Crystal Toolkit is a Windows Forms (.NET Framework 2.0) control library written in C#. This is the seventh release and contains updates for the following classes:
New in 0.74: Features.
New controls: CrystalComicShow.
New controllers for images: CrystalMemoryCollector, CrystalZipCollector, CrystalRarCollector.
New controller options: SortCrystalList method and CrystalSortType enumerator.
New slideshow options: Shuffle and Repeat modes were added. Slideshow options are now in CrystalSlideShowOptions, which will break older Form applications using the previous build.
- CrystalComicShow: A subclass of CrystalPictureShow. A control that display comic-book images from CDisplay archive files. You can access CBR and CBZ files and see the thumbnailed images just like any picture folder. No sample for this yet--it's part of the main application I'm working on for a free release later this year.
- CrystalMemoryCollector: I needed a collector that didn't work off any disk-based files whatsoever. This class needs to be fleshed out a bit more, but I intend to write a nice sample that shows how you can build a cool wait dialog using this controller.
- CrystalZipCollector: This was built for CrystalComicShow, to enable me to display comic book images from a CBZ (zip) file. It may have broader applications. It uses ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.dll, which is included in the open_source_code folder of CrystalToolkit. You can download the full version of SharpZipLib here.
- CrystalRarCollector: This was built for CrystalComicShow, to enable me to display comic book images from a CBR (rar) file. It may have broader applications. It uses unrar.cs, which is included in the open_source_code folder of CrystalToolkit. To make this work with your application, you must include unrar.dll in your application folder. You can download unrar.cs and unrar.dll from RARLab.
- Controller sorting: CrystalFileCollector now contains a public method called SortCrystalList. This takes an enum called CrystalSortType and allows you to sort on ImageName, ImageType, CreationDate or LastWriteTime. You can sort using this type in either ascending or descending order.
- Slideshow enhancments: The Slideshow options were taken out of CrystalPictureShow as individual properties. They are now contained with the object CrystalSlideShowOptions, which is a new property within CrystalPictureShow. Shuffle and Repeat modes were added to the slideshow options. You can also begin a slideshow at any starting position within the current CrystalCollector.
- To see how to build a C# image viewer with thumbnails slideshow application: Download the zip file in the link below and unzip to your hard drive. Navigate to the Attilan folder. Double click on CrystalDemo.sln. Hit F5 to build CrystalToolkit and execute the demo program, CrystalImageGridDemo.
This release comes in a ZIP file. Simply unzip the contents to your hard drive, navigate to the root Attilan folder, and double click on CrystalDemo.sln. This solution file contains the Crystal Toolkit plus demo programs. Just build the solution (which compiles the CrystalToolkit library first) and run the demo programs to see how they work.
I've tested the demos under Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista. Needless to say, buyers beware, this is alpha software and it's free open-source code: you get what you pay for! I'd welcome any feedback, bugs (or bug fixes), and thumb-bitmap replacements. Send email to richard [at] attilan {dot} com.
Download: Crystal Toolkit 074 (zip file, 1.9mb)
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