Flexishow Files

Requirements
============
A Java Runtime Environment (JRE), version 1.7.0 or higher, is required. To find
out what JRE version you have, open a command prompt and type in
"java -version". If Java 1.7.0 or higher is not available on your system, you
can obtain it in the following places:
- Windows: http://java.com
- Linux: In the official software repository of your distribution.
- Mac OS X: http://www.apple.com/support/


How to start Flexishow
======================

If the JRE is installed, you should be able to start Flexishow by double-clicking on the 
"RunFlexishow.jar" file.

From the command line:
navigate to the  folder containing RunFlexishow.jar, then type

    java -jar RunFlexishow.jar

Running Flexishow
=================
When the application first opens, select the Excel spreadsheet to be used to control the 
slideshow. It must be in the same folder as the images it refers to. 

By default the spreadsheet is expected to have the image filenames, including the ".jpg" 
extension, in the first column.
You may change the location of this column, and other preferences, by selecting 
"Options -> Edit Spreadsheet Options".  

( On a Macintosh, external drives may not initially be visible in the file selector. 
Navigate down from the root into /Volumes and you should see all drives listed there. ) 

A large spreadsheet may take a noticeable amount of time to load, depending on your system 
and the options you have chosen.  


If there is anything other than a valid jpeg filename in the specified filename column, 
a warning message appears. (You may find it useful to set your file browser ( Explorer, 
Finder, ...) options to show all filename extensions.)  

The application reads the other columns from the spreadsheet, and displays possible 
values for you to select.

Only images having your selected values in these columns will be displayed in the slideshow. 

By default, Flexishow shows data from all columns that contain more than 1 and fewer than 
10 different values. Using the Spreadsheet Options window, you may:
   Change "10" to any other number,
   Select additional specific columns for display, or
   Choose to display all values from all columns.
The images will display in the order in which they are found in the spreadsheet. A list 
of the images to be displayed may be seen by clicking "List Images". In the list window 
you may select to have the slideshow start with any image on the list and continue from 
there. The default is always to start with the first image. 

For further help, click the help icon in the main window, or view "help.html" in a browser.