Readme for FEsane - 21 August 2000

There are some changes from the previous versions of FEsane so...
Please read this before emailing me with any problems.

Minor revision 31 August 2000 re: Speed option

Minor revision V0.01c 7 September 2000 re: Save Scan As...

Minor revision V0.01d 27 October 2000 re: File overwrite warning 
                                                         Improved Error checking

Revision V0.02 12 November 2000 re: PMView and Scan Size values
	This update to FEsane gives users the option of scanning the
           image into PMView.
	Change to Scan Size input values.


FEsane by P J Brown

Welcome to FEsane a simple visual Front End for sane. Basically
FEsane builds the scanimage.exe command line - a bit easier than
trying to remember the options. No, there is no Preview mode - yet.

FEsane does not perform any image correction or enhancement. This
is left to whatever graphics editing program you use - PMJpeg, PMView
Star Office, Embellish etc...

The first release of this software on an unsuspecting world was V0.01b
This is version V0.02

I suppose the usual disclaimers about "If your PC blows up don't blame
me I'm not responsible" apply. Kinda like Master Gates, I guess :-)

FEsane obviously needs to have the sane package installed and
working.



To install FEsane unzip the files:-

	FEsane.exe - the executable file
	ReadFE.txt - this file

into a directory of your choice. I recommend your 

	\sane\bin

directory. You can then create a program object on your desktop -
or not :-)



Using FEsane

Start FEsane either from your created program object, or from the 
directory where you have installed it.


Click the Browse button on the sane Details panel to locate the
\sane\bin\scanimage.exe program. You cannot type into this entry
field, you must use the Browse button. The entry field will display Drive:\Directory\scanimage.exe. If you accidentally select a different program the entry field will display :-
	scanimage.exe not found - Press "Browse" 

Enter your scanner name in the Scanner input box - this must be 
the same as the xxxx.conf file name in your \sane\bin directory.
For example:-
If you have a Microtek E3 scanner then the xxxx.conf file would be
microtek.conf - you only need to enter the microtek part.

Enter the speed that you are happy using your scanner with, on a
Microtek E3 the speed range is 0 to 7. For those scanners without
a speed range enter 0 to use the scanners default speed.


Select Colour (Color), Grey (Gray) or LineArt in the Scan Mode panel.


Select Scan Size, in millemetres. The Start input boxes allow you to
start the scan from a specific position. The End input boxes allow
you to enter the width and height of the area to scan from the Start
position. These are defaulted to A4 size at program start.
If you want to scan part of an image starting at width 30, height 25 and ending at width 125, height 110 on your scanner rules enter the following:-

		Start	End
	width	  30	 125
	height	  25	 110

This will produce a scan of the area (95 * 85) between these coordinates. 
NOTE this is a change from previous versions of FEsane where the End
values entered would have been Width 95 (Width End - Width Start) and Height 85 (Height End - Height Start). Hopefully, this will make entering
Scan Size values easier for everyone.


Enter the required resolution in the Resolution input box.


Either enter Drive:\Path\Filename to save the scanned image to or click
the Browse button in the File Details panel to select Drive:\Path.
If the Browse button is used the Drive:\Path selected is saved for
future use as the starting point for the "Save Scan As..." dialog. Either select an existing filename or enter a new filename for this image.
If the Drive:\Path\Filename is typed in the Drive:\Path is not saved.
This allows you to save a "main" directory to scan your images to even if you occassionally scan your images to other directories.


If you have PMView installed Click the Browse button on the PMView Details panel to locate the \pmview\pmview.exe program. You cannot
type into this entry field, you must use the Browse button. The entry field will display Drive:\Directory\pmview.exe. If you accidentally select a different program the entry field will display :-
	PMView not found - Press "Browse"


Scan to PMView: If checked the scanned image will be opened in PMView
ready for editing - you will be able to watch the scan as it happens. The scanned image is also saved to the filename entered in the File Details panel. Obviously to use this option you need the PMView package installed on your system. This option is not selectable until the PMView Details Browse button has been used to locate the pmview.exe program.

Close VIO window: If checked closes the command window when the scan
has completed. If the scan fails without any error messages from FEsane uncheck this option to see the error message(s) from scanimage.exe

Save sane Details: If checked saves the \sane\bin\scanimage.exe path, the
scanner name, the Speed, the Resolution, the last used Drive:\Directory (selected using the File Details Browse button) and the pmview\pmview.exe path in a "settings.fes" file when exiting FEsane by clicking the Exit button. This "settings.fes" file is saved in the same directory as FEsane.
NOTE  If you exit FEsane by any other method these settings are not saved.


Click the Scan button to perform a scan.


Please NOTE that the error checking is minimal. The error messages consist of:-

"Select or Enter filename to save scan to"
The filename part of the File Details input box is empty. Click OK to close
the message window and enter a filename.

"Enter Scanner name"
The Scanner input box is empty. Click OK to close the message window and
enter your scanner's name based on the scanner's xxxx.conf file. You just need the "xxxx" part - do not enter the ".conf" part.

"Enter scan Resolution"
The scan Resolution input box is empty or the value entered is 0. Click OK to close the message window and enter a valid resolution for your scanner.

"Scan Size details missing or incorrect End value(s)"
One or more of the Scan Size input boxes is empty, or Width End value is less than the Width Start value, or Height End value is less than the Height Start value, or both End values are less. Click OK to close the message window and either enter the missing values or correct the End value(s).

If any of the above error messages appear when you click the Scan button  you will have to correct the error and then click the Scan button.

There is now also a file overwrite confirmation message:- 

"File: DRIVE:\PATH\FILENAME.EXT already exists.
Overwrite File: DRIVE:\PATH\FILENAME.EXT ?"
The filename in the input box already exists. Either click:-
 YES to overwrite the existing file - in which case the message window will
       close and the scan will start
 NO to close the message window and enter a new filename.

If you click NO in the file overwrite confirmation message you will have to
enter a new filename and then click Scan.

If you enter invalid Start or End values in the Scan Size panel, an invalid
Resolution value or an invalid Speed scanimage will not run - it will give
an error message instead. You will need to uncheck the Close VIO window
to see the message.

Well thats about all there is to it.

This program has only been tested on a Warp V4 (and a bit) Fixpack 14 
- Internal Revision 14.046A_W4 - system with a Microtek E3 scanner, using sane101b, running under emx runtime 0.9d fix2 and fix3 over a 2 week period by the following personnel:- myself, my very non-technical
wife (who I wrote this for) and my two boys aged 8 and 12 - the 12 year 
old is a bit of a "techie".
V0.01d working on the same system but with the updated kernel from the W41019.zip file, Internal Revision 14.057_W4.
V0.02 working on the same system as V0.01d and using PMView V1.02 - should work with later versions of PMView.

If, for some reason, this doesn't work for you feel free to email me - I'll
try to sort it out for you, but no promises as I have very limited time and
even more limited resources. Please enter Re:FEsane as the Subject
header of your email.

If it does work for you here is the cost:-

Scan an image of something interesting (and suitable for child viewing)
from your area of the world and email it to me - Sort of PostcardWare
by email :-) 
Please try to avoid Industrial scenes as I live in Oldham on the outskirts of 
Manchester, England - home of the Lowry matchstick people.

email losepete@cwcom.net

Happy scanning :-)

Pete