Pasting a jpeg image into Manual Designer

[Jack Partridge]

The help for the manual designer says that the load function (button) will only work with a couple of image file formats but that you can Paste in a jpeg from the clipboard. I copy a jpeg image to the clipboard, add an image object, and hit Paste in the image object window. Nothing happens. I've tried ctrl V everywhere I can think of. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

[Alexander Halser]

Hm... that's not 100% true. When a graphics editor copies an image to the clipboard, it's usually copied as a bitmap and perhaps in the original format as well. The manual designer retrieves the bitmap only and that fails if no bitmap is present on the clipboard.

Note that "clipboard copy" doesn't mean you can copy a JPEG image from the Windows Explorer and insert it in the dialog with paste. That's a file link that is on the clipboard, not an image.

[Jack Partridge]

Hi Alexander,

Thanks for the quick response. Does that mean that I need to convert the jpeg to a bitmap, then copy/paste it?

Maybe that bit of help should be reworded somehow.

BTW, sorry I got this into the wrong forum by mistake.

[Tim Green]

Jack,

In the Print Manual Designer you can't paste images directly onto the page. You first have to select the Image tool from the Toolbar. Then click on the page to insert an image object -- then you can select "Paste" in the dialog that appears.

I know this appears a little counter-intuitive at first, but it applies to all actions in the PMD. You can't insert anything onto the pages directly because there is nothing "editable" on the page, it is only a background -- you must always use the tools from the toolbar to insert an object first, then you can insert something in the object (text or images).

[Jack Partridge]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for a great forum. I know from the Clarion one how valuable they are.

I'm using H&M4. I wonder if something happened to it's image paste function in the Manual Designer. I've followed your instructions and still nothing. After putting an image on the clipboard I click the add image icon and then a spot on the page. The Image Properties dialog appears. I click the Paste button and nothing happens. I've tried with both a jpeg and a bmp image.

BTW, I'm assuming that I don't need to type in the subject again, since this is a reply? Shouldn't it show in the Subject field?

Thanks,
Jack

[Tim Green]

Jack,

If there is a compatible image in the Windows clipboard clicking on Paste in the Image Properties dialog in the Print Manual Designer should display the image in the editing box in the dialog. Then you can select the Draw Mode and click on OK to insert it.

Try pasting the image somewhere else first to make sure there really is one in the clipboard. You could also try loading an image directly with the [Load File] button to make sure that everything is working OK.

[Jack Partridge]

Hi Tim,

Well, the Load button works fine. And my copied image pastes fine into a Word document. But no image appears when I hit Paste in the Manual Designer Edit Image dialog.

Have you tried it in the HM4 Manual Designer? I'm beginning to think it's a bug.

Jack

[Martin Wynne]

But no image appears when I hit Paste in the Manual Designer Edit Image dialog.

Hi Jack,

It's working fine here (HM4 build 672).

Are you sure you have a bitmap on the clipboard? Try pasting into Windows Paint.

Martin.

[Tim Green]

Jack,

I've been testing it in H&M4 all along and I'm not having any problems either. However, it's possible that you copied the picture in a program that only copies the JPG to the clipboard. If this happens then you cannot paste in the PMD because it only understands bitmaps or metafiles. Try copying it from another program, that will probably work.

[Jack Partridge]

Hi Martin and Tim,

Well, mystery solved. If I put the image into Paint and copy it there it works.

I was copying in Windows Explorer. I still don't understand why that wouldn't work when I copied an image that was already bmp. But I'm glad to have this resolved. I've slapped my wrist for being too quick to think "bug".

Thanks for your speedy help.

Jack

[Tim Green]

Jack,

Don't worry -- although it is extremely unlikely that there are any major bugs because the program has been tested thoroughly for several months by over 120 experienced programmers and help authors there may be some small cosmetic items that slipped through the net just because nobody happened to use them.