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<TITLE>Win32::GUI::BitmapInline - Inline bitmap support for Win32::GUI</TITLE>
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<LI><A HREF="#NAME">NAME</A>
<LI><A HREF="#SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</A>
<LI><A HREF="#DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</A>
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<H1><A NAME="NAME">NAME</A></H1>
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Win32::GUI::BitmapInline - Inline bitmap support for Win32::GUI
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<H1><A NAME="SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</A></H1>
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To create a BitmapInline:
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<PRE> perl -MWin32::GUI::BitmapInline -e inline('image.bmp') >>script.pl
</PRE>
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To use a BitmapInline (in script.pl):
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<PRE> use Win32::GUI;
use Win32::GUI::BitmapInline ();
$Bitmap1 = new Win32::GUI::BitmapInline( q(
Qk32AAAAAAAAAHYAAAAoAAAAEAAAABAAAAABAAQAAAAAAIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAAQAAAAAAAA
AACcnABjzs4A9/f3AJzO/wCc//8Azv//AP///wD///8A////AP///wD///8A////AP///wD///8A
////AHd3d3d3d3d3d3d3d3d3d3dwAAAAAAAABxIiIiIiIiIHFkVFRUVEQgcWVVRUVFRCBxZVVVVF
RUIHFlVVVFRUUgcWVVVVVUVCBxZVVVVUVFIHFlVVVVVVQgcWZmZmZmZSBxIiIiIRERF3cTZlUQd3
d3d3EREQd3d3d3d3d3d3d3d3
) );
</PRE>
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<H1><A NAME="DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</A></H1>
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This module can be used to ``inline'' a bitmap file in your script, so that
it doesn't need to be accompained by several external files (less hassle
when you need to redistribute your script or move it to another location).
<P>
The <CODE>inline</CODE> function is used to create an inlined bitmap resource; it will print on
STDOUT the packed data including the lines of Perl needed to use the
inlined bitmap resource; it is intended to be used as a one-liner whose
output is appended to your script.
<P>
The function takes the name of the bitmap file to inline as its first
parameter; an additional, optional parameter can be given which will be the
name of the bitmap object in the resulting scriptlet, eg:
<P>
<PRE> perl -MWin32::GUI::BitmapInline -e inline('image.bmp','IMAGE')
$IMAGE = new Win32::GUI::BitmapInline( q( ...
</PRE>
<P>
If no name is given, the resulting object name will be
<CODE>$Bitmap1</CODE> (the next ones <CODE>$Bitmap2</CODE> ,
<CODE>$Bitmap3</CODE> and so on).
<P>
Note that the object returned by <CODE>new Win32::GUI::BitmapInline</CODE> is a regular Win32::GUI::Bitmap object.
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<H1><A NAME="WARNINGS">WARNINGS</A></H1>
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<STRONG>Requires MIME::Base64</STRONG>
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...and, of course, Win32::GUI :-)
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<STRONG>Don't use it on large bitmap files!</STRONG>
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BitmapInline was designed for small bitmaps, such as toolbar items, icons,
et alia; it is not at all performant. Inlined data takes approximatively
the size of your bitmap file plus a 30%; thus, if you inline a 100k bitmap
you're adding about 130k of bad-looking data to your script...
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<LI>
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<STRONG>Your script must have write access to its current directory</STRONG>
<P>
When inlined data are used in your script (with
<CODE>new Win32::GUI::BitmapInline...</CODE>) a temporary file is created, then loaded as a regular bitmap and then
immediately deleted. This will fail if your script is not able to create
and delete files in the current directory at the moment of the call. One
workaround could be to change directory to a safer place before
constructing the bitmap:
<P>
<PRE> chdir("c:\\temp");
$Bitmap1 = new Win32::GUI::BitmapInline( ... );
</PRE>
<P>
A better solution could pop up in some future release...
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<LI>
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<STRONG>The package exports <CODE>inline</CODE> by default</STRONG>
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For practical reasons (see one-liners above), <CODE>inline</CODE> is exported by default into your <CODE>main</CODE> namespace; to avoid this side-effect is recommended to use the module in
your production scripts as follows:
<P>
<PRE> use Win32::GUI::BitmapInline ();
</PRE>
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<H1><A NAME="VERSION">VERSION</A></H1>
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Win32::GUI::BitmapInline version 0.01, 02 April 1999.
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<H1><A NAME="AUTHOR">AUTHOR</A></H1>
<P>
Aldo Calpini ( <CODE>dada@divinf.it</CODE> ).
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