FreePlugin: Splash Image Transition Engine DLL

[RizlaUK]

OK Guys, here is the much awaited dll version of my spalsh transition engine, i was going to charge a small fee for the dll but as iv been "out of touch" for a while i had a change of heart and i want to give you guys something.....so here it is

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Splash Image Transition Engine DLL v1.0.0.4

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Programing: Dean Hall
Email: support@dnet-software.com
Website: www.dnet-software.com

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The Splash Image Transition Engine has undergone a complete overhaul, I scraped the old "AutoIt3" exe scripts that powered
the last version and completely remade the whole thing in DLL form with "Pure Basic", this makes the engine a lot more robust
and as its programmed straight off the winAPI it can now be used with any (Windows) OS, although iv only tested it on xp and vista.

And now it even supports ".tif" and ".tga" image formats.

This version also has a tray spalsh image, this enables you to show a animated image from the users system tray (like msn).

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Supported Systems: All Windows OS
Supported Image Formats: (jpg,bmp,png,tif,tga)

To include the transition engine into your project, add the below block of code to your
global functions and edit the path to where you have the files.

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-- Transition Engine Globals ---------------------------------------------------------
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-- Path to the dll file --------------------------------------------------------------
STE_DLLPath = _SourceFolder.."\\AutoPlay\\Plugins\\TransitionEngine\\T-Engine.dll"; --
require(_SourceFolder.."\\AutoPlay\\Plugins\\TransitionEngine\\T-Engine.dll"); -------
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-- End Transition Engine Globals -----------------------------------------------------

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The functions

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Function: STE_ShowSplashImage() 
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STE_ShowSplashImage(string ImagePath, : The path of the image file
				number X, : X Position on screen (0 = Center of screen, -1 = Center of application)
				number Y, : Y Position on screen (0 = Center of screen, -1 = Center of application)
				number Enter, : 1 to 10 (see below)
				number EnterTime, : Time of enter transition (ms)
				number Delay, : Time to show transition (ms)
				number Exit, : 1 to 10 (see below)
				number ExitTime, : Time of exit transition (ms)
				number Wait,) : Wait for user click (0 = no wait, 1 = wait)
				number Hide) : Hide the app window (0 = no hide, 1 = hide)

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			Enter Transitions
				1 = Slides the image in from left To right
				2 = Slides the image in from right To left
				3 = Slides the image in from bottom to top
				4 = Slides the image in from top to bottom
				5 = Slides the image in from top left
				6 = Slides the image in from top right
				7 = Slides the image in from bottom left
				8 = Slides the image in from bottom right
				9 = Makes the image appear from its center
				10 = Fades the image in
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			Exit Transitions
				1 = Slides the image out from left To right
				2 = Slides the image out from right To left
				3 = Slides the image out from bottom to top
				4 = Slides the image out from top to bottom
				5 = Slides the image out from top left
				6 = Slides the image out from top right
				7 = Slides the image out from bottom left
				8 = Slides the image out from bottom right
				9 = Makes the image disappear to its center
				10 = Fades the window out
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			Returns: 0 = success, 1 = fail
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-- Function: STE_ShowTrayImage
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STE_ShowTrayImage(_SourceFolder.."\\AutoPlay\\Docs\\TrayImage.bmp",--ImagePath,
					number Enter, : 1 to 10 (see below)
					number EnterTime, : Time of enter transition (ms)
					number Delay, : Time to show transition (ms)
					number Exit, : 1 to 10 (see below)
					number ExitTime, : Time of exit transition (ms)
					number Wait) : Wait for user click (0 = no wait, 1 = wait)
					
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				Enter Transitions
					1 = Slides the image in from left To right
					2 = Slides the image in from right To left
					3 = Slides the image in from bottom to top
					4 = Slides the image in from top to bottom
					5 = Slides the image in from top right
					6 = Slides the image in from top left
					7 = Slides the image in from bottom right
					8 = Slides the image in from bottom left
					9 = Makes the image appear from its center
					10 = Fades the image in
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				Exit Transitions
					1 = Slides the image out from left To right
					2 = Slides the image out from right To left
					3 = Slides the image out from bottom to top
					4 = Slides the image out from top to bottom
					5 = Slides the image out from top right
					6 = Slides the image out from top left
					7 = Slides the image out from bottom right
					8 = Slides the image out from bottom left
					9 = Makes the image disappear to its center
					10 = Fades the window out
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			Returns: 0 = success, 1 = fail
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And heres the apz......Enjoy

[Dermot]

Very nice. SMall problem with the global code though.

This:

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-- Transition Engine Globals ---------------------------------------------------------
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-- Path to the dll file --------------------------------------------------------------
STE_DLLPath = _SourceFolder.."\\AutoPlay\\Plugins\\TransitionEngine\\T-Engine.dll"; --
require(_SourceFolder.."\\AutoPlay\\Plugins\\TransitionEngine\\T-Engine.dll"); -------
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-- End Transition Engine Globals -----------------------------------------------------
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Should be:

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-- Transition Engine Globals ---------------------------------------------------------
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-- Path to the dll file --------------------------------------------------------------
STE_DLLPath = _SourceFolder.."\\AutoPlay\\Plugins\\TransitionEngine\\TEngine.dll"; --
require(_SourceFolder.."\\AutoPlay\\Plugins\\TransitionEngine\\TEngine.luac"); -------
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-- End Transition Engine Globals -----------------------------------------------------
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Also it does not seem to work if the image you use is in the AutoPlay folder and you build to Hard Drive Folder and rename resources. If you put the file outside the AutoPlay folder it works fine. At least that is what I have found.

[RizlaUK]

silly mistake on the global, i dont know what happend there, copy n paste happy i think, the global in the example is ok though, just a typo in the readme

the image must be in the docs folder, as ams compiles the contents of all folders except the docs to ".dat" files the dll cant find the file if its in the dat folder, and im not sure if/how i can access those files

in all my tests, i set the image paths as "AutoPlay\\Docs\\..." and global paths as "AutoPlay\\Plugins\\...", i compiled the app to folder and renamed the resource folder to "Data", and everything worked ok so im not sure whats gone wrong there,

ill crack open the files again tomoz and examine it in more detail

Cheers for testing it Dermot

[Dermot]

I was testing with the image in the Images folder and not the Docs. Putting it in the Docs folder makes sense.

[qwerty]

thanks for this .... and Dermot too for the notes, that would have driven me round the bend, although i would have thought it would make more sense to have the image expected in the images folder rather than the Docs

[qwerty]

REQUEST:
~~~~~~

for the Tray Image, could you make it look to the location of the system tray and adjust accordingly ? ..... for example, if the system tray is at the top of the screen, could you make it slide down from the top of the screen, or from the side if the main system tray is docked at the side ? ... or give the user a 1 through 4 choice for its location ? ie, 1= bottom, 2= top, 3= left side, 4= right side ?

thanks

[RizlaUK]

mmm, yeah, i hadent tought of that, ill look at it a bit later, it shouldent be to hard to do,

the position of the tray image is set in the ams function, so if i give you the source to the function you might be able to adjust it your self............ill see what i can do

[qwerty]

is there a timer available for that tray image ? .. or do i have to use the page timer ?

EDIT: .. thx for the reply

[RizlaUK]

mmm, im not sure i get you, you can set a delay (in ms) or have the user click the image to close it.....

[qwerty]

ah, ok... there is a delay (in miliseconds) to auto close it... sounds perfect, i missed that option, too many things going on here and me not reading things properly

[qwerty]

ok this is working good so far, just one small issue with dll compatibility clashes, i have another DLL that controls the fade in and out, and it has been known in the past to mess with the fade transition and slide transitions, basically if i leave the app control set to 1 and use your dll to control the splash image, if it over laps at all the main app loading flashes then disappears (real fast) then appears and fades in as normal, leave control setting to 0 and it seems ok.

couple of questions,

1. while your dll is doing its thing is the script in AMS paused ?
2. for the tray image, if i wanted to add text in there would i have to edit the image file and add the text that way ?


cheers for this btw

.. i forgot a question ... will this work in pre nt based OS environments, for example win98 ... for all transition effects ?

[RizlaUK]

basically if i leave the app control set to 1 and use your dll to control the splash image, if it over laps at all the main app loading flashes then disappears (real fast) then appears and fades in as normal

that might be something to do with the last arg (hide app window) make sure its set to 0 if you do not want to hide the app window, if that dosent work then get back to me

on your other points

1. while your dll is doing its thing is the script in AMS paused ?

ams is waiting for a return from the dll so the block of code that the function is called in will be paused

2. for the tray image, if i wanted to add text in there would i have to edit the image file and add the text that way ?

at this stage yes, i am working on some extra functions that will show text as well but im not happy with the results so far, i have had better results from editing the image......but i do plan on adding text at some point

will this work in pre nt based OS environments, for example win98 ... for all transition effects ?

yes, it will work on 98, 2k xp and vista


hope that helps you out

[qwerty]

you are correct, leaving it to 0 solves the problem, in my testing i didnt want it hidden so i could control the length of the splash image time in relation to load time (however your second answer makes idea that null and void)


1. - thats a shame, anyway to switch that so AMS doesn't wait for a return ? then it can be used to distract the user while the project is running code.

2. no problem, it's probably just as easy to edit the image with mspaint and bearing in mind that the user can select any image, making it fully compatible will be pretty hard

3. excellent


thank you

[RizlaUK]

thats a shame, anyway to switch that so AMS doesn't wait for a return ? then it can be used to distract the user while the project is running code.

sorry, its the way ams dll calls work, it calls the dll and waits for a return, i dont think there is anyway to bypass this

[qwerty]

i thought it might be something like that, especially consodering even AMS cant do this directly :(
i guess the "return" can only be made after the dll has finished it's task ? .... no way to send a "fake" return ? no need to debug a popup message most of the time, it either appears or doesnt ! and there can only be a certain number of reasons why


bug report:

if you run the dll when your project is minimised (having already got the window handle for the project) ... when your project is returned from the minimised state, it fails to be on top of other windows, even this code fails to trigger it on top (this is what i used when i encountered this effect with mz's radio dialog)

Application.Restore();
Window.Show(handle);  -- Ensure on top status

any thoughts ?