Group File Studio
3.0
Revision History
Program Authored by: Gary and Jonah Bishop
Help Contents Authored by: Jonah Bishop
Copyright © 1999. All Rights Reserved.
Help Contents
Version 3.0
New or Updated Features
- Group file creation support implemented. Now
you can create your own group files from scratch!
- Added support for inserting files into an existing group
file.
- Added support for permanently removing files from an existing
group file.
- Code for handling group files as a whole
rewritten (some things should be more efficient now).
- Progress meter now indicates progress
for more than just file extraction (now used for saving group files).
- Support added for playing music (*.mid) files
directly from the group file.
- New options button on toolbar (for quick
options dialog access).
- Minor cosmetic changes to some toolbar
buttons.
- Successful extraction report no longer reports
the size extracted (it just indicates that the extraction was successful).
- Status bar code completely rewritten (things
should look a lot better now).
- Major changes to the about dialog box.
Bug Fixes
- Artwork view port now cleared properly
when loading a new group file.
- Several large memory leaks fixed.
- Code for loading help file now looks in the
correct place.
- F1 key now functions properly.
- Main program window now sizes properly, the
way it should have in the first place. Consequently, the window size and
window status is no longer saved to the registry.
- Main window is no longer sizeable and cannot
be maximized.
Version 2.0
New or Updated Features
- Support for viewing tiles in embedded art files
(*.art) has been added.
- External palette files are now supported.
Embedded palette files are given preference over external palette files;
there is no way for the user to change this. I have included external
palette file support to allow the user to view artwork in group files that
do not include a palette file. The default palette file resides in the
program directory (after the program is properly installed).
- Support has been added for playing and stopping
*.voc files (sound files) directly from the group file.
- Selected file or filetype information moved down into the
status bar.
- Tree view now always shows the selected item
(even when it doesn't have the focus).
- Program error listing has been removed (was
somewhat pointless).
- The term "Release x.x" has been changed to
"Version x.x" (a little nicer IMO).
Bug Fixes
- The "total group file size" static in the status bar now agrees with the total
bytes extracted when all embedded files are extracted. These two values were different
before, and should not have been.
- Successful extraction report (in the status bar) now appears *after* the
files are successfully extracted, not as soon as the extract files button is pressed.
- The art info list now clears properly when no
art file is currently selected in the tree view.
- If the default directory option was turned off, and the cancel
button was pressed on the extraction directory box, an error box would appear (and it
should not have appeared in the first place). This is now fixed.
Version 1.3
New or Updated Features
- Command for extracting all files is now available.
- File extraction code has been heavily rewritten (things should
be much smoother now). If the default directory is provided in the program options dialog,
extracted files will simply be placed in the default directory (without a "select
destination" dialog appearing on screen). If a default directory is not selected, the
"select destination" dialogs will appear when you wish to extract files.
- Successful extraction dialog removed (as well as the option to
enable or disable this). Successful extractions now are indicated by means of the status
bar.
- Total number of files and total size of group file now appear
in the status bar.
- Art file animation types now appear as their respective names
(forward, backward, oscillate, or none) instead of the cryptic numbering system previously
used.
- New option to either enable or disable the loading of art file
information when a art file is selected (default is enabled).
- Program layout heavily changed to make the workspace smaller.
- Help files completely rewritten.
- Updated the program icon.
Bug Fixes
- The open files dialog now begins browsing in the default
directory if one is provided (in the program options dialog).
- Art file information box now supports full row selection. It
also is properly cleared when a second group file is opened.
- Art file information box no longer disappears when information
is updating.
- File viewing options menu command removed from the Tools menu
(I wasn't using it anyways).
- Upon opening a second group file (with a first group file
already open), the selected filetype fields were not cleared properly. They are now
cleared as they should have been.
- The keyboard indicators in the status bar (for Caps Lock,
Scroll Lock, and Insert) have been removed.
Version 1.2
New or Updated Features
- Art file information support added. Now you can view the
number of tiles, the size of each tile, and the animation settings for each art file.
Viewing the art itself has not yet been added.
- 2 new accelerator keys (F5 and F6).
- Previously removed accelerator keys replaced.
- The "number of files selected" information box now
always shows the number of files in the current filetype. In previous releases this box
would show "1" if only one file was selected - and that was a waste of space in
my opinion.
- Main layout of program slightly changed.
- Help index changed a little.
- Package now in an InstallShield installation program.
Bug Fixes
- Program option code completely rewritten. In previous
versions, pressing the cancel button in the program options dialog box would write the
option settings (something that it should not have done). Options were also being read and
written at the wrong time and caused problems in some other areas of the program. This
code has been overhauled and now works correctly.
- Program now reads into a 128K buffer (it was 64K). I'm still
experimenting with this value, but it will probably remain at 128K in future releases.
- Several memory leaks have been "sealed up".
- Pressing the "Cancel" button on the overwrite files
dialog (when extracting a filetype) would bring up the "File extraction
complete" dialog, indicating that the extraction was successful. This now works
properly.
- The extraction progress bar now clears itself properly (after
a successful extraction).
- Window sizing problem fixed. The scroll bars would sometimes
appear on screen, even when the window was still large enough to view everything in the
workspace. This problem has been fixed.
Version 1.1
New or Updated Features
- Added the extraction success dialog and an option for turning
this dialog off.
- Slightly updated the look and feel of the program (now size
and number of files shown in the same boxes, whether a filetype or file is selected).
- Updated the about box significantly.
Bug Fixes
- Program now reads into a 64K buffer (it was 16K) - Extraction
should be somewhat faster now
Version 1.0
- First release of the program. Everything is new.