|
Introduction
When the very first version of Clarion for Windows came out (wasn't
that in '94?) the built-in support for JPG, GIF, PCX and BMP files
seemed to be enough for most users. For some it wasn't even back
then, and for most of us it isn't today. Several years later, there
are at least two major file types (namely TIF and PNG) that have
wide-spread since then, and there are several others which might
be of your interest.
So what can you do? Collect a dozen ActiveX controls (one for PNG,
one for PCD, ...), try to get them to work on a Clarion window and
finally find out that you cannot print those images on a Clarion
report - or get ImageEx, a library that was specially designed for
Clarion, being able to load up to 37 image formats into a STANDARD
CLARION image control - on windows AND reports...
What ImageEx is
Well, when ImageEx first came out it was designed to be an enhancement
of the Clarion image control, allowing it to display images of more
than 15 file formats. Later I added the viewer control which added
fast & flicker free zooming and panning functions. Then
a customer asked me about panoramic images, so the panner control
was born. So, more and more functions have been added since then.
Today, ImageEx has become a full featured, all-in-one graphics
package. No other 3rd party product offers so many graphics
related functions:
- extended image control displaying
images of more than 15 file formats (on windows AND
reports!) with more than 39 extensions
- fast and flicker free
zooming and panning using the viewer control
- a panoramic image viewer with
user-defined, clickable hotspots
- a wrapper class for creating,
loading, modifying & saving 32bit images (24bit
RGB plus 8 bit alpha channel)
- image processing functions
like adjusting contrast, brightness & intensity, gamma
adjustment & color correction
- resizing, rotating, flipping
and skewing images
- special effects like mosaic
filter, convolution filters and colorizations
- royalty free TWAIN
scanning without ANY 3rd party files
- advanced
drawing functions (line, rect, roundrect, ellipse, polygon,
pie, ...) with alpha channel support and antialiasing
for smooth results
- high
quality text
transformations
like scaling, rotating and skewing
- screen
capture functions for capturing the entire screen,
single windows and controls or selectable regions
- utility
functions like the PictureDialog (a file dialog with
a preview area for images), others for saving images to and
loading from BLOBs (without the need for an image control),
retrieving properties from image files, ...
How
does it work?
ImageEx is a graphic library
that has been designed especially for use with Clarion. For speed
issues it has been written in Delphi, but there's another Clarion
layer in between your app and the Delphi library, so you won't get
in touch with the Delphi stuff directly. Some people might dislike
using non-Clarion libraries, but I bet after running the demo and
seeing the amazing speed of ImageEx (especially the viewer control)
this won't be a problem for you. ImageEx still supports all possible
link modes (local / standalone).
All major components have been "wrapped" by templates
so even a beginner can add the imaging functions to an application
within minutes. The example applications cover all of the features
that ImageEx offers and provide a good starting point for your imaging
application.
Let this be enough words - if you're interested, check
out the demo version, I'm sure
that'll convince you! To keep the file size of the demo itself low,
I've created a separate zip file containing several example images
for use with the demo that can be downloaded here
(4.2 mb).
Supported file formats
ImageEx supports more than 15 image formats and more than 35
file extensions! There's a more detailed listing of the supported
sub-formats in the help file.
What's
also in this package
The usual stuff:
- example
applications for legacy and ABC template chains
- documentation
in HTML help format (also available online)
- a
C3PA compliant installer
- email
support
- free
updates
Screenshots
(click to enlarge)
Extended
image control - Ok, I'd have to agree that you cannot really tell
the difference by looking at screenshots ;-)
Usage in a form procedure. |
|
Template prompts. |
|
Usage in a report procedure. |
Viewer
control
The image viewer in action. |
|
Template prompts. |
|
Runtime properties... |
Panner
control
The image viewer in action. |
|
Template prompts. |
Thumbnailer
class
The thumbnailer in action. |
|
Template prompts. |
PaintBox
control
Moving lines in action. |
|
A simple drawing app. |
Image
manipulation functions
Contrast & Brightness. |
|
Resized & rotated. |
Extras
The thumbnailer works together with SysTree
and SysList... |
|
The PictureDialog |
Linkability
chart
The
table below lists the supported Clarion versions, template chains,
target operating systems and link modes. More about linkability
charts here.
|
