What's New In Version 2?

Graphics Tools Pro Version 2 contains
75% more functions than Version 1!

Unless otherwise noted, these new features are available in
both the Standard and Pro versions of Graphics Tools Version 2.

"Relaxed" License Agreement  Changes in the Software License agreement allow the use of Graphics Tools Version 2 in freeware, shareware, and no-charge demo software.  Click HERE to review the new License Agreement.

New Compatibilities Graphics Tools Version 2 is compatible with all versions of the PowerBASIC Windows compilers, including PD/DLL and the new PowerBASIC For Windows 7.0 and Console Compiler 3.0.  (Using Graphics tools with PowerBASIC's Console Compiler requires the use of Console Tools.)  Graphics Tools is also compatible with Microsoft Visual Basic® including VB.NET.

Multiple Graphics Windows Graphics Tools Standard allows your programs to create as many as four (4) graphics windows at the same time, and Graphics Tools Pro can create up to 256. You can make them all visible, or keep some of them hidden for use as "work windows".

GET/PUT-Style Programming. The new DisplayWindow, StretchWindow, and CropWindow functions allow you to treat other Graphics Tools graphics windows as image sources. That means that you can create drawings in one window and then display them in other windows. A single hidden work window can be used to hold dozens of "sprites" that can be displayed in a visible window, on demand.  XOR drawing is supported, as well as 15 other drawing modes.

New Window Styles Graphics Tools Version 2 can create graphics window with many different styles including raised, sunken, bump, and caption borders, and many others.

Sizable and Movable Graphics Windows GRAPHICS TOOLS PRO ONLY: Create movable and resizable graphics windows with horizontal and vertical scroll bars, and much more. If desired, you can allow your users to resize and move graphics windows manually, using the mouse. You can even create "stretchable" graphics windows!

Improved Control Over the Graphics Window GRAPHICS TOOLS PRO ONLY: The GfxMove, GfxResize, and GfxScroll functions can be used to control the graphics window programmatically.

Focus Rectangles When a graphics window has the Windows focus it can now display a standard Focus Rectangle or a rectangle in the color of your choice. You can even display colored rectangles around graphics windows that don't have the focus so that (for example) you could display red borders around inactive windows and a green border around the window where drawing is currently taking place.

User-Defined "Worlds" The new GfxWorld function allows you to define the numbers that represent the left, right, top, and bottom edges of the drawing world. Upside-down worlds are supported, to allow 0,0 to be located at the bottom of the graphics window, as well as centered worlds (0,0 in the middle) and anything else that you can imagine.

Gradients GRAPHICS TOOLS PRO ONLY: Most Graphics Tools figures (circles, rectangles, polygons, pies, etc.) can now be filled using Gradients instead of solid colors. In addition to the familiar "blue fade", gradients provide a huge selection of very impressive color effects. Predefined gradients can be loaded with the GradientLoad function, or you can create your own with the UseGradient and GradientValue functions. Tell Graphics Tools which figures should be filled with a Gradient instead of a Brush by using the GradientBrush function, save your Gradients for future use with GradientSave, and access the colors of your gradients one by one with GradientColor.

Three-Dimensional Figures Several different types of realistic "three-dimensional" figures can now be drawn with Graphics Tools...

• The DrawCube function can draw cubes and rectangular boxes of any shape and size. Great for bar charts!
• The DrawWedge function creates a realistic-looking 3D "slice of pie", perfect for creating impressive pie charts!
• DrawCylinder is similar to DrawCube, except that it draws figures that look like 3D cylinders and disks. An attractive alternative for bar charts.
• GRAPHICS TOOLS PRO ONLY DrawTube draws a cylinder without an "end cap", resulting in a realistic "tube" effect when an appropriate Gradient is used.

Combine the Pro version's Gradients with the new 3D figures, and you won't believe your eyes!

Exploded Pies and Wedges In addition to displaying Pies and Wedges normally (touching in the center) you can tell Graphics Tools to display them "exploded" by a distance that you define.

Printing of Images GRAPHICS TOOLS PRO ONLY: Graphics Tools Pro supports the printing of high-resolution graphics images, including color images. The GfxPrintWindow and GfxPrintArea functions can be used to print all or part of any graphics window's image, and the GfxPrintSetup and GfxPrintPageSetup functions can be used to provide the user with standard printing-oriented dialog boxes. The GfxPrintStatus function provides information about the most recent print job, GfxPrintParam is used to set certain printing parameters programmatically, and GfxPrintDefaults resets the printing functions to use the system default printer.

Display JPEG. WMF, and Other Image Files Using the new DisplayImage and StretchImage functions, Graphics Tools Standard and Pro can display almost any image format that is supported by the version of Windows that is installed on the runtime system. Not all image formats may be available on all machines. Systems with very early versions of Windows 95 and Internet Explorer do not support this function.   PLEASE NOTE: GIF files are not supported by Graphics Tools even if the runtime machine supports them.

Display JPEG files GRAPHICS TOOLS PRO ONLY: The new DisplayJpeg, StretchJpeg, and CropJpeg functions allow the display of JPEG files on any Windows system.

Save JPEG files GRAPHICS TOOLS PRO ONLY: The SaveGfxWindow and SaveGfxArea functions have been enhanced to allow Graphics Tools programs to save JPEG files in standard 4:1:1 and 4:2:2 formats and in 99 different quality levels.

(To be clear... Graphics Tools Standard can display JPEG files, but only if Windows supports JPEG on the runtime machine. Graphics Tools Pro can display and save JPEG files on any Windows system, even if Windows itself does not provide support.)

Graphics Window Messages The list of window messages that are sent to your program has been greatly expanded, allowing much better control of graphics window events such as mouse movement, keystrokes, scrolling, focus events, etc.

Easier Text As with most drawing functions, the "text origin" is normally the top-left corner of the displayed text. To make text easier to display, you can now tell Graphics Tools to use the bottom-left corner of the text as the origin, or you can specify several other modes including horizontal and vertical centering. Also, the text-drawing functions can now optionally move the origin after text is drawn, making it much easier (for example) to draw two words next to each other using different colors or fonts.

Rotated Ellipses The new DrawEllipseRotated function can draw ellipses that are rotated to any angle. Great for "spirograph"-style effects, simulating "planet phases", and many other uses.

Clip Areas GRAPHICS TOOLS PRO ONLY: The flexible GfxClipArea function can be used to define areas of a graphics window where drawing will be allowed or rejected. A clip area can be any size and shape that you want to define -- you can even define multiple clip areas -- and any drawing operations that take place outside the specified area will not be visible. Indispensable for creating a wide variety of otherwise hard-to-draw figures!

Enhanced HSW Color System The popular Graphics Tools HSW Color System now supports 6-point color distributions, as well as the default 3-point system. For special effects you can also select 12- and 24-point modes.

Use Graphics Tools for Dialog "Skins" You have probably seen programs that have fancy backgrounds behind their buttons and listboxes. Graphics Tools can be used to create a "dynamic" background where your program can draw... anything! You can even draw simulated controls and write code to make them respond to mouse and keyboard events.

Drag-Drop Capability GRAPHICS TOOLS PRO ONLY: The new GfxDroppedFiles function can be used to obtain the names of disk files that have been dragged and dropped on a graphics window, as well as the exact location where the drop occurred.

Improved TempDraw Mode The new TempErase function complements the existing TempDraw function. It allows you to erase portions of figures that have been drawn with TempDraw.

Built-in Dialogs The new SelectGfxColor function can be used to display the standard Windows "Choose A Color" dialog, and the CustomColor function can be used to define up to 16 custom colors that are displayed on the dialog. The new SelectGfxFile function can be used to display a standard Windows "browse for file" dialog, to simplify the process of selecting bitmaps, cursors, icons, gradients, JPEG files, and other graphics-related files.

Auto-Play of Animated Icons and Cursors  GRAPHICS TOOLS PRO ONLY: The new AutoPlayCursor, AutoPlayIcon, and AutoPlayControl functions allow your programs to play animations continuously, without any extra "play loop" code.

And Lots Of New Convenience Functions...

• The new GfxFontSize function can be used to change the width and height of a font at the same time.
• The GfxSquareness function makes it easier to create graphics window that produce round circles and square squares.
• The WedgeOrder function makes using the DrawWedge function easier.
• The SaveGfxMode function as been added to Graphics Tools to make it easier to specify which file format the SaveGfxWindow and SaveGfxArea functions will use.
• SystemColor lets you ask Windows which colors it is currently using for screen elements like buttons and window backgrounds.
• HighlightColor can be used to calculate a color value that is appropriate for "highlighting" or "shading" another color.
• GfxResponse makes it easier to use Graphics Tools with dialog-based programs.
• The GfxIsOpen function is provided for multi-window programs that need to find out whether or not a given window is currently available for drawing.
• MouseOver provides the ability to determine which graphics window the mouse cursor is currently over.
• New functions called ImageParam, IconParam and CursorParam have been added. They provide the same types of information that the BitmapParam function provides for bitmaps. The PRO version also includes JpegParam.

Many new options have been added to existing functions. A very few examples... The DrawFrom function now accepts GFX_WINDOW_CENTER and GFX_WINDOW_EDGE. The GfxMetrics function can now return information about the scroll position of the graphics window. The Stretch functions (StretchBitmap, etc.) can now automatically maintain the aspect ratio of the original image. And much more!

Many "under the hood" improvements have also been made, resulting in faster and more accurate drawing.

A number of Sample Images have been included with Graphics Tools, to make it easier to experiment with various functions.

A much larger selection of Sample Programs has been added to Graphics Tools.  Complete, ready-to-compile sets of sample programs are provided for PB, PB/CC, and VB.

And of course the Graphics Tools Documentation has been thoroughly reviewed, updated, and improved. Many new sections have been added, including one that describes all of the Sample Programs.

ALL IN ALL, GRAPHICS TOOLS VERSION 2
IS THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE UPGRADE
THAT PERFECT SYNC HAS EVER CREATED
FOR ONE OF ITS DEVELOPMENT TOOLS!