
GIFMAKE.EXE

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ABOUT GIFMAKE.EXE

This program may not be altered in any way which affects its output.

All names, trademarks, copyrights, etc. are the property of their 
respective owners.

This program is freeware!

This program MAY be:
  1)  Used to create pictures for a personal or commercial site
  2)  Distributed through the internet without the permission of the author
  3)  Distributed on disks, CDs, etc. WITH the permission of the author

Please read file README.TXT for more details.

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NEW IN REVISION 2.0 FREEWARE

GIFMake is free!

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GIFMake by Samiel - samiel@fastlane.net
Revision 2.0 - Freeware!

USAGE:

  GIFMAKE [@<FileList>] [Options]

OPTIONS: (Override Configuration File Options)

  -c:<FileName>  - Configuration File
  -n:<FileName>  - Output Filename
  -p             - Prompt For Input
  -s             - Skip Initialization

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DOCUMENTATION

GIFMake takes a filelist (a list of .GIF files) and creates a .GIF file from 
the .GIF files in the filelist.  

GIFMake can be used to edit a single .GIF file or to merge multiple .GIF
files, creating a multi-image .GIF file.

GIFMake supports the creation of a Netscape Application Extension, used to
determine how many times a the .GIF file images will loop.

GIFMake was written for the sole purpose of creating .GIF files for the
World Wide Web (WWW) and thus does not yet support the creation of Plain
Text Extensions.  GIFMake can still handle any such extensions if they
are encountered.

GIFMake supports most (if not all) aspects of the GIF89a specifications that
are currently supported by the current WWW browsers.

....

FILELIST

A filelist is composed of .GIF filenames, one per line.  GIFMake will read
the .GIF files in the exact order they are given (top to bottom).

GIFMake ignores blank lines and lines beginning with a semi-colon (;). 

The .GIF files should be in the current directory, but GIFMake will read
any .GIF file if the full pathname is given.

An easy way to create a filelist is to use the following command:

C> DIR /B *.GIF > FILE.LST

The above will make a "bare" directory listing of all the .GIF files in the
current directory and place them in file FILE.LST.

An example filelist is given below:

;-------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Begin filelist

; Blank lines and lines beginning with a semi-colon (;) are ignored

SOMEFILE.GIF
ANOTHER.GIF

C:\GIFS\HERE.GIF

D:\DRIVE\HERE.GIF

; End filelist
;-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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OPTIONS

  -c:<FileName>  - Configuration File
  -n:<FileName>  - Output Filename
  -p             - Prompt For Input
  -s             - Skip Initialization

All options overide the default configuration file options.

The -c:<FileName> option is for specifying a configuration file to read
from.  This option is also used to create a NEW configuration file with 
the given filename.

The -n:<FileName> option is for specifying an output .GIF filename.

The -p option is used to prompt for input wherever it is needed.  This
option is very useful when exact defaults cannot be created.

The -s option is for those who want to skip the Initialization screen.
This option is also useful for batch file operations.

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MENUS

GIFMake is a menu-driven program, popping up menus whenever they are needed.
An extended keyboard with arrow keys is required when using the menus.  Just
about all the menus have a [Help] option that may be used to determine which
option should be used.  If in doubt, use the default option.

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EDIT MENUS

The configuration file edit menu and the Graphic Control Extension edit menu
both use alphabetic options that require an extended keyboard.  To select a
given option, select the given letter surrounded by parentheses ().  Invalid
choices will not be accepted and valid choices will update the screen with
the given changes.

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CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS

GIFMake now supports the creation of a configuration file to hold default
information and for faster .GIF file creation.

If GIFMake cannot find the configuration file, a new one will be created 
with the defaults below.

--

(A) Filelist Option [0 - Prompt, 1 - Use Def.] : 0
(B) Default Filelist Name : FILE.LST

Define the default filelist for GIFMake and prompt.

--

(C) Output Name Option [0 - Prompt, 1 - Use Def.] : 0
(D) Default Output Name : OUT.GIF

Define the default output .GIF filename for GIFMake and prompt.

--

(E) Comment Option [0 - None, 1 - Use Def., 2 - Prompt] : 0
(F) Default Comment : GIFMake is Cool

Define the default comment for GIFMake, but don't use it.  A maximum of
56 characters is allowed for a comment, for display purposes.

--

(G) Global Palette Option [0 - None, 1 - Use First, 2 - Prompt] : 1

GIFMake will use the first encountered palette as the Global Palette.

--

(H) Dimensions Option [0 - Use Def., 1 - Find Best, 2 - Prompt] : 1
(I) Default Dimensions [0-65535]x[0-65535] : 0x0

Define the default dimensions for GIFMake, but use the best fitting
dimensions when running.

--

(J) Background Color Option [0 - Use Def., 1 - Use Color 0, 2 - Prompt] : 1
(K) Default Background Color [0-255] : 0

Define the default background color for GIFMake, but use color 0.  The
background color is displayed if no image occupies that space.

--

(L) Netscape Loop Option [0 - None, 1 - Use Def., 2 - Prompt] : 0
(M) Default Netscape Loop Count [0-65535] : 1

Define the default Netscape loop count for GIFMake, but don't use it.

--

(N) Placement Option [0 - Use Def., 1 - Use (0,0), 2 - Prompt] : 1
(O) Default Placement ([0-65535],[0-65536]) : (0,0)

Define the default image placement for GIFMake, but use (0,0).

--

(P) Overwriting Option [0 - Prompt, 1 - Overwrite] : 0

Prompt before overwriting.

--

(Q) Graphic Control Option [0 - None, 1 - Use Def., 2 - Prompt] : 2
(R) View/Edit Default Graphic Control Extension

Use (R) to View/Edit the default Graphic Control Extension.  Prompt for
the addition of a Graphic Control Extension.

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GRAPHIC CONTROL EXTENSION OPTIONS

GIFMake supports the creation of Graphic Control Extensions which control
tranparency, delay, and user input.  User input is not yet supported at
this time by many browsers, but the user may edit it.

GIFMake places the Graphic Control Extensions before images when creating
them.

With the creation of a new configuration file, the user may View/Edit the 
default Graphic Control Extension shown below. 

--

Disposal Methods:
[0 - Do Not Specify, 1 - No Disposal, 2 - By Background, 3 - By Previous]

(A) Disposal Method Option [0-3] : 0

The GIF89a specifications allow 4 different disposal methods and GIFMake
supports them all.

The default is [Do Not Specify] which lets the viewing program decide the
disposal method.  

[No Disposal] leaves the image on the screen without disposing it.  

[By Background] disposes the image by the background color, which is useful
for transparent images which have the transparent color match the background
color.

[By Previous] disposes the image by what was previously in its place.  This
disposal method is not supported by many of the current WWW browsers.

--

(B) User Input Option [0 - None, 1 - Enable User Input] : 0

Do not prompt for input after displaying the image.  This option is not
supported by many of the current WWW browsers.

--

(C) Transparency Option [0 - None, 1 - Make Transparent] : 0

(D) Transparent Color [0-255] : 0

Define the default transparent color for GIFMake, but don't use it.  The
tranparent color will not be seen and anything "under" this color will show
through.

--

(E) Delay [0-65535] : 0

Adding a delay will help spread some time between the loading of images.  A
delay is recommended for small images.

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BASIC GIF89a FILE STRUCTURE

+--------------------+
|       Header       |
+--------------------+
|       Image        | <--+  Any number of
+--------------------+    |  these structures
| Control Structures | <--+  in any order 
+--------------------+
|     Terminator     |
+--------------------+

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NOTES

Very little has been changed since the beta version.  There have been a few
grammar corrections and so forth, but no bugs were received by the author.

A few things may not be addressed in this document, so any questions may be
forwarded to the author.

Please visit the author's homepage for more information and updates as they
come along.

Any comments, bug reports, etc. may be forwarded to the author.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

E-mail : samiel@fastlane.net
   URL : http://www.fastlane.net/~samiel

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