****** Screen Thief for DOS v2.01 ****** README.TXT ****** Welcome to Screen Thief for DOS. The following instructions will show you how to install the software and get up and running in next to no time. Important Notes --------------- This version of Screen Thief for DOS is only available as a compressed ZIP archive from the Villa Software web site. It may also have been obtained from other sources, but the instructions here apply only to the ST201F.ZIP archive. This document may refer to a manual. This was only available to people who purchased the old registered versions. It is not supplied with the Freeware version which you have here. However, the program includes extensive on-line help, which you should use to familiarise yourself with the program and its capabilities. Installation ------------ To install Screen Thief for DOS, unzip the ST201F.ZIP archive with a utility which can handle the ZIP archive format. You should find enclosed five files: ST.EXE SCANCODE.COM README.TXT HISTORY.TXT CONFIG.ST Create a new directory somewhere on your hard disk and copy these files over. You can delete the ZIP archive once you have verified these files exist and the program runs correctly. We suggest that you use the directory C:\ST. All later examples assume this. Running Screen Thief for DOS ---------------------------- To run Screen Thief with the default settings, change to the "\ST" directory and simply type "ST". Screen Thief will then be installed and you can run whatever program you need to grab a screen from. To actually grab a screen, press the , and keys together and you will hear a clicking noise from your PC speaker as Screen Thief is working. The image file produced will be in colour BMP format and given a name consisting of the first 6 letters of the name of the program currently being run followed by a number, eg, "FILENA01.BMP". This file will be saved to the current directory but you can specify a different directory when you run Screen Thief as follows: ST C:\CAPTURE This will save all captured image files to the "C:\CAPTURE" directory. The Command Line ---------------- All of Screen Thief's operational characteristics are controlled by command line parameters, mostly switches. Once installed, all changes to the way Screen Thief operates can only be made via the command line. All the various command line parameters are covered in detail in the Reference Section of this manual, but the more commonly used ones will be covered here. These parameters are: /OUTPUT Sets the Output Image File Format to either BMP, TIFF, PCX or TXT. The default setting is BMP and the syntax of this switch is /O:TIFF. /MONO Enables and disables Mono Translation, ie, producing a black and white image. The default setting is disabled and the syntax of this switch is /M+ to enable and /M- to disable. /UNLOAD Removes Screen Thief from memory. This is the only way to correctly remove Screen Thief from memory; do not use programs such as MARK and RELEASE. The syntax of this switch is /U. Example To use Screen Thief to capture screens and output them in mono PCX format to a directory called C:\PICTURES, type the following: ST C:\PICTURES /M+ /O:PCX Once Screen Thief is loaded in this way, you could then, for example, change the output file format by typing the following from the \ST Directory: ST /O:GIF Each time you make a change, the Screen Thief window will pop up showing the new setup. The SCREENTHIEF Environment Variable ------------------------------------ If you regularly use a particular setup for Screen Thief that is not the same as the default setup, you can avoid having to type all the command line switches each time, as in the example above, by using an environment variable. This is a string containing the required command line parameters that is placed in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file using the DOS SET command as in the example below: SET SCREENTHIEF=C:\PICTURES /M+ /O:PCX This will then use these parameters every time Screen Thief is run, overriding the defaults so that you only need to type "ST" to access your most used setup. The command line parameters will override the environment variable so you can still run Screen Thief differently as necessary. The Screen Thief Configuration File ----------------------------------- Although the Environment Variable allows you to set Screen Thief up to a certain extent, you may have various configurations for specific tasks that you would like to automate. This is possible using the Configuration File. Any parameters on the command line (or within the SCREENTHIEF environment setting) which do not follow a switch character will first be compared against the Configuration File. This is a simple text file such as can be created with any text editor or word processor in ascii mode. It must be called CONFIG.ST and exist in the same directory as the ST executable file. Configuration entries are implemented in the same way as the environment string, but each is preceded with a unique name. Each configuration must start on a new line, with a maximum line length of 255 characters including the config name. Any characters beyond this are truncated. For example: REVIEWS=N:\PUB\REVIEWS\PCX /RGB+ /M- /O:PCX /K:50 /SH:OFF BOOKS=N:\PUB\BOOKS\GRABS /RGB- /MONO /O:BMP /K:01 /SH:CL This allows easy switching between different configurations based solely on a customer, project or user name. However, note that any option changed in one configuration will need to be changed in every other configuration unless valid for all cases. Configuration names are allowed within the environment string and on the command line. Multiple configuration names are also permitted, but nesting is not. This means that a config entry cannot name another within its command line. Configurations can also be used in isolation or in addition to other command line switches. If no matching entry is found within the CONFIG.ST file Screen Thief will then attempt to use it as an image file directory name and check its validity accordingly. The Help System --------------- Screen Thief has an extensive help system that may be used in one of two ways. Firstly, if an error occurs, the help system will be automatically started, the error message displayed and the correct subject highlighted. Simply press the right-arrow key to expand the help screen for further information. Please note that not all errors will produce this automatic help; some, such as "Directory Non Existent" that are self-explanatory, just bring up an error message and quit the program. Secondly, the help system may be started without actually loading Screen Thief, by typing "ST /?" from the "\ST" directory. You will see the Screen Thief window on the screen at this point containing a list of help subjects. Select the subject you require using the up-arrow and down-arrow keys and then press the right-arrow key to expand the help screen. Where applicable, use the up-arrow and down-arrow or the page-up and page-down keys to view the text in the expanded help screen. The left-arrow key will return you to the list of help subjects.