PiXCL development is ongoing ... and new commands and code updates are added on an irregular basis as the need arises. User requests for extended or additional commands are often implemented as well.
January 2009:
1: A new extension command library, PXLIntelIP, provides an additional set of image processing commands using an optimised image processing library from Intel. At present there are 12 new commands including morphological operations (Open, Close, Dilate and Erode) and new convolution filters (Max, Min, Median, SOBEL, Gaussian). Planned for release later in 2009 are dialog box commands to simplify the use of the new image processing commands.
2: Some adjustments have been made to the PiXCL Code Editor allow it to open PXL source files when invoked from a Windows shell command.
January 2008: AutomateApp has been extended in PiXCL 8 to better support Automation Server command set argument types, particularly SAFEARRAY [in,out] and [out] automation variables. New in PiXCL 8 is a generic set of ten Firewire camera commands for loading, controlling, exposing and unloading up to 8 different OEM cameras. PiXCL Developer includes the source code for the bridge DLLs between PiXCL 8 and the OEM camera drivers. ShowDeviceManager starts up the Device Manager window from the Management Console.
April 2006: Toolbar and ToolWindow commands have been extended with a USERRGB button. This creates a button with a command specified colour, and is intended to be used with Pen and Brush tools to indicate the current colour. Up to 32 USERRGB buttons can be added to a PiXCL application. New commands GetToolWindowLocation and SetToolWindowLocation provide more tool window control, such as saving and restoring positions.
February 2006: SetFontQuality command provides antialiased text drawing.
Bitmap windows have always has Scroll bars, but now can also be scrolled vertically or horizontally with the mouse wheel. GetPixel command can now access the image in a bitmap window.
November 2005: TaskDialog command in a the new extension library PXLvista.dll
One of the new features in Windows Vista is the so-called Task Dialog which is intended to replace the MessageBox, with a superior user interaction, multiple selectable buttons, short and long mesages, plus optional footnotes.
I've implemented a TaskDialog command in an extension DLL that provides a similar look and functionality under Windows 2000 and XP.
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There are also five possible buttons that can be displayed, each button returns a unique code. Any combination of buttons can be presented to the user, with the OK button being the default. |
The title bar string is specified in the command. The primary message is phrased as a question that succinctly expresses the main reason for the Task dialog being presented. In many cases, this is because some sort of warning or error condition has occurred and needs the application user to provide input. If the question is less that 36 characters, its centered in the message region (as hown here), otherwise, it automatically wraps to a second line as shown below left. The text colour is also specified in the command. Here, a short secondary message is displayed. Checking the More details box causes the long message (below left) to be displayed. The idea here is that more detail can be available if the user wants it. |
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There's also a footnote area for even more explanation should this be necessary. If the footnote string is empty, the footnote region is not displayed. Note how the secondary message is displayed in bold text, and the footnote is in normal text. |
The TaskDialog extension command library is free to all FreePiXCL 4.8 and PiXCL 8 users.
Contact me to download this new command.
Copyright © 1995-2009 Stewart DIBBS. All Rights Reserved.
