Background bitmap

[NewsArchive]

Hi Friedrich,

I'm using SB 5.2.1350 - just updated to a more recent version - and I
had a strange thing happen this morning.

I added a bitmap (1024x768, 24bit color) to an install (very simple
install, 20 files no script addition). When I compiled it complained
about the normal >256 color bitmap and when I hit the test button, the
install came on with the blue background and then it just locked up.
I had to kill it in the task manager.

The help says nothing at all about the static background, so I don't
know what the problem may be. I have just updated to 5.2.1354 and
will try again today to see if it behaves any differently.

I used larger background images in SB4 and while they slowed the
program down just a little bit, they loaded and displayed just fine.
I did try a background image in SB5 ages ago and didn't get it to
work... Any ideas?

Best regards,

Arnór Baldvinsson
Icetips Software
San Antonio, Texas, USA
www.icetips.com


Subscribe to information from Icetips.com:
http://www.icetips.com/subscribe.php

[NewsArchive]

Hi Arnór,

The compiler is right. In SB4 and SB5 (and all future versions) you can
only use 256 color bitmaps. The upcoming .msi format also supports 256
colors only.

If your are using bitmaps > 256 colors then it might run on quite a few
machines, but it's 100% sure that it will fail on some (depends on the
graphic card and/or video driver).

Please decrease color depth (e.g. using Paint Shop Pro).

BTW, SB4 and SB5 use the same function to display bitmaps.

HTH,
Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

[NewsArchive]

Hi Friedrich,

>The compiler is right. In SB4 and SB5 (and all future versions) you can
>only use 256 color bitmaps. The upcoming .msi format also supports 256
>colors only.

It seems a totally unrealistic limitation to me. 99.9% of my
customers have 24bit color. Why are setup programs 10 years behind
the time? It seems just silly to me when everything is going for high
resolution images that setup programs are limited to 256 color
bitmaps:( What is it that makes it impossible to write simple image
handling routines into setup programs like any other program? Clarion
has handled background images for 10 years. I have programs that use
both background images and text rendered directly on the image in the
appframe. It should be easy for the program to take a 24bit image and
render it in whatever color resolution is running on the computer.
Shoot, I'm doing that in some of my programs<g>

Best regards,

Arnór Baldvinsson
Icetips Software
San Antonio, Texas, USA
www.icetips.com


Subscribe to information from Icetips.com:
http://www.icetips.com/subscribe.php

[NewsArchive]

Hi Arnór,

Installer overhead is the reason. Support for 24bit color would increase
the installer overhead from 120 KB to (at least) 200 KB. It's not easy to
handle the 24bit format. An additional 80 KB of overhead is not a good
idea (IMO) only to support 24bit images.

BTW, or do you have some elegant and small code (native C++ or Clarion code
that can be converted to C++) to handle 24bit bitmap images and to render
it in whatever color resolution is running on the computer? I would love
to include this if overhead is 5-8 KB.

Thanks,
Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

[NewsArchive]

Hi Friedrich,

>Installer overhead is the reason. Support for 24bit color would increase
>the installer overhead from 120 KB to (at least) 200 KB. It's not easy to
>handle the 24bit format. An additional 80 KB of overhead is not a good
>idea (IMO) only to support 24bit images.

80Kb overhead for an install exe seems miniscule compared to most of
the installs I have. The smallest install I have is 470K. The
biggest one is just around 18Mb. So for me, 80K would mean a 17%
increase in the smallest install and 0.4% in the biggest one. That is
66 seconds on a 9600bps modem, 50 seconds on a 14,4bps modem, 9
seconds on 64K ISDN.

For most installs I wouldn't care one way or the other if it ws 24bit
or 256 color. But for installs for example of image wallpapers or
something where the visual is important, I would really like to have
the ability to use a 24bit image.

For what it's worth, it appears that InstallShield includes full
support for 24bit images:

http://helpnet.installshield.com/Robo/BIN/Robo.dll?tpc=%2Frobo%2Fprojects%2Finstallshieldliv inghelp%2FISLivingHelpMain2.htm%3FRINoLog28301%3DT&mgr=agm&wnd=InstallShieldLivingHelp%7CMain&agt=wsm&ctxid=

>BTW, or do you have some elegant and small code (native C++ or Clarion code
>that can be converted to C++) to handle 24bit bitmap images and to render
>it in whatever color resolution is running on the computer? I would love
>to include this if overhead is 5-8 KB.

I'm afraid I don't. I use ImageEx in my apps to manipulate images and
it works great.

An idea would be to have the 24bit support as an option in a separate
dll that would be included if requested and loaded dynamically by SB5.
That way you could still have 256 color support as usual and
optionally an additional 24bit color support in the same install.

Best regards,

Arnór Baldvinsson
Icetips Software
San Antonio, Texas, USA
www.icetips.com


Subscribe to information from Icetips.com:
http://www.icetips.com/subscribe.php

[NewsArchive]

Hi Arnór,

You know how to put pressure on a man <g> Could you please send me your
24bit bitmap?

Unfortunately, some Fortune 500 companies would stop using SetupBuilder if
the overhead increased by 80 KB. They are using the delta-patch technology
and scripting to distribute ultralight updates.

Thanks,
Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

[NewsArchive]

Hi Friedrich,

>You know how to put pressure on a man <g> Could you please send me your
>24bit bitmap?

Will do. Is it possible to do this without adding the overhead,
unless a 24bit bmp is added? I.e. with dynamic linking and calling to
a dll that handles the 24bit image? I really don't want to be a pain,
but there are cases where I would really like to be able to use a
24bit background. If you have an idea on how to accomplish that
without adding the overhead unless required, that would be the best
solution. If that is not possible, then could you make the compiler
simply reject a 24bit image as a background? As it is it does compile
it (with a warning that can be ignored) and in my case it promptly
locked up the install.

Give it some thought and I'm sure you will come up with an elegant
solution as always:)

Best regards,

Arnór Baldvinsson
Icetips Software
San Antonio, Texas, USA
www.icetips.com


Subscribe to information from Icetips.com:
http://www.icetips.com/subscribe.php

[NewsArchive]

Hi Arnór,

I have played with our compiler all the day and I hope we have a solution
now (nearly zero overhead).

All our 24bit files seem to work fine. I'll have to test it with your
file(s).

Thanks,
Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

[NewsArchive]

You da man! ;-)

--
Russ Eggen
www.radfusion.com

[NewsArchive]

Hi Friedrich,

>I have played with our compiler all the day and I hope we have a solution
>now (nearly zero overhead).
>
>All our 24bit files seem to work fine. I'll have to test it with your
>file(s).

I had absolute faith that you could do it! I'm uploading images in
various resolutions for you to test with. Will email you when I'm
done uploading:)

Best regards,

Arnór Baldvinsson
Icetips Software
San Antonio, Texas, USA
www.icetips.com


Subscribe to information from Icetips.com:
http://www.icetips.com/subscribe.php

[NewsArchive]

Hi Arnór,

:)

Very cool images! I think SB5.3 can handle 24bit images now. Your images
(even the 13.5 MB 1400x1920 file) displayed fine on all test machines here
running Windows 2000, XP Pro, XP x64, and Windows 2003 Server.

Thanks,
Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

[NewsArchive]

;-)

Friedrich

[NewsArchive]

Hi Friedrich,

>Very cool images! I think SB5.3 can handle 24bit images now. Your images
>(even the 13.5 MB 1400x1920 file) displayed fine on all test machines here
>running Windows 2000, XP Pro, XP x64, and Windows 2003 Server.

That's a 2400x1920 image so it should cover most monitors<g> This is
awsome news - I knew you could do it, sorry for the kicking;)

Best regards,

Arnór Baldvinsson
Icetips Software
San Antonio, Texas, USA
www.icetips.com


Subscribe to information from Icetips.com:
http://www.icetips.com/subscribe.php

[NewsArchive]

> That's a 2400x1920 image so it should cover most monitors<g> This is
> awsome news - I knew you could do it, sorry for the kicking;)

<G> Thanks for your suggestion ;-)

Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5