Full Screen Graphics and Viewer Startup Screen (110312)

SUMMARY

This article explains how to display large graphics in Viewer without using scroll bars. The first method described below also explains how to make this graphic topic appear as the first topic you see when Viewer starts up. Three methods for displaying large graphics in Viewer are listed below:

Put your graphic in the non scrolling region of the master pane of either the main window or a custom-defined secondary window.

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Put your graphic in a customized regular pane that is sized to fill the entire window (maximum width and height set to the device-independent value 1023). Regular panes never have scroll bars.

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Put your graphic in a pop-up window. The default pop-up window will size itself to either the maximum extent of the graphic or the the maximum size of the main Viewer window (whichever is smaller). Pop-up windows in Viewer never have scroll bars.

MORE INFORMATION

Displaying Graphics in the Master Pane of Any Window

In the Noncrolling Region:

If you want the large graphic to appear at the top of the topic or at the very bottom of the topic, you can place your graphic in a non scrolling region (see pages 3-30 and 5-33 of the "Authoring Guide"). Or, if the graphic is the only item in the entire topic, define the whole topic as a non scrolling region.

NOTE: The default action of Viewer is to put a line between the scrolling and non scrolling regions. You can remove the line between the scrolling and non scrolling regions by editing the properties of the master pane in the Window Definitions dialog box. Page 5-18 of the Authoring Guide, it describes the properties of the master pane. Set the border of the non scrolling region to "none" in the Window Definitions dialog box.

In the Scrolling Region:

If you must place your large graphic in the scrolling region, you must make some sacrifices. You need to decide the most common screen size(s) and resolution(s) your customers will use. You might assume that customers with smaller resolutions would have 4-bit displays and customers with higher resolution monitors would have 8-bit or higher displays (see "Displaying Alternate Pictures" on page 9-20 of the "Authoring Guide"). Using that assumption, you might place a 620x470 bitmap in the 4-bit option of the ewX statement, and use a 720x590 bitmap in the 8-bit option of the ewX statement. The border of the master pane, the border of the window, the button bar, the menu bar, and the window caption take up a few pixels that you will need to account for when resizing your bitmaps.

NOTE: If you want to make more space for your bitmap, you can use HideButtonBar() and/or HideMenuBar(). Page 5-3 of the "Authoring Guide" shows a Viewer screen with no button bar or menu bar. You can also remove the window caption and maximize and minimize buttons using the Windows API (application programming interface) call to SetWindowLong(). You can also temporarily change the size of your window or master pane using PositionWindow(), PositionMaster(), or PositionTopic(). For additional information on changing the main window, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

83915 SAMPLE: Adding and Removing Caption of a Window

TIP: To make this graphic topic your "startup screen," just specify this topic as the CONTENTS option (see page 3-11 of the "Authoring Guide"). You can provide an easy exit from your graphic screen by either creating a hotspot on the bitmap that runs a JumpID() command, or you can make the whole bitmap into a hotspot using the ewX statement and the "When Clicked, Run Command" section (see page 9-17 of the "Authoring Guide"). If your graphic is a startup screen, then the default Contents button will jump to the bitmap topic instead of your table of contents. You can change the Contents button function with a ChangeButtonBinding() command (see page 5- 29 of the "Technical Reference").

Displaying Graphics in a Regular Pane

Regular panes cannot have scroll bars. You can set the size of a regular pane in the Window Definitions section of your project file. (see pages 5-3 to 5-10 and 5-21 to 5-23 of the "Authoring Guide").

TIP: You can provide an easy exit from a full page bitmap screen by either creating a hotspot on the bitmap that runs a ClosePane() command, or you can make the whole bitmap into a hotspot using the ewX statement and the "When Clicked, Run Command" section (see page 9-17 of the "Authoring Guide").

Displaying Graphics in a Pop-up Window

The default pop-up window will size itself to a rectangle that just fits all text and bitmaps in the topic. If the text and bitmaps fill a rectangle that is bigger than the Viewer window, then the image will be clipped. You can also set a custom pop-up window size and color (see page 5-24 of the "Authoring Guide").

TIP: You can close a pop-up window by clicking with the mouse anywhere outside of the pop-up window. You can also use the ESC key on you keyboard to close a pop-up window. You can also place hotspots on the bitmap to run any kind of jump. There is no command that closes a pop-up window.