ArtSee 1.91
Copyright (c) 2006 by Rick Xavier
All Rights Reserved

ArtSee is a small graphics viewer. It displays the JPG files in a folder tree.
ArtSee is free for personal non-commercial use. All donations appreciated.

Add & Remove
------------
To install: Add to any folder and run.
To remove: Delete the program files.

Features and options
--------------------
- Slideshow
- Sort (forward, reverse, random)
- Timer with countdown
- Layer (normal, stay on top, fullscreen, wallpaper)
- Loop (loop, pause, exit, shuffle)
- Navigate (next, previous, first, last, current)
- Scroll (mouse, arrow keys - Shift/Ctrl/Alt gears)

- Folder (browse, current, refresh) and file selectors
- Folder options (subfolders, hidden folders)
- Peek (incremental search & display)
- Find/Filter functions

- Wrap (resize window to wrap around each image)
- Crop (remove borders and background)
- Squeeze (scale down to window)
- Stretch (scale up to window/desktop)
- Collage (display images as collage)
- Layout (centered, top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right)
- Transitions (select effects, overlap)
- Desktop (blend & opacity, hide desktop)

- Window (caption, status bar, taskbar/decor, autocenter, draggable, 5 presets)
- Wallpaper (center, tile, stretch, clear, restore)
- Shell (view, explore, open with, copy, move/rename, archive, delete, shell menu)
- bbLean (adjust desktop, adjust window, smart wallpaper, explore with)
- Save Settings (to artsee.ini in program folder)

- Drag and Drop (folder/file/files)
- Command line options
- Tray icon controls and mouse wheel support
- Can be run as a screensaver
- Needs no installation
- Portable settings

Operation
---------
1) Right-click the window or tray icon for ArtSee's menu, or press F1.

2) Window:
   a) Sizing:
      - Wrap resizes the window to the image, within the desktop.
      - Window presets automatically turn off Wrap.

   b) Cropping:
      - Cropping removes everything but the image.
      - Turn cropping off to expose the window frame and caption.
      - For a fixed window, cropping removes the unused background.

   c) Window->Disable disables the window, use the tray icon controls.
      - The mouse will not activate the window, but the tray icon will.
      - If the window has focus, the keyboard shortcuts will work.

3) Image:
   a) Scaling (% in status bar):
      - Squeeze scales the image down to fit the window.
      - Stretch scales the image up to fit the window.
      - If Wrap is on, stretch scales up to the desktop.
      - To view images in original size, turn off squeeze and stretch.
   b) Scrolling (H:n V:n):
      - The horizontal & vertical scrollable area (arrow keys to scroll).
      - Use Shift/Ctrl/Alt keys to alter keyboard scrolling speed.
      - Left-click mouse to scroll large images.
      - Left-click and mousewheel scrolls vertically.
   c) Layout positions the image in the window
      - Used to align cropped images in screen corners

4) Exhibit:
   a) The root exhibit folder can be set in several ways:
      - With the folder browser (Folder->Browse).
      - With the Folder->Current option.
      - By dropping the folder onto ArtSee.
      - By dropping a single file in the folder onto ArtSee.
      - By selecting a single file in the file selector.

   b) Temporary exhibits can be set in three ways:
      - With the Filter function.
      - By dropping a group of images onto ArtSee.
      - By selecting several files in the file selector.

   c) Folder->Refresh (Ctrl+R) reloads the main (root) exhibit.

   d) Find/Filter and Find Next search within the current exhibit.
      - To begin a new search, first reload the main exhibit.

   e) File search (Peek):
      - The Peek option is for incremental file-search and display.
      - The search takes longer but the display starts immediately.
      - While searching, actions affecting the exhibit are disabled.

5) Layers:
   a) Layer->Fullscreen always starts cropped, squeezed and centered.

   b) Layer->Wallpaper:
      - The slideshow acts as a wallpaper changer.
      - Use the tray icon controls.
      - Wallpaper bitmaps are stored in ArtSee's folder.

6) Misc:
   a) Shell->Archive: quietly moves the image to the archive folder.
      - Archived filenames can be written to "archived.log"
   b) bbLean: ArtSee detects if Blackbox is the shell.
      - Desktop adjustments (bbLeanSkin) and file manager options.
      - Smart Wallpaper lets bbLean handle backgrounds.
   c) File read errors are logged to "errors.log".
      - Usually caused by a corrupted file header.
      - Loading and saving with a graphics editor usually fixes this.
   d) ArtSee as a screensaver: use the ArtSaver screensaver driver.

Command Line / Shortcut
-----------------------
Usage: artsee [options] [path]

  options:     -slide          Slideshow on
               -noslide        Slideshow off
               -sortforward    Sort forward
               -sortreverse    Sort reverse
               -sortrandom     Sort random
               -tnnnn          Set timer to nnnn millisecs
               -countdown      Countdown slideshow
               -nocountdown    Countdown off
               -normal         Layer normal
               -ontop          Layer stay on top
               -fullscreen     Layer fullscreen
               -wallpaper      Layer wallpaper
               -loop           Loop slideshow
               -loopause       Pause after slideshow
               -loopexit       Exit after slideshow
               -loopshuffle    Shuffle when random slideshow loops
               -noloopshuffle  Don't shuffle when slideshow loops

               -browse         Open folder browser
               -subfolders     Include subfolders
               -nosubfolders   Exclude subfolders
               -hidden         Include hidden subfolders
               -nohidden       Exclude hidden subfolders
               -peek           Show while searching
               -nopeek         Don't show while searching
               -peekrewind     Rewind after peeking
               -nopeekrewind   Don't rewind after peeking

               -wrap           Wrap window around the image (resize window)
               -nowrap         Wrap off (scale pic to window)
               -crop           Crop on
               -nocrop         Crop off
               -squeeze        Squeeze on
               -nosqueeze      Squeeze off
               -stretch        Stretch on
               -nostretch      Stretch off
               -collage        Collage on
               -nocollage      Collage off

               -centered       Layout centered
               -topleft        Layout top left
               -topright       Layout top right
               -bottomleft     Layout bottom left
               -bottomright    Layout bottom right

               -transitions    Transitions on
               -notransitions  Transitions off
               -overlap        Overlap images
               -nooverlap      Wipe between images

               -blend          Blend with background (transparency)
               -noblend        Blend off
               -annn           Set blend opacity to nnn%
               -hidedesk       Hide Desktop on
               -nohidedesk     Hide Desktop off

               -title          Show file name in title bar
               -notitle        No file name
               -fullname       Show full path for file name
               -shortname      Don't show full path
               -screenname     Show file path when fullscreen
               -noscreenname   Don't show file path when fullscreen
               -statusbar      Show the status bar
               -nostatusbar    No status bar
               -taskbar        Decorate window, show in taskbar
               -notaskbar      No decoration, do not show in taskbar
               -autocenter     Auto center on Wrap
               -noautocenter   Auto center off
               -draggable      Drag with any part of the window
               -nodraggable    Drag with the title bar only

               -center         Center window
               -position1      Restore window position 1
               -position2      Restore window position 2
               -position3      Restore window position 3
               -position4      Restore window position 4
               -position5      Restore window position 5
               -disable        Disable window

               -centerwall     Center wallpaper
               -tilewall       Tile wallpaper
               -stretchwall    Stretch wallpaper
               -clearwall      Clear wallpaper

               -archive        Archiving enabled
               -noarchive      Archiving disabled
               -arclog         Log archived images
               -noarclog       Don't log archived images

               -nosave         Don't save settings on exit

               -showerrors     Show file-read error messages*
               -nologerrors    Don't log file-read errors in "errors.log"*

  path:        If a folder, it is the root exhibit folder
               If a file, the parent folder is the root exhibit folder

* Option available from command line only

Examples:
  artsee -slide -crop -normal -t2000 c:\my documents\my pictures
  artsee -noslide -wrap -title -ontop -nosubfolders .\

Autorun CD
----------
To make an autorun CD, create the file "autorun.inf" containing these 3 lines:

[autorun]
open=artsee.exe -slide .\
icon=artsee.exe

Copy autorun.inf to the CD root directory, together with artsee.exe. Your photos can be in the root directory or in subfolders. You can use command line options. You should also copy this (ReadMe.txt) file to the CD.

Warranty Disclaimer
-------------------
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE USE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE REMAINS WITH YOU. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.


Contact the Author
------------------
Rick Xavier
www.xworks.ca