Software

The following programs are freeware applications and applets I wrote recently. They show only a very small part of my programming activities (I've been programming for the better part of my holidays since I was 12): I decided to publish on the web only programs with full english language documentation (writing clear and complete documentation for programs is boring, translating it from french to english is a nuisance, especially when it is more than 50 pages long). New versions of my large programs may appear on this page later, since I will try and write their documentation directly in english. It would encourage me a great deal if someone told me he is interested in my current work (see sections What may come here later).

(see also the 64 bits compatibility page)

Note to users of Windows Vista¹ and later versions: in order to access my Win32 programs documentation you must install WinHelp (see also this tip). Note that Windows 10¹ users should follow a specific procedure to install WinHelp (for instance the one described here, which worked fine for me).

• RichView

  RichView displays an embedded RTF document (the document is stored in the executable program file as a binary resource). RichView can display footnotes which Windows' WordPad (for example) completely ignores (RichView recognizes all RTF tokens recognized by WordPad).
  RichView is not an editor: the final user can't change the displayed text. Nonetheless he can copy some or all of it to the clipboard in plain text format and he can print the current page or the whole document. RichView uses encrypted resources to prevent thieves from copying and modifying the RTF document too easily (the very simple encryption algorithm is not intended to defeat intelligence agencies).

  Version 2 (released November 2001) provides all necessary tools to embed documents (you will no more need an external resource editor, as with previous 1.x versions). It also synchronizes to some extent the footnotes and main windows display.

  The latest 3.0 version (released August 2003) adds MS Word ¹ like text / footnotes synchronization and can display embedded pictures (it is an OLE container). Full compatibility with Windows XP ¹ is provided.

  To install the program and its tools, just unzip the downloaded file into an empty directory.

  Updates:	11/02/03		Embedding tool is now Windows 2000/XP compatible
  	12/14/03		Mouse wheel support for Windows NT/2000/XP added; minor bug corrected (see "release note.txt")

  This program was made publicly available on the Web through software archives (SimtelNet and WinSite) before I built my own site (in that remote time, I could not imagine I would be able to host many complex pages for free, which is quite simple with free.fr). I discovered some time ago that some people used RichView to embed complete books. I will provide links to such documents if:
  
  1. I am aware of their existence (authors, please send a message to me),
  2. the content does not break ethical rules.

  Guerre privée	by Paul Beauchene	a book on french politics (Mitterrand's presidency)
  La forge et le creuset	by Paul Albou	a book on the myth of the melting pot
  Labourer la mer	by Paul Albou	a book on french economics history
  Jalons	by Paul Albou	a papers collection on economics, social sciences, ...
  Problèmes humains et sciences de l'homme	by Paul Albou	an essay on social sciences

   (to be extended !)
  
  The content of the above referenced texts is their author's sole responsibility and do not represent my opinion (if ever I have one) on the subjects discussed.

• WTD

  WTD stands for Windows Trees Differences. It is a partial replacement for Microsoft's windiff ¹ utility (WTD does not compare individual text files), with more flexibility in selecting what should be compared or not (single files, whole sub-trees or files selected using wild card characters can be removed from the comparison) and a better, explorer-like (two parallel trees), visual interface. It also provides advanced directories synchronization or update functions, based on its comparison results.

  Full documentation is provided, in Windows ¹ help format (see the readme.txt file in the zipped package for installation instructions).

    (see 64 bits compatibility page)

  Updates:		05/08/05		minor discrepancies removed complete compatibility with Windows XP1 ensured new Erase files feature.
  		06/05/06		minor corrections to the help file

• Instruments Builder 4

  This is a full software package with a Win32 ¹ off-line synthesizer (Mid2Wav4, which converts MIDI files to WAV format), its graphical front end (m2w4_gfe) and the Instruments Builder 4 application itself for instruments creation (the minimum instruments set for immediate use of the synthesizer is included).
  Full documentation is provided, in Windows ¹ help format.

  See the readme.txt file in the zipped package for installation instructions.

  Tip: batch processing

  (see 64 bits compatibility page)

  Updates:	02/04/01	bug correction
  	02/11/01	bug correction
  	07/01/01	packaging bug correction
  	09/08/02	bug correction + new function
  	12/27/06	bug correction

  A (very much) downsized java version is also available.

  Comments: a small and simple bulletin board about Instruments Builder.

• FaFdB

  FaFdB is an image processing program designed to correct (sharpen) pictures made fuzzy by camera motions. It provides visual tools to tune the filter's parameters and includes full english language documentation. Post-processing filters are supplied and new ones may be programmed and added easily.

  See the readme.txt file in the zipped package for installation instructions.

  Download FaFdB 1.13

  Sample

  x64 compatible installation package

  (see 64 bits compatibility page)

  
  

  Updates:	05/18/03	Circumvents a Windows 98 1 bug in the CreateDIBitmap function (> 3 Mpix images). Corrects minor bugs (security tests at application closure or file reload). Adds jfif (jpeg files) support. Bettered documentation.
  	09/19/03	Enhanced interface for Windows XP1.

• PA-MJPEG

  PA-MJPEG is a video codec (compressor / de-compressor) for Video for Windows¹. It can be used to create compressed videos from any software able to write AVI files (for example VirtualDub or Adobe Premiere⁵). It also decompresses in real time the videos it created (for example through the Windows Media Player¹).
  
  The format used by PA-MJPEG is similar to the MJPEG format but does not strictly comply with the standard.

  See the readme.txt file in the zipped package for installation instructions.

  History
  	Version	Publication date
  	1.0	01-16-2005	Initial release
  	1.1	12-23-2013	Bug correction, X64 compatibility

  
  

• FdED

  FdED creates an alternative desktop which overlays the Windows™ Explorer's one. One can quickly switch back and forth between Windows' and FdED's desktops; FdED never alters the Explorer's settings.

  FdED has been designed to work in any account: it can be installed and launched by users with low privileges (with neither administrative nor power users' rights) and despite restrictive policies forbidding to customize the shell. It can solve ergonomics problems (like unreadable icons, due to a badly chosen wallpaper), when one doesn't want (as guest on a colleague's or on a friend's computer) or cannot change (on a professional machine with a locked configuration) the Windows shell properties.

  FdED's features are similar to those of the Windows' desktop:

  • choice of a background color
  • choice of a wallpaper bitmap
  • stretching, tiling and centering options for the wallpaper picture

  Moreover, FdED offers unique features:

  • a fully customizable round clock located below the icons and above the background
  • memos sticking on the background (with optional alarm and removal dates)

  FdED can overlay the Windows "Active Desktop" when it is enabled, but does not provide its specific functions (hot spots, etc.).

  See the readme.txt file in the zipped package for installation instructions.

  Download FdED 2.112

  screenshots

  Updates:
  	04/30/07	Compatibility fix (Windows 95/98/ME 1)
  	05/03/07	Compatibility fix (Windows 2000 1)
  Planned developments:
  -	v. 2.12:	handier access to memos
  -	v. 2.2:	background calendars, screen saver, more options for memos, ...

• AVStreamVideoConverter

AVStreamVideoConverter is a demonstration program initially created in order to test and debug my AVStream library (it uses most of its exported functions). As it appeared it might be useful in itself, it evolved into a fully documented audio/video conversion program (yet from its origin it lacks any function not directly provided by the AVStream library, for instance changing frame or sample rates).

AVStreamVideoConverter can open an audio and/or a video track from a single or from two different source files, in any format which the operating system can read (AVI files with Video for Windows¹ and the ACM, any format with an installed source filter with DirectShow¹). AVStreamVideoConverter can either decode or copy the data (direct stream copy) from the source tracks. It can use the complete tracks or only part of them (continuous sequences, possibly starting at different dates and of different duration for audio and video). It re-encodes or copies the source streams and combines them into an output AVI file, allowing full control of the interleaving properties.

Due to its origin as a test program, AVStreamVideoConverter lets users choose the underlying technology used (VfW, ACM vs. DirectShow) though the automatic choice by the most abstract level of the AVStream library is also available (the AVStream library packaged with AVStreamVideoConverter is a debug version: with Microsoft’s GraphEdit tool or any equivalent utility, one can display the filters graphs used by the program when DirectShow is the selected underlying technology).

Download AVStreamVideoConverter

for Windows 95 and 98, download here a patch package (see the ReadMe.txt file in the zip file and the Win32 compatibility page)

History
Version		Publication date
1.0.0.0		01-01-2015	Initial release
1.1.0.0		04-04-2015	Auxiliary DLL recompiled (changed to version 1.0.0.1) Correction of a severe bug  in the converter application (changed to version 1.0.1.0) Automatic interleaving management re-written in the AVStream library (changed to version 1.1.0.0)
1.1.1.0		03-05-2017	Auxiliary DLL removed. Converter application recompiled (changed to version 1.0.1.1) Automatic interleaving management improved in the AVStream library (changed to version 1.1.1.0)
1.1.3.0		09-28-2018	Two successive improvements to multi-threading management Converter application version 1.0.1.2, AVStream library version 1.1.3.0
		10-28-2018	Patched library for Windows 95 & 98 (product version 0.9)
1.1.3.1		11-02-2018	Improved COM management: helper program dfb.exe not required any more AVStream library version 1.1.3.1, converter application version 1.1.0.0
1.1.3.3		12-28-2018	Correction of bugs affecting certain VfW codecs: AVStream library version 1.1.3.3, converter application version 1.1.1.1

The installation packages do not test for the presence of the framework, so that you can install and uninstall these programs (for example in order to browse the documentation) without .NET in your system. As a result, the applications will fail with an ugly "missing DLL" error message if the proper .NET version cannot be found.
Some day, I could make a publisher's certificate available for my software, together with a small program to install it properly (it seems one cannot legally distribute certmgr.exe and certmgr.msc won't do for a script). Then I could use ClickOnce deployment¹ for my .NET applications (but people would have to trust me as a certification authority if I use such a procedure (I don't want to pay for a certificate to give away free software!): I am not yet convinced they will...).

• PCTrenumber

  This program was designed to create ordered collections of pictures, video clips and audio comments from pre-existing collections of not coherently named and numbered files. The need of such a program arose from using several cameras (I have two: my old Minolta and a new Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD) to cover a single event and wishing to create a single pictures / video clips / comments collection for batch processing and automatic conversion to a slide show and  movie (the program can handle any kind of files and is not limited to pictures or video clips).
  This program is similar to the third of my pictures selection java applications, but is both quicker and easier to use for large data sets (especially when they include more file formats than just a single picture format plus wav audio comments). On the other hand, it lacks the thumbnail pictures display of the processed collections.

• fsplit64

  Yet another file splitter.
  Works with large files (up to 2⁶³ bytes long) and can write large chunks (same size limit).
  Very small application (47937 bytes, including help file), with a Windows XP¹ style GUI (see screenshots).
  (I use fsplit64 to split huge video files created in an NTFS partition into less than 4GB long chunks, which I can store on a FAT32 formatted device)

• PAtch

  This tool finds and replaces all occurrences of a given binary data sequence in a file or in a group of selected files inside a given directory tree by an other (possibly empty) binary data sequence (original files are automatically backed up). The included Extract utility program may be used to create the Data to replace and Replacement data files for the PAtch application.
  Small application: 175917 bytes, including the help file and the Extract utility program.

  Download PAtch 1.0

  screenshots

  What may come here later

  I have been working since 1994 on a set of dynamic libraries designed to create tools for easy editing of musical scores. These programs use my personal score description language, which I feel to be as near as possible to a composer's short hand in ASCII for his music. The libraries provide functions to translate this language in MIDI files or in a syntactic tree, which, in turn, may be used by a graphical interpreter (also provided by the libraries) to display or print the score. The first version of the libraries was completed in 1995 and I wrote simple editing tools to test it. Since then, I've been using these tools to print my compositions and translate them to MIDI (I am an amateur composer and all this work was done for my personal use). This software has reached by now (May 2000) its third major revision (I installed version 3.3 a month ago on my computer).
  Through regular use I discovered that my programs were slow, due to poor algorithms, and that some things could not be expressed in my score description language (for example: groups of -let's say- 5 grace notes in the last beat of a phrase). So I designed a new language (with a LALR(1) grammar - the first version sometimes needed deep backtracking in the syntactic analyser) and a proper compiler, which translates this language to MIDI and to a special graphical language designed for quick interpretation by displaying and printing programs. The editing tools still need a tremendous amount of work to be ready for any kind of publication. The graphical interpreter is nearly (!) working. Expect them here one day ! 

To run these programs on your computer you will need:

• for applets: a Java enabled browser (try, for example, Internet Explorer ¹)
• for applications: a Java virtual machine (try, for example, Sun Microsystems' JRE)

To run the applets on-line from this server your browser must recognize the .jar format (I used this Java 1.1 feature in order to reduce disk space used).

Once you have downloaded the .zip files, you only need to unzip them in an empty directory to install the software. Beware: program names case and (relative) directory tree structure stored in the .zip file must be preserved (also note that program names are long and must not be converted to MSDOS 8.3 characters format).

• Courbe

  The Courbe and CourbeApplet programs load a curve file, compute x and y axis scales for the curve and display it. These programs also draw a grid and label the horizontal and vertical axis with their extreme values.
  The Courbe application displays the curve in a standalone window and the loaded curve file may be chosen and changed through the File/Open menu command. If this application is launched with at least one command line parameter, the first of these parameters should be an absolute URL pointing to the curve file to open initially. If necessary, Courbe will try and open an Internet connection to get its files.
  The CourbeApplet applet loads the file named in the ad hoc param tag of the calling HTML document. The file name given by the HTML document is considered by CourbeApplet as an URL, relative to the calling document location.

  The Courbe package also includes a useful and fully documented Java package for Java 1.0 developers:

  • formatted floating point numbers conversion to String,
  • simple message dialog boxes.

   

•  Morpion

  This applet plays a favourite game of french children (it is not a childish game if you try and play intelligently and it is much more interesting than the well known tic-tac-toe game). The applet uses a enhanced MiniMax algorithm and may be easily configured (you may even tune strategical analysis parameters if you have a Java compiler and understand the french language).
  This program needs some computing power (especially if you increase search depth and if you play at highest computer skill). I recommend using Sun's AppletViewer (with the JustInTime compiler) rather than a PC based browser to run the Morpion applet (it will run in your browser, but slowly).

   

• Mid2Wav4

This is a Java (and very much downsized) version of my synthesizer. It converts MIDI files into CD quality WAVE files, using numerical instruments stored in a proprietary (and undocumented !) format.
When compared with the Win32 ¹ version, the Java program is very slow (more than 10 times slower, with Sun's 1.2.1 virtual machine). It is only intended for the casual user. Nonetheless it has a function which does not exist in the Windows ¹ version: it can load the instruments data which it needs through the web directly from my site (where this page is located).

 

Updates:	02/04/01	bug correction
	05/05/01	web target change
	09/15/02	bug correction
	10/12/02	bugs correction (needed with post 1.2 JVMs)
	12/14/03	bug correction (for post 1.4.1 JVMs)

• Pictures Selectors

These three programs allow browsing through pictures directories to select and put upright pictures (Selector1), to select best pictures in a group of similar ones (Selector2) and to compile an ordered collection from several directories (Selector3). They were designed for people taking many digital pictures (for example in a trip or when covering events), with friends or colleagues. They manage wav audio comments, when present.
I programmed them some time after buying a 5M pixels Minolta DiMAGE 7i and coming back from a two weeks vacation with 4Gb of pictures data (both mine and a friend's). By the way, in this case, a DVD burner is necessary and not just a pirate's tool as the "music" or movies industry would make people believe.

Thanks to java, the three programs are very compact and I deliver them in a single zip file hereafter (moreover, they share a common infowin package). Recognized formats are: jpeg, gif, png (depends on your Java toolkit's capabilities). To install, just unzip the contents of the downloaded file into an empty directory and read the general readme.txt file.

See also PCTrenumber in the .NET applications section above.

• MesRTTs

This program is an adaptation of the original Android application of the same name, available here. See the description of the Android application for further details.

Download MesRTTs Test the applet on-line

Version			Published
	1		09/30/2015		initial release
	2		12/13/2015		with working days calculator

Android apps

see also

Win32 Win32 .NET Desktop java Android java

These programs were checked on the following platforms:
Android 2.3.3 GingerBread⁶ emulators (ARM & Intel Atom),
Android 2.3.6 GingerBread device (Samsung smartphone),
Android 4.1 JellyBean⁶ emulator (ARM)
Android 4.4.4 KitKat⁶ devices (Archos smartphone and tablet)

• Formula Calculator

This program computes complex mathematical formulas typed into a text box. Formulas are organized as a list and can refer to the results of the evaluation of other formulas, using automatically allocated variables.
Variables contents may be changed (the program then updates (re-computes) all dependent formulas), and formulas may be deleted (the corresponding variable is then replaced in dependent formulas by its numerical value).
Special kinds of formulas may be plotted as functions of a single real variable.
The fomulas list is persistent (it survives application and device shutdowns) and can be exported at any time to a human readable (and editable) text file, which can be later re-imported (imported formulas are always re-computed, even when the Results section of the text file exists, because they may have been modified by an external editor).

This program may be useful if you need to compute complex mathematical expressions, draw curves or solve single variable equations but do not need matrix algebra. Android calculators are not powerful enough and downloading and installing a Matlab⁷ (even partial) clone is clearly overkill (Formula Calculator is small: the application's package (which includes the program's documentation) is only 243 Kb long and the unpacked program only takes up 400 Kb on my Samsung smartphone).

(see several program's screenshots)

Download Formula Calculator (249906 bytes, MD5: 9e49b5b51167856a0e61f18617123a5b)

(the program requires proper rights to access USB storage)

Important notice: the formulas syntax may seem somewhat unusual (except to APL programmers): be sure to read the formulas syntax and the important remarks sections of the documentation (displayed by the help menu option and available here) before using the program.

The most unusual feature is the systematic right to left associativity of operators of the same precedence: 4-2+1 means 4-(2+1) and hence is evaluated to 1 (it would have given 3 in C language or Matlab)

History
	Version	Publication
	1.0	10-23-2012	Initial release.
	2.0	not released	Deep re-wirting to implement true background processing (proceeds even when the main Activity or Application objects have been destroyed). Bugs correction.
	3.0	08-23-2013	Equations solver added; further bugs correction.
	4.0	11-24-2013	Curves plotting abilities added.
	4.1	09-21-2014	Bugs correction; insert formula option added.

• MesRTTs
  

this program is most probably useful for French people only; its (very simple) user interface is written in French.

MesRTTs computes the number of the so-called "jours de RTT" (jRTTs) in any year (Année), for people with a full time^* employment contract stating a fixed number of working days per year ("forfait jours"). This number (jours travaillés) may be customized and is remembered by the program between successive runs. Any change to the year or working days number automatically triggers the computation of the jRRTs field (which therefore is always up to date).

^* entitling to an annual paid leave of 25 (otherwise worked) days

Download MesRTTs

(32242 bytes, MD5: E573107335DA8A984B41E500AC8E063B)

Screenshot

This program was for the most part developed with the AIDE⁸ IDE on an Android tablet. An equivalent java desktop application is available here.

Version			Published
	1		09/30/2015		initial release
	2		12/13/2015		working days calculator added

Copyright notice and distribution policy

The programs I offer here are free and may be distributed by any mean to everybody, as long as nobody earns money in the process (except me - I don't see how it could happen, but let me hope I will suddenly become a millionaire).
The previous statement does not cancel my copyright and distribution is permitted only as long as the packages are not altered. Distribution of modified versions of the programs is also prohibited (I would not like finding part of my programs in commercial applications with my name cancelled), except for the RichView executable file (see details in RichView's manual inside the RichView package).

This software is provided as is. You download and run it at your own risks: I do not make any guarantee and I cannot be held responsible of any unpleasantness or disaster, in any field, which may befall you, your company or anybody in connection with this software.