Deskpic - A desktop picture/screen saver program for OS/2 Presentation Manager.

By John Ridges

Invocation: START DESKPIC

To install, place DESKPIC.EXE in your path, DESKPIC.DLL in your libpath.
Any Desktop Picture Reader or Desktop Screen Saver extensions should also be
placed in the same directory as DESKPIC.EXE.


Deskpic brightens up your Presentation Manager screen by reading a picture
and making it the screen background instead of that old boring monotone
background color. It will read BMP, GIF, PCX, or MET picture files, and it
will also read Animated Desktop Extensions (.ANI files) for the ANIMATE.EXE
Animated Desktop Program. Just place all your picture files (including
Animated Desktop Extensions) in a subdirectory and Deskpic will randomly
choose one to display.

Deskpic is also a screen saver - after a programmable period of inactivity,
it will clear the screen and randomly choose a screen saver graphic.
Included is Flex (a bouncing geometric figure), Melting Flex, Spaceflight,
and Fade to Black. But best of all, Deskpic is extensible. New picture file
formats can be read with Desktop Picture Reader extensions (.DPR files) and
you can have more screen savers with Desktop Screen Saver extensions (.DSS
files). When you start Deskpic it will look for extensions and link them
right in.

When the desktop has the focus, 'F' will bring the picture forward and
another 'F' or a mouse movement will return it to the background. If the
picture is an Animated Desktop Extension, 'P' will pause the animation and
another 'P' will allow it to continue. You can terminate Deskpic with 'F3'.
Double-clicking on the desktop will bring up the options dialog.

For those of you that care, I hereby officially release the program into
the public domain. If you're interested in writing Desktop Picture Reader
or Screen Saver extensions, there is a package with instructions and two
sample extensions that I'll be posting. (If you can't find it, contact me
and I'll get it to you.) I'm really looking forward to seeing some whiz-bang
extensions, so somebody please write some.

Deskpic's been pretty thoroughly tested and I'm willing to bet what's left
of my professional reputation that it's bug free. Of course, legally, I
make no guarantees about anything it might do to your programs, data,
hardware, or sanity. Hey, you get what you pay for.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Hate mail? You can contact me at Gilmore
/108 or Compuserve 72000,2057 (checked weekly).


5/22/90 - Bug fixed that locked up Presentation Manager when the picture was
an animated desktop and the desktop had the focus and a screen saver was
activated and the user typed a character. No excuse for this one, I guess
that just about wraps it up for my professional reputation.