SNAPSHOT
Overview
The SNAPSHOT action is used to take a picture of a user interface object and copy it either to the Windows Clipboard or to the Image Repository ("Image Repository").An Action may use a Value and an Address
Value: [size factor] > [image name], or empty to copy to clipboard, or only size factor to copy to clipboard.
Address: address of the object to take an image of, like $page.object, or '*' (an asterisk) to make a screen shot of the current screen.
Details
Value
Leave empty to have a 100% size picture be copied to the Windows Clipboard. You can then use 'Paste' in another graphics program to insert the picture.If you specify only a value, this is interpreted as a size factor. For example, specify '2' to make the picture twice the size as the original object - and therefore twice the resolution.
If you type the greater-than character '>' and then a name, then the picture is copied to the Image Repository using that name.
Examples:
1 > MyImage a picture of the addressed object is copied to the Image Repository. The image is called MyImage.
6 > My HiRes Image a six-time higher resolution picture is copied to the Image Repository for the name 'My HiRes Image'.
2 a double-sized picture is copied to the Windows clipboard. You can use Paste in an external graphics program.
Address
Address of the object of which a picture should be made. An address always starts with a $ (dollar) sign.Alternatively you may write just * to indicate that the entire window surface should be captured. Use this to make a simple screen shot of the current window. The screen shot is without windows. For a screen shot a size factor is omitted, because the image is copied one-to-one from your monitor screen.
More information
The SNAPSHOT action is especially useful if you are required to make pictures of signal viewers for use in publications or reports. Note that in print a much higher resolution is required than the resolution of a computer screen. So, a signal viewer on screen will be a very small image when printed on paper in the same resolution.If you want to print an object on a laser printer, specify a size factor of 6 in 'Value'. You will notice that the signals in a viewer are not actually sized. They will become very thin and fine grained lines. If you don't want that, you should change the settings of the signal viewer to draw thicker signals.
Use a Picture Viewer ("Picture Viewer") to display the snap shot. The viewer will be updated automatically when a new snap shot is made of the same object.
Note that the physical size of the picture is determined the first time the snap shot is made. If you would change the size of the addressed object and make a new snap shot, then the resulted picture will be stretched to fit in the previous snap shot. Image quality may then not be as good as you expect.
Screen shot
If you use the screen shot function of SNAPSHOT (by specifying * as an address), then the sizing and resolution change does not apply, because then the picture is shot from the computer screen in the size as displayed on screen and in that resolution.Also for the screen shot image you may specify where this is copied to (clipboard, image repository, etc.).