                           WSPR32 Update
                           =============
October, 1996

WSPR32.EXE now allows for saving individual sprite images to a 256 color
bitmap. To save a sprite image, move the mouse arrow over the View Image
Box, in the upper right side of the screen. Then click the right mouse
button to activate the Save As Bitmap dialog box.  Type a file name and
then click on Save.

Also, you can copy a sprite image to the clipboard and then run any paint
program and use the paste command to copy the sprite into a bitmap file.

Another subtle change is I have recompiled the entire program in VC++ 4.2.
The original program was written with Watcom C/C++ 10.6. I find the MS
Development Studio more enjoyable to use, then the Watcom IDE. Also, in
Game Developer Magazine, Chris Hecker had a series of articles discussing
the various compilers and the code they generate. Watcom did not do to
well in the tests Chris used.

Last note, switching compilers meant switching Fastgraph For Window's
library modules. Fastgraph includes libraries for all the popular compilers.
Switching Fastgraph libraries and then recompiling with a different compiler
was simple. Fastgraph For Windows is truly a wonderful product.

November, 1996

Version 2. is created. Fully compatable with the original version 1.0.
Added 4 new elements in image header, which are: bounds_x, bounds_y,
bounds_width, and bounds_height. These four WORD size elements are to
hold the bounding rectangle dimensions.

Also added the ability to view the width and height dimensions for any
image, at any time. To view the dimensions press [F7] or go to the Actions
menu and click on "Display Image Size".

Another new feature is a bytecoded form of saving images to a Java friendly
image format. This new file extention type I am calling "JBF", which stands
for "Java Bytecoded Format". I show how to incorporate a JBF file in a Java
applet. The Java applet is made up of five small classes along with this HTML
code snippet.

<APPLET CODE="mainClass.class" WIDTH=40 HEIGHT=60>
<PARAM NAME="IMGSRC" VALUE="mort.jbf">
<PARAM NAME="DELAY" VALUE="150">
</APPLET>

You can see this in action at my CIS web page, located at:
    "http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/javapage"
I will also keep a copy of my latest shareware version there, at least for
now. Eventually I will be moving to a bigger site with a shorter URL.

Enjoy!

John Simonson

