Cross-Stitch Designer Shareware Version 2.1c Copyright 1993 By HobbyWare All Rights Reserved 7/19/93 Cross-Stitch Designer is a Windows 3.1 program that allows you to design Cross-Stitch patterns. A pattern is drawn with the mouse by placing stitches on a pattern displayed on the screen. The types of stitches supported include full, half, quarter, and outline stitches. The colors of these stitches can be selected from the DMC thread list or from a list of custom thread colors that you provide. A pattern can be printed at any time in either the stitch mode or a symbolic mode where symbols are used to represent the various thread colors. To use Cross-Stitch Designer, you will need a mouse, a VGA graphics adapter, and a printer. In addition to the basic 16-color VGA adapter mode, this program supports the 256 color mode. This mode allows pure colors to be displayed instead of the dithered colors produced with the 16 color mode. Obviously, for a program such as Cross-Stitch Designer, thread color representation is very important. Thus, to get the most from this program, it is recommended that an adapter that supports the 256 color mode be used. The following files should have been provided with your copy of Cross-Stitch Designer: xstitch.exe - Program file xslib.dll - Program library file xstitch.hlp - Help file manual.wri - User's Manual, in Microsoft Write format sharew.prn - Explanation of Shareware & Licensing threads.cus - Custom thread list threads.dmc - DMC thread list default.pal - Default thread palette empty.pal - Empty thread palette lamb.pat - Example pattern pitch.pat - Example pattern prayer.pat - Example pattern tiger.pat - Example pattern (imported from a bitmap) readme.txt - This file register.txt - Registration form To install Cross-Stitch Designer, create a directory (such as '\XSTITCH') and copy all of the above files into it. Next, add a program item for Cross-Stitch Designer to one of your Windows program groups. If you need more assistance in installing Cross- Stitch Designer, then please read the provided User's Manual. This manual can be viewed and/or printed using Microsoft Write which is a simple word processor provided with windows. An example pattern is provided with Cross-Stitch Designer. To load this pattern, select the FILE:OPEN menu item and then select the "pitch.pat" file located in the Cross-Stitch Designer directory (that you created). To get on-line help information, select the HELP:INDEX menu item. This will activate the Cross-Stitch Designer help window. Cross-Stitch Designer is distributed using the shareware distribution method. This method allows you to try-out this program before buying it. If you are not a registered user of Cross-Stitch Designer, you may evaluate the program for up to 15 days. If you find this program useful and/or you use this program after the trial period, you are expected to register your copy. To register, please send a $30 check or money order and the registration form to: HobbyWare 9686 Spruce Lane Fishers, IN 46038 The registration form is contained in the file called "register.txt". Please print this file and fill-in the blanks when you register. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the program, please include them on this form. As a registered user, you will receive the following benefits: Free copy of the next version of the program (if any) Telephone support Notification when future versions become available Please also read the file SHAREW.PRN for a more detailed explanation of the licensing requirements of this program. As a recipient of a 1993 Shareware Industry Award for Cross-Stitch Designer, we are committed to providing you with a quality program at a very affordable price. This, in addition to the try-before-you- buy advantage of shareware, makes this program the best tool for designing cross-stitch patterns. All questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome from both registered users and those evaluating the program. Please send these to the above address. Also, you can currently receive support directly from the author via the GENIE BBS and Compuserve. On GENIE, this support is provided under the GENIE Hobby Roundtable, category 34, topic 8. On Compuserve, send mail to the author at 71543,1504. Thank you for using Cross-Stitch Designer. I look forward to hearing from you. R. Scott Horton HobbyWare ______________________________________________________________ Last-Minute Release Notes A problem related to the bitmap conversion feature has been noticed. This problem causes the colors of a bitmap to sometimes be imported incorrectly. To work around the problem, always open the Windows Clipboard viewer before running Cross-Stitch Designer. Leave the Clipboard viewer open and non-iconized while you are importing bitmaps. Of course, if you do not plan to import any bitmaps, then it is not necessary to open the Clipboard viewer. ______________________________________________________________ Revision History VERSION 2.1c 1. Fixed problem with thread list that caused colors in the list to sometimes be displayed incorrectly. 2. Improved color handling to update the colors of a pattern without redrawing the pattern when another running application that uses the color palette is selected. This improvement also results in a reasonable display of the current pattern when another application is selected as long as the colors in the Windows palette are reasonably close to those colors needed for the pattern. 3. Changed the method of marking a selected region to use a solid, two pixel wide box instead of the single-pixel- wide dotted box. The solid box should be easier to see in most all situations. 4. Fixed problem that caused a pattern to be cleared if the bottom left palette box was deleted. VERSION 2.1b 1. Changed darkness of dotted grid lines to ensure they are visible during print-outs. VERSION 2.1a 1. Fixed bug that caused the cursor to be left as an hourglass after converting a bitmap. VERSION 2.1 1. Improved zoom-in/out capability (both zoom-out to see most/all of a pattern and zoom-in based on a selected region). 2. Horizontal & vertical flipping of a region (can be used to mirror a region also). 3. Improved bitmap-to-pattern conversion (faster, uses exact region size; displays percent complete, can abort conversion in progress). 4. Added capability to enlarge or reduce pattern size after initial creation (can directly specify new size, change size to currently used size, or change size to include only the currently selected region). 5. Added standard Windows printer setup dialog. 6. Added printing of a selected region. 7. Added printing of selected pages. 8. Added page numbers and pattern name to print-out. 9. Added function key support for selecting thread colors and stitches. 10. Added 'solid' view mode (displays a stitch using a filled square instead of a cross stitch). 11. Fixed problem in printing to certain printers (HP Deskjet 5XXC and Postscript). 12. Added status bar (shows selected color name & number, color used for the stitch under the cursor, mouse coordinates, region size). 13. Added support for deleting the selected thread color from the palette and/or pattern. 14. Added the remaining DMC threads to the thread list for a total of 360. 15. Revised DMC thread list to use the standard color names. 16. Revised tool bar to be horizontal and located under menus. 17. Created separate tool icons for quarter and half stitch tools. 18. Increased stitch thickness for print-outs so that stitch is distinguishable from grid. 19. Added function key/short-cut key support. 20. Changed file open/save dialog boxes to use the standard Windows dialog boxes. 21. Changed font selection dialog box to use the standard Windows dialog box. This change includes the support of bold and italics characters for the symbolic mode. 22. Changed symbolic mode to use maximum character width instead of average width when calculating grid size to prevent wide characters from being clipped. 23. Widened thread name fields of the Select dialog box so that all of the thread name is visible. 24. Moved font selection for information print-out from under the threads menu to the Information dialog box. VERSION 2.0 1. Added selectable font and font size for symbolic display and information print-out. 2. Added support for 256 color VGA mode. 3. Revised pattern file and palette file to save font name and size used for symbolic mode. 4. Revised pattern and palette file to save the selected symbol for each palette color. 5. Revised pattern file format to save the definitions of those threads used in the pattern. 6. Revised file open to automatically update the thread list if a color specified in a pattern is not in the list. If the thread is listed but has a different color definition, then the user is prompted to select either the color currently in the thread list, or the color in the pattern. 7. Revised pattern information print-out to only list threads used in the pattern. 8. Added more DMC thread definitions for a current total of 230 colors. ______________________________________________________________ DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE THOROUGHLY TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.