Hi!

This is an application which was originally intended to be a tutorial.
When it grew so large that 'tutorial' was an inappropriate term and
the task of authoring such a tutorial grew to a scope beyond simple
descriptions, it graduated to a demo. However, it soon outgrew even
that classification. It is, for all practical intents and purposes, a
complete application for manipulation of images in an MDI paradigm
written solely in wxWidgets. One says 'complete', but then, no piece
of software ever attains that ultimate goal. It is complete in the
sense that it addresses its current design parameters to a level of
usefulness sufficient for practical application.

Its name implies that it is a tool for browsing graphic images, much
like the common Windows tool which has had various names through
several incarnations, being more or less a viewer and little more.
However, the name is misleading. It has many more functions than
simple viewing, as a perusal of the built in help will reveal. One
can adjust size, rotation, various coloring parameters and schemes,
mirror, convert to other formats, and more. On the other hand, it is
by no means a tool of the complexity or caliber of PhotoShop, Paint
Shop Pro, The Gimp, and other master graphics tools. Such
functionality is beyond the intrinsic scope of wxWidgets alone, and
certainly beyond expertise of MDIBitmapBrowser's author to write from
'scratch'. But it is a most useful tool, in and of itself. Besides it
is a practical 'guide book' for manipulating images in wxWidgets and
illustrates the capabilities of MDI for more than just simple
multiple document display. In view of all this, MDIBitmapBrowser
should be of some interest to a variety of developers and users in
the wxWidgets and associated communities.

The full source, along with the DialogBlocks project used to launch
the graphics and the various platform 'build' files (.sln/.vcproj and
makefiles), sample images to use for 'safe' testing of your build,
and a 'Gotchas' directory listing the ins and outs discovered in
development, are available in a zip archive at:

wxWidgets Code Exchange

In the 'Applications' section.

NOTE: MDI is a 'unique' Microsoft-ism. True MDI implementation only
exists on Windows platforms. However, the wxWidgets toolkit 'adapts'
the MDI paradigm to wxNotebook. The look and feel, obviously, are not
the same, but the basic functionality and methods for image
manipulation are the same. The ability to drag and drop from one MDI
frame to another, for example, is not available in non-Windows
Notebook mode, but drag and drop to other applications is still
possible. Some features were 'modified' for non-Microsoft platforms
and some simply left out.

Enjoy!Smile

thx,
Dave S.

wxMS_developers - Development with wxWidgets on Windows
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wxMS_developers/

The wxWidgets Code Exchange
http://www.wxCodex.net