Other Win32 software written by the derelict

  • All use standard Win32 source code and Windows libraries (no MFC, ATL, or other TLA).
  • All are compiled using the MinGW compiler package. This is an excellent, *FREE* compiler package which is based on the GNU compiler, but links to Windows libraries.  MinGW is available from: http://www.mingw.org/
  • All are FREEWARE for any and all uses!!

    THE SOFTWARE
    ClearIcon - Resets background color on Desktop Icon text to transparent
    Last Update: February 06, 2007
    ClearIcon is a utility for setting the background color for Windows Desktop icon text to transparent, and selecting a foreground color.  It is primarily designed for execution from the command line, but the user can manually create desktop icons to run the program from Windows.

    The foreground color for for the icon text can be specified either on the command line, or via the Windows Color Dialog (by specifying -c on the command line). The foreground-color data is stored in the Registry, so in normal operation the icon colors can be restored just by re-running ClearIcon with no commandline arguments.

    Note that under Windows XP, this program only works if you disable drop-shadows on the desktop. The way to do this is:

  • Open Control Panel
  • Open System dialog
  • Select Advanced tab
  • Select Performance:Settings button
  • Select Visual Effects tab
  • Select Custom: radio button
  • Un-check Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop

    Download the executable package here
    • ChgTags - Random Signature Generator
    Last Update: June 24, 2009
    This program selects a random line from a reference file, and writes it to the specified Signature file.  It automatically updates the output Signature file at a user-specified interval.  A sample tagline reference file (containing derelict's favorite taglines) is included in the binary distribution file.

    NOTE: With Version 2.00, released on 06/24/09, The timer is no longer used. Instead, the user manually causes the tagline-file update by left-clicking on the System Tray icon. While this reduces the transparency of the program, it also eliminates the awful wastefulness of the continuous file re-writes of the old method.

    Download the executable package here
    CdTimer - SlideBar-based countdown timer
    Last Update: December 04, 2006
    This is a simple slider-based countdown timer. It will display a "Time's Up" message box when the timer expires.   The current time remaining is shown on the title bar, so it will remain visible if the window is minimized.

    CdTimer stores its MaxTimeScale and SecondsPerTickMark settings in a file called cdtimer.ini, which is located in the place where cdtimer.exe was located.  This file will be created the first time CdTimer is run.

    Note that the 12/04/06 version of this program now allows the user to specify the sound file to be played when the timer expires. At this point, only .WAV files are supported.

    Download the executable package here
    Source Code for all of the preceding utilities
    Last Update: May 17, 2007
    Actually, this package implicitly also uses the Cygwin software package, available from http://www.cygwin.com/.  The Cygwin package emulates many common Unix tools in a Windows console environment.  If you don't feel like installing that rather complex package, you can edit the makefile as necessary; the Cygwin tools that I use are:
  • rm - replace with DOS Del command
  • zip - replace with your own zip program as required

    Download the source code package here
    • PayDay
    payday - a gag program
    Last Update: August 24, 2007
    This is an amusing and harmless program, based on an old program by some unknown author. Click on the button to collect your bonus check (if you can) !!

    Download the executable package here

    Download the source code here
    Binary Clock
    BinClock - a binary clock
    Last Update: Oct 25, 2007
    Yes, this is a binary clock, for those who want to tell time this way. It supports several different image files with different LED images.

    Download the executable package here

    Download the source code here
    7-segment and dot-matrix led-display modules
    led7seg - 7-segment and dot-matrix led-display modules
    Last Update: August 03, 2007
    This is a module to draw realistic 7-segment led displays, as well as a module to draw dot-matrix-led displays.

    There is also a demo utility which shows how to use each of these modules, along with their various options.  Mind you, the demo utility and the header files are the *only* documentation available for this code, but they are pretty simple modules, so hopefully this will suffice.

    Download the executable package or source code here
    RAINBOWS!!!
    Programs to draw accurate rainbows, with variants
    Last Update: January 26, 2007
    These programs are variations on a rainbow simulator from the article "Astronomical Computing", from Sky & Telescope Magazine, February 1991.  The original program was written in 42 lines of BASIC for EGA 4-color video mode.  That original BASIC program is included in the source-code package.

    I've improved (??) it into 470+ lines of C/win32 code which runs in current screen resolution with resizeable windows.  However, other than improving resolution and allowing window resizing, I've added no other normal Windows functionality; the point of the program is still drawing correct rainbows!!
    There are four versions of the program included in this package:
  • rainbow.exe - A virtually literal translation of the original program and its algorithms.
  • rainbowt.exe - Runs the rainbow drawing task as a separate thread, so updating continues even when the window is being moved.  So this package demonstrates a basic win32 multi-threading application, as well as the rainbow.
  • rainbowb.exe - Draws a .BMP image behind the rainbow.  The image resizes with the window, as does the rainbow.  This demonstrates a technique for rendering resizeable bmp images in win32 programs.
  • rainbowj.exe - Draws a .JPG image behind the rainbow. The image resizes with the window, as does the rainbow.  This demonstrates a technique for rendering resizeable jpeg images in win32 programs.
    • Download the executables package here
    Download the source code package here
    Little  Stuff
    C/C++ makefile-dependency generator
    Last Update: February 02, 2007
    This is the version of makedepend which is distributed with Xfree86.  It is Copyright (c) 1993, 1994, 1998 The Open Group and has a free-distribution message in each source file.  I made a couple of trivial changes to the source to make it compile with modern gcc, but otherwise it still works superbly and needs no changes.
    To use this utility, make the following changes to your makefile:

    1. Add this line to the end of the makefile:
    # DO NOT DELETE
    2. Add a rule for running makedepend:
    SRCS=file1.cpp file2.cpp file3.cpp
depend:
  makedepend -I. $(SRCS)
    3. run 
    make depend
    to update the dependencies.   That's it!! Your makefile now has the appropriate dependency list.

    Download the source code package here