mapster v. 0.2.2

A Quick and Dirty User's Guide

At the moment there is no online help. There will be eventually, but in the meantime this page right here is the only documentation, so make the most of it! This guide assumes that you know the basics of HTML image maps. If not, please take a look at the HTML 4.0 Standard .


Contents

Installation

  1. Unpack the tar archive in any convenient location.
  2. Run the installation script provided:
            $ ./install.tcl
    	
  3. Depending on where you install the package, it may be necessary to set the TCLLIBPATH environment variable. The installation script should automatically notify you if this step is necessary.

The installation script is intended to make installation easier, but could also make it easier to do something stupid, especially if you run it as root. Please exercise common sense. If you have no common sense, please get some.

The following files are included:

	mapster-0.2.2/BUGS
	mapster-0.2.2/CHANGES
	mapster-0.2.2/COPYING
	mapster-0.2.2/README
	mapster-0.2.2/TODO
	mapster-0.2.2/htmlx.el
	mapster-0.2.2/pkgIndex.tcl
	mapster-0.2.2/bin/mapster
	mapster-0.2.2/doc/mapster-delete.gif
	mapster-0.2.2/doc/mapster-draw.gif
	mapster-0.2.2/doc/mapster-exit.gif
	mapster-0.2.2/doc/mapster-load.gif
	mapster-0.2.2/doc/mapster-mvobj.gif
	mapster-0.2.2/doc/mapster-posneg.gif
	mapster-0.2.2/doc/mapster-save.gif
	mapster-0.2.2/doc/mapster-user.html
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/mapster.tcl
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/tclIndex
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/images/circle.xbm
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/images/delete.xbm
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/images/exit.xbm
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/images/load.xbm
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/images/mvobj.xbm
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/images/polygon.xbm
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/images/posneg.xbm
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/images/rectangl.xbm
	mapster-0.2.2/lib/images/save.xbm
    
Top

Configuration

In the current version, configuration is done by editing '../lib/mapster.tcl'. The following configuration variables are found in the 'init_unix' procedure at the beginning of the file. For further info, check the comments for each variable in 'mapster.tcl'.

	
   variable              description

   config(images)        Location for toolbar bitmaps. If you fol-
                         low the suggested installation procedure,
                         you shouldn't need to change this.

   config(converter)     Command string for converting JPEG, PNG, and
                         TIFF files to GIF format. If you have the 
                         Img extension to Tk, you don't need to wor-
                         ry about this.

   config(tempdir)       Default location for saving map files and
                         temporary GIFs for images converted from
                         other formats.

   config(aname)         Controls whether or not you are prompted to
                         enter a name for every object you draw. Set
                         to 0 to disable this feature.

   config(light)         Colors for drawn objects and the work area
   config(light-act)     background. The 'act' suffix is the color
   config(light-bg)      for drawn objects in their active state --
   config(dark)          i.e., when the mouse pointer is over them.
   config(dark-act)
   config(dark-bg)

   config(colordefault)  Controls the default color of the background
                         and new objects you draw. Can be set to
                         'light' or 'dark'.
    

If you want to configure other things, you'll just have to hunt around in the code. Eventually there will be an EZ configuration menu.

Top

Invoking mapster

Command-line syntax:

mapster [-A ALT_text] [-D default_action] [-N map_name] [-O output_file] [image_file]
    

If you invoke mapster with no options, the -A, -D, and -N options, and of course the image file to be loaded, can be set interactively.

Options & arguments:


-A ALT_text           The ALT text for the default region (i.e., the
                      remainder of the image map after you have drawn
                      all your areas).

-D default_action     URL that the default region will be linked to,
                      or "nohref".

-N map_name           The name of the image map in the HTML code.
                      This is the name that the USEMAP attribute of
                      the IMG tag will refer to.

-O output_file        The destination file for the image map code.
                      To write the data to standard output, use -O-.

image_file            The image you will make the map from. Note
                      that if the file is in a format other than GIF,
                      you need to have either the Tk Img extension or
                      a command-line conversion utility.
    
Top

The Toolbar

The toolbar consists of nine buttons. The first six are tool selection buttons:

The remaining three buttons are for loading an image from disk, saving a map file, and exiting the program.

You can use the keyboard instead of the buttons if you wish. The default keystroke for each button is shown in [brackets].

rectangle | circle |
      polygon

Drawing tools

When one of the drawing tools is selected, you can use the mouse to create a rectangle, circle, or polygon on the image.

Rectangle [r]

Click with mouse button 1, and drag diagonally from one corner to another.

Circle [c]

Click and drag from the center outward.

Polygon [p]

Click with mouse button 1 to set the first point.
You can then draw the polygon either by dragging to each successive point or by simply clicking at each point.
To delete the last point you have drawn, click with the right mouse button.
To finish the polygon, double-click with the left mouse button.

NOTE: as of version 0.2, there are some problems with the mouse behavior on polygons. I hope to have these fixed in the next release.

delete

Object deletion tool [x]

When this tool is selected, just click on any drawn object to delete it. Sorry, there's no Undo function!

object move

Object move tool [m]

With this tool, selected, you can click and drag to move a drawn object in any direction.

light/dark toggle

Light/dark toggle tool [t]

For better visibility, you may sometimes wish to change the color of an object from dark to light, or vice versa. When this tool is selected, you can toggle the color of a drawn object by clicking on it. If you click outside of any object, the background color will change; furthermore, the default drawing color changes with the background. In other words, when the background is dark, any new object you draw will be dark; when it's light, new objects will be light also.

load image

Load [ctrl-l]

When you click this button, an ordinary file selection dialog box pops up. The default image format is GIF, but you can load JPEG, PNG and TIFF images if you have the Img extension for Tk. Otherwise, you can import non-GIF images if you have a suitable image conversion program (the default setting is to use 'convert' from the ImageMagick suite). If you use a converter, a temporary GIF file will be created.

save map file

Save [ctrl-s]

This button gives you a standard file-saving dialog box. The default name of the image map is the name of the image file, minus the extension, plus '.map'; the default location is the temporary directory specified in a configuration variable (which you can edit if you have a mind to). E.g.:

     /some/directory/boogawooga.gif    ===>     /tmp/boogawooga.map
    

If mapster was invoked with the -O option, the file will be automatically saved (or written to standard output) when you quit mapster. In this case, you only need to use the Save button if you wish to save to another file in addition to the one specified in the command line.

exit

Quit [ctrl-q]

Strangely enough, the Quit button quits the program. Normally, you will be asked for confirmation if there are any unsaved changes. If mapster was invoked with the -O option, however, you will quit without confirmation, and the image map will automatically be written to the specified file (or standard output, as the case may be).

Top
Matt Gushee
Last modified: Thu Dec 9 18:34:29 EST 1999