JPEG file image display Visual Basic 4 (16 bit) program with source code
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This Visual Basic program is a minimum skeleton type of program showing how to use the dibinfo.dll, which is FREEWARE and the main imglib.dll JPEG decoder (this is a powerful DLL which can carry out numerous other functions) The imglib.dll is SHAREWARE and the property of SimSoft.
Because of this the imglib.dll is not icluded in JPEGDISP.ZIP and you must 
download it separately. You also need imglib16.dll. However they are easily obtained in the one zip file over the Internet from:

ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/si/simsoft/ImgLib/ImgLib12.zip
 or
ftp://ftp.cica.indiana.edu/pub/pc/win3/programr/imglib12.zip

or from other sites by searching YAHOO with the keyword JPEG.

Importantly after downloading and unzipping the imglib.dll can be usefully used straight away with this Visual Basic 4 program so that you can see if it is suitable for your application.

This program or a variant of it can be used to display high quality JPG 24 bit image files in your own application program as you wish. It is very convenient to store bit map images as JPG files rather than BMP files particularly if there are a number of images associated with your application because the memory storage requirements are so much less. You may be able to store your whole program on one floppy disc.

Installation Notes
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Copy  dibinfo.dll to c:\windows\system   directory
Copy  imglib.dll to c:\windows\system    directory
Copy  imglib16.dll to c:\windows\system  directory
Copy  jpegvu.vbp to c:\vb  directory
Copy  jpegvu.frm to c:\vb  directory
Copy  jpegvu.bas to c:\vb  directory
Copy  example JPG file kimdog.jpg to c:\vb  directory

Run in the normal way and then edit to suit your own requirements. You will see that the program is set up for a simple slide show.

This program came about because I found nothing quite suitable as SHAREWARE or FREEWARE even after spending many many hours on the Internet downloading and unzipping software. The dibinfo.dll program has taken a lot of time and effort (over 8 weeks) to produce partly because of the time taken to understand the formatting and procedures used in Windows for Device Independent Bitmaps (DIBs), Device Dependent Bitmaps (DDBs) and how to display them using Visual Basic.
Very useful reference books on this subject are:

"Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to the Windows API" by Daniel Appleman (First class book)

"Visual Basic 4.0 Power Tool Kit" by Richard Mansfield and Evagelos Petroutsos

"Visual Basic Multimedia Adventurer Set" by Scott Jarol

For Visual Basic 3 users the program can easily be ported over manually (provided you are able to get temporary access to VB4 )and in some ways I regret not writing the program using VB 3. If there is sufficient interest a VB3 version will be produced.

For more information from SimSoft contact them at:
 
SimSoft
P.O. Box 4091
Redondo Beach, CA 90278
USA
 
or by e-mail at:
arybicki@netcom.com

There is also another shareware JPEG display/viewer DLL called WinECJ.dll (you also need wecjlib.dll) which is good and which may be downloaded from ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/micro/pc/win3/

A single user copy of the full version may be obtained by sending US$25 or AUD30 (cheque made payable to Express Compression Labs); the software is delivered via email. 

Contact at the address:

   Dr. Y. Shan
   P.O. Box 367,
   Caulfield East,
   VIC 3145,
   Australia.
e-mail:  ecl@netcom.com (Ying Shan)


If anyone has any suggestions or comments contact me by e-mail at:
mtomlinson@plymouth.ac.uk 

I only request that you attach a favourite scenic JPG of your locale or other
interesting image.

Or contact by post to:
The Satellite Centre
School of Electronic Communication and Electrical Engineering
Faculty of Technology
University of Plymouth
PL4 8AA
UK

29th June 1996