program itself

CTL3DV2.DL_	- Windows 3-D Library DLL

MWJPEG.DL_	- JPEG image (de)compression Library DLL

LSCUSPRT.DL_	- LSCU Support Library DLL

The above files constitute the entire application package.  If you archive (.ZIP, .ARJ, etc.) the package for distribution to other people or BBSs, please include the above files.  Distribution of the package is encouraged (uploading to BBS, online services, internet, etc.), subject to the following conditions:

- The ENTIRE package must be distributed, this means all files

  listed above and no others.

- You have NOT modified/altered any of the listed files.

- You have NOT included any registration codes, etc.

SOFTWARE LIBRARIES/VENDORS/DISTRIBUTORS

Subject to the package contents restrictions above, you are hereby authorized to accept this package from ANY individual (or other source) for distribution via your service.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This software uses original software for JPEG developed by the Independent JPEG Group (see ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/jpeg).  The IJG have made available a library of generic 'C' code supporting JPEG compression and decompression and have permitted its free use provided the source is acknowledged. The IJG code has been modified for use with Delphi and MS Windows and is provided as a separate .dll (mwjpeg.dll for the 16-bit version and mwjpeg32.dll for the 32-bit version). This dll may be freely distributed.


Order Form

To register LSCU for permanent use, the package requires a unique reg. code that matches to your name.  This code number will be generated and sent to you upon proper registration fee payment, as accompanied by the information that is required to do the registration procedures.  The purpose of the order form window is to provide a user-convenient means to get the information needed, in a standard format, for its subsequent submission to us.  Using this form allows the program to acquire the info as easily for the user, and as error-free, as possible.  The form window will allow you to print the registration info for mailing to us, or saving it to a file for printing at a later time.

The name, address, email address, notes, etc., fields are pretty self-explanatory.  These fields will identify you in our records when the reg. form is received.  Enter your name as you wish to be registered.  The form of your name entered will be the form that is used to generate the reg. code that you will use to upgrade/register the package.  Please enter both your regular postal address and email address, as one of them is used for the actual reg. code delivery (as specified by you), but having both will help if we need to contact you (for example, if you take delivery by email, and you change internet service providers before your reg. is received, we will have a backup means of delivering the reg. code to you).  Note that all info you provide to us is strictly confidential, and will not be used for anything other than contacting you (i.e., we do not release this info to other parties).  The notes field can be used to make comments on the package, specify other info you wish us to have, specify an alternate name to register as (i.e., if you are ordering as a gift for someone), etc.

From the delivery method options, you may select which method/means that you wish us to use for delivering your reg. code to you.  Please note that if you select to have us send the reg. code to you by conventional postal mail, then you need to also provide us with a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE).  If possible, please take delivery by email, as much less labor is involved and you will receive the reg. code much sooner.

When finished entering your information, you may select Save to save the info to file REG-FORM.TXT to print later, Print to print the form, or Cancel to close the registration form entry window without printing or saving the form.


Page Setup

The Page Setup screen contains most of the options that the user can select from, related to how printed images will appear on pages.  The selectable items from this screen are items that are NOT dependent on printers, printer drivers, etc.  Printer dependent items should be selected from the Printer Setup screen, per the users selection of printers.  The print orientation option (portrait or landscape), if selectable, is a printer dependent item (some printers may only support one orientation) and will be selectable from the Printer Setup screen if it is supported for your printer.

From the Page Setup screen, the user can select to have images, when printed, printed in the center of a page or printed starting at the upper left of a page.  To center images, check the center images box.  Otherwise, if the box is not checked, images will be printed from the upper left edge of pages.

The printed image size can also be user adjusted, in either inches or centimeters (whichever system of units you prefer to work with).  To work in either measurement system, select it from the Scale options.  You may also select a printed image width (units determined by your selection as described above), either from the preset values or a custom value that you can specify.  The printed image height will be autoscaled by LSCU, using your selection of printed image width and the size parameters from the image itself, to produce a printed image that preserves the proper width/height ratio (so that the image will have the proper proportions, regardless of printed size).

When finished making changes to the page options, press OK to replace the current options with your changes and save the new settings.  To disregard the changes that you selected, and leave the settings as they were, press Cancel.


Registration

When you complete and mail in your registration form, the form contains the name that you wish to register LSCU under.  Your name is subsequently used to generate a matching numeric registration code that will upgrade the LSCU to registered status, with no time limits, expiration, notices, etc.  This numeric registration code is sent to you, accompanied by your name as you wish the registration to appear in our records.

To register the package for unlimited usage, enter your name (as registered), and the registration code in the boxes indicated, and press the OK button.  When this is done, LSCU will verify the registration code as matching your name, and will upgrade/register the package if the two match.  For your convenience, LSCU will write your registration information to file: REG-INFO.TXT, when the upgrade is finished, provided that you entered the correct reg. code for your name.  If you enter an incorrect reg. code, LSCU will notify you of this, and will not upgrade.


SpeedBar/SpeedButtons

 SpeedBar/SpeedButtons - these buttons provide a fast method to select various menu items with only a mouse click, hence the name "SpeedButtons", and are located along a "SpeedBar".


Control Menu

 Control Menu - located in the upper left-hand corner of a Windows application screen.  Accessed (displayed) by selecting (mouse clicking) a Control Menu Box.  Select items to perform system level tasks (switching to other applications, etc.).  The Control (system) Menu can also be accessed by pressing Alt+Spacebar on the keyboard.


Thanks...

First, thanks to all of the people who have registered LSCU since its inception, spanning multiple previous version releases.  LSCU was developed to be a useful tool, and nothing confirms that it is truly useful quite like people actually registering the package.  Your registrations have provided the motivation to continue upgrading the package with new features, etc., as well as providing the financial reimbursement of some of its development costs.  Utilities, materials, computer usage, etc., all cost money, and your registrations have helped to offset some of the cost of LSCU development efforts.  Dollars aside, your registrations also indicate that you have found the utility to be useful, as it was intended to be.

Also, thanks to all of the people who have submitted ideas for additional features, capabilities, etc., to be added to the package.  Where feasable, the features you have suggested have been developed and incorporated into LSCU to make it a more versatile and productive tool.

Special thanks to the software libraries, vendors, and distributors, etc., for having evaluated LSCU, suggesting improvements, and making the package available to their users.  Even the best software packages, to be successful, must have some form of mass distribution to reach people.  You have provided this distribution mechanism, which deserves this special thanks and gratitude.

Last, thanks to everybody who has at least downloaded the LSCU package and given it a good try-out.  The package might, or might not, fulfill your individual needs and/or requirements, but hopefully it will.  If you like the package, please register it.  The package is the end result of work spanning over two years of development, testing, documentation, and distribution.  Your registrations will fund the continued development of the package, with new and/or enhanced capabilities, etc.  If registered, the registration code that you will be issued will register ANY future LSCU versions/releases, so you will never be required to pay any additional fees when newer versions are released (locating and downloading of newer versions is YOUR responsibility, no individual notices of version releases will be sent).  Contrast this with the enormous quantity of software on the market that require payment of additional fees for version upgrades.  Future plans for LSCU development include: new and/or enhanced capabilities, additional programmatic control and interfaces (for Windows programmers), a Windows 95/NT specific 32-bit version, and a Windows 98 specific version.  If you choose not to register LSCU, and wish to totally remove it from your computer (removing all icons, files, etc., and leaving no "remnants" of itself behind), you should use the UNINST.EXE program (created when you installed LSCU) to do the removal.  Removal by any other means might not totally uninstall the LSCU package.  Removal via UNINST.EXE will leave your system totally "cleaned" of all LSCU related items.


Uses for the Utility

While it is certainly true that there are quite literally thousands of uses for this utility, it is still probably worth mentioning a few of them here.

Surfing the Internet: if you see something you like, you can copy it, regardless of browsers, image formats, download ability, etc.  Also, remember that all you have to do is press a key to save the image to a file (all image acquisition, file naming, file creation, copying, saving, etc., is done for you automatically by the program).

Using commercial online services: same reasoning as above.  Also, since time is money when using a commercial service, remember that using this utility can really save some online dollars since you can save a screen without doing anything more than the press of a key.  Although most of the commercial online services have now implemented a flat-rate structure, some have not fully done so yet.  In addition, using their access software, you are at its mercy in terms of being able to make a copy of an image.  Some images can possibly be copied by using a "Copy" menu item, etc., of the software, while still others may not be copied from within the package.  With LSCU, this is irrelevant, as LSCU can copy anything that is visible on the monitor screen.

Playing games: you can save screens as proof to your friends that you really did achieve a certain score/level in a game, etc.

Using CD-ROM applications: want a copy of something you see that a CD-ROM application displays, but the application will not let you copy it?  No problem, just press a key and a copy is yours, regardless of anybody's intention to prevent images from being copied, or the inability of the software to support copying.

Capturing ScreenSaver shots: want a picture of your screensaver?  Just press the screen capture key as your screensaver executes.  Note - although the screen capture key is user-selectable, it MUST be set as the Print Screen key to capture screensaver images, as screensavers stop their display if any other key is pressed.

Animation frame-grabbing: works just fine with AVI and FLI formatted animations, and should work with other animation formats and/or packages, as LSCU will capture any window, but has only been tested capturing AVI and FLI video frames.

Manual Compilation: people have used previous versions of LSCU to assist them in the generation of images to become part of user's manuals, training guides, etc.

Helpfile Creation: Windows software developers can use the LSCU to capture images of various aspects of their programs (screens/forms, messages, etc.), for insertion into the Windows helpfile that will be distributed with their product.

Internet WWW Web-Page Design: images created by LSCU can be used with various aspects of web-page design and implementation.  LSCU supports both BMP and JPG image formats, and is capable of creating JPG images that are Progressive JPG for web-page use, etc.  (Progressive JPG images are displayed layer-by-layer as they load, hence a web-page visitor will immediately see the image begin to display)

Proof of Copyright Violation: one group of photographers has used the LSCU to capture images of web pages with their work displayed on the pages without their consent.  These images depicted the web-page appearances, with the photos used in them, and could possibly be used as evidence.

Support of Older Windows Applications: LSCU has been used by two different groups (one doing technical research and the other doing accounting) to save images of data displayed by older Windows-based applications.  The first group used LSCU to save images of plotted data generated by an application which did not save the plots to files.  The application they were using apparently worked just fine for data analysis and subsequent displaying of it in plotted form, but did not save the plots themselves for use in documentation.  The work around was using LSCU to capture images of the plots, which could then be used documenting their results.  The accounting firm used LSCU in a similar fashion.  They were using an older Windows-based accounting package that would display data records, modify them, delete them, etc., but offered no means of saving info on accounts to be deleted.  The work around was to display the account record as usual, capture an image of it with LSCU, archive the image of the data, and then delete the account.  While this method wasted quite a bit of disk/tape space (as the images produced by LSCU are graphic images, as opposed to text), it was a stroke of genious to use it in this fashion (it wasted quite a bit of disk/tape space, but it was an immediate solution to a problem, not to mention that tape is far cheaper than labor costs and nobody had to be retrained to do anything more than press a key).

Of course, there are many other possible uses for LSCU, as it is capable of capturing anything visibly displayed in a window.  If you find other uses for the utility, please mail or email the author.  It is always interesting to hear the imaginative uses that people have for a simple tool like LSCU.


Version History

V1.0: (May 1996) Initial release of the LSCU package.

V1.1: (June 1996) Modified the user-interface screens to look the same (or similar) regardless of Windows color-depth mode, enhanced the documentation, tightened/optimized coding (performance related), added custom print scale capability, misc. code/performance refinements.

V1.2: (July 1996) Added a Pseudo-3D look to dialogs/messages, enhanced the internal runtime error checking/trapping/corrections, added autostart capability, misc. code/performance refinements.

V1.3: (August 1996) Added the capability to resequence stored image files, further optimized coding for speed/size/resource concerns, misc. code/performance refinements, reworked the LSCU setup program.

V1.4: (September 1996) Corrected a potential user-registration glitch, added stored image file count and size info, enhanced documentation, misc. code/performance refinements.

V1.5: (October 1996) Modified the autostart capability to hide the minimized icon when started, added further runtime error checking/trapping/corrections, misc. code/performance refinements, enhanced coding of the setup program.

V1.6: (December 1996) Added a version history to the documentation, updated documentation, modified autostart capability to completely hide the program window when started (window is now placed behind all other windows when the program loads), repaired a minor glitch in help topic search menu item (previously, a single spurious character was displayed in the initial topic search window topic user-entry box), added an exit button to the online help file lscu.hlp to provide faster exit capability, added an uninstallation program, enhanced the image preview to preserve the proper image aspect ratio when images are displayed.

V1.7: (February 1997) Added the capability to copy captured images/pictures to the Windows Clipboard, updated the documentation, added a "credits" item to the program info/about box, added code to activate a LSCU previous instance window, added a support DLL to enhance performance via execution of compiled code (image capture/saving/loading, execution speed, etc., are now very much faster than previous versions), changed the demo screen display to show only on program termination, enhanced the looks of the program online help file.

V2.0: (May 1998) Total rewrite of the entire LSCU package.  The details, new features, enhancements, etc., are given below:

- faster, more efficient (pure 100% compiled, Windows-native code that

  does not require any runtime interpreter DLL file as did previous

  versions, and takes full advantage of Windows techniques/capabilities)

- does NOT alter clipboard contents for image captures (Note: if you

  use the PRINT SCREEN key as the screen capture key, Windows itself

  will copy the screen to the clipboard anyway.  There is no way to

  override this, it is a feature of Windows itself, and previous LSCU

  versions took advantage of this feature.  However, V2.0 allows you

  to choose another screen capture key from the function keys: F5-F8.

  If you use one of these keys, LSCU will make its copy in the normal

  fashion, but Windows will leave the clipboard untouched.  Also, as

  Windows will not make an additional copy, this method is a bit faster.)

- enhanced the entire interface appearance and added on-screen hints

- now supports both BMP (as it did before) and JPG image file formats

  (captured images still saved as *.bmp for speed and memory concerns,

  but can be converted to *.jpg within the program)

- a memory/RAM compaction option was added to compact memory to free

  up some space (JPG compression can be RAM intensive, this can help

  if you dont have enough RAM, by telling Windows to rearrange all

  movable objects currently in memory to create a larger free block)

- viewing all images can be cycled through forward & backward via

  right/left mouse buttons or with the arrow keys on the keyboard

- copy/capture key is user-selectable from: PRINT SCREEN, F5, F6, F7, F8

- capability to capture only the client area of the active window

  has been added (SHIFT+ALT+PRINT SCREEN, SHIFT+ALT+F5...SHIFT+ALT+F8

  Note: this is to say that to capture the window client area, press

  SHIFT+ALT+??, where ?? is the key you specified for screen captures)

- added a graphics image file viewer, for files located elsewhere on

  the disk (for file types: *.bmp, *.ico, *.wmf, and *.jpg).  Files can

  be selected for preview, and viewed full-screen by clicking the image.

  Also, selected files can be deleted or copied to the clipboard.

- added support for user notes/notetaking via execution of notepad.exe

- added functionality to handle invalid/corrupt image files (error

  trapping, so that no GPF's, etc., will happen if images are corrupt)

- added an option to test & delete/remove all invalid/corrupt image files

- added ability to insert a comment/copyright notice into JPG image files

  (placed in the JPG file info header, NOT visible in the image itself)

- added printer setup & selection (can change print orientation to/from

  portrait/landscape if supported by the printer/printer-driver)

- image capturing is automatically enabled when the program executes,

  as V2.0 does not interfere with other applications

- added the ability to add captions to images

- main window user-interface is customizable (colors, hints, etc.)

- added capability to execute external programs, passing image filenames

- added image resizing and cropping capabilities

- pressing the ESC (escape) key minimizes the LSCU main window

- full-view of images can be switched from view with caption bar,

  etc., to full-view fitted to screen (no caption bar, displayed image

  is proportionally scaled to fit entire image on the screen, regardless

  of its actual size)

- added page setup (options for printing images on a page), user-

  selectable size (inches or centimeters), auto-adjusts image height,

  can center image on a page, image height/width proportions (ratio)

  are preserved when printed

- all user selectable settings are retained when the program is

  finished/exited/closed and used when next executed

- added quick restore of user-interface or entire configuration

  to "factory" default settings (if you foul-up your settings, this

  will restore them to known "workable" and optimum default states)

- added option to save image file info to a file, for all image files

  in the image subdirectory (name, size, creation/modification date)

- added ability to change JPG/JPEG image compression and decompression

  settings (progressive JPG, grayscale, quality, etc.)

- simplifies selection of JPG settings, by auto-adjusting underlying

  JPG settings (dither mode, quantize options, DCT method, block

  smoothing, etc.), per the users selection of quality values, so that

  a user need not be knowledgable about these parameters

- designed in capability for Windows programmers to extend and control

  the LSCU functionality via add-on program and/or DLL, and programmatic

  control of LSCU via calls to a function in the LSCU support DLL

- added ability to capture the image of a user-specified window or

  windowed control, specified by window handle or window title

  (useful for software development and documentation efforts)

- totally redesigned the setup and uninstall programs

- updated all program documentation (help file, readme file, etc.)

V2.1: (June 1998) Maintenance revision release.  Changes are as follows:

- changed the LSCU icons (new)

- minor changes to the image viewer window appearance (button placement

  and image hint)

- repaired a small glitch with displaying stored image info on return

  from the image viewer

- added a speedbutton to activate the image viewer window

- changed the function that executes an external program to allow user

  modification of the program command line

- minor changes to run and save dialog boxes

- modified the image info list feature to use a 4-digit year in dates

- numerous modifications to enhance speed/performance and reduce size

- added free memory/system-resources info to the LSCU info "About" screen


What the Utility Does

The LSCU program may best be described as a "must-have" support utility for Windows/CD-ROM/Games/Internet/Graphics, with various graphic image manipulation capabilities.  Use of the program should greatly enhance the enjoyment of CD-ROM software, games, and online service/internet experiences.  In addition, other than the obvious entertainment uses of LSCU, it can also be used in an educational, professional, or technical capacity.  The remainder of this help file is devoted to describing the use of the program, and the user is strongly encouraged to experiment/practice with the utility in order to get a firm grasp of its capabilities.

This utility automatically handles all of the details concerning the capturing/copying/saving of Windows screen images (and DOS application screen images, when executed from within Windows) to disk files, and the associated viewing and management of all stored files.  With the utility, capturing and storing what you see is simply a matter of pressing a key (to capture the entire screen), or key combinations (to capture the active window or client area of the active window).  In this documentation, for simplicity sake, the screen capture key may be described as the PRINT SCREEN key, but is actually user-selectable from: PRINT SCREEN, or one of the keyboard function keys F5, F6, F7, or F8.  This way, if there is any function key conflict between programs that you run, you can select another key to use, etc.  Since the PRINT SCREEN key is the easiest to remember, usually ignored by screensavers and other programs that look for keypresses, and was the only choice of screen capture key in LSCU previous versions, it was selected as the default screen capture key.

When LSCU loads (executed and resident in memory), whenever the user presses the PRINT SCREEN (copies the entire screen), ALT+PRINT SCREEN (copies the active window only), or SHIFT+ALT+PRINT SCREEN (copies the active window client area only) key(s), the selected screen image is automatically captured and stored in a disk file.  This process repeats each time the user presses the above mentioned key(s), until the user closes the LSCU program or the disk fills up with files.  Note that the above use of the PRINT SCREEN key is an example (as described in the paragraph above) and the actual screen capture key is user-selectable.  The meanings of the ALT and SHIFT keys remain the same, regardless of the key selected as the screen capture key.  The + implies that the ALT and SHIFT key(s) be held down while pressing the screen capture key.  While LSCU is in memory (program has not been closed), screen capturing is enabled throughout your Windows session and you can switch between/among applications/windows just as you normally would, and capture screen images as described above.

Numerous enhancements have been made to LSCU from previous versions to improve its performance, increase its speed, add new capabilities, improve the looks and "feel" of the interface(s), and make it more "user-friendly" via hints, etc.  V2.0 was a complete re-write of LSCU in a pure 100% compiled Windows-native language.  As such, V2.0 and subsequent versions are not only much faster, but take full advantage of Windows capabilities and techniques that were not previously possible, and require the presence/use of NO other files than those contained in the LSCU package.  LSCU now also features a user customizable interface and has been designed to accept/utilize add-ons and/or programmatic control.

The utility handles all of the details of capturing the screen image, creating unique file names for image files, creates the output file, and provides the capability to: preview, view full-screen, rename, print, delete, crop, caption enhance, etc., stored images.  Image files can also be converted to JPG file compressed format to reduce file size, with user selectable settings, as typical JPG files or Progressive JPG (for internet WWW page usage), with an optional copyright/comment (user-selected/supplied) embedded in the JPG file header info (appears in the file header but not in the visible image).