Bugfixes to tide things over while I work on the next major release.
Fixed crash on '&' in generated ramps (thanks Anonymous)
Moved html/rtf creation into a separate class
Fixed xhtml character encoding, and specified it in the file
Changes:
Changed rtf output to be ASCII instead of Unicode/UTF to make them work in other programs
Added automatic version checking against the sourceforge website
Added “check for new versions?” bool to the variables and settings file
Moved the version number into a structure instead of one variable
Moved most effects applied to the output into classes
Moved apply convolution matrix function into the ConvolutionMatrix structure
Moved ascii conversion related files into a new folder
Changed solution to compile without warnings in Visual C# Express
Added “Copy Ramp to Clipboard” to the edit menu
Moved ramp menu items into a sub-menu
Moved font related menu items into a sub-menu
Batch Conversion/Settings:
– Restored missing resource string for Auto button/right click menu
– Changed auto button right-click menu to a menustrip
– Fixed problem with disabled Ok button when the regional settings decimal symbol isn’t “.”
– Added setting backcolor of an invalid textbox to red
– Fixed tab order
– Fixed problems with invalid character sizes being allowed
Changes:
Removed “Force Greyscale” option when saving images, and set it to always output greyscale
Added “Font…” to the edit menu
Added “+” to the center of the selected area when moving it
Fixed pictures not being released after they have been loaded
Fixed brightness/contrast not being applied to the colours when saving as a colour image
Fixed saving as html/colour text with ansi and other non-standard characters
Small improvement to outputted css
Changes in this version:
Added “Save as Colour Text” to output as html and rtf files with the Color information added
Added menu links to the report a bug and feature request pages
Changed batch conversion form from contextmenus to contextmenustrips
Added saving as html files
Now don’t say I don’t do anything for you people.
It’ll be at least a few more weeks before I get around to finishing the edit settings form, so here is everything I have so far:
Changes:
Ported code to .Net framework 2.0
Menu and toolbar changed to MenuStrip and multiple ToolStrips (all rearrangable)
Replaced native measure and draw text code with TextRenderer functions
Added “???? ” ansi ramp and valid characters – Select “Plain Text (Unicode)” as the type when saving the text
Changed “Close without saving the output?” to “Save the output before closing?”
Added menu icons
Replaced context menus with context menu strips
I know I’ve said I wouldn’t release a new version until the ansi/non-standard characters problem is fixed, but I’ve been unable to find a solution that doesn’t break the api calls needed to accurately measure the fonts, so I gave up and worked on something else for a month, then decided to just go ahead and release the code as it currently stands.
This will be the final version released… using the .net 1.? framework.
After having another look at the TextRenderer class in 2.0, I worked out why the sizes weren’t matching up to what they should be, and I’m fairly certain that I can use it in my program. More importantly, it can handle any characters, and should (theoretically) allow the program to work correctly for every possible font with any character.
Changes:
Added right-click menu items to show a dialog for changing the selection area’s fill and border colours
Added saving/loading of the selection area fill and border colours from the settings file
Added confirmation dialog for closing an image
Added confirm on close to the settings file (default: true)
Fixed double-click on a selected area loses the selection area
Changed clicking outside the image to not remove the selection area
Moved image and text brightness/contrast settings into a sub-category
Added variables and settings to specify whether to load image and text brightness/contrast and levels from the settings file (default: false)
Added variables and settings to specify whether to load the output size from the settings file (default: true)
Let’s see, I spent a week or so writing a MVC framework in php, then I found Code Igniter and decided to use that instead.
Just as a test, I’ve remade the old ascgen website using the framework, and recreated the design totally in CSS. It doesn’t look that much, but it validates as XHTML strict and the examples gallery is all created on the fly from a mysql database. The framework is really easy to use; most of the time was spent on the css. When I get around to doing the bigger web project I’ve got in mind I’ll have a good idea about how to do it.
Not much progress on this program. I’ve worked out exactly what the problem with non-standard characters is, but fixing it isn’t straightforward thanks to the native methods I had to use to get accurate measurements of the fonts.
Worked around the main problem with resizing the output images when Cleartype is on by converting the output to greyscale before saving it. People without XP, or who have cleartype turned off, can ignore the strange new and seemingly useless checkbox.
I’ve also fixed the problem with saving batch conversions with a variable width default font, hopefully for real this time.
Changes in this version:
Fixed phantom colours problem when saving as images with Cleartype on:
– Added code for converting the output images to greyscale
– Added force greyscale checkbox to the Save as Image… magnification dialog
Properly fixed the batch conversion problems with variable width default fonts
Several bugs fixed, and I’ve redone the Save as Image… text magnification dialog so you can see and adjust the output image’s size. Also the default prefix (usually ‘ASCII-’) is now stored and read from the settings file.
Changes in this version:
“Save as Image…” magnification dialog box:
– Improved layout
– Added display of the output image size
– Made the form resizable
– Caught crash if the sample text is empty
– Increased accuracy of the trackbar by a factor of 10
Added saving of user entered ramp/valid characters to variables and xml
Fixed crash on opening batch conversion settings with a variable width default font
Restored “ASCII-” prefix when saving as text
Added a default prefix to the variables and xml
Set initial batch conversion output and input directories from the settings
Fixed crash on processing a batch conversion with a variable width default font
Not an emergency bug fix, I just got on a roll and there was no point waiting longer before putting this up (don’t get used to daily releases).
Added storing and loading of a default font to the settings file, and a few fixes.