
Rafe's Digital Display
----------------------

Rafe's Digital Display is a VCL component which emulates a row 
of digits. As supplied it looks like a bank of 7-Segment LED Displays.
However, this is easily changed by simply changing the "Numbers" bitmap
for one of your own or for one of the many counter/clock sets 
available on the web.

To install Rafe's Digital Display copy the .PAS and .DCR files 
into a directory that's on your component path and install
as you would any other component. If you are using Delphi 2 then
please rename the .D32 file to .DCR and use that instead of the
default (16-bit) .DCR file.

To use Rafe's Digital Display just drop it onto a form and set a
few properties! In addition to the properties offered by it's
ancestor, TPanel, the following new properties are published:

	AutoSize - If true the display will automatically adjust it's
	           height to suit the "Numbers" bitmap.
	FormatWidth - This is the number of digits displayed. If 
		      "Value" has less digits than this it is padded 
		      with 0's.
	Gap - The number of pixels between digits.
	Margin - The number of pixels to leave between the borders and
                 the actual digits.
	Numbers - This has to be a bitmap containing the numbers 
		  0-9 in a filmstrip fashion where all the numbers 
                  occupy the same width. The display also supports 
	          a - (for negative numbers) if added after the 9. 
                  NOTE: If you do use - then you will need to 
                  manually alter "NumberWidth".
         NumberWidth - The width of each number in the "Numbers" 
                       bitmap. This number is automatically 
                       calculated whenever the bitmap changes so will
	               not normally need to be changed.
         Value - The value to display!

I have supplied two sets of numbers to get you started:

        SMALL.BMP - a set of small 7-Segment LED numbers (no -)
	BIG.BMP - a larger set of the above. This also has a - sign
                  in it so after loading the bitmap you'll need to
                  manually alter the "NumberWidth" property to be 38.

An excellent source of numbers is the web where they are used in 
counters and clocks. One of the best digit archives can be found at: 

	http://www.digitmania.com/

As this package is freeware it comes with no warranty of any kind.
However, if your computer does blow up as a direct result of using
it I'd enjoy hearing about the experience.

Hope you like it and find it useful. Comments and suggestions are
most welcome. 

One final thing, if you do find this useful then PLEASE be kind 
enough to send me a sign of your appreciation (an e-mail, postcard, 
t-shirt, money, food etc.). None of this stuff magically appeared
overnight.

	Rafe

E-Mail: rafe@rcai.demon.co.uk
WWW: http://www.rcai.demon.co.uk/
Surface Mail: 89 Sharland Close, Grove, Oxon. OX12 0AF. UK.
